SAFFRON-FINCHES. 



103 



colouring of its eggs ; it docs, inde<?d, build in holes 

 as Spainnvs oft<?n do. but it fomis a nest like that i>f a 

 Giveiifinch, though with more lu'arly the materials which 

 a Bunting woulii seltH.-t; indi'^l, from its colouring an<i 

 its habit of walking, in.ste:id of lioi»|>ing, when on the 

 earth, this sjK'icies was at one tinio Ix^lieved to l>e 

 related to EmU'i-iza. Its name of Brazilian Canary, 

 recognised in sieveral Euro])ean languages, is not 

 inappropriate appan-ntly, sin<:e the genii:^ (S'l/ro^ix 

 replaces S''rinti.< in South AnieritM. It has several close 

 relatives, with similar habits, and which are occasionally 

 otfeied for Siile under the same name. 



»V. Havola pairs fieely with S. pphelnl in an aviary, 

 and the resultin;; young are jjerfectly fertile, the males 

 being usually indistinguishable from the sire of the 

 Sivlfronfinch. but the females more nearly approaching 

 their mothor. I have bred many of thase and pure- 

 bre<^l Satfnjn-finches, both in aviary and cage ; they are 

 extremely quarrelsome, resembling the Chaffinches in 

 disposition an<l in their savage courtship. 



Formerly it used to be tJiought a liopeless impossibility 

 to obta-in a liybrid between the Saffron-fincn and the 

 dom,esticated Canary, it being assei-t-ed that the former 

 did not feed it.-! young from the crop ; ihis, however, I 

 soon discovered to bo a falUic.v- The fact is that 

 attempts were always made with a cock Safifron-finch 

 and a hen Canary, and I suspect the rough courtship of 

 the American bird was too much for the more timid 

 Serin ; but in 1898 I had my Canaries and Saffron- 

 finches in an aviary together, and noticed that the 

 cocks of the former pursued ;uid sang to the hens of the 

 hitter. One hen went to nest and, after the removal 

 of the Canaries, reared thre.' young unaided. Two of 

 the young imfortunately died during their moult; but 

 the third (a hen) lived for many years. At first it 

 sliowed a good deal of Canary colouring, especially in 

 the wing-feathers ; but with advancing years it became 

 much more like its mother, and might easily have 

 I)assed for a small bright -coloured .S'. Havi-ola; never- 

 theless it is significant that a cook Saffron-finch sub- 

 sequently associated with it in another aviary persistently, 

 ignori'd it. Since then other avicultiirists have had 

 fertile eggs from the same cross. 



Pelzeln's Saffron-finch (Sycalis pehdni). 



Yellowish olive-gi-een, the back streaked with 

 blackish : lower back and rump vellow with an ashy 

 tinge; wing and tail feathers black with yellow edges; 

 forehead bright orange, sides of head and under parts 

 bright yellow, back of ear-coverts rather duller, as well 

 as the sides and flanks, the latter streaked with 

 blackish : beak dark horn-colour ; feet yellowish-brown ; 

 irides dark brown. Female above dull brownish gi-ey, 

 mottled with blackish; under parts a.^hy whitish; the 

 breast streaked with dusky brown. Habitat, S. Brazil, 

 Paraguay, and Argentina." 



Hudson says of this species ("Birds of Arg. Rep.," 

 Vol. I., pp. 66-68) :— " They remain with us all the year 

 and live in pairs, the sexes of this species being faith- 

 ful. Sometimes tliey are seen associating in small 

 flocks, but I am inclined to believe that only the young 

 unmated birds are gregarious. 



" In spring and summer the male sings frequently 

 with great energy, but without much melody. After a 

 Lurried prelude of sharp chirps and trills, he pours out 

 a continuous stream of sound, comixised of innumerable 

 brief notes, high and shrill as those of a bat, wounding 

 the ear with their excessive sharpness, and emitted so 

 rapidly that the whole song is more like that of a cicada 

 than of a bird. This piercing torrent of sound is broken 

 at intervals by a low grave note, or half a dozen sharp 



rapid notes in a lower key, which come as an agreeable 



I'elief." 



" In towns they build in walls, like the English 

 Sjxirrow ; in oountry places they ijways select the 

 domed nest of some Bendrocolaptine sjiecies to breed 

 in. Possibly in some districts where 1 have not l>een, 

 this SparroW selects other breeding-sites; my exi>e- 

 rience is that outside of a town it never lays anywhere 

 but in some domed nest, and at home I freijuently put 

 up boxes for them in the trees, but they would not 

 notice them, though the Wrens and Swallows were glad 

 to have them. Sometimes they make choice of the large 

 fabric of the Anumhiuis acuticaudatus, called Leiiatero 

 in the vernacular ; but their claim to this nest (even 

 when the Lefiateros are out of it) is frequently disputed 

 by other si>e<;ies which possess the same habit as this 

 Sparrow, but are more powerful than he. Their 

 favourite breeding-place is, however, the solid earthen 

 structure of the Oven-bird ; and it is wonderful to see 

 how persistently and systematically they labour to drive 

 out the lawful owners — birds so much larger and more 

 jxiwerful than themselves. Early in spring, and before 

 the advent of the Tree-Martins, the pair of Sparrows 

 begin haunting the neighbourhood of the oven they have 

 elected to take possession of, usually one pretty high 

 up in a tree. As the season advances, their desire 

 towards it increases, and they take up their jxisition on 

 the very tree it is in ; and finally a particular branch 

 near the oven, commanding a good view of the entrance, 

 is chosen for a permanent resting-place. Here they 

 spend a great ix>rtion of their time in song, twitterings, 

 and lo\-ing dalliance, and, if attentively observed, they 

 are seen with eyes ever fixed on the coveted abode. As 

 the need for a receptacle for the eggs becomes more 

 nrgent they grow bolder, and in the absence of the 

 owners flit about the oven, alight on it, and even enter 

 it. The Oven-bird appears to drive them off with 

 screams of indignation, but the moment he retires they 

 are about it again, and, even when it contains eggs or 

 young birds, begin impudently carrying in feathers, 

 .straws, and other materials for a nest, as if they were 

 already in undisputed possession. At this stage the 

 Tree-Martins (Prognc tapern) perhaps appear to com- 

 plicate matters; and even if these last comers do not 

 succeed in ousting the Oven-birds, they are sure to seize 

 the oven when it becomes vacant, and the Sparrows, in 

 spite of their earlier claim, are left out in the cold. 

 But they do not take their defeat quietly, or, rather, 

 they do not know when they are beaten, but still remain 

 to harass their fellow-pirates, just as they did the Oven- 

 birds before, bringing .straws and feathers in their 

 beaks, and when forced to drop these materials and 

 chased from the neighbourhood with great noise 

 and fury by the Tree-Martins, it is only to return 

 undaunted in a few minutes, bringing more straws and 

 feathers. 



" This Sparrow makes a rather large nest, neatly lined 

 with horsehair, and lays five eggs, long, pointed, the 

 entire surface thickly marked with dull chocolate 

 brown." 



I imfjorted this species from La Plata in 1895, and 

 turned it into one of mv birdroom aviaries with the 

 common Saffron-finch. "The male died soon after 

 I received it, but the female, as already stated, interbred 

 with the better-known species and produced young, 

 which again bred until eventually no characteristics of 

 S. pehelni remained. 



Dr. Russ seemed to be unaware of this species as a 

 cage-bird ; but coming irom the Argentine Republic, 

 it is probable that it is not infrequently received and 

 sold as the common Saffron-finch. 



