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appointed, — the other birds, Weavers, etc., enjoyed them, 

 but the smaller ones would take no interest whatever in 

 the English edition of their favourite food, and I have 

 given up the futile attempt to provide live food. It is 

 true that the birds often have a few mealworms and ants' 

 eggs; but I mereh' throw in four or five of the former at 

 times, not nearly enough to make any appreciable 

 addition to their dietar}^ ; and as regards the latter, it is 

 only b}- putting a tinful of a mixture of egg and 

 soaked ants' eggs in place of the seed - hopper, 

 and not giving any fresh seed till later in the day, 

 tliat I can get the birds to eat any soft food at all ; 

 the birds return again and again to the well-known 

 supply department and eventually take what they fin<l 

 there, in despair of ever getting anything better. 



But I really must keep to my subject, and will now 

 turn to the next bird of the list, the Aurora Finch, 

 which is a fairly common bird in the Gambia, but one not 

 unlikely to escape notice, as birds of this species do not 

 frequent the low bush so much as the other Waxbills, but 

 spend a great part of their time in the trees ; at any rate I 

 only saw them in places where trees flourished. It was 

 not till I had been in the country some months, that I 

 found that a small flock roosted ever}- night in the two 

 tall cotton trees under which our camp was pitched. All 

 day they were absent in the swamps or rice-fields, (where 

 I often met with them when out shooting), returning at 

 dusk to roost. I do not know if they nest in the trees, 

 as I left before the breeding season began, but there 

 were a number of old nests in our trees, which I am 

 almost sure belonged to these birds. I have kept these 

 Waxbills previously, but I do not believe I have ever had 

 a true pair before, at any rate I have never noticed before 

 the marked diff'erence between the sexes— the cocks sucli 

 clear blue-grey, and the hens so comparatively dull- 

 coloured. 



(To he continued) . 



