no



who would like to become members. Membership involves the payment

of the ruinous sum of two-pence, as a registration fee, but no subscription

whatever.


Horatio R. Fieemer.



Sir, — -With respect to your letter in the February Magazine, with

reference to registering bird-catchers, I am quite at one with you. When

one dealer receives 130 dozen birds of various kinds per week, as was

stated in the Daily Telegraph a few weeks ago, I think it is quite time some¬

thing was done to prevent this wholesale catching, or shall I say slaughter:

as I am sure not one quarter of them can live in the small filthy cages they

are crowded into. I think each catcher should be registered and have a

certain district, and the number of birds he is allowed to capture should be

limited ; and the dealer also should not be permitted to have more than

one bird to a cubic foot of space. This matter could be seen into by the

Vestry Sanitary Inspectors of the various Parishes, as well as the sanitation

of the shops. I have been patiently waiting for a long time to see some¬

thing done to stop the cruelty to our feathered friends ; now I feel sure my

expectations will be fully realised. I wish you would grapple with cayenne

feeding, and tailing and flighting (d).


Arthur Jones.



PHOTOGRAPHING BIRDS.


Sir,-—T he letter upon this subject, by Mr. Hett, which appeared in

the March number of this Magazine, touches upon a subject so interesting

to aviculturists that I think it should not pass without comment. The

formation of a Photographic Club among our members would be a capital

idea providing that a sufficient number would join, but I fear there are but

few who combine the two delightful hobbies of aviculture and photograph}'.


I cannot believe that a photograph would be more appreciated by our

members than a coloured plate, especially when that coloured plate is from

a drawing by an artist who is noted for his careful and accurate delineation

of living birds. Neither do I believe that a photograph, however well

taken, is necessarily more accurate than a cliromo print.


The great drawback to photographs of birds is that, however truth¬

fully the form and attitude of the subject may be portrayed, the colours are

not reproduced ; and, moreover, photographs of any coloured objects

generally give one an absolutely false idea of the colours. For instance,

had a photograph of the Rufous-tailed Finches appeared in the Magazine

instead of a coloured illustration, many who do not actually know the bird

would be led to suppose that the male possessed a black or very dark mask

instead of the beautiful red face so accurately portrayed by the artist.


Take, for another example, the Gouldian Finch (P. mirabilis) ; we all

know that his head is bright red, his tail-coverts sky blue, his chest blue or

purple and his abdomen 3-ellow. In a photograph he would be represented

with a black head, pure white tail-coverts, his chest nearly white, and his


(d) Mr. Jones’ proposition about a cubic foot to eacli bird, if enforced, would put a

stop at once to the importation and sale of all small foreign birds in this country. It is a

good general rule for the aviculturist, but utterly and hopelessly impracticable for the

dealer. — A. G.B.



