Foreign Birds at Woburn.



329



the other, which is a cock bird, cannot complete its change to

the adult plumage before about the middle of the present month

(August) ; it is a well-marked P. mirabilis , far better marked than

its mother was. I have not the least doubt that, if this pair were

to go to nest together, they would produce a majority of young

of the Red-lieaded variety ; the male, though bred from a Black¬

headed father and an ill-defined Red-headed mother, being a

typical P. mirabilis, and the female, though of the P. gouldicz

type, having red blood in her veins, would certainly tend to

throw red- rather than black-headed young.


Last February I purchased the finest pair of P. mirabilis

that I ever saw, the female showing as much red on the face as

the male ; from these I had hoped to breed strong birds this year

with which to experiment further ; but just as I was deciding

that the weather was becoming mild enough to turn them out,

first the hen and then the cock died within three days ; I there¬

fore had to turn out last year’s parent birds with a second hen

which had been given to me : I heard young in two nests a month

ago, but it is wearisome work waiting for them to fly, and if it

were not that both hens still visit the nests I should imagine that

all the 3^oung had died.


So far, I think my belief that the Red-headed variety of

this species is a mutation from the Black-headed variety is

justified. It would be interesting to experiment with the more

delicate yellow-headed (P. armitiana) phase of P. mirabilis with

a view to establishing it as a race, but I have never yet seen a

specimen of this sport.



FOREIGN BIRDS AT WOBURN.



Mr. Gibbons enquires whether Zebra Finches have ever

been turned out in Devon and Cornwall. I am not aware of

their having been turned out in these counties, but on two

occasions we have turned out large numbers at Woburn, also

Budgerigars, Pekin Nightingales, Saffron Finches, Tonkin

Buntings (?so called by Cross of Liverpool) and many kinds

of doves and pigeons. I believe that some of the Pekin



