274



CoiTespondence.



CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, ETC.



NOTABLE IMPORTATIONS.


YKr.r.ow Toucan, Andigena bailloni. Specimens of this bird have

lately been received by Mr. Hanilyn ; it is easily known from any other

Toucan by its colour, which is dark yellow on the face, throat and under¬

parts generally, and yellowish olive above. In size it about equals a Jay;

its habitat is .South-East Brazil ; two have been acquired by the Zoological

Garde ns.


In the consignment was a hen of the Spotted-billed Toucan ( Selenidera

maciili)ostris), previously only known to aviculture by two cocks in the

London Zoological Gardens, one of which still survives. The Toucans of

this group differ from most of the family in showing a sex-difference; thus, in

the present bird the cock’s head and breast are black and the hen’s brown.


Verdixer Flycatcher, Stoparola melanops. A pair of this Indian

bird have lately been sold by Messrs. Willson to one of our members; they

are the first I have seen for sale in England myself, though a few were,

in my time, brought regularly to Calcutta every winter, and others have, I

believe, reached this country before. In size this bird about equals our

common Flycatcher; the cock is silvery-blue, with a black patch on the

face; the hen dull greenish-blue, with no noticeable face-markings.


Japanese Waxwing, Ampelis japonicus. In Cage Birds of June

19th, p. 587. Mr. William R. Hardie records having imported a specimen

of this bird; he does not say when he had it, but gives a good description.

I know of no other importation. This species is smaller than our Wax¬

wing, and has no red wax-tips on the wing, though there is a red band

there, and the tip of the tail is also red. It inhabits the mainland of Eastern

Asia, as well as Japan; Mr. Hardie’s specimen was brought from Nagasaki.


F.F.



MARKING MIGRATING BIRDS.


The following leaflet has been sent out with the June issue of British

Birds :—


“ A short while ago a Stork was shot in Rhodesia bearing upon its leg

a metal ring, which proved that the bird had been marked in Prussia, when

it was a nestling, by the Rossitteu Bird Observatory, while more recently a

Stork similarly ‘ringed’ in Hungary was shot in the Kalaliary Desert.


Mr. H. F. Witherby, the Editor of British Birds , is inaugurating in

connection with his Magazine a scheme for marking birds in a similar way

in this country. It is hoped by this means to gain a more exact idea of the

movements of individual birds than has ever been possible by any other

method, and this should not only throw light upon the more general aspects



