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I had a pair of Blue Robins eight years, when the hen died ; she

looked very old when she was sent to me, but she nested freely for some

years. The cock I then considerately gave to a friend : he was such a

murderer ! And in the third year after that, he succumbed himself to the

fate he had visited on so many.


I have lately lost a Red Rosella, which had lived four-and-a-half years

in the aviary without his upper mandible. This, I think, is an interesting

record. Five years ago this spring, he had the upper mandible torn out in

a fight with a Bulla Bulla. How he contrived to live I never knew, as he was

not fed by a mate or any other bird; but I think bread-aud-milk sop—a

saucerful of which is daily supplied to the aviary—formed his chief diet.

He used also to spend a lot of time “ nuzzling ” about in the liempseed, and

I believe he was picking up chipped seed which other birds had cracked and

wasted. He seemed quite happy, and the only difficulty he appeared to

labour under was his inability to free his new feathers from their sheath in

moulting-time, which gave him a very peculiar appearance, and must have

been very uncomfortable. I had had him about ten years when he died.


I have only kept the larger Parrots for eleven years, so have no

instances of longevity to record among them, at present.


E. A. H. Hartley.



Sir.—I do not know if the longevity of my birds is anything remark¬

able. I have had a Virginian Cardinal since December, 1885, and he is still

in very good plumage, though his singing powers have lessened, and his

feet show signs of old age in loss of claws. He is one of the tamest birds I

have ever had, and will sing to me or any of his two or three special friends

“ by desire,” like a Piping Bullfinch. He puts up his crest and flutters his

wings directly I begin to talk to him, and then starts whistling in a soft

subdued key, quite different from his independent song. He is rewarded

with a few liempseeds. Often he calls me to him if I have been absent

for a short time, and will continue to sing as long as I talk to him and

praise him. He was very wild when I first had him, but soon became tame.



I have also had an Orange Bishop for ten years, and a Pileated Finch

for seven years. This bird has such an antipathy to Aurora Finches that I

have had to give up keeping them. I hoped, after the lapse of a year, that

the Pileated Finch would have forgotten his animosity; but directly I put

a new pair of Auroras into my aviary-cage he flew at them most viciously.

He never molests any other birds. When angry, he erects his beautiful

crimson crest and attempts to “ sing ” after his own fashion—for it cannot

be called a song, the notes are harsh and shrill.



I omitted to say that my Cardinal used frequently to sing during the

night in his younger days.



C. A. Hodgson.



THE BLUE SUGAR BIRD.


Sir, —I have a Dacnis cayana whose sex I should like to discover. I

bought it last January, out of colour and in rough plumage. It was then a

dull green, but now the green has become much more brilliant, and the



