90 



purchase this article of bird food, but have received no answer 

 whatever. 



I am anxious to use these pupae for my insectivorous 

 birds : in addition, I am also desirous of including them in 

 some chemical analyses which I am undertaking with a view 

 to establishing some reliable comparisons between dififereut 

 articles of bird food. 



If, therefore, any of my fellow members will at their early 



convenience supply me with the information I require I shall 



be greatly obliged to them, and shall hope to be able to afford 



later on some interesting particulars of public importance in 



return. 



W. Geo. CresweIvI.. 



THE SOUTH AFRICAN SISKIN OR TOTTA FINCH. 

 Chrysomitris totta. 

 This delightful little bird is very seldom imported. They 

 appear never to have had it at the Zoo. It is n)entioned in one 

 of Dr. Greene's books, but not, I think, in any of the other 

 popular English works on Foreign Cage Birds. The male is 

 decidedly pretty, though somewhat dull in colour, the upper 

 parts are olive-green, the under parts yellow ; the primaries 

 are tipped with white. The female is nmch duller. The chief 

 attractions of the species are its pretty song and sprightly 

 demeanour. 



A pair was sent to me with a consignment of other birds 

 from S. Africa which arrived about the end of INIarch last. 

 Unfortunately the hen died on the voyage— the only bird, out 

 of twenty despatched, which failed to arrive. The cock was in 

 fine condition, and I turned him out-of-doors on the ist of May. 

 For some weeks he delighted me with his song, and then met 

 an untimely fate. Several of the birds in the aviary were 

 badly scared one night, probably by mice, and knocked their 

 heads about against the wire netting. The Totta Finch was 

 the worst, and the only one fatally injured— he died two or 



three davs afterwards. 



H. R. F11.1.MER. 



