70 
Aitoiipis at Hrccdnig Albinos. 
1 find 1 have omitted to mention in their proper sequence 
a pair of Jardine's Babblers (Cratcropus jordinii). a rare and 
beautiful species. 
In one ot the siltinL;-roonis was a caj^e containing a 
beautiful specimen of the chastely coloured Uueen Alexandra 
Parrakeet {Spathoptcrns alexandrae). A finger tame individual 
and allowed spells of liberty about the room. 
This comjjleted our round of the collection, one of which 
Mrs. Btu-gess may well be proud. 
My remarks on the various colour forms of Budgerigars 
and the rarer species in the collection I must hold over for 
another instalment. 
{To he co)icliidcd). 
^^f>^ 
Attempts at Breeding Albinos. 
By a. H. Scott. 
Several years ago I promised ottr editor to write an 
account of my experiments in breeding Albinos. As circum- 
st;aices now compel me to give them up for the present, I will 
(k scribe the (very small) results obtained. 
With sparrows alone did I obtain even a small success. 
A writer in B.N. recently referred to the sparrow as an " avian 
rat:" ])ut this is scarcely fair. 
The rat is an evil, tigly, scurvy, nialodorous animal, an 
animal with cold feet and a cold tail, louse-infested, disease- 
spreading, egg-stealing, bird-murdering, obscene. There is 
no ode to rats, only a poem describing" how they ate up Bishop 
Hatto and other abominations. 
But the sparrow is friendly, cheerful, and fairly clean; 
puts us not to shame by stiperior domestic virtue, yet takes a 
fair share of his wife's work. He has ever been a companion 
to prisoners, a consoler of lonely spinsters; and was beloved by 
Lesbia, and celebrated by Catullus in poetry not high-falutin' 
perhaps, nor ecstatic, but destined to last as long as any verses 
