Correspondence 163


CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, ETC.


RED-FACED LOVEBIRDS BREEDING. SILVER AND

GOLDEN PHEASANTS


In the April number of our Magazine which I have just received

there are two points on which I beg to comment.


1. You say that the Red-faced Lovebird ( Agapornis pullaria ) has

never been bred with full success in captivity. I am, however, sure

that this species has been bred with complete success in Germany

during the last three years. A short notice to this effect appeared

in the Gefiederte Welt; I have forgotten the breeder’s name, but

Mr. Karl Neunzig, the editor of the Gefiederte Welt can certainly confirm

my statement.


2. I am very glad to be able to contradict your statement about

the Silver and Golden Pheasant as to be nearly extinct (the Silver)

or very rare (the Golden) in the wild state.


Luckily, the Silver Pheasant is still abundant in the mountains

of South China (Fokien). I can get as many as I want from my bird-

dealer, although most of them arrive in a most miserable condition

in Shanghai. On the other hand, the insular form of the Silver, viz.

Euplocomus whiteheadi, which w^as discovered by Whitehead on the

island of Hainan, seems to be extinct. I made great efforts to obtain

this Pheasant but all in vain, and a very old resident of Hainan informs

me that he has seen none of this Pheasant during the last twelve years.

Of Goldens about 300 arrive every spring in our bird market and if

somebody would give an order he could easily obtain double the

quantity. They arrive from Itchang, each bird confined in a very

narrow bamboo basket in which they cannot stand upright and cannot

turn. In these baskets the poor birds have to remain for months and

ure shipped to Hong Kong, Singapore, and India. They are all of

exactly the same shades ; there is not the slightest difference in colour,

as we often find it in tame Goldens. Most of them are cocks. Last

year out of 280 I was only able to pick two hens.


Alex. Hampe.


[In his Handbook to the Game Birds, Ogilvie Grant writes :

4t According to Abbe Daird, the Silver Pheasant is becoming very rare



