Chirps and 
Chatter. 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
(ii5) 
PIED BLACKBIRDS. 
There seems to be no doubt that, of all our birds 
the Blackbird is the most subject to' albinism. It 
is true that Sparrows showing white feathers are 
common in London, but it is doubtful if this applies 
generally. An interesting case was recorded recently 
in the “Field” in which a hen blackbird, nearly 
entirely white, was watched for some years. She 
found a mate, and bred, but presumably did not 
transmit her albinism, as nothing is said about her 
young being abnormally coloured. In the end she 
died of wounds received by a cat, but it is very 
creditable to the recorder of her history, that she 
was preserved and given a chance to live so long. 
CANARIES WITHOUT EGG. 
Now that the Canary-breeding season is upon us 
again, it may be of interest to mention that I tried 
in 1905 the no-egg system in rearing Canaries. A 
friend had entrusted his bird to me to keep while 
the family were away on a holiday, and I mated it 
up—in July this was—with a hen casually obtained. 
They bred, and reared three young out of five, the 
two youngest having been smothered in the nest. 
They had green food ad lib., especially flowering 
grass, which they particularly relished, and for soft 
fc-od only stale cake. At first I mixed ants’ eggs 
with this, but as they did not seem to be eaten, I 
discontinued their use. I should mention that the 
birds were in a long box-cage flight, nearly 5 ft. 
long, out of doors; under these conditions, of 
course, the particular diet is not of so much im¬ 
portance as it is for birds in small indoor cages. 
The young had green food as much as they liked 
after leaving the nest, and all throve. I parted with 
them, but have been able to follow the subsequent 
history of one. But this particular bird is either 
a singing hen or strangely lacking in virility, for 
last year it showed no wish to breed. 
THE WOOD WREN. 
Those interested in our British warblers will be 
pleased with our frontispiece, representing as it 
does that charming species, the Wood-Wren 
(Phylloscopus sibilatrix). This is the largest and 
least familiar of our three “Leaf-Warblers,” the 
other two being the Willow-Wren and Chiffchaff, 
the first so familiar from its abundance, and the 
second from its early, if not very musical note, 
which has given it its name. The Wood-Wren, in 
addition to being larger than either of its allies, has 
the longest wings of the three, this peculiar length 
of wing being well brought out in the picture. It 
has the same general habits as the other two, living 
in trees and feeding on insects, but differs in some 
details; it more often takes its prey on the wing, is 
more confined to woods, and does not line its nest 
with feathers, as do the other two. The eggs also 
differ, being thickly spotted like the Willow- 
Wren’s, but with a darker shade, thus recalling the 
Chiffchaff’s. Of course this bird, like the Willow- 
Wren, is not really a Wren at all, any more than 
the Goldcrest is; the name used to be applied to 
several small soft-bills. 
THE TERROR OF THE OWL. 
The case mentioned in Mr. Steward’s article this 
week, of the destruction of a Sparrow-hawk by a 
Tawny Owl, gives us some insight into the reason 
why Hawks detest Owls so much. One would have 
thought that such formidably-armed birds had 
nothing to fear from these night-prowlers, but it 
is evident that not even the Hawks are safe when 
night gives their nocturnal rivals the advantage. A 
similar case occurred in America some years ago, 
when someone amused himself by trapping various 
birds of prey in the winter and confining them in a 
large barn. Among these was a Virginian Eagle- 
Owl ( Bubo Virginianus) , and as their unfeeling 
captor neglected to supply his victims with suf¬ 
ficient food, the owl devoured his fellow prisoners, 
the hawks, one by one, until one bird was intro¬ 
duced which mastered and consumed him in his 
turn. 
THE AUSTRALIAN SHELDRAKE. 
I see that the Honourable Rose Hubbard, who is 
preparing a new edition of her valuable work on 
ornamental waterfowl, is asking about rare water- 
fowl which have been imported of recent years, 
and especially about this species (Casarca 
tadornoides). A few years ago a very large importa¬ 
tion—I heard about 100 pairs—of this hitherto rare 
duck arrived, and many must have got into private 
hands. As many as five pairs were on view to¬ 
gether on the Regent’s Park water, and the Zoo had 
several pairs as well. None bred, so far as I know, 
though I believe eggs were got at the Zoo. A draw¬ 
ing of an escaped specimen was once submitted to 
me for identification, and no 1 doubt the species was 
disseminated far and wide among waterfowl ama¬ 
teurs. This class of aviculturists, however, very 
seldom put their experiences on record, so that it is 
very hard to get information about waterfowl. 
A PLEA FOR THE PEKIN. 
The Rev. H. D. Astley has recently been remon¬ 
strating against the practice of importing that 
charming bird, the Pekin Robin ( Liothrix luteus) 
wholesale, as has been done of late. There is no 
doubt that many of these birds come over only to 
perish, for they do not do well crowded together in 
store cages and fed on such meagre diet as crushed 
hemp-seed and bread-crumbs—this being the way 
in which they are too often treated in the trade. 
Aviculturists certainly ought to combine and do 
something to have the bird traffic regulated, as the 
abuses that exist at present give every excuse for 
outcries against it. With regard to the Pekin, al¬ 
though the recent attempts to establish it in the 
London parks seems to have had no result—at any 
rate, the birds were not seen after autumn—I hear 
that in the Thames Valley some birds liberated last 
year have continued to haunt the locality where 
they were released, and are, or recently were, still 
there. 
THE PERFECT PEACOCK. 
Most people would say there are two pre-eminent 
drawbacks to the common Peacock as an ornamental 
bird—the atrocious noise he makes and the dowdi¬ 
ness of his mate, who although refined and ladylike 
in her demeanour, is not worth her keep as an object 
of beauty. Neither of these drawbacks exists in the 
Javan bird, in which the hen is as beautiful as the 
cock, except that she has not the train; and the 
cock’s call is a comparatively suppressed cry in 
several syllables, very unlike the weird cat-call of 
the ordinary Peacock, and not at all obtrusive. It 
must be admitted, however, that the Javan Pea¬ 
cock’s bronze-green neck does not compare favour¬ 
ably with the refulgent blue of our old friend, and 
his temper is terribly bad during the breeding 
season, when he will make most treacherous and 
unpleasant attacks on people. 
