66 On the Breeding of the Painted Finch.


Finches? Possibly quite old females may become more like the

males, but at present the sexes can be distinguished at a glance.

I may add, however, that “age” seems to have made two of my

females less red generally but considerably more black on the

under parts.


I have heard it stated, with all the assurance of one who

knows all or nothing about it, that it is the habit of the Painted

Finch to roost on the ground at night. When circumstances are

not favourable or to its liking, the Painted Finch does go to the

ground a good deal; nevertheless I am satisfied that it will not

pass the night on the ground unless there be something wrong.

Usually it is a symptom of weakness or sickness. This spring,

before my Painted Finches were turned into the aviary, their

favourite roosting place was on and towards the tip of a long

slender twig of a dead thorn bush in a pot in the birdroom, some

2—3 feet off the floor. Where they roost now I do not know, but

there are no reasons for supposing that they roost on the ground.


The call-notes of this species are a kind of querulous

chur, chick and chuck-, but they vary considerably, while main¬

taining such a family resemblance as to be always recognisable.

A few of the notes are not very unlike one or two of those of the

Quail-Finch, but there is no need to mistake them. The song of

the male is inaudible in the garden, though possibly not so in a

quiet room ; it is usually introduced by three, less commonly

four, of its chuck notes. When singing on a perch, the male

holds his head up and turns it from side to side, after the manner

of Gouldians ; but, when singing on the ground, he extends the

head over the back of his mate, and moves it from side to side as

if waving a flag. Owing to the noisy calling of nestling Cuba

Finches, I am unable to say if I heard the young of this species

while in the nest; the squeak of the fledgeling is a very squeaky

squeak.


Notwithstanding an occasional squabble amongst them¬

selves, the Painted Finch seems to live on friendly terms with

other inmates of the aviary. On one occasion I noticed a fledge¬

ling Cuba cuddling up, side by side, with an adult male Painted

Finch, on a high perch in the sun. The effect of the combina¬

tion or, rather, non-combination of colours was curiously uu-



