86



Correspondence .



From the moment this wild young bird was placed out on the

window sill he never ceased to call across the road to the birds in

Chelsea Gardens, until at the end of a week the old Bullfinch

responded and flew into the room, where his mistress discovered

him on her return home one afternoon. But he was out through

the window in a moment and no more seen that day. However, he

re-appeared the next morning, tempted by a train of hemp seed (the

“ forbidden fruit ”); moreover by his intense jealousy of the inter¬

loper, and this time accompanied by a sparrow. While fighting

furiously through the bars of the cage, with poor Anthony inside,

his mistress crept from her hiding place, shut the window and

Joseph was caught: now a shabby-looking little object, much pecked

and draggle tailed, he had clearly been engaged in many a battle—•

one German against many Britishers,—having also lost his own

song he had adopted that of the Dunnock. He was as wild as a

hawk for many weeks, and for a long time nothing could persuade

him to come out of his cage.


But now and for many months he has recovered his looks

and has become tamer and more devoted to his mistress than ever,

and spends most of his time attacking imaginary rivals in the

looking glass.



CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, ®c.


ON SEXING BIRDS.


SIR, — As it was impossible to say all that was advisable in a footnote, I

wish now to make a few additional observations respecting the characters noticed

many years ago, as distinguishing males from females in various Orders of birds,


The flatness of the crown in male birds, though not an absolutely constant

-character, since there are females in which the crown is flatter than in the male,

was first brought to my notice by the late Mr. Abrahams about the year 1885,

when I asked him how to distinguish the sexes of certain finches. In his usual

way, he did not answer me, but caught a pair and held them side by side and asked

me if I could see any difference. Of course, with my training as an Entomo¬

logist and an Insect-artist, I noticed the difference at a glance and this proved

immensely useful to me later on when comparing the sexes of various birds.


I have no doubt that Mr. Abrahams was well aware of the fact that the

Psittaci, in common with many other groups, more often than not differ sexually



