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Mr. Hubert D. Astley.



rich brown, with a small patch of bright blue on the sides of the

neck, and a wash of warm grey, over the brown, on the head. Both

birds are extremely tame, and are as a rule flying loose in the Bird-

room, so that when I approach the meal-worm box they instantly

fly down close to me, and will take the worms from my fingers.

The only pair in Europe.


A pair of Red-headed Bullfinches ( Pyrrhula erythrocephala )

are charming birds, quite tame, although only imported by Mr. A.

Ezra towards the end of May. They delight in a large bunch of

flowering grass, chickweed, groundsel, etc. Except for a small mask

of black round the bill, the male has the head and also the breast of

a rich orange colour, otherwise he much resembles our British Bull¬

finch ; the female has a wash of orange yellow on the back of the

head and a grey-brown breast. Their call-note is softer and more

tinkling than that of their British cousin, and the song is pretty, the

notes more rapid than the British Bullfinch’s, and more chattering

perhaps.


A pair of Yellow-backed Red Sun-birds ( CEthopygci seherice),

also sent by Mr. A. Ezra, are generally allowed to fly about the

Bird-room, and are remarkably fearless. The male, whose wondrous

cardinal-red alas fades when he moults to a dull orange, looks very

beautiful in his imported colours when perched on a large spray of

wild cherry, apple blossom or hawthorn, sucking, with his long

tongue, the nectar.


A fine Bullock’s Hang'nest ( Icterus hullocki) gives a vivid

splash of gorgeous orange in his cage; and he too, as do all the rest,

comes out in his turn for a flight and a bath. This is perhaps the

most beautiful of .all the Hangnests.


A Shamah and a Gray’s Thrush ( T. grayi) make the room

resound with their songs. A pair of Petz Conures, pretty little birds,

make it resound, but only at moments, with their shrieks! The

male is all green, with a frontal patch of orange above the bill, the

crown of the head being a bluish-grey ; the female the same, but

less bright, the orange patch above the bill being considerably

smaller. The large eyes add very much to their beauty.


The room is square and as large as a good-sized bedroom, and

has a wheat-coloured composition floor rounded off at the skirting,



