morning, I onlj r twice saw tlie bird, but then a green bird in a thick green

tree is never a conspicuous object.


Nearly all the huge cotton trees in the Sacrifice Grove at Kumasi

were destroyed by our troops in the 1895 Expedition, but one monster was

left among other smaller ones. In a hole about 40 feet up a pair of Grey

Parrots were nesting in February, 1898. I went up by means of a bamboo-

ladder, and found three white eggs about the size of a Woodpigeon’s. In

about a month the young ones were old enough to come to the mouth of

the hole and look out, when I took them. One died, but two I still have:

they are very tame, sham death, and do lots of ridiculous tricks and also

are beginning to talk fairly well. I found the Sierra Leone Grey Parrot

to be a much darker and uglier bird than the Gold Coast kind, perhaps it

is P. timneh, please inform me Mr. Editor.


I will send you a few further notes, if they will be of any interest, on

the birds of Sierra Leone. Boyd Horsbrugh,


Lieut. A rmy Service Corps.



PYTELIA MELBA AND PYTEL 1 A AFRA.


Sir,—I should be glad if some expert of the Avicultural Society

would explain the differences between Pytelia melba and Pytelia afra.

There seems to be some confusion between the two species, both of which

are described as the Red-faced Finch.


At the end of March last year I received a splendid pair of Red-faced

Finches, and a week later a second pair from the same source. This second

pair I took to be an immature pair of the same species as the first pair.

The horizontal white lines on the breast were not nearly so pronounced,

and the red on the face of the male was only represented by a few small

spots. But as no change took place in these birds after several months’

possession, be}’ond perhaps a few more red spots on the male’s face, I began

to regard them as something distinfit from the first pair. One very marked

difference exists in the colour of the feathers under the tail. In the first

pair these are quite white, but in the second pair the white is crossed bv

dark bars. On referring to the illustration of Pytelia afra in Dr. Butler’s

work on 1 Foreign Finches,’ I find these dark bars are represented. I have

therefore formed the opinion that the second pair are Pytelia afra , and the

first pair Pytelia melba.


The two Pytelia melba and the hen Pytelia afra were exhibited at the

Crystal Palace, in October, 189S. The report in the Avicultural Magazine

referred to all three birds as Pytelia afra. Another periodical called the

cock Melba a Wiener’s Waxbill. Acting on this information I entered the

cock Melba at the Alexandra Palace in November, 1S98, as a Wiener’s

Waxbill. The same paper then stated that it was incorrectly entered. At

the Crystal Palace Show in February, 1S99, the cock Pytelia melba was

exhibited alone, and the pair of Pytelia afra together. In this case the

report in the Avicultural Magazine expressed a doubt as to whether the

two exhibits were really two species as entered. I11 the Feathe?-ed World ,

of June 23rd, both pairs are spoken of as Pytelia melba.


The hen Melba died at the Roj-al Aquarium Show in November, 189S,

and the cock Afra came home dead from the Crystal Palace Show in

February, 1899, but both birds are preserved and mounted for future

reference. The cock Melba and the hen Afra are still alive and in the best



