134 

 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



THE DIAMOND SPARROW. 



THE Diamond Sparrow called, among many other scientific 

 names, Amadina Latliami, and Spermestes guttata, which 

 la<?t I much prefer as descriptive of the bird, is named der 

 Diamant Sperling, or der Tropfenfink by the Germans, and 

 L^ Oineau diamant by the French. 



It is about the size of an English Linnet, and is a very 

 handsome bird, with a grey head, brownish grey back and 

 wings, bright red rump, and short black tail about an inch 

 long. The beak is red, the throat and neck white, a broad 

 black band crosses the middle of the breast, the belly, vent, 

 and under tail coverts are white, the sides are black, with 

 a number of round white spots on them, from which pecu- 

 liarity many of the bird's names are derived. The feet and 

 legs are bluish grey, and between the beak and the eyes is 

 a small black spot on either side of the head. 



The female resembles the male in general appearance, but 

 is rather larger, and has usually more white spots on her 

 sides than he has; her head, too, is greyer: it is difficult, 

 however, to say to which sex a given bird belongs, but when 

 a pair are placed together, the more independent and bolder 

 carriage of the male at once reveals his sex. 



When wild, these birds live partly on insects and partly 

 on seeds, building a large, rough, domed nest of grass, lined 

 with feathers, on the top of a small bush, or even an isolated 

 sapling, and lay five or six, or even seven or more, white 

 eggs, which are hatched in about twelve days. 



In the house these birds may be kept in a cage or in a 

 bird-room or aviary. I have not tested their endurance out of 

 doors during the winter, and I have not found them at all 



