i66



Mr. Reginald Phileipps,



full maturity. The extent and density of the black about the

breast, &c., of the male of this species, with its sub-species, seem

to vary greatly according to the health of the individual bird, I

think also with the season, and doubtless also with its age. At

the recent Bird Show at the Palace, exhibit No. 2116 was a male

Olive Finch, which displayed about a minimum of the black

usual for this region. This bird, by the way, was entered in the

Show catalogue as a Cuba Finch. No. 2123 was a good pair of

the true Cuba Finch, “claimed ” promptly for £\ by some fortu¬

nate person. The reporter on the Show for one of the bird

papers, perceiving two very different species each catalogued as a

Cuba Finch, and not knowing the real name of No. 2116, referred

to it as a “ Black-breasted Cuba Finch.” The level of a Bird

Show would be raised if there were some competent person-

appointed, whose duty it should be to look out for such cases as

this, of which a limited number occur at almost every exhibition

of foreign birds; such an official would attach a notice to the

cage, setting forth the correct name—and in some cases something

more than the mere name—of the occupant. I11 other ways,,

aviculture has greatly advanced, thanks no little to the Avicul-

tural Society and Magazine, but Bird Shows, in an avicultural

sense, remain as they were, while they might be made of real

educational value.*


But to return to the descriptions of the plumage of the

Olive Finch. The following are some brief jottings I made a few

years ago on the plumage of a young male, which had been bred

in the aviary and brought into the house, precise age uncertain,,

say three months :—“ Tittle yellow line above eye, and perhaps

small speck of orange on lores ; little spot of yellow on chin ;

dull blackish down throat, fore-neck, to upper chest, not spread¬

ing to sides ; little ill-defined black near base of lower mandible ;

no black on forehead.”


Habitat :—“ Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, San Domingo, and Porto-


Rico.”



* At page 198 of the Canary and Cage-Bird Life issue of March 6 , Mr. H. Scherreu

mentions a conversation lie overheard at the Palace concerning certain foreign birds, and.

closes his remarks with—“ Their interest was quite real, but how greatly their pleasure-

would have been increased by a little knowledge.”



