i-4 The 'I'rditsfer of a Choice Collection. 
bivda together, iuul moreover, had the favour of having 
each ill turn phiced in a show cage so that I could see the detail 
to iny satisfaction. As a coloured plate is in course of prepara- 
tion for Bird Notes and in addition the bii-d has been desci'ihed 
by our esteemed editor, for the benetit of tliose who had not the 
good fortune to see it, I forbear to (lescril)e tlie male bird, but as 
the female has not been described in our magazine that I know of, 
I may give it a few words. The general size ami shape are about 
the same as those of the male, that is, somewhat those of a Starling, 
but iicuvier, \ml she has none of the plumes or " furnishings " 
that characterist^ the male bird. General colour, nut brown, the 
lower surface l)eing nearly white and closely liarred with brown 
markings. The beak is the same bluish lilac as the male's and the 
feet also, but they are rather deeper in hue. 
When I was at Swindon (April 1st to 6th inclusive) the 
male Hunstein's Bird of Paradise had already begun his moult, 
and on the third day of my visit, he cast both his long laterally 
curleii tail wires. Nevertheless, I did not see any sign of his 
donning any plumage other than that we had seen him in at the 
Horticultural Hall and the Crystal Palace. The female bird did 
not seem to be moulting at this period at all. 
The near neighbour, under my host's roof, of the Hun- 
stein's Birds of Paradise, was a Goracias or Roller, from Celebes, a 
beautiful bird, which, when it opened its wings, bore a resem- 
blance to some beautiful tropical butterfly. This particular species 
resembles the Indian Roller, a coloured plate of which appeared 
in an early volume of BIRD NOTES, and like that beautiful species 
seems conscious of its beauty, and frequently, while I was study- 
ing its beautiful neighbours — the Birds of Paradise — showed its 
lovely light and deep blue primaries, by drooping its wings in the 
same way that I had seen the Indian species do. At my request, 
drawings were made which I hope may eventually appear in our 
magazine. To be seen to advantage, such a bird should have an 
open flight, and tlien, in bright sunlight, it would display its lovely 
colours while taking a sun bath. 
The unfortunate calamity which caused the death of the 
Black-winged Lory, left Mr. Millsum undaunted, and his series of 
Ijollen-eating birds was finer on the occasion of my last visit, than 
when I first saw them. When one knows that Mr. Pauvvel takes 
especial interest in Parrakeets, one does not wonder that Mr. Mill- 
