on the Origin of Be?igalese. 185


general, most people know that a Bengalee takes some catching

if the net has to be used. My bought birds, probably imported

from China, were certainly spry on the wing.


I see that Captain Flower has found a record of Uroloncha

acuticauda being common in S.E. China, and that apparently

there is no record of U. striata being found in China at all. Still,

as he points out, information is scanty, and also there is no

reason why Bengalese should not have been produced from some

imported species. I take it for granted that the Bengalee was

produced in China or Japan in spite of the name. I do not think

the native of this country (India) is capable of doing a thing like

this, or why does he not produce Lutinos of certain parrakeets,

which he now obtains more or less by chance from the nests of

wild birds. In my opinion the credit is due to Japan, as they are

called Japani Mtinias by the dealers here. Certainly this name is

also given to striata and acuticauda, but, when pressed, the dealer

will confess that it is done for base trade purposes. The German

name also credits Japan.


As to colour of parents and young, my results are as fol-

lows. I have never had any white ones, and I have not tried two

chocolates together. Two fawn produce a predominance of fawn

with a few chocolate. Two pairs after hard breeding work pro-

duced all fawn with very little white, two of the young had

practically none. So, if the theory of throwing back when

exhausted by breeding too often is correct, fawn ancestry might

be looked for. Chocolate and fawn, as might be expected, pro-

duce both fawn and chocolate, the latter colour rather pre-

dominating. The nearest to white young that I have raised came

from a chocolate and fawn pair. This same pair produced two of

the wild type, and their white-chocolate son was father of the

third also by a fawn hen. The nearly white young produced

progeny less white than themselves.


I think Domestica an excellent name, but naming the

varieties appears unnecessary as the Bengalee is as much manu-

factured as the Canary. And, if ever there should be a chocolate

fawn and white one, how would it be named ? By the way, how

is it that this does not occur ? I believe it is the same with mlee^



