Correspondence, Notes, etc.


CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, ETC.



331



MELANISM IN GOULDIAN FINCHES.


Sir,—I n 1902 Dr. Butler wrote to The Ibis describing a very curiously

marked specimen of Gouldian Finch. At the present time there is a live

specimen at the Regent’s Park Zoo. very like the one he mentioned. The

keeper (Insect House) tells me it is one of five which arrived in October

last in their grey nestling plumage, and that it has quite recently moulted

into the present colouring. WiqrjAM Ingram.



Sir,—T he accompanying letter from Sir Win. Ingram, Bart., is I

think of interest. My bird only acquired its deep colouring gradually,

during the last three or four years of its life; but the specimen now at the

Zoo. has assumed it as its first adult plumage.


It seems possible that such excess of pigmentation may be due to

unusual vigour resulting from a succession of unrelated marriages in this

bird’s ancestry. A. G. BuTqER.


[Is it not more likely a result of high feeding and practically no

exercise ?—Ed.J


THE “LAUGHING OWL” OF NEW ZEALAND.


(,Sceloglaux albifacies).


Letter received by a member from a taxidermist in Dunedin, N. Z.


To get live Owls is a much rarer thing than you are aware of. A pair

were sold a few years ago to a gentleman in England for £100. The pair

I have could not be sold under ^50. This bird is rapidly becoming extinct,

as the country is getting settled very fast. It cannot stand being disturbed,

and its food, rats, mice, etc. are getting scarce since stoats and weasels were

introduced. All the sheep farmers set fire to the native tussock grass, then

the ferrets, stoats, and weasels do the rest.


These birds have been in confinement for about five years, and have

laid each year. They were taken from the nest and are so tame that they

will allow themselves to be stroked, although they seem not to care for

such attentions. They are fed on steak, sheep’s heart, or any meat not too

tough. In all cases I chop up the meat in small bits, and about twice

a-week I give a little bit of sheep’s liver and lung. I have tried them with

birds, rats, and mice, but if I put in the usual little dish of chopped meat they

will never touch the others. They will eat almost any kind of tender meat.

I give them fresh meat every evening, and a large pie-disli of water : they

are fond of bathing, and cannot do without it.


In the southern part of N. Z.they inhabit the wild rocky sides of hills

where there is plenty of frost and snow in winter; here there are many



