32 Some Pinches I have Kept. 



(A. fasciata), but, comparatively, is almost as larj^e ag"ain, 

 and is certainly of much more handsome appearance. It is 

 much less freely imported than the Ribbon Finch (Cutthroat), 

 though much better known now and more freely seen than 

 formerly. 



Description, uuilc: Brown above, with the whole of the 

 head red; below it is a light greyish fawn-colour, each feather 

 being margined with ruddy-brown, giving a regular scaled 

 appearance ; a lightish fawny collar passes round the neck ; 

 ventral region whitish; beak light horn-colour; feet flesh- 

 coloured; iris hazel-brown. 



Female : Similar, but greyer in tone, markings les,s 

 distinct; no red on head. 



Habitat : Southern Africa. 



Wild Life : Traveller-naturalists have told us but little 

 about this species, but from what has been written we glean 

 that the breeding season is May-June, and that the nest is formed 

 of small sticks, fine rootlets, etc., and lined with anything 

 woolly it can obtain and a few feathers or plant down. In the 

 fall of the year it musters in quite large flocks in the vicinity 

 iif rivers. 



Az'iarv Life : Its general demeanour in a mixed series in 

 a roomy aviary is amiable, evincing a retiring disposition, 

 loving to hide away amid the growing greenery, yet not 

 lethargic, and having a very pleasing appearance against a 

 setting of living green. It is cjuite ready to go to nest — its 



nidification economy being very similar to that of the well- 

 known Cutthroat — but I should not class it as a free breeder; 

 ! have had as many as four clutches of eggs in a single season 

 from the same pair, yet not a single fledgling hatched out, 

 though many of the eggs were fertile, yet they were indefatig- 

 able sitters — this feature is rather a pronounced one of the 

 species in confinement, and it was the attitude of mv first pair, 

 yet there are bright exceptions, for, in the balmy pre-war days 

 T saw a pair in the aviaries of Capt. Bainbridge at Thorpe that 

 were really prolific breeders for two or three seasons, hatching 

 out and rearing two and three broods per season, the nest being 

 placed in a hazel bush. 



As already intimated my first pair did nothing save being 



