the birds anything like an even chance. My own 

 opinion, based on considerable experience, is that two 

 square feet of ground space is the very least that 

 should be allowed under any ciicunistances to each 

 bird of the size of a Norwich Canary, and I need not 

 say that double that space would be better still. 



One final word : — let the perches be as numerous 

 as possible ; let them be of various sizes and shapes : 

 and let there be provided plenty of husks and boxes 

 for the birds to roost in if they be minded thereto. 



H fovc\Q\wfi\\cb Ibvbri^* 



By L. W. Hawkins. 



^-wjr;jr^MONG the finclics reared in my aviary during 

 1h| the last year are three hybrids between a male 

 l-JU Double-banded Finch and a female Zebra- 

 «-/ finch. This hybrid is by no means new. 



In "Foreign Bird Keeping" Dr. Butler mentions a 

 specimen which was bred in England about the year 

 1888, and gives an illustration from its skin. Quite a 

 number were subsequently bred in Germany by 

 Lieutenant Hauth, from whom I received a male in 

 1899. An excellent sketch of this bird is to be found 

 on the front page of " The Feathered World " of April 

 20th, 1900. In my opinion the appearance of this 

 hybrid is decidedly attractive, the characteristic points 

 of both parents being distinctly traceable. There is 

 only a slight amount of brown colour present, and 

 this is on the sides, the ear patches being black. 

 The beak is flesh-colored. 



My German bird lived only about a year with me, 

 and since that time I have striven hard to produce the 

 same hybrid myself. For a long time I had four 

 pairs of birds in four large separate cages. These 

 pairs consisted of a male Zebra and a female Bicheno, 

 a male Zebra and a female Black-rumped Finch, a male 



