Correspondence.



77



May I beg. to suggest that this is the native name of the Agami

Heron (Ardea agami) ? The only native name of the Trumpeter Bird

■which I remember to have heard in British Guiana was “ Warracaba.”


E. W. Harper.



AVADAVATS, BLUE-BEARDED JAYS, BULBULS.


Mr. Teschkmaker writes: —


“I see you mention the breeding of the Common Avadavat in “Stray

Notes,” but surely this is not exceptional is it ? I bred two young of

this species in 1904, and two more in 1905.


“I should be obliged if you could tell me if the Bine-bearded Jay of

South America has been bred, and also if any Bulbul has been bred except

P. hcemorrhous which I believe, the Zoo. bred some time since.


[With regard to the Avadavats, it may not be very' exceptional for

them to breed in this country, but certainly it does not strike us as a

particularly common occurrence. Unfortunately our members are so shy

of recording such events, many apparently thinking that it is not worth

recording breeding results unless the species bred has done so for the first

time in captivity. We wish all of our members would record the nesting in

ilieir aviaries, of even quite common birds.


The Blue-bearded Jay has never, we believe, bred in captivity, and

the same may be said of the Bulbuls with the exception of Pycnonotus

hcemorrhous which bred at the London Zoological Gardens in September

1900, though whether the young were reared to maturity or not we do not

know.—E d.]



OLD BOOKS WITH NEW NAMES.


Certain publishers appear to be rather fond of issuing new editions

of old works with entirely different titles to those by which such books

have always been known, a practice which is calculated to mislead the

public and bring blame upon the author, though he may be entirely

ignorant of the publishers intention until after the book is in the hands of

he public.


Many of our members possess Dr. A. G. Butler’s Foreign Finches in

Captivity , and if these should chance to hear of an apparently new work

entitled Beautiful Foreign Finches they' may be somewhat disappointed to

discover that this is merely' a cheap edition of the older work which,

though excellent in itself, is somewhat out-of-date now.


We understand from the Author of the above work that he knew

nothing of this change of title until a correspondent informed him of it.


Again, a new edition with coloured plates, has appeared of “ British

Birds with their nests and Eggs” under the title of “Birds of Great

Britain and Ireland.” In this case, however, a change of title was rendered

necessary as in most of the new plates 110 nest has been figured. We



