34 Some Fiiiclics I liair Kept. 



Tlie Ived-lieaded P'inch is worthy a place in all mixed series. 



Ribbon Finch {Anuid'uia fasciata) : 1 liis well-known and 

 freely imported species is more commonly known as the 

 Cutthroat. Its characteristics and habits are so similar to the 

 preceding;" species, that but little space need be occupied in 

 describin,i;" it. 



Description, Male: Above dull tawny-brown, i^Teyer on 

 the head; throat white, across which runs a crescentic band of 

 rich crimson ; breast and abdomen pale tawny-brown, with a 

 patch of chestnut-brown on centre of abdomen ; above and below 

 the whole of the plumas^e is more or less varieg^ated with 

 greyish and dusky markings; tail greyish-brown; beak and feet 

 flesh-colour. 



Female : Similar in plumage to the male, but of a greyer 

 tone, and she lacks the white throat and crimson collar of the 

 male. 



Range : Senegambia to N.E. Africa, and northwards to 

 Masai-land. 



Mild Habits: This species occupies in N.E. Africa a 

 position similar to the House Sparrow in Engiani. They 

 congregate together in crowds, take dust baths in the sand, and 

 chirp together in company as noisily as does the ubiquitous 

 house sparrow. Books tell us very little of wild nidification 

 imbits; undoubtedly they nest in holes and also build large 

 globular, clumsy-looking nests in trees and bushes. 



Aviary Life: Many aviculturists give them a bad name 

 for pugnacity, especially when nesting, and in some cases I 

 know this to be the case. I have kept them on and off over a 

 very long period and have had and bred a good many of them 

 one time and another — I have never yet possessed a pair which 

 made itself a nuisance in the aviary, but I do not overcrowd, 

 and there is always an abundance of cover in my aviaries. 



Of all species of birds they are the most indefatigable 

 nesters, but they do not always sit out the incubation period, nor 

 yet rear all the young they hatch out — personally I have had 

 best success with this species in moderate-sized aviaries. 



I have had many young reared on seed alone for, though 

 insectile mixture was in the aviary, it was but seldom I saw them 



