62



The L.C.B.A. Shorv.



of the rare Amazon ( Chrysolis ochroptera ) ; both these last were

shown by Mrs. K. L. Miller. C. ochroptera is very like the Blue-

fronted of which a specimen was also shown ; but it has the blue

front very pale and the beak whitish, not black. The Blue-front

took third ; its rare relative only v.li.c. ! These were all the

entries.


The class for common small finches was extremely well

filled and every exhibit was in good form—no less than twenty-

two cages of pretty birds. Green Avadavats were first, a cock

Cordon Bleu second, a pair of Gold-breasted Waxbills third, and

a pair of Orange-cheeks fourth. The others need no comment

here, being all of well-known species.


In the class for the rarer Waxbills, Mannikins, &c., there

were a dozen entries ; a pair of Melba Finches taking first, second

also went to a Melba Finch, and third to a Crimson Finch;

fourth fell to the share of a pair of Violet-eared Waxbills. In

this class also the birds were nearly all in fine form. An Aurora

Finch was v.li.c., and the same honour fell to a third pair of

Melbas. All species of Grasshoppers, Weavers and Whydahs,

not included in the above, made a fine collection of seventeen

beautiful exhibits. The most remarkable was the beautiful

Jackson’s Whydali ( Dreponoplectes jacksoni ) a black species of

rather large size with a curved tail strikingly-like that of the

common cock; in fact, cock-tailed Whydali would be the best

name for it, for in its display, which can be seen at the Zoo, the

tail is raised and expanded till it nearly meets the back-bent head,

and the resemblance to a bantam cock is most striking. The tail

of the Whydali, however, diverges above instead of below when

fully expanded. This beautiful bird, new to the show-bench,

only got third ; it was shown by Mr. Maxwell. First and second

went to Fire-tailed Finches, shown by Mr. Temple and Mr. Ross;

they were good, but it seems to me a mistake in these mixed

foreign bird classes, to give more than one prize to the same

species if this can fairly be avoided. A Tri-coloured Parrot-finch

(. Erytliruia trichroa) of Mr. Maxwell’s took fourth, but it was not

in such good form as Mr. Howe’s common Parrot Finch (E.

psittacea ) which only had v.li.c. Gouldian and Long-tailed Grass

Finches and Diamond Sparrows also figured in this class.



