52



Correspondence.



CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, ETC.



PROLIFIC BUDGERIGARS.


Sir, — I starLed an aviary last spring, but so far have only tried

Budgerigars. I reared about 60 this year from four pairs. One bird had ten

eggs in the setting and brought off nine young birds successfully ; as far as I

can hear this is a record, and if you think so it might interest readers of the

Magazine. W. H. Workman.


[We have known of a case in which ten young birds were reared from

one nest, the eggs being all laid by the same bird.— Ed.]



PRECOCIOUS PARROT FINCHES.


Sir, —Is not this something of a record ? I had five young Parrot-

Fiuclies hatched on June \\th. They are all now fully moulted and like

their parents.


I removed them to another aviary to give their parents a chance of a

second brood. Two of these young ones have built a nest and it now has

two eggs in it. Is this a record ?


W. R. TkMPTE.



THE BREEDING OF THE PARTRIDGE TINAMOU.


Sir, —I was at the Natural History Museum yesterday and from

skins produced to me by the authorities there it is clear that my Tinamous

are not really “ perdicaria ” but “ NolhoprocLci maculosa.'" I think it best to

let you know this at once and I feel that I owe the Council an apology for

the mistake. At the same time I never had the slightest doubt until

yesterday as to the name “ perdicaria" being correct—especially as the

Birds have a very Partridge-like appearance.


As there seem to be between sixty' and seventy different sorts of

Tinamous—most of them very little known—a mistake is not surprising,

particularly' when the best books on the subject are only obtainable by the

experts.


Whether or not it will be well to have a note on the matter in next

month’s Magazine is of course for you to say'. I should be very sorry to

mislead anyone. C. Barnby Smith.


[Several of the species of Tinamous so closely resemble one another

that unless one can actually' compare specimens with properly identified

skins it is very difficult to be sure of the species ; and it is hardly surprising

that such a mistake should have occurred. In the last number it was

announced that a Medal had been granted to Mr. Barnby Smith for rearing

young of Nothoprocta perdicaria , the Medal however was not ready' when

the above letter was received so lias been withheld.



