154 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



reeembles that of the females ; hitherto the order aiid 

 s«iasons ic which these changes tr.ke place have not been 

 carefully noted. Hab., India, Cochin China, Siam, Java. 

 The " Avadavat," a.s this bird is often called, in its wild 

 Stat* frequents cultiv;ited land, g-jrden.s, etc., iisu.-Jly 

 building its nesst in a thick bush, reeds, or long grass; 

 tlie nest itself is similar to that of the preceding species, 

 as are also the eggs. 



This Wuxbill is one of the commonest and cheapest in 

 the bird-market. When I first began to keep birds its 

 price was five shillings for a pair; though, from ignorance 

 of its value, I gave considerably more for the first pair 

 I ever bought (ne^irer £Z I think) ; now it averages about 

 3s. 6d. a pair, and when the market is glutted with it, 

 as does sometimes happen, it is considerably cheaper. I 

 well remember buyino; two dozen for ten shillings, the 

 last of them dying, I believe, early in 1907; I could not 

 say how old it was. 



Like all the Waxbills, this tiny bird lives well on 

 white millet, canary, millet in the ear, and grass-seed; 

 but a turf should always be in the aviary, and a saucer 

 of egg-food or biscuit. All the species of Waxbills are 

 also very fond of small spiders, or even house-flies, if 

 they are pinched, to enable the birds to eat them — they 

 will not catch them on the wing. A pair of Avadavats 

 built a nest in a box-tree, which I introduced, in a pot, 

 into my bird-room; but no .sooner was it finished than 

 a pair of Cordon Bleus took possession, to be in turn 

 ejected by Lavender Finches ; shortly afterwards the 

 cock Cordon Bleu died, having suffered from the attack 

 of the Lavender Finch, suid, the hen of the latter bird 

 dying about the same time, the widow and widower made 

 a match of it and occupied the nest together. However, 

 nothing resulted from all this struggling beyond the loss 

 of several pretty species which previously had lived 

 together in amity. 



The oommnn Amaduvade is absolutely hardy, and can 

 be bred in the open air in a netted-in garden ; in an 

 aviary with numerous other birds it gets too much dis- 

 turbed. 



Dealers generally insist upon there being two species 

 of Avadavatis — the common one from India and the 

 Malayan one — SporaginiMis [Estrilda) punirea, which 

 they distinguish under the popular name of Tiger-finoh. 

 Dr. Sharpe says : " I have ccme to the conclusion that 

 B. punirea cannot be separated from E. amandara." 

 Those that I have seen appeared to me to differ much 

 as Lagoiwuficla minima from L. senegala, and doubtless 

 our American friends would call both .-vubspecies, in 

 fpite of intergrades passing from the one type to the 

 other. 



Zebk.\ or Gold-bre.\sted Waxbill (Spormginthus 

 nuhfiainis). 



The cock Zebra Waxbill above is of a brownish olive- 

 green, the tail black, the throat, abdomen, and under 

 tail-coverts are bright yellow, shading into bright orange 

 on the breast ; the beak and a streak passing through 

 the cyo to the ear are coral-red ; the sides of the bmly are 

 grey barred with white. The hen is more soberly 

 coloured than the cock, the yellow and orange of the 

 under parts being much paler. Hab., North Tropical 

 Africa, betAveen about 16 degre.ss N. lat. and the 

 Equator. 



Captain Shelley dLstinguishe.s the Southern representa- 

 tive under the name of the Southern Zebra Waxbill 

 {Estrilda rlarl-fi). and says it differs in the entire 

 throat and centre of breast Ix'ing pale yellow, with, at 

 most, .a slight wash of orange on the crop. Centre of 

 breast in female huffy white, with a faint lemon shade 

 on the brea.st. Hab., N'.atal to the Equator. 



No doubt both forms are sold indiscriminately under 



one name, and it is probable that at the Equator where 

 the two forms meet it would be very difhcult to eay 

 which was which. 



Mr. W. K. (). Grant, describing an example obtained 

 at Moradar {Thr Ibis, 1907. p. 583), says:— "The 

 example of the Sanguineous Waxbill procured by Mr. 

 Zaphiro, apparently an unusually fine bird, has the 

 brea.st and belly scarlet and of a much more intense 

 colour than in any of the specimens in the British 



Orange-breasted or Zebra Finches. 



Museum. Happily he does not give it a distinctive 

 scientific name. 



Of the Southern fonn Mr. Stark vn-ites ("Birds of 

 South Africa," Vol. I., p. 106) :— " These very beautiful 

 little Waxbills differ son'.ewhat in their habits from the 

 common Estrilda a-Hrilda. They prefer the borders of 

 streiuns and marshes, where there is a thick growth oT 

 bushes and reeds, to the more open graes-lands, and 

 they are nmch shyer and more eisily alarmed. In Natal, 

 where they are not unconmion from May to December, I 

 have generally met with them in flocks of no great size, 

 feeding on the grouiui on gi-i.ss-seeds, but taking refuge 

 in bushes if disturbed. \Vlien feeding they keep up a, 

 continuous chirping." 



" The eggs of this species are pure white, and measure 

 on the average 0.52 bv 0.40." 



In captivity this V\'axl)ill has been induced by the 

 Germans to breed tolerably freely in a high tempoiature ; 



