Impressions of the 
Palace Show. 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
(9i) 
Impressions of the Palace Show. 
By FRANK FINN, B.A., F.Z.S. 
The great Avicultural Exhibition at Sydenham, 
an event always so eagerly looked forward to, 
still sustains its interest, and large and merry 
was the gathering that thronged the show en¬ 
closure on Saturday afternoon as I strolled 
round to gather impressions. Canaries were in 
great force and form, and the loud voices of the 
British exhibition birds filled the room, contrast¬ 
ing vividly with the suppressed—I almost fancied 
depressed—and long-drawn trilling of their 
German rivals in the small concert-room set apart 
for their use. Charming as is the ordinary 
German, there is something about the trained 
professional which rather reminds one of the 
musical-box. 
The mules or hybrids made a very fine show in 
themselves; it was pleasant to see the beautiful 
Goldie-Bullie hybrid well represented again, to 
say nothing of the Canary-Bullie, voted “ impos¬ 
sible ” not so very long ago. A bird which 
purported to be a Redpoll-Greenfinch caused a 
good deal of comment, as it did not show any 
trace of either of these species, but looked as if 
the Brambling and Chaffinch were accountable 
for its origin. 
Freaks in Feather. 
The rare-feathered class contained some truly 
interesting birds, notably the first prize winner, 
a lovely white Bullfinch, which well deserved his 
position. A great peculiarity of this bird was 
that it showed a delicate pink colour, not only on 
the breast, where this might have been expected, 
but also on the crown, where it was certainly 
rather unaccountable; the effect, however, was 
singularly pretty. A beautiful Goldfinch shown 
in this class was one in which the nut-brown parts 
of the normal bird’s plumage were replaced by a 
pale ashy-grey shade, giving a very charming 
effect, as the rest of the plumage was normal. 
This is surely a very rare variation; but one 
prominent British bird fancier present told me 
he had had three similar ones this season, so there 
must be more about. A cinnamon Hedge- 
Sparrow was also a remarkable exhibit. 
Meadow Buntings to the Fore. 
There seems to have been a very strong migra¬ 
tion (?) of Meadow-Buntings here of late, since no 
less than five were shown in the “ British ” class ! 
Among the softbills some very good Nightingales 
and Blackcaps were noticeable; one of the former 
did his best to oblige with a song, but his efforts, 
though well-meant, must have been disappoint¬ 
ing to people who looked to him for their first 
idea of the famous songster, for he seemed to 
be a hand-reared bird, with no knowledge of the 
characteristic and beautiful notes of his species. 
One of the Blackcaps was shown in a cage which 
was a triumph of avicultural upholstery, being 
lined with green plush, the perches covered with 
the same; it certainly had a good effect, and 
showed up the bird well. 
A Dearth of Rarities. 
There was not a very remarkable show of the 
more out-of-the-way British birds; no Wood¬ 
peckers, though some nice Nuthatches and Tree- 
Creepers were shown; no common Wrens, 
though there were a lovely Gold-crest and three 
Bearded Tits, including a fine three-year-old 
hand-reared specimen. A Great Grey Shrike was, 
however, a very noticeable exhibit, and well de¬ 
served the first he got. 
Among the Foreign Bullfinches one Russian 
is credited with being a “ beautiful piper ”; an 
interesting note, because these big fellows are 
said generally to lack musical ability. The 
British classes no doubt suffered a good deal in 
interest by the absence of many of Mr. Maxwell’s 
birds, which would presumably have made their 
appearance had it not been for their recent sad 
fate in the lamentable fire on that gentleman’s 
premises. His beautiful Magpie, one of the few 
survivors, did, however, turn up, and got a third. 
A Slack Section. 
The Foreign Bird Classes were somewhat de¬ 
ficient in interest. The foreign bird fancy is, 
it seems to me, only half alive; for one thing, 
exhibitors have in many cases very little idea 
how to stage their birds. The cages are in too 
many cases a very scratch lot; often a bird was 
shown in what was apparently its living-cage, 
at any rate, an absurdly large one to send it to 
a show in, involving much unnecessary expense. 
Then, far too many of the cages are open, and 
some birds were sent in in a condition that one 
would have thought anyone would know pre¬ 
cluded them from any chance of winning. How 
a common bird can be well sent out was shown in 
the case of a fine Pekin Robin, a well-known 
winner, of large size and rich colour—he presum¬ 
ably owed some of this to colour-feed, as the 
bronze tinge of his head showed—which was so 
steady that he freely sang when the call-note of 
the species was whistled to him. Classes for 
common birds like this, Budgerigars, Javas, etc., 
are what are needed to keep up the foreign bird 
fancy. There were some good varieties on view, 
however; notably a fine male of the black Bank- 
sian Cockatoo, besides a female of the species, 
which sex has been more familar of late. 
