20I 



backs had mostly turned green, brighter than on 

 leaving the nest, but not like the adult bird ; turquoise 

 blue had appeared at the back of the neck, a little 

 black on the chin, the head was flecked with brilliant 

 red (no black at any time on the head), the breast 

 flecked with purple in the cocks and lilac in the hen, 

 and the belly yellowish. The sexes were easily dis- 

 tinguishable at this time. 



When we returned in March the colouring was a 

 little more advanced, the autumn moult evidently 

 went into December, but alas, the hen had died. They 

 began to moult again in the end of April, and the 

 process was long and difiicult; I often thought they 

 would not survive it. However by July they were in 

 lovely adult plumage, and were ardently seeking to 

 increase their kind by the end of that month. 



In March this year I got up ten more from 

 Calcutta, of which one died on the journey and two 

 more not long after. The remainder are now all very 

 fit and busy with family arrangements, though only one 

 pair has as yet got so far as young. Two of these 

 birds offer some peculiarities as regards plumage. One 

 hen, the only Red-head survivor of the lot, had a 

 lovely red-head when received, but since the moult 

 there is very little red on the head. The other case is 

 a question of sex ; it is either a very brilliant hen or a 

 poor coloured cock. I think she is a hen from her 

 general behaviour, but there have been no certain 

 signs up to date ; her companion is a home- reared red 

 cock, who always prefers the lady next door, and has 

 been changed several times to different abodes, and 

 now lives in the Parrakeet aviary to be out of harm's 

 way, or at any rate where he can do no harm. Any- 

 how this arrangement gives me three certain pairs in 

 the big Grass-finch aviary, and one certain pair in the 

 verandah aviar}'. This last aviary I have had some 

 years, the two others are new acquisitions this year. 



