account I can of the few species which have at various times

come into my hands, and if some of our other members will

supplement my notes by giving an account of species which

they have had, we shall doubtless acquire some useful information

from one another.


Of all the imported Serins I consider the Grey Singing-

finch (Serinus leucopygius) to be, by far, the most attractive : it

makes no pretence at showy plumage, being a veritable little

Quaker, but its song is, in my opinion, sweeter than that of any

other Finch.


I should not like to say how many specimens of Grey

Singing-finches I have kept, because I invariably purchase all

that are offered to me, yet I have never succeeded in breeding

the species nor am I absolutely certain how to distinguish the

sexes.


The late Mr. Abrahams, who certainly was very clever in

picking out sexes of Grey Singing-finches, assured me that the

cock bird always showed a whiter spot on the centre of the

throat especially when singing. I used to sit and watch for

that spot just as a man wearied with insomnia watches for the

morning; but I must confess I never caught a glimpse of it; I

believe, however, that it is possible to pick out the hens by their

slightly browner tint and more strongly streaked flanks. I have

found the average of imported specimens to be about two hens

to every cock bird ; but as the hens almost invariably die from

egg-binding, it is as well that one should secure a majority of

the weaker sex if ambitious to breed this Serin.


When I wrote the article on this bird in my “ Foreign

Finches in Captivity.” I suggested that it was a good plan to

keep several cocks together in the same aviary ; since the more

these birds fought, the more they sang : this is quite true; but

I have since discovered that an isolated male in a flight cage

eighteen inches in cubic measure, sings every fine day through¬

out the year excepting when moulting. My pet songster was paired

with a small German hen Canary for two years ; she hatched

and partly reared one mule ; and then, with its flight and tail

feathers half-grown, the stupid little thing unaccountably died :

in the following summer its mother followed its bad example,

since which time I have kept the father alone, but he seems

remarkably happy.


Dr. Russ compares the song with that of the Woodlark

and Canary, but it neither has the varied bell-like trills of the

former, nor the irritating shrill thrice repeated whistle which



