254 



" lichen, hair, &c not suspended, in those I have seen, but fixed in the 

 " fork of two smal branches, iu a Barberry or other low bush. I found 

 "only two eggs in several nests, of a very pale blue, almost like skimmed 

 "milk. Hutton found at Mussooree that it generally suspended the nest 

 " by some fibres, hair, or silk. He describes the eggs as whitish green . . 

 "that they appear to feed greedily npon the small black berries of a 

 "species of Khamnus common in these localities." 



Desciiption from a skin in my possession : — The upper 

 surface is bright, lightish olive-green, a narrow circle of white 

 feathers surrounds the eye (from which the bird takes one of 

 its English vulgar names, Spectacle Bird) ; throat and upper 

 breast bright canary-yellow ; remainder of under surface, dull 

 bluish-white, tinged with yellowish on the abdomen. Beak, 

 blackish ; legs and feet, ruddy horn colour. Total length 4^ 

 inches; tail i|. This species is not often on the English mar- 

 ket, but the African species of this genus are fairly numerotis, 

 some of which are frequently on sale. They make ideal cage 

 and aviary birds, in the aviary especially their Tit-like move- 

 ments and activity, make them specialh' attractive. The Afri- 

 can species are not so hardy as the Indian species; neverthe- 

 less, when once acclimatised are certainly not delicate. 



CUTTHROAT x RED -HEADED FINCH HYBRID: I 



regret to have to record disaster 7'e my young hybrid, it got 

 drowned the second day it left the nest. I can only conclude, 

 it got scared during the night, and alighted iu the bath (night 

 ■was very cold) and was unable, to get out again. It certainly 

 was the finest youngster I have ever seen leave the nest as to 

 vigour, etc., which only makes the occurrence the more dis- 

 appointing. I have, however, had it set tip true to life, and 

 will figure it with a description in our next issue. 



THE YELLOW-RUMPED SERIN : Dr. Sharpe, in B.M.C., 

 Vol. XII., is of the opinion that two species are confounded 

 under the heading .S". angolensis, and that ultimately they will 

 be separated as .S". angolensis and 6\ atrigularis. Both the 

 B.M.C. audStark's "Birds of Africa," describe 6". angolensis as 

 having the throat and foreneck black. This is not so either in 

 my birds or Mr. Teschemaker's, so that possibly in the near 

 future these will be known as 6\ airigularis. 



