76



' Correspondence, Notes, etc.



was published about 1879 without a date. In consequence of a recent little

controversy respecting the re-appearance of this old book on the market

I have taken the habit of looking at the date of every book which comes

into my hands. I am astonished how many books are published without a

date! This method may facilitate the ultimate disposal of publisher’s

stocks, but seems to me unjust to the writers and buyers of books. I think

buyers of books ought to know and have a right to know in what year a

book which they purchase has been written and published. At an auction

which I attended by the merest accident I saw a book on Domestic Medicine

offered, and as I did not possess such a book I bid a few shillings and

bought it. When I looked at my purchase at leisure, I found that I had

bought a book which had no date, and which has probably been published

so many years ago that some of the remedies advised in cases of accident

or sudden illness would be now unobtainable or their use ridiculed by a

doctor of the present day. The absence of a date on that book had en¬

abled somebody to sell for 3/6 or 5/- a book which, by the lapse of time, had

only the value of waste paper. AUG. F. Wirnjjr.



MASKED ORASSFINCHES BREEDING.


Sir,—H aving bred Masked Grassfinclies (Poephila perso?iata) this

season with limited success, and believing it to be the first time that these

birds have been bred in this country, I send you the following account of

my experiences.


In April last I wrote to one of the London dealers for one cock and

two hen Long-tailed Grassfinclies (Poephila acuticauda). O11 the arrival of

the birds my first thought on looking into the travelling cage was “ How

yellow their beaks are ! ” but on turning them into a large cage I saw at

once that they were birds which I had never seen before, and which I sub¬

sequently found were Masked Grassfinclies. Liking their appearance, I

decided to keep them.


Towards the end of June, I turned them into one of my outdoor

aviaries (6ft. wide and 35ft. long), in which their companions were Gouldian

Finches (Black and Red), Long-tailed Grassfinclies, Pectoral Finches,

Diamond Sparrows, Zebra Finches, and Double-banded Finches. This

aviary has three parts—an inner of brick with slated roof, a middle of glass,

and an outer of wire netting. Just over the door of the glass partition was

a German Canary cage fixed to a beam which formed a narrow shelf behind

it. The Masked Finches very soon commenced to fill this cage with little

tufts of flowering grass, with which I supply my finches every day during

the summer. After filling it and the shelf behind with a shapeless mass of

this material they formed a small cavity with a long entrance-hole, so that

it was impossible to see into the cavity. The entrance-hole seemed to be

horizontal, and the nest-cavity must have been 011 the shelf beyond the



