The Ribhon-Finch. 177 



symbol of murder, or suicide, in its crimson cravatte, and call 

 it le Cou coupe, which, to English ears at least, does not 

 sound quite as dreadful as the designation by which it is 

 generally known to dealers in this country, and which I hope 

 soon to see altogether banished from ornithological nomen- 

 clature. 



The ground colour of the plumage is reddish, almost chocolate 

 brown; the upper parts darker and the under lighter, but all 

 spotted alike, and flecked with small patches of a darker shade 

 than the ground colour: while the neck of the male, as I 

 have already said, is encircled by a crimson band, extending 

 from ear to ear. 



The female can be readily distinguished from her mate by 

 the absence, in her case, of the crimson band. 



The young males even in the nest show the distinctive 

 mark of their sex; so that here again there is no possibility 

 of fraudulent dealers palming off on their unwary customers 

 a male for a female, or vice-versd. 



The Eibbon-Pinches are excellent breeders, and great fa- 

 vourites with many people. Dr. Euss relates that a pair in 

 his possession from the 8th. of l^ovember to the 20th. of June 

 reared no less than twenty-one young ones; while a lady in 

 Yienna had, in the course of three years, no less than one 

 hundred and seventy-six young ones from a single pair, the 

 female of which during that time deposited the extraordinary 

 number of two hundred and forty eggs! 



The young females are quite ready to take the cares of a 

 family upon them at the early age of between two and three 

 months. But it is not advisable to encourage such unnatural 

 precocity, for the produce of these immature unions is inva- 

 riably lacking in stamina. 



Dr. Euss gives the Eibbon-Finches a bad character, but his 

 countryman Herr Wiener has found them peaceable enough; 

 nor have I observed that they disagreed with their com- 

 panions. In a crowded aviary, quarrels among the inmates 



