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observed the same intolerant behaviour amongst the Nuns towards a

Bronzewing that went blind on one side, from a warty growth, and which I

drowned out of compassion.


Standing one day by one of the immense outdoor aviaries in the

Antwerp Zoo, containing between three and four hundred Cardinals, I saw

a crested cock flop on to the floor evidently in a dying condition ; and as it

lay panting and gasping, a lot of the other robust villains felt it incumbent

upon them to call and give it a cuff and a kick, metaphorically speaking.

I could multiply examples, but will not occupy unnecessary space.


My Madagascar is living peaceably in a cage with smaller Weavers

not of its own species, and I would trust it with Waxbills in the extended

space of an aviary.


A. A. Pearson.



RUFOUS-NECKED WEAVER.


Sir, —Can anyone tell me to what family the Atlas Finch belongs,

and if it is foreign or British ? It is a large bird, as big as the Skylark, and

has a powerful horny beak that suggests caution in placing it with smaller

birds, and prominent nostrils almost as conspicuous as the white saucers

round a Zosterops’ optics. Head black, merging into coffee-colour on the

nape ; breast, etc. saffron-yellow, and back mottled yellow and black ; iris,

red. Very wild, flings itself about madly when anyone approaches the

cage, and utters a harsh frightened chirp if they stay too long. Likes a

cold bath, and a pair of mealworms placed on the cage-bottom vanish

before you realize what has happened (dj.


A. A. Pearson.


ORANGE AND CRIMSON BISHOPS.


Sir, —Are Orange Weavers liable to be scarlet, and are there any two

dealers, excepting one or two well-known experts, who call the same

Weaver by the same name except the comprehensive one of Bishop ?


I sent to a Northern dealer for a Crimson Bishop, which, from

information kindly supplied by Mr. Fillmer, I hoped would be the Crimson-

crowned Weaver. When it arrived it had a jet-black head and abdomen,

with a brilliant scarlet chest and throat, the red feathers extending round

the back of neck like a ruffle ; wing-coverts a brownish red. Size, nearly as

big as a Madagascar.


Previously, I sent to a Southern dealer for an Orange Bishop, which

proved to be exactly similar, except that it was much smaller and the

scarlet feathers replaced by bright orange. It is very quiet, while the

red one is extremely vivacious.


I wrote the Northern dealer, telling him he must have sent a Grena¬

dier Bishop ; to which he replied that he had sent me “ an Orange Bishop,

sometimes called a Crimson; ” that the “ Grenadier Weaver was yellow and

black, also called the Napoleon Bishop ” ! !



(d) This is not the true Atlas Finch, which is the Combasou. The bird is the Rufous-


necked Weaver.—A.G.B.



