2o6 The Cherry Finch. 



perfect. It is vivacious yet amiable, very clieery and constantly 

 utterinsj;' its merry little lay, and is in every way an acquisition 

 to the finch aviary. It has moreover the advantage of being 

 easy to breed, sexes easy to distinguish, the one drawback being 

 the liability of the hens to cliill, during chilly wet periods, and 

 conse(iuently dying from inability to pass the egg unless dis- 

 covered in time. 



Description. Male. — Upper ]iarts lirown, the rump is barred with wliitc 

 and the upper tail-coverts spotted with the same colour ; tail blackish brown 

 with white terminal spots on the outer feathers; wings brown, flights dusky- 

 brown with ]^a1er outer margins ; inner secondaries with terminal white spots : 

 crown dark brown, with the fore portion plum colour; eye region and ear- 

 coverts white, the latter barred with brown ; underparts white, with a l)lack 

 gorget and the sides of neck and flanks barred with brown ; beak black ; legs 

 dusky flesh colour ; iris deep chestnut. 



Fonalc. — General colour arrangement similar to male, but the plum 

 coloured patch on the fore-crown is smaller, the white of her underparts 

 distinctly greyish, and she has no black gorget. 



Habitat, Etc. — It ranges over the wide Bay region, N.S. 

 Wales, Victoria and Southern Australia generally. It builds its 

 nest amid tallish ground herbage or in a low bush, and the clutch 

 usually nimibers five white eggs. 



In Captivity. In this country this pretty species is also 

 known as the Pkun-headed, and Modest Grassfinch. but the 

 name at head of this article is the one in most general use. I 

 have said this species is easy to breed and while this is quite true, 

 it is such a nervous little bird, usually leaving its eggs as soon 

 as anyone enters the aviary or passes near it outside the aviary, 

 consequently very few young have been reared by aviculturists 

 in tliis country; also its liability to egg-binding in damp chilly 

 weather renders the prospect of successfully rearing" young 

 even more remote. I have found in my aviary that though it 

 mostly adheres to its wild habits, and either makes its nest amid 

 ground herbage, or in a low bush — the nest figured on our 

 plate was placed in a small leaved Berberis eighteen inches above 

 the ground, nevertheless there are exceptions to this rule, and 

 this season two nests have been constructed in my aviary, amid 

 wild convolvulus, six feet above the ground, but alas! though 

 at least six nests have been ])uilt no young have been reared. 

 The pair figured on our plate nested within a fortnight of arrival, 

 but the hen died with her fourth egg. The other pair have been 



