Editorial. 
the nest of my Yellow Seed-finch. This egg was duly hatched, 
but unfortunately the food supplied did not seem to suit the 
chick, and it died when about a week old. The buntin.L;- prove 1 
a good foster mother — would take mealworms almost from my 
hand, so it was all the more disappointing' that the young 
Seed-finch was not reared. 
Writing of this bird in \atal Hirds. Messrs. n ootlwanl 
say : 
" This is a very pretty Ihieli, 5.^ inciies in icn^tli. lis head is hl,iei<, 
"longitudinally striped with white; upper part of back and wing-coverts 
"rufous, lower part grey; wings brown, with a w..i.. ..mu; tail Ijrown, 
" external feathers broadly tipped wi^a white; beneatn bright yellow, tinged 
" with rufous on the breast. It frequents gardens and orchards, where it 
" is very useful in destroying insects. It is common on the coast of Natal 
" and in the thorn belt of the Umhlatuse, where we foun^. its nest. This 
" was built in the fork of a small tree, loosely constructed of coarse grass 
" and lined with a few roots: eggs three, white, irrregularly marked with 
" black lines and spotted with black, forming a ring at one end." 
" We once took a young l)ird from a nest, and [Hit it into a cage, 
" when the parent birds continued to feed it for some time, bringing it 
" grasshoppers, etc. Unfortunately a long grass-snake iiad taken up .ts 
" quarters in the tree where the cage was hung, and one day it seized the 
" poor bird between the bars and killed it. The bird does not sing, but 
" has a curious cry by which it is easily recognized.'' 

Editorial. 
_ A Retrospect : To review fully the past year in all its 
details would be largely to repeat retrospects of previous years, 
for it is surprising how the same faults, wants, etc., linger on 
through the years; F.B.C. is of age now. When shall we grow- 
out of them ? 
The present issue completes another volume, and it ccn- 
tains so much from your Editor's pen, that he hesitates to review 
it; still, there are one or two points which he can touch upon. 
This year we reach the goodly size of 300 pages, 34 half- 
tone plates and 36 text figures, exclusive of the green j^iage inset. 
So far as the writer is concerned the contents must be 
left to speak for themselves. 
There is one fault which may be mentioned (opinions niav 
