500 



A'ESTS A.VD EGGS OF AUSTRALIA A' BIRDS. 



The eggs, four or five for a sitting, are small in comparison with the 

 size of tlie birds ; length, -65 x -45 inch in breadth." 



Mr. North also furnishes infonnation of the Crimson Finch 

 received from a correspondent, Mr. J. A. Boj'd, quoting his communi- 

 cation, which states: — "After several attempts resulting either in 

 young birds or empty nests, I obtained last Monday, December 9th. 

 a nest of N. phaeton containing eight eggs, all more or less incubated, 

 seven of which I emptied successfully. These Finches seem to build 

 exclusively among the leaves of the pandanus trees this season." Like 

 the Plum-head Finch, the Crimson or Pheasant Finch is known to 

 dealers as a " soft ' bii'd. 



Some years ago I received from the late Captain Smith examples 

 of the eggs of the Crimson Finch from North-west Australia, where, 

 since the advent of civilisation, the pretty birds have taken advantage 

 of huts and other buildings. They sometimes stick their nests under 

 the way-plates or eaves, lining them with such waste products as 

 string, &c. 



Mr. Keartland's observations (1896-7) of the Crimson Finch " at 

 home " in the North-west are veiy interesting. He says : — " At each 

 of the homesteads near the junction of the Fitzroy and Margai-et 

 Rivers these birds make their appearance during December, and im- 

 mediately after the rainfall in Januan' commence building their nests. 

 At the Police Camp there were eight pairs of birds, which had located 

 their structures on the plates of the verandah. Others had buried their 

 nests in the reedy thatch of the stable. At Mr. Blyth's camp they 

 were nesting under the eaves of the thatch, and the birds were so tame 

 as to hop about the ground close to where we sat at breakfast. Although 

 two birds were taken oil their eggs and handled, they returned to their 

 nests immediately they were liberated. At Mr. Harris's quarters that 

 gentleman showed me an old nest fixed in a bundle of wire hanging on 

 the wall of his storeroom, wliich was an en-'losed galvanized-iron bui'ding 

 without windows. The birds had to enter imder the corrugations in 

 the iron in front, and fly across the room. The birds usually disappear 

 again as soon as their young take wing. The material used for the 

 exterior of the nests is coarse outer blades of grass, so large that it is 

 sui-prising how they cai-ry it, but the lining is fine and soft. Six pure 

 white eggs constitute the clutch. I never saw nests belonging to this 

 .species on trees or bushes." 



Breeding months, usually the wet season — December t« March, but 

 sometimes as early as October. 



In concluding my chapter on Finches, a few remarks on the method 

 of catching such birds may prove interesting. Tlie first item to be 

 secured is a congenial compa.nion who shares the responsibihty of a 

 covered van and a pair of good horses. Loading con.sists of a ton 

 weight of seed, cages for 2.000 or 3,000 pairs of birds, nets of different 

 sized meshes for different sized birds, the smallest being | inch in mesh 

 needed for Wax Bills, as the Red-browed Finch is called in the 

 " profession," and so on up to 3 inches in size (that is by the square of 

 the mesh), required to secure Cockatoos. These nets are generally 

 home-made of cai-pet thread, and dyed or tanned with bark. Provisions 



