unaccountably over-looked by all collectors and writers, and

which was subsequently named Pytelia wieneri , and determined

as of West African origin.


Last year I heard by the merest accident that somebody

had received a consignment of several hundred Gouldian finches,

and curiosity led me to go and see them, when I found a beauti¬

ful lot of lively birds the sight of which brought back the

memory of my former vain endeavours to find Gould’s painted

finch, and made me forget my resolve not to resume keeping

cage-birds.


Although the few Gouldian finches which I had seen at

the Zoological Gardens and in private collections generally look¬

ed dull and out of condition, and I had heard and read that

Gouldians were delicate, stupid, and disappointing as cage birds,


I purchased two pairs, one Redheads and one Blackheads, with

the object of studying the habits of these finches.


And I must say that I never had any finches which interes¬

ted me more, gave me more pleasure, and proved more satisfactory

cage birds.


I purposely refrained from selecting the best specimens.

I just took three birds as they came to hand ; and for number four

I selected a rather sickly looking hen, just to see whether there

would be any real difficulty in keeping her alive.


I placed them in a roomy cage, the floor of which was

thickly covered with gritty sand, which they at once enjoyed to

pick.


I was told that during their voyage the birds had only

been fed on canary seed. I supplemented this food with spray

millet, which they took greedily. Occasionally they would

however, for a day or two, return to the canary seed and abstain

from millet. The latter soon became their staple food ; now

they only eat a few grains of canary seed occasionally.


Let me repeat, however, that millet in the ear is the food

which these birds require, and that the millet seeds sold by

measure do not replace this. These stalks of millet are sold by

most bird dealers at one penny each, which makes it a dear bird

food. But there are several shops in London where it can

be bought of excellent quality at 1/6 and 2/- the large bunch of

fifty stalks.


My birds soon became so tame that, when I brought them

a fresh spray of millet, they had actually to be pushed out of the

way to enable me to fix it on the bars of the cage ; and they sat

on it and began to peck before my hand was out of the cage. As



