184



Rev. Hubert D. Asteey,



Professor Ridgway is of opinion that the family Tanagridce,

as it stands in the British Museum Catalogue, is too comprehen¬

sive and requires restriction (Birds of North and Middle America

Vol. I., pp. 25, 26) : some of the genera he removes to the family

Fringillidce (p. 26), others to the Bush-Creepers (Mniotiltided)

which are the New World representatives of our Warblers (Vol.

II., p. 2), on account of their slender bills. That there is great

divergence in external form, colouring, and action in the various

groups of Tanagers is certain ; therefore, whether they are dis¬

tributed among different families or not, it is evident that it is

not correct to represent them all alike in the same attitude.


If the Tanagers require breaking up and distributing

amongst other groups, what will happen to the Tyrannidee ,

amongst which one meets with types varying almost from that of

a Kingfisher to a Chat or a Flycatcher in external aspect?



NOTES FROM AN OUTDOOR AVIARY ON THE

ITALIAN RIVIERA.


By the Rev. Hubert D. Asteey, M.A., M.B.O.U., etc.


It may interest our readers to hear how foreign birds

prosper on the Italian Riviera ; although there, too, in that more

favourable climate, one has one’s ‘ups’ and ‘downs.’


I have three outdoor aviaries there, in a pretty garden

of a truly Italian type, where orange and lemon trees grow with

gladness, as also loquats and pomegranates ; where with big

clusters of roses, in the foreground, on trees which clamber over

the pergolas of vines, one sees the gorgeous blues and greens of

the Mediterranean, on which the white sails of the fishing boats

resemble flights of butterflies.


The aviaries are all at different levels, like the garden.

Two of them are quite small —really quite small, and the third is

about eight yards square and seven feet high, with a pool in the

centre through which, even in seasons of drought, the water

always runs.


Shelters made of w r ood are slung to the ware roof, (for the

whole aviary is of wire meshing,) and these shelters have a roof



