GRASSFINCHES. 



167 



The call-note is a melancholy kittenish sort of cry, 

 but the song is undmibtedly pleasing: — 



Wlit'ii tnnifyl loose in an avi;iry, a p;iir of Parson 

 Finches will 'j<> at home almost iinimxliat-cly, and after 

 pickinj; about tin tlie earth for an hour or su will begin 

 to think about Kottuif; up housekcepini; : then the sing- 

 ing and dancing begin, and if materials for building 

 are given a nest is soon formed either in a canary-cage 



Parson Finch. 



(Head and bhoutderit of malf.) 



or cigar nest-box ; in the former it is 

 arched over as a screen from prying 

 eyes, but in the latter a simple open 

 nest is formed level with the opening 

 of the box. Both birds sit, and if the 

 hen bird does not become egg-bound 

 there will be little difHculty in breeding 

 the species. Unhappily this is exactly 

 what usually does happen, so that I 

 have only once been successful, and 

 even then the young were murdered by 

 an unpaired cock of the same species 

 within a day or two of their leavmg 

 the nest. Only one pair of this species 

 should be permitted to inhabit the same 

 aviary. 



From first to last I suppose I nave 

 had about a dozen pairs of the Parson 

 Finch, and although exceptions occur 

 in this as in all species, I do not con- 

 sider Poep/tila cincta by any means a 

 safe bird for a mixed community of liny 

 Finches. It is usually an interfering 

 and dan_gerous little busybody, to whom 

 I have often been indebted for the loss 

 of interesting nests, and occasionally of 

 inoffensive little birds which had per- 

 chance excited its evil passions. 



In August, 1897, Mr. Abrahams sent 

 me the skin and sketch of a hyljrid 

 between a cock Parson Finch and a 

 white Beng:dee. 



In this hybrid the characteristics of 

 the father are strongly brought out ; 

 but a mere examination of the skin 

 would lead anyone to suppose that the 

 mother had been a Striated Finch, to 

 which type the bird appears to have 

 reverted in a remarkable degree. 



The large black gorget of the Parson Finch is repre- 

 sented by a slightly more restricted snow-white patch 

 irregularly bordered with black; the chin remains black, 

 but the silvery-ash colour of the crown and .sides of (he 

 head are barely indicated by a diffui^ed hoary patch on 

 the cheeks ; the white nmip is also only represented by 

 a slight ashy tinting of the feathers ; the vent, as might 

 be expected, remains white ; the black belt, extending 

 obliquely from below the wing to the thigh, remains 

 exactly as in the Parson Kinoh, but is preceded by 

 white on the abdomen ; the c<»louring of tne breast is 

 deeper and soniowhat greyer than in the Parson Finch, 

 the hinder portion lieing especially grey tinted. 



The colouring of the face to behind the eye, the crown, ■ 

 nape, mantle, and tail arc precisely as in the Striated 

 Finch. The form of the beak is exactly that of this 

 species, as also the form of the tail ; the base of the 

 lower mandible 'was evidently whiti.sh, otherwi.se the 

 beak agreed in colouring with that of Uroloncha Hriata. 

 I think the.»© facts are extremely interesting, as proving, 

 or tending to prove, that the Striated and not the Siharp- 

 tailed Finch was the original ancestor of the Bengalee. 



This marvellous hybrid was, iniliappily, not bred in 

 this country, but by Mr. F. Kamsties, of Konigsberg. 

 When in Mr. Abrahams' care, in 1887, a coloured sketch 

 of it was prepared, from which the illustration above 

 was made. 



For some years after 1890 the price of the Par.soTi Finch 

 was very reasonable, but after the nearly related Long- 

 tailed Grassfinch hid become a familiar object in the 

 bird-market, the price of Parson Finches rose to about 



Parson Finch— White Bengalee Hybrid. 



