So



Correspo?idence, Notes, etc.



always made a point of keeping one pair only in each aviary, and I am con¬

vinced that this is the most satisfactory way of keeping Parrakeets, but

many of our members have kept mixed collections of these birds, and I

hope they will give their experience in these columns.—D. Seth-SmiTh].



“CONSUMPTION IN BIRDS.”


Sir, —When in the July number of the Avicultural Magazine, in

response to the request of a correspondent, I gave the result of my

experience as to the liability of birds contracting certain forms of infectious

•disease, I particularly mentioned that I did not claim to be an authority on

the subject. And neither before nor since that date have I communicated

either directly or indirectly with Cage Birds on the subject.


If there happens to be any doubt as to the possibility of either large

or small birds contracting such a disease as consumption, then, the matter

can only be settled by a commission of bacteriological experts and not by

that single, self-constituted expert of Bird Notes, the hysterical and

offensive ebullitions from whose pen are not deserving of any further notice

at my hands. James George Myran.


[This discussion is now closed.—E d.]



THE GOULDIAN AND SCARLET-HEADED FINCHES.


Sir, —In the Dichotomous Key to the Birds of Australia, which has

just reached this country in the form of a supplement to the October

number of the Emu, I find some curious statements. Allow me to refer to

one, which is a trifle startling.


At page 35 we have the entry of the Gouldian Finch, Poephila gouldice,

“ Forehead and face black.” Then comes a note, “This is the youthful

stage of the following species.” The “following species ” is the “ Scarlet-

headed Finch,” Poephila mirabilis, the bird which used to be called

the Beautiful Grassfincli, but is now commonly known by the careless

name of Red-headed Gouldian; this species, by the way, I was the first to

breed in this country.


The Key tells us, if there is any meaning in words, that the Black¬

headed Gouldian is the young of the Red-headed Gouldian, that P. gouldicz

is simply an immature P. mirabilis.


What is the “ youthful stage” of a Gouldian Finch, Red or Black?


The young of both are greenish birds, neither red nor black in

.colour.


Then they moult respectively (if good birds and properly treated)

into either Red-headed or Black-headed Gouldians.


In past years I have had numbers of both species ; and with me they

■(especially the males) have lived for long periods; but each bird, Red or

Black, male or female, has invariably moulted true to colour—a Black has

never moulted into a Red.



