MANNIKINS. 



185 



near the tips ; outor greater covert*, primary coverts 

 and bastard -wing blackish edged with chestnut ; (lights 

 black, witli small whit« s[X)t8 on out*; web; inner 

 secondaries i-ufescemt externally, the innermost ones 

 chestnut; tail blax;k; hoad all round black; rest of 

 liody below white ; thighs black externally ; under wing- 

 co%'erti and axillarics whit«, e<lge of wing mottled with 

 bUick ; Higlits below blackish, greyer at the edges, 

 whitish towards the base. Fcnuile taid to be slightly 

 huger than male. Hab., Ka-st Africa fro n Natal to the 

 Equator; a smaller form inhabits Somaliland. 



Accni-ding to Shelley ("Birds of Africa," Vol. IV., 

 Part 1, p. 167), " Fischer, in his letters from Zanzibar, 

 informs us that he found the s|>ecies in flocks of twenty 

 to thirty in the fields, feeding in company with other 

 fimall Wejivers, and he once met with it in the town, 

 where it is known to the natives .ae the " Toiigo Kanga," 

 the word " Tongo " being apparently the generic name 

 for all the members of the group, ;uid might be tiajis- 

 lated as " Mannikin." He also met with the srpecies 

 ,it Bagamoio, Pangani, Momb,as, Lamu, and the Tana 

 River. Hildebrandt ;ind Kalkreuth found a nest of this 

 species near Mombasa in July; it was placed! in a bush 

 and conftruoted of grass. 'I'he egg is described by Mr. 

 Nehrkorn as Iwing white and measuring 0.56 by 0.40." 



Mr. Hawkins exhibited a specimen of this rare 

 Maimikin in 1895, 1896. and 1897. Specimens were im- 

 ported and advertised in 1907, and doubtless then got 

 into the hands of various aviculturists.* 



Bronze ^L^NNIKIN (S/iermeisli'x cucuUala). 



Brown above; the top of the head darker and with a 

 greenish glo.-s, the forehead nearly black ; the lower 

 back is paler, becoming wliitish with dark brown bars 

 on the rump and the upper tail-coverts ; tail dull black ; 

 a band of metallic green crossing the shoulder; wings 

 brown, the le.sser coverts sometimes slightly greenish, 

 outer webs of primaries narrowly whiti.sh ; the sides of 

 head as well as the chin, throat, and chest bronze- 

 brown with faint purplish gloss, the fringes of the 

 fea.thers greenLsh ; breaet and abdomen white, the 

 sides barred in front with greenish black, behind with 

 brown; under tail-coveits with blackish bars; I>eaJc 

 leaden-grey, the upper mandible darker; feet dajk 

 horn-brown ; iris brown. 



The female is a little smaller than the male, has a. 

 I'arrower head, and more regularly tapering beak; her 

 breast-patch is slightly more restricted and less glossy, 

 and the upper parts rather browner ; as a rule, when 

 fully adult, the metallic shoulder band is smaller than 

 in the niale, but I have met with exceptional sjiecimens 

 in which this band was very prominent. Hab., West 

 Africa from Senegambia to Angola, and across Equatorial 

 Africa to the Kavirondo district, east of Victoria 

 Nyanza. 



In Shelley's "Birds of Africa," Vol. IV., Part 1. 

 pip. 168-170, are various accounts of the wild life bv 

 different olxsen-ers. The following will be suiBcient for 

 the present work:— Ussher writes: "Exceedingly 

 common on the west coast, where large flocks of them", 

 in company with other Finches, rise, when distuirbed. 

 from the long grass, on the seeds of which they are verj- 

 fond of feeding. They are captured in some quantities 

 by the natives on various parts of the coast, especially 

 at the Gambia and in the French .settlements of Senegal, 

 when they are exported, with many other varieties of 

 Finches, fo Eurojw." 



