116



Correspondence , Notes , etc.



WHAT TANAGER?


What is a small Tanager I bought in Genoa the other clay ? The size

of a Superb Tanager but slimmer, blue crown, ami Venetian-red cheeks and

nape; body, &c., green. Hubert D. Asttey.


The following reply has been sent to Mr. Astley:


I should think there can be little doubt that your bird is the Festive

Tanager (Calliste Jestiva) : the lesser wing-coverts are said to have a slight

orange bar across the tips which you do not mention, but your bird may be

a female, which is a little duller in colouring than the male.


A. G. Buteer.



REARING YOUNG SAFFRON- AND RIBBON-FINCHES.


The following reply has been sent to a Correspondent in reply to a query:


I have always found the best food for Saffron-finches when breeding

to be crumb of stale household bread 2 parts, crushed sweet biscuit 1 part,

yolk of egg and ants’ eggs, of each 1 part, slightly damped.


I reared Ribbon-finches (Cutthroats) without trouble upon Abrahams’

Insectivorous bird-food without any admixture: they threw one young one

out of nests which contained uneven numbers; but probably these were

dead before they were removed. A. G. BUTTER.



THE GREY-WINGED OUZEL: COVERING SINGING BIRDS:


THE CALCUTTA ZOO.


Sik,—I was very interested to see * that a Grey-winged Ouzel had

been imported safely to this country. I know these birds well in Kashmir,

where they breed almost on the snow-line. I bought one in Srinagar,

paying nearly the equivalent of a sovereign for it, a large price, but it is

extremely difficult to get natives to part with a good singing-bird or a

talking Mynah.


The bird I bought was in a small dome-shaped wicker cage, covered up

with a cloth, and sang beautifully. Nearly everything is done by Easterns

the opposite way to Europeans. Here we cover a cage to stop a bird sing¬

ing, there they uncover the cage to stop singing. Later on, however, I put

the bird in a large cage which was never covered, and he sang beautifully.

I took him to India from Kashmir; and during the lovely “winter” in the

North West Provinces, which is warmer than any days we have had this

summer in England, the bird never sang a note and seemed to feel the cold.

I took him to Calcutta when we went there, and during the hot weather—

and it was desperately 7 hot—the bird sang without ceasing from 5 a.in. till

6 p.m.


The native who had him before me fed him entirely on sattoo, which



See p. 57.



