Correspondence



329



research ? Has the bird life in the Pacific in any way benefited or the general

public at large ? I would say definitely not. The best way to get to know

something about the bird life of a country is to make a study of the birds in

their native habitat and not collect a large series of skins which in fifty years

or so will want renewing. Is the taking of a large number of skins to be

justified because the authorities have been to a big expense ? Surely that

is a very weak argument. If, finally, the expedition is to work for many more

years, as they say they are going to, in the Pacific, all I can say is—

Heaven he]p the birds ! Sydney Porter.


ORINOCO GOOSE BRED AT KNOWSLEY

In Gleanings from the Knowsley Menagerie , J. E. Gray, 1846, there is a

record of the breeding of this Goose; eight young reared in 1844. The

account (text to pi. xv) is based on Lord Derby’s notes and begins, “ this

Goose breeds freely at Knowsley,” but the 1844 success is the only occasion

on which the young were fully reared. E. Hopkinson.



ORANGE WEAVER AT LIBERTY


I think perhaps the following account of an Orange Bishop may be of

interest to those who love birds. I have had this bird for eight years. He

used to be kept in an outdoor aviary with a pair of old Budgerigars, but as

he grew older his temper, always spiteful, became worse, and at last I had to

put him in a cage by himself, as he stood over the seed hoppers and would

not allow the Budgerigars to feed. His cage is in a verandah, with a door

to the garden, which is open by day and closed at night. One day he got

out of the cage and was sitting on the top with the verandah door wide open.

I did not shut him up and a day or two later he flew on to a tree outside,

where he sat all day, coming back to feed and to go into his cage at night.

He now flies out every morning when the door is opened, coming back to feed

and in the evening he goes into his cage to sleep.


His favourite haunt is among the raspberry canes. These are in a wire

enclosure, but he has found a way in, but cannot always get out, so in the

evening I go and let him out, and he flies straight home, and I then give

him a mealworm of which he is very fond and knows directly I lift up the

box in which they are kept.


He is now a gorgeous colour, and is very conspicuous flying about the

garden, but he appreciates his freedom, and is not becoming wild, and is quite

able to defend himself against other birds whom he chases if they come near.


One thing I have noticed, we have been having heavy thunder showers,

and he always comes into the verandah just before one begins.


A. C. Edwards.



REARING LUTINO RING-NECKED PARRAKEETS

I have been trying to breed lutino Ring-necks (Psittacula krameri) for

eight years, but have only just succeeded in rearing two. Of course I have

had quite a lot of yellow-bred ones here, and some of these were mated to

lutinos. In an aviary, where I generally turn out a lot of young birds before

I am able to sex them, I had two wild-caught lutinos and five green yellow-

bred birds—all living happily together. Not one of the seven birds in this

aviary showed any signs of a collar, so I did not know if there was a cock

bird among them. To my surprise I looked into the nest-box one day in