Mr. Kemp writes from Sierra Leone : " The nests are 

 somewhat spherical and are placed in thick, small 



• I believre the late Mr. Ersklne Allon also h»d specimens in liis 

 olrdroom. 



bushes, banana trees, the palm le-aved roofs of huts, or 

 other conveniemt plac>e's, fiom the middle of August to 

 February, and u.sually contain five eggs of a dirty white 

 colour. In the rains they roost in these nests, often five 

 or six birds together, and can be caught at night with a 

 butterfly net and a lantern." 



Four represents the normal number of the white eggs, 

 but as m;uiy as seven may be laid. In c^iptivity a cigar 

 nest-box is usually selected, but Dr. llu.ss found that a 

 Hartz cage was picferred. This gentleman bred the 

 specdes abimdantly even in a small cage, but I have 

 hitherto not Ixieii successful, having last most of my 

 hens through egg-binding. One I saved and turned into 

 a good-sized aviary, where it co(n.sorted with Sharp-taiiled 

 Finches. Another, mated to a Par.son Finch, was 

 always building, but without result. It is quite a hardy 

 species. 



Why this species should be .so mucli more freely im- 

 ported than the Two-colourexl s])ecies (which also occurs 

 in Western Africa) I caimot explain. Both are pretty 

 little birds. 



Bra Finch (Sptrmestes nana). 

 The male above is brown, with the rump and upper 

 tail-coverts straw coloured ; the primaries, outer 

 secondaries, and tail blackish ; crown of head greyer 

 than hack, sides of head giey, the lores and a bib-like 

 patch on the throat black ; under parts pale fulvous- 

 brown, slightly greyer on the breast ; under tail-coverts 

 blackish with ochreous margins ; upper mandible black, 

 lower whitish ; feet flesh coloured ; iris brown. 



I am not sure of the sexual differences in this bird, 

 not having seen enough examples to be quite certain ; 

 but I believe the female to t)e a little smaller and more 

 slim in build, with a slightly smaller black bib. Un- 

 doubtedly both sexes have this marking. Hab., Mada- 

 gascar and the small island of Mayotte. 



Grandidier, in his splendid work on Madagascar, says 

 that they are to be met with in all plantations and. 

 cultivated ground in flocks of from twenty to forty 

 individuals. They are constantly on the move, climb- 

 ing along the .stems of the corn, or flitting from one 

 tuft of grass to another, disappearing quickly wherr 

 alarmed. The nest is woven out of the stems of grass 

 and lined with softer grass ; they lay three or four eggs 

 in a nest. Grandidier incorrectly describes the eggs, 

 which, as usual, are while, measuring, according to 

 Nehrkorn, 0,56 by 0.4. 



The Dwarf or Bib Finch (sometimes called the 

 " .African Parson Finch ") is the smallest of all the 

 Mannikins, and one of the most pleasing. Unhappily, 

 when imported, which is only now and then, though it 

 is cheap enough, it is, as a rule, in very poor condi- 

 tion ; indeed, the two or three which I have purchased 

 only survived a few days, being badly pecked and thin. 

 The species is a native of Madagascar and the Comoro 

 Islands. 



Dr. Russ says that it was first bred in 1885 b.v 

 Lieutenant Haiith, four young being reared, after 

 which it often bred with him. They are readilv in- 

 duced to breed and bring up their .young with certainty. 

 In two instances Bengalees incubated and brought up 

 families of these birds. Three to seven eggs are laid 

 usually in a Hartz cage, the nest being formed of cocoa- 

 fibre, "fragments of wadding, and feathers. Incubation 

 lasts thirteen days. 



In this country the Rev. C. D. Farrar has bred the 

 Dwarf Finch in his garden aviary. Undoubtedly the 

 most certain and easiest method of breeding most 

 foreign birds is to net in a large portion of one's 

 garden with growing shrubs in abundance and plenty 

 of shelter ; only everyone cannot make up his mind to 

 do this. 



