Correspondence



295



I did manage to reach home safely with some of them, though not all.

I have now two lovely Tanagers I bought from this man—both are

the size of Blackbirds—one the colour of Eton blue and the other a

darkish shade of green. He caught me lots more but these are the only

survivors of the Tanagers he got me. He is absolutely honest, and

an absolute topper to deal with, and can speak English. I gave him

an order for £5 worth of birds, and the market value of them in this

country is prohibitive, but if you can get them home, in the spring,

and have a nice warm sheltered aviary, it is well worth having a shot

at it. I should like to add that if any of your members are out in

Para, then they will see how to keep birds in an aviary in ideal

conditions, and the birds are unique. I should like also to add this,

that the Booth Line took infinite pains to look after these birds for

me, although I became very downhearted when they began to die for

some unforeseen reason although, as I have said before, I did manage to-

bring back a certain number, which have all done well in my aviary

this year.


Evelyn H. Barclay.



SEXING YOUNG KING PARBAKEETS


I notice that young King Parrakeets can be sexed quite easily

within a few weeks of leaving the nest as the bills of the females quickly

darken while those of the males are of a yellowish colour. Young hens

are also more slender than their brothers, with smaller heads, and they

have much less red on the abdomen and lower breast.


Does anyone know how to sex immature Crimson-wings ? I must

confess they beat me entirely ! Tavistock.



“ SENEGAL FINCHES”


The following quotation from Labat’s Nouvelle Relation de VAfrique

occidentale is of interest for its record of an early importation of

“ Senegals


Here in an account of Sieur Brue’s expedition up the Senegal Kiver

(then known as the Niger) the author calls to account as “ grievously

mistaken” a Monsieur de la Courbe because he wrote in his Journal



