Sotne Finches I have kept. 13 



concerns the Zebra Finches, the other kinds being- merely 

 sidehg"hts of the story. 



When stripping- the greenhouse I left a number of wire 

 wall boxes, which had contained pots of drooping plants, 

 hanging, partly filling them with hay and throwing a small 

 heap of coarse hay and straw in one corner of tlie birdroom. 

 On that first morning the pair of Zebra Finches had already 

 settled themselves upon the top of one of them, and as I entered 

 the little cock hopped upon the edge of the Imsket and trump- 

 eted forth his little song. I stood still with astonishnient for T 

 had never heard the like before, and then burst into a hearty 

 laugh, for the little beggar looked so perky, impudent and 

 ridiculous as he thus thrust himself upon my notice- -my readers, 

 I expect, are laughing at the writer as being equally absurd. Be 

 that as it may, I often ask myself now will such times ever come 

 again? I still get exciting times when new species come in, 

 but nothing like the verdant charm of those early days of foreign 

 bird-keeping. 



Within a week that mass of hay 1 had pushed into the 

 wire-basket was moulded into shape, the entrance hole being 

 through one of the meshes of the basket, and the whole roofed 

 in with straw — how I watched and marvelled as the little cock 

 Zebra Finch struggled with a five-foot-long wheat straw, 

 holding it by the ear, and after many attempts got it to the nest, 

 then with much effort got it bent and twisted as the first rafters 

 of the roof; others followed in similar fashion, but even when 

 complete that roof was a sort of open-trellis contraption and 

 did not satisfy Mr. Zebra, as it left his spouse too exposed, and 

 he set to work and filled in the gaps with hay — I have seen 

 endless Zebra Finches' nests since then, but never one quite 

 like it, for it was a bit of a marvel in its way and certainly when 

 completed one of the snuggest and most compact I have seen, 

 and about a fortnight later I saw small white eggs in the nest. 

 and one morning, about six weeks after their purchase, five 

 little Zebra Finches were flying about the aviary and squawking 

 around their parents near the food hoppers. 



The nidification of the Zebra Finch is well known, and 1 

 need not go into details concerning same. I had been a keeper 

 cf British finches for years, from boyhood in fact, mostly 



