The Zebra Finch, 109 



to the tail. He is rather a difficult bird to describe on account 

 of his plumage being so varied, and made up of such a variety 

 of tints. To begin, his head is ash grey, his wings and back 

 brownish grey, the tips of the flight feathers being almost 

 black. His cheeks, marked at their anterior aspect by a 

 narrow line of black, that gives the bird somewhat the 

 appearance of wearing a moustache, are bright chesnut; the 

 tail is dark grey, and the long upper tail coverts are dotted 

 with round white spots. The throat is white, but as each 

 feather is edged with a narrow black line, this part of the 

 plumage presents a greyish undulated or zebrafied appearance: 

 in some specimens the lower part of the throat is quite black, 

 in consequence of the increased breadth of the little black 

 lines. The breast and belly are white, and the sides are red- 

 dish purple, dotted with numerous white spots. The beak is 

 coral red, and the feet and legs reddish orange. 



The female is an ashen grey bird, with a whitish grey 

 breast and belly; she has a black moustache like her partner, 

 and a narrow line of black surrounds her beak, which, as 

 well as her legs and feet, are of the same colour as those 

 parts in the male, but of a somewhat fainter shade: her tail 

 coverts are also spotted with white; but taking her for all 

 in all she is a very unpretending, but nevertheless extremely 

 interesting little personage. 



The young on leaving the nest resemble their mother, with 

 the exception that their beak, legs, and feet are black. In 

 about three months, however, the males assume the adult 

 plumage, and the females the red extremities of their mother, 

 and begin to set up housekeeping for themselves: but, as 

 in the case of the Budgerigar, it is not well to permit the 

 precocious little creatures to burden themselves so prematurely 

 with the care of a family; and in order to effect this the 

 sexes should be separated, as soon as they can be differentiated, 

 until they are at least a twelvemonth old. 



The Zebra Finch is a native of IS'ew South ^^alcs and 



