IVESTS AXD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 483 



396.^ — T^NioPYoiA CASTANoTis, Gould. — (258) 

 CHESTNUT-EARED FINCH. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol, lii., pi. 87. 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xiii., p. 311. 

 Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Campbell : Southern .Science Record 

 (1883); North: Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 165 (1889). 



Gengrdphicnl Distrihutiun. — Australia in general. 



.Ve.s7. — Bottle-shaped; composed of grasses or gi'eyish flowering stalks 

 of a certain plant, with the majority of the heads facing towards the 

 entrance, and lined inside sparingly with fine, soft gi-asses and feathers. 

 Usually placed in a low thick bush or grass tussock. Dimensions about 

 10 inches in length by 15 inches in girth; entrance about 1 inch across. 

 Has been known to nest in a hollow log and undcnicath (adjoining) a 

 Hawk's nest. 



E;/!/--. — Clutch, four to seven, usually si.K ; oval, some elliptical in 

 shape ; texture of shell fine ; surface slightly glossy ; colour, white, with 

 a veiy faint bluish tinge. Dimensions in inches of a full clutch : 

 (1) ■63x-42, (2) -62 X -4,3, (3) -61 v -44, (4) 6 x -44, (5) -6 x -42, 

 (6) •6x-41. 



Ohxervutidns. — This active little species is probably the most widely 

 distributed of Australian Finches, but South Australia is one of its 

 strongholds. It is a sharp, active little chap, in a drab-coloiu^ed coat, 

 mth a lighter coloiucd stomach. Tliere is a conspicuous patch of 

 chestnut (from which it properly derives its vernacular name) about the 

 ears and sides of the face. The throat and chest are prettily pencilled 

 with fine black lines, while the chestnut flanks are adoi-ned with white 

 oval spots. The bill is blight chestnut, and eyes and feet somewhat 

 of the same colour. The bird is comparatively small, being barely 4 

 inches in total length. They may be seen duiing June, July, and 

 August in flocks up to fifty or sixty in number ; but sometimes there 

 are as many as two hundred in a company. They then pair off and 

 commence at once to build, laying towards the end of September and 

 during October. However, the majority lay during November, and the 

 breeding season continues till January or later according to the season. 



The Zebra Finch, as the Chestnut-eared species is more frequently 

 called, nests in the same localitv as the Spotted-sided Finch, preferring 

 prickly acacias wherein to build its nest, and, like the latter bird, the 

 Chestnut-eared vaiiety adds to and elongates the front of the nest as 

 the young block up the rear portion with excreta. The old nest also 

 serves for a home to roost in, for sometimes a dozen or more birds 

 m.ay be flushed out of one nest diuing night time. 



As is the case with the majority of Finches, incubation lasts four- 

 teen days. The young when newly hatched are little hairy creatures 

 with abnormally large head and mouth. At the age of four weeks they 



