264 Dr. A. G. Butler,


to the shop, is offered at a price so high as to be practically-

prohibitive to any man of moderate means.


In Germany many birds are received which never rind

their way into the London bird-market ; the dealers hear of them

from travellers as common cage-birds in their native land and

they take some trouble to get consignments sent over : it is true

that, in some cases, they do not receive many specimens of a

species, because they cannot afford to send a man over to purchase

and bring them back ; but they not iufrequentl)^ get a few pairs of

species which are never seen in our bird-shops and have never

even been exhibited at our London Zoological Gardens.


To be successful as an importer of cage-birds, it is of course

best to adopt Mr. Hamlyn's plan ; to visit foreign countries and

personally superintend the catching or purchasing of the birds

and their transmission to this country ; and I am not sure that it

would not pay any dealer who could get his business attended to

during his absences, to adopt this plan : I am quite sure that it

would commend itself to aviculturists, and to all who have bene-

fited by a study of living birds.


Of the numerous pets among the natives of many lands,

most of them as easily obtainable as our English Thrush and

Blackbird, how many ever gladden our hearts ? Take the true

Thrushes as a sample : — Up to the present time probably about a

dozen foreign species have been imported into Europe, mostly in

single specimens perchance brought over by some traveller who

wanted something to amuse him during his homeward journey ;

yet all these in their own country are abundant species, frequently

hand-reared and caged by the natives : the same is true of other

birds ; five or six Blackbirds have been imported, mostly charm-

ing singers and with everything to recommend them to the bird-

lover; but, excepting for the Grey- winged Ouzel, which Mr.

Harper was enterprising enough to hand-rear and distribute

among our members, we know very little about them. Just fancy

what a pleasure it would be for any of us to put up a pair of the

gigantic Chinese Blackbird (Merula mandarina) for breeding in

one of our outdoor aviaries ! It is a very common species, breeds

near human habitations, is freely hand-reared and caged by the

natives and would be as easy to import as our British species, yet



