Correspondence , Notes, etc.



143



Price obtained.


Four Doves in cage .. 7 /-•


Pair of Spicebirds and cage .. 12/-.


Pair of Crossbills and ditto .. n/-.


Ditto and ditto .. 11/"


Virginian Nightingale and cage .. . 19/-.


Ditto and ditto .. 23/-.



NOTES ON PARRAKEETS.


Sir,—I see Mr. Catleugli’s experience with a hen Budgerigar trying

to kill her mate.


Many years ago a hen Budgerigar I had did precisely the same thing,

and, if I recollect, tried to murder the young, too. It caused me to give up

breeding them, for I could not say when the avicidal mania might come on,

and I could not be always watching them.


I recollect that with the first pair of Blossom-heads I had, the

husband was always dreadfully hen-pecked until the breeding season came

on, then he asserted his authority, and kept his wife in order.


In Mrs. Johnstone’s interesting communication about breeding the

Rock-Pebblers, she talks of the inability of the King Parrot to stand

cold. My experience is that the King Parrot is more impatient of the

atmosphere of a room than that of cold. I11 fact all the Broad-tails seem

to me fairly indifferent to cold, but then I have never kept the northern

forms.


The endurance of cold by Parrots is a rather interesting subject: it

seems to be settled by species rather than by habitat. No doubt a large

number of species of Parrots could stand our climate if they had perfect

liberty.


F. G. Dutton.



A GOOD HEATING APPARATUS FOR BIRDROOMS, ETC.


One of the best and simplest forms of heating apparatus for small

aviaries or birdrooms that we have seen was that exhibited by Mr. J.

Dewliurst, of 52 Northern! Road, West Kensington, at the recent Crystal

Palace Bird Show. It consisted of wrought iron flow and return pipes,

connected to a small conical copper boiler which is heated with a Bunsen

gas burner. The boiler has a casing of iron or copper, from the top of

which a small pipe carries off the fumes. There is no heating so good as

that of hot-water pipes, and Mr. Dewhurst’s apparatus is the simplest form

of the application of this system that we have seen, and one of our

members who has tried it informs us that it is perfectly efficient. It can be

fitted in any room in a few minutes. The price is £2 10s. with zinc tank

and iron boiler casing, or ^3 with the same in copper.



