88



Correspondence



The head, is, on the whole, more Blue than Green, and the mask is

white, though there are a few yellow feathers among the white on

the right (the green) side. The remarkable feature about this bird

is the very regular division of the blue and white feathers on the

left side of the bird from the yellow and green on the right side. This

division runs down the very centre of the back from the mask to the

tail and a ruler might have been used to define it, so straight and regular

is it even on the rump. One wing is the typical blue and white, the

other the typical green and yellow. The dividing line on the breast is

not so regular and straight, but, even so, there is not a blue feather on

the left or a green one on the right after allowing about a quarter of an

inch for the mixed feathers in the centre of the breast. The under tail

feathers too, when spread out, are perfectly divided, the blue and

white of the Blue Budgie on the left and the green and yellow on the

right side.


The bird is about six months old and has completed the head moult,

I should judge from the “ mealy ” appearance of the wings (both the

blue and the green) that these are still the nest plumage.


The bird was bred by a friend of mine from a Blue mated to a

Green-Blue. It appears to be perfectly healthy and was bred and

wintered in a very exposed outdoor aviary. The left foot is deformed,

and the bird is on the small side, but not smaller than most of this

breeder’s birds. It is a male.


I believe I read an account of a similar bird (or was it a Love Bird ?)

being bred at the Gardens. Is this one still in existence ? I took mine

to Primley Zoo this morning, Mr. Whitley was not there, but Miss

Salter was most interested in it.


I am sorry I did not hear of this freak before the Palace Show,

it would have been a near rival of your beautiful Blue Love Birds !


Percy Newman.


[A Budgerigar similar to the one described was exhibited at the

Crystal Palace a few years ago and was afterwards purchased by Lord

Rothschild and deposited for a time in the Zoological Gardens. This

was a male that had been produced in Germany. A second example,

a female, was bred in France and sent to me when dead, though on

arrival it was too decomposed for anatomical examination. —Ed.]



