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.VAT [/RE NOTES 
gently raising one of my fingers, but the slightest movement frightens him away. 
If he is not on his usual perch when I go out, the cry, “ Where is my robin? ” 
generally brings him to me. If I have forgotten to provide myself with crumbs 
I am reminded of what is expected of me by' a loud chirp, which puls the question 
as plainly as words could do, “ Why have you not brought breakfast ? ” This 
free and easy footing, however, only occurs at the present season of the year, for 
in summer he refuses to own the acquaintance. The frostier the weather, the 
more ready he is to come. .A. few mornings since we had eight degrees of frost, 
and I was sure he would not be far off. He lighted upon my hand the moment 
it was held out, looking at me gratefully with his wild blight eye. It is sometimes 
difficult to distinguish the cock and the hen robin from each other. But the hen 
bird is the smaller of the two, and the red patch on her breast is less vivid than 
that of her mate (compare Yarrell, i. 262). I should have mentioned that this is 
the second year that the robin has fraternised with me. 
Keithhall Manse, Aberdeenshire, dShovember 14, 1900. J. D. 
Robins. — On pages 217-218 of N.\ture Xotes for November last 
“ C. E. C.” gave an interesting account of some remarkably tame robins. As 
your correspondent says he understood, hen robins have red breasts, but the 
colour is of a duller hue than in the male robin. Butler says that “nestlings 
have all the smaller feathers of the upper and under surfaces spotted in the centre 
with buff and tipped with blackish, but birds of the year differ but little from 
their parents, excepting that their colours are a little paler.” Robins are very 
quarrelsome birds, and only a fortnight ago I heard a noise in our garden and 
discovered a pair of robins fighting. By the time I got on the spot the fight was 
ended, one of the combatants having his eye pecked out and bleeding profusely, 
but when I tried to pick him up he had just strength enough to flutter away 
amongst some laburnums, where I lost him. 
Penzance, November 8, 1900. Arthur W. Hext Harvey. 
Parroquets. — In your last issue Mr. S. G. Edwards asked whether it is 
possible for some parroquets which he saw in Hampstead Lane to breed and 
survive a winter in this climate. I do not know about the breeding, but I think 
they might survive the winter. A neighbour of mine orce had a large aviary, 
which was composed principally, I believe, of foreign birds. One day, in disgust, 
as they were fighting so much, he opened the door of the aviary and turned all 
the birds out, and for some years afterwards we constantly .saw some very 
brilliantly-coloured birds about the neighbourhood. I am afraid of one thing 
about Mr. Edward’s parroquets, and that is that some young and enterprising 
ornithologist, with more enthusiasm than common sense, will see the birds in 
question and wish to include them in the list of British birds, which is already 
inordinately swollen by so-called “visitants,” in very much the same manner as 
if Mr. Kruger came to England and got shot (as he probably would), and was 
claimed as a “ British subject ” because he was killed on British soil. 
Penzance. Arthur W. Hext Harvey. 
In reply to Mr. S. G. Edwards’ query “Is it possible for these birds to breed 
and survive a winter in this climate?” in his communication on parroquets in 
the current issue of Nature Notes, I presume the birds he saw were some kind 
of Australian parrakeets. The grey-headed lovebird, Australian budgrigar, the 
ccckateel, and many other well-known Australian and Brazilian species would 
breed and survive our winters and soon become very numerous, for they are in 
fact as hardy as Passer domesticus ; if they could only be protected for a season 
or two from guns and cats. Erom the cats they would soon learn to protect 
themselves, against the gun they are helpless. It seems as if, when the average 
Englishman sees a rare or strange bird or other creature, he must go and shoot it. 
As to w’hether they would be a desirable acquisition to our avifauna is quite 
another matter: I am afraid not. Many parrakeets have been kept in garden 
aviaries, exposed to our weather all the year round, and under such conditions 
have regularly reared young. If you think it would be of any interest to readers, 
I shall Ire pleased to supply a list of the same in a future issue. 
6, Pyletl Crescent, Wesley T. Page, F.Z.S. 
ShephercP s Bush, IV. 
[Please do so. — E d. .(V.A^.] 
