94



Correspondence



No. 1 is about the size of a Cowbircl, but in colour it is like the female

of the Black Tanager. The inner webs of its flight feathers are whitish.

Its bill, which is very short and greyish in colour, is the stoutest I have

seen in any Grosbeak.


No. 2 is about the size of a Canary, and its general body colour is

brownish-grey, heavily striated on the breast with a darker shade of the

same colour. Its forehead and throat are huffish yellow.


No. 3 is a very pretty bird about the same size as the last. General

colour chocolate ; throat, cheeks, and eyebrow, streaks white ; head,

tail, and a band below throat, black ; flight feathers, black with their

base white ; under-parts pale chocolate.


This bird is a fine singer and is undoubtedly a cock. The only sound

I have heard from the others is a sparrow-like chirp, so they may be

females.


Wm. Shore-Baily.



LORIKEETS


Sirs, — As regards the remarks by Dr. Amsler about food of Swain-

son’s Lorikeet, and by Mr. Seppings, it may be worth adding that when

I was Assistant Medical Officer at the County Asylum, Hereford, in

1902 and 1903, there were two Lorikeets, almost certainly Swainson’s,

in a large cage in “ Ward I, Women’s Side ”. One of the patients used to

feed these birds regularly with the usual milk puddings given to human

occupants, namely, rice, tapioca, etc., made with fresh cow’s milk,

and during the time I was'there the birds were both very healthy. I

used to given them bits of bread and plain cake, but, like Dr. Amsler’s

birds, they did not care much for fruit.


This pair at the Asylum were amusing in the way they treated with

contempt and complete indifference the few patients who were inclined

to try and interfere with them. On the other hand, they were very

friendly with patients who fed them, never attempting to pedc. During

the time I knew them one of the men patients working at the farm

threw a stone at a squirrel and knocked it down, it being stunned

sufficiently to make it easy to capture alive ; and on its recovery I

put it into another large cage near the Lorikeets, but with several feet

between the two cages. On seeing the squirrel both Lorikeets got



