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J. Delacour—American Aviculture



Australian Parrakeets, including Brown’s and Pileated, of Conures,

Lories, Macaws, and Cockatoos, and a few others. There is a beautiful

tame Masked Parrakeet from Fiji, hybrid Edward’s X Blue Mountain

Lories, and also a few Game birds, among them some Masked Bob-

whites (Colinus ridgwayi ), from Texas, a rare species.


Farther away from the city, on a picturesque and rugged hill,

Mrs. E. M. Bobinson, an artist and animal lover, who lived many years

in France, has large and fine aviaries inhabited by Tragopans, other rare

Pheasants, and various birds.


In the San Fernando Valley, near Fillmore, two of the best

Californian collections can be seen. Mr. F. H. Budkin, who left England

some twenty years ago, possesses a number of aviaries, some of them

very roomy and high, and planted with tall orange and other trees.

He keeps a beautiful selection of Parrakeets, Finches, and other birds,

and he breeds them most successfully ; for instance, I saw over fifty

young Gouldians. There are, among other rarities, several Pileated

Parrakeets and blue Masked Lovebirds, the latter produced suddenly

by his normally coloured birds during the last breeding season. Mr.

Budkin loves his birds, which are all tame and seem to know

him well.


'Not far from Mr. Budkin’s ranch, Mr. and Mrs. Keith Spalding

own a unique collection on their large estate of “ Bancho Sespe ”.

Nearly all the aviaries I have been mentioning in South California

are situated in towns or their suburbs, in small gardens, and, therefore,

form very compact blocks. At Bancho Sespe, in the open country,

they have been built on a larger scale, and remind one, more than

others, of those of our European parks. There is, not far from the house,

an enclosure with many pens and aviaries. A delightful little herd of

exceedingly tame little Beeve’s Muntjacs, as well as many Game birds,

run round the pens and beg for food in a very amusing way. In the

pens live rare Pheasants and Peacocks, Curassows, Cranes, etc., as well

as many small birds, Doves, and Parrakeets. The whole aspect is very

pleasing, the aviaries being well kept and attractive. A very bright

Bed-shining Parrakeet, from Fiji, attracted my attention, among

many other rarities. A long distance away, and higher up on the

slope of the hill, there is a very large Wader aviary and a Game farm,



