SoDic Finches 1 liaz'c Kept. 33 



continually on the nest, layini^- nunil^erless ei^",L;s. but hatchinj,; 

 nothing" out; then in the middle of the second year the cock- 

 died; he was in exhibition plumage and good condition generally 

 when his corpse was picked up — on examination the only thing 

 to account for his death was a slight cerebral hemorrhage. 



The hen continued to do well and survived the winter, 

 and the following spring she accepted the advances of an odd 

 Cutthroat, not much more than half her size; they duly mated, 

 nested and laid a clutch of eggs, of which in due course one 

 hatched out — the nest was built in an enclosed box in the shelter- 

 shed. I almost daily watched the development of this youngster 

 and noted one peculiarity, which I do not think had been 

 previously recorded (see a back vol. of B.N.), viz: that the 

 interior of the mouth is luminous, having a pattern like wire- 

 netting, with a brilliance equal to phosphorus — 1 received quite 

 a shock when I first noticed it — I put my finger into the nest 

 to ascertain if the youngster was alive, and it gaped for food, and 

 \ht luminosity was quite startling" when seen for the first time, 

 and I carefully observed it on many subsequent occasions. This 

 fledgeling was fully a month old when it left the nest, being 

 fully feathered and able to fly well — it was a young male, as 

 even then it showed slight indications of a red head and partial 

 collar. Unfortunately I did not have the opportunity of seeing 

 it after the moult, as when about two months old T found it 

 drowned in the bath, but I still possess its skin. Since then 

 several have bred this cross in this country and the resulting 

 hybrids are quite handsome birds. They are about intermediate 

 in size between the two species, though the one referred to 

 above was as large as a red-headed finch, and they equally show 

 the plumages of both parents. The males mostly have the head 

 more or less red, and a partial collar across the throat of a 

 little less brilliant crimson than that of the cutthroat, and the 

 scaling of the underparts more obscure, in fact a commingling" 

 of the plumage markings of both parents. 



I have not yet heard of these hybrids being fertile — I have 

 had three clutches from a pair, all of which were infertile — 

 though one would expect them to be so from closely related 

 parents. I should expect them to be fertile if paired back to 

 either parent species, but, so far. they have not proved to be 

 sc inter se. 



