Dark Plumages of Zebra Finches. 133 



Darh Plumages of Zebra Finches. 



Bv 1\. SUCCTIT. 



Durin-- the summer of 1913 1 had three dark Zebra 

 pinches — two hens and one cock: the cock had dark, almos' 

 black, ear-coverts. One hen died chirini^- the winter 1913-1 ^, ant' 

 the surviving- hen had a black pectoral band. These 1 tinned 

 into an enclosure iii I'^iJ. which contained no other Zebra 

 Finches: thev reared fi\c youn.^- ones, none of them darker than 

 the hen; one of the four w;is a normal coloured cock. 



[ joined the army in Se])leml)er 1914. and disi)osed of 

 most of my birds. Amon,L;st others I sent quite JO Zebra iMnchos 

 to a London dealer- and |)ossibly some of these were pinx-hased 

 bv om^ members. 



I ]:)assed on two pairs to our member Mr. Crow, all 

 normally coloured birds, and last year he asked me to take a 

 pair of dark ones. 



These 1 placed in a caj.;e for some time to make fairly sure 

 of their pairiui^". and then turned them into an aviary with othei 

 Zebra Finches, etc. They reared 3 dark marked hens and a 

 cock; one of these hens had a very broad black pectoral band, a 

 dark head and mantle. The cock had a black rump, and his 

 head was almost black; they were, however, like all these darkly 

 marked birds, very delicate, and both are now dead. One of 

 the hens I passed on to our esteemed Editor*; the other I still 

 have cai2^ed. and will send her to anyone wishing to try to breed 

 these dark coloured birds. 



We usually attribute albinism to inbreeding- and weakness 

 and according to the laws of nature melanism should denote 

 strength and vigour. My experience, however, is the reverse 

 as. not one of these dark birds has been even normally robust 



* I much regret to state that rats took the two pairs of Zebra Finches 

 Mr. Sug-gitt kindly sent me. The pectoral band of one of the heps wa$ 

 similar to that of a norma] cock, — Ed, 



