286 ' Editorial. 



tunatelj^ when over three months old, it got accidentally 

 drowned. A detailed account will appear in a near issue. We 

 cannoi call to mind a previous instance of a young bird of this 

 species having "been reared to fend for itself, if any reader 

 know.5 of such an instance will they please notify us at once. 

 Ekd-Headbd {Amadiva erythrocephala x Ribtjon 

 (A. jaseiata) FiNcn Hybrid: Miss A. B. Smyth has kindly 

 sent us the preserved specimen, referred to in her letter, 

 "Current Notes," in "Correspondence" section of this issue. 

 The bird is in partially mature plumage, and with the ex- 

 ception of size and the crimson l>and across the throat, favours 

 the Red-headed Finch. It is about the same length as the 

 Riblxjn Finch, is stouter built, and has a larger head and 

 longer tail, which gives it the appearance of being larger. 

 It has the white throat, barred with black and crimson band 

 across of the Ribbon Finch; the chin is grey-brown; th/e 

 head is grey-brown, and red finely barred with dark brown; 

 thu> the feathers of the top of the head are grey-brown at 

 base, up to about three sixteenths inch from tip, here a dark 

 brown line crosses, following by a broad band of reddish -buff, 

 merging into the darkish line at tip—thus this specimen had 

 iti lived to reach full maturity, would doubtless have had the 

 head mottled grey -brown, dark brown and reddish, with a 

 broad reddish -crimson band across the throat — the mantle and 

 back are dull brown, upper tail coverts pale buflfish -brown wi'th 

 a sub-marginal line of dark brown on most of the feathers, 

 tail, dark-brown, tipped with pa!e-buff-brown, the two outer 

 feathers also having their outer webs margined with the same 

 colour; wings, dull biown, with the flights dark brown, the 

 latter having lighter margins, the coverts broadly tipped with 

 ligh^, brown, succeeded by a dark lirown line al)ove the 

 light tip; the breast and abdomen are warm brown, merging 

 into pale buff at the ventral region; the former already having 

 many of the light spots margined with dark brown of the 

 Reddish Finch, but while it is somewhat unsafe to generalise 

 on a specimen not yet in fully mature plumage, it 'would 

 appear- that the spotting of the undersurface would be neither 

 so regular, nor the spots so light as those of A. erylhroccphaln. 

 Mr. W. T. Page bred this hybrid in 1907, and a plate and 

 description of it appeared on page 281 of Bird Nolr.s, Vol. VI. ^ 



