6 Mannikins. 



always on tlie market, though in pre-war times he and the Java 

 Sparrow ran neck and neck for this position with the result of 

 honours about even. 



In spite of all this 1 like the little chap; in a roomy aviary 

 he is always so merry, perky and enquiring", and mostly, if you 

 have a true pair, gives }ou one brood of young per annum, i*' 

 no more. 



Their nest, too, is a domed one. rough and uncouHi 

 looking outside, but well-linished, snug and all that his familv 

 can require inside. Moreover, he knows how to look after i* 

 too, for he will successfully defend it, or die, even against a 

 cardinal — not often does he fail, for he is so bold, quick and 

 alert, the other fellow gets no chance and soon cries enough ! 

 1 have dilated again and again on tne pleasing spectacle of 

 family parties when the young have left the nest; none are more 

 so than this species — though the Zebra Finch, the plebeian of the 

 ( Irassfinches, runs them close — true the young hide away in the 

 bushes for the first two or three days, and you can only locate 

 them when they call for food, but after this period you can see 

 tliem feeding and foraging or disporting togetner, an object 

 lesson of " the gladness of life," which all creatures 

 exhibit in greater or less degree — none more so than the little 

 Bronze-wing, even though he has no song Avorth mentioning 

 wherewith to declare it. 



Magpie, or Pied Mannikin. — This is perhaps the least 

 ])leasing in form of any of the mannikins, being more than 

 double the size of the Bronze-wing, also heavily built and with ,'i 

 very powerful beak; but he certainly is not an ugly bird. His 

 plumage, if not brilliant, is pleasing; an arrangement of shar,) 

 contrasts in glistening black and white, with a fawn-coloured 

 patch on each side of the body. 



His powerful form and large beak have given him the 

 unenxiable notoriety of being a pugnacious bird; most certainlv 

 he has not lived up to this reputation in my aviaries, and I have 

 had many ]iairs since T began birdkeeping. In fact, I have 

 never seen him attempt to use his powerful beak aggressivelv 

 save W'hen defending his nest, and in this he earned my admira- 

 tion, not displeasure — with half his body extending from the 

 entrance of his nest he would deal pick-axe-like blows with his 



