92 The OrcJiard Finch. 



DcscAiption of Adults. Male Takes at least two sea- 

 son.s l() attain the full blacks in his plumage and is then an 

 extremely handsome bird, even t trough isomevvhat suggestive of a 

 very large cock sparrow. 1 give a sketchy description to make 

 clear the plate. The ciarkest parts are black, on a grey groiuid 

 so far ah: the head, neck and breast, and sides of body are 

 concerned, 'tinged here and tliero with chestnut, the margins of 

 the feathers on the back and wings are chestnut; upper wing- 

 bar white, lower greyish-white; ear-co\'erts chestnut; exc- 

 ring buffish-white; moustachial streak greyish-while; lower 

 abdomen and under tail coverts white, tinged with tawny; beak 

 and legs ochrish-ycllow. 



Female. The plumage is a be;iutiful study in soft 

 brown, and chestnut, both wing-bars are white; beak and 

 legs darkish ochre-biovvn. I can quite endorse Dr. Amsler's 

 remark " 1 considered her one of the most attracti\e birds in 

 my aviaries." 



They are hardy, easy to breed (providing there is a 

 good supply of live-food), but scarce on the market. 



We are greatly indebted to Dr. Amsler for the loan 

 of the drawing for reproduction. lie had it made solely for 

 for the benefit of " Bird Notes." When sending tlie drawing 

 in October last Dr. Amsler wrote as follows : 



" I fear I have nothing more to report concerning the Orchard 

 Finches beyond the following ; 1910 — The young birds arc not sale- 



"Jable — so I placed the old pair in a small ax'iary to themselves with 

 the idea of giving them their liberty (as I did with Pariis major 



" when they had young. As a matter of fact I substituted three eggs 

 f Green Cardinals which laid about the same time as the Orchards— 



" the young were hatched in twelve days — when two days old I gave the 

 foster parents the,ir liberty, shutting them in again when the young 

 were about to leave the nest — all three were fully reared to independ- 

 ence. The foster parents (Urchard Finches t, were \-ery tame and con- 

 fiding, especially the male, who recognised me as much as fifty yards 

 away, and would meet nie, hoping for mealworms. I saw him twice 

 in the crowded High Street of Eton, sitting on a telephone wire; 

 quite two hundred yards from the nest, giving vent as to his somewhat 



" monotonous love-song. M. Amslek." 



1 will conclutie with quoting Dr. Amsler's encomium 

 of the species : "I should like to reconmiend this species. 



