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Correspondence



and care for feathered pets. This early training should be of incalculable

benefit to the future of our hobby by enlarging the number of its adherents

and creating, through knowledge, a spirit of tolerance and inquiry.


For a start, will our members give this suggestion a trial, and in order

that the effectiveness of the scheme may be studied by the Council of the

Society, may I make a further suggestion that for the present this scheme

be tried in a few schools only, and if proved successful then each aviculturist

supports the schools in his own district.


Our members have the valuable material to form the nucleus of the

collection, and it is up to us to make the best use of same.


C. B. Scott.


[An excellent suggestion, but there are few who can mount the skins really

well, and a badly mounted specimen is almost worse than none at all.— Ed.]



STOCK DOVE x DOMESTIC PIGEON HYBRIDS


I bred Stock Dove x Domestic Pigeon hybrids this year, using a cock

Scottish Blue Pigeon (nearest to Blue Rock with almost \ in. black bars).

The first pair were starved as the perch fell down from the hole where the hen

' nested. Of the second pair, one disappeared, the old Pigeon went ill, and

the hen reared the youngster, but it was faulty on its legs, so I killed it. The

Stock Dove wing pattern is absolutely dominant, and the two broad bars,

so characteristic of the male parent, are non-existent, quite contrary to

expectations.


I hope to try it with a “ checker ” next year. The hen is quite a good

bird (Stock Doves and Wood Pigeons, i.e. true wild Quests, hand-reared, go

absolutely mad unless kept tame and in fairly closed places for about six

to eight months). A friend tells me he has put a number of Stock Dove and

Quests’ eggs under his racers, and the young rarely survive ten days. Probably

these young Pigeons require the food of the “ wild ” for ready development.


A. Silver.



THE AMERICAN WHITNEY EXPEDITION


I am relieved to hear that the collecting methods of the Whitney

Expedition were less destructive than I had been led to believe. Possibly

our member who gave me the information may have something to say in

reply, particularly in regard to alleged collecting on islands for which permits

had been refused.


I must say I still think that the number of Masked Parrakeets taken was

unnecessary and excessive.


In regard to obtaining material for museums from birds bred in captivity,

it is a common error of ornithologists who are not aviculturists to suppose

that birds reared in confinement at once show such aberrations and

abnormalities as to render them useless for purposes of scientific study. As

a matter of fact, it takes several generations of captivity breeding before the

slightest variation from the wild type begins, and an immensely long period

before the original type is swamped and lost by the domestic variations.


Tavistock.



