62 



Descriptions etc. will be given in the order of the 

 above list, excepting those species figuring on the 

 plate illustrating this article, which will be placed 

 first. Three of these, viz. 7ni7i7ita, casta7ieive7itris, aud 

 ocellata, were first imported to this country by my 

 esteemed friend and fellow-aviculturist Mr. E. W. 

 Harper, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., and presented b}^ him to 

 the Zoological Society of London, in July 1906. 



Diet: This is very simple, but the more it is 

 varied the better, of course providing onl}^ wholesome 

 food is offered. Their staple diet when not breeding 

 is millet and canary seed. As regards millet, all the 

 varieties should be given, viz. white, brown, and 

 spray ; also grass in flower (i. e. grass in the ear), and 

 other green food ; most of the species appreciate and 

 should have a few insects, such as mealworms, smooth 

 caterpillars, beetles, spiders, and green fly (aphidge) 

 from rose and fruit trees. Wlien they have young to 

 feed soft food should be given, dry if they will so eat 

 it, if not it must be made crumbly moist. I may say 

 tliat a supply of the mixture given below is alwa3's in 

 my aviary, and I find nearly all species of finches take 

 a little. 



Soft food mixture: Ants' cocoons (best pro- 

 curable), dried flies, crushed Osborne biscuits, and 

 •dried pupae in equal parts. 



Before leaving the matter of treatment, I feel that 

 I ought to deprecate the somewhat common practice 

 of sifting the excreta and rubbish from the sand and 

 then using it over again ; this is a most insanitary 

 practice and very poor economy. The sand absorbs 

 the moist portion of the excreta, and no matter how 

 carefully the sifting is done, a portion of the sand is 



