30 



were easily imitated, its favourite food has even derived its 

 name, if not from the bird, at least from the islands it inhabits, 

 it was clearly not a migratory bird, or even a wandering bird, 

 like most of the finches; its song is no doubt finer than 

 that of other finches; but there was nothing in the color 

 of the wild bird very attractive, like that of the Goldfinch 

 or Bullfinch, of which a domestic race apparently cannot be 

 obtained. 



The Goldfinch will sometimes with great care be induced 

 to nest in captivity, but the offspring are weak and infertile. 



In India there are several species of small finches, of the 

 genus Munia and allied genera, that are bred in captivity, I 

 believcj but I cannot obtain any distinct information on the 

 subject, and am not able to say whether a truly domestic 

 race of any of these species has been developed. I judge, 

 however, from the varied colors of some of the specimens I 

 have seen, that this is probably the case, at any rate, parti- 

 colored varieties of some are common, and pure white 

 varieties of the common waxbill may be often seen. 



The last bird to which I have to draw your attention is 

 the Ostrich, this large bird is sometimes as much as eight 

 feet high and three hundred pounds in weight; whether there 

 is more than one species is doubtful, the egg and color of the 

 skin differs in the northern and southern variety or sub- 

 species. 



The ostrich belongs to the very restricted group of 

 Ratitoe of Huxley, birds without a keel to the breastbone, 

 without webs to their feathers. The other genera are 

 Dromaius (Emeu), one species; Caswanws, about ten species; 

 Rhea, three species ; and Aptcryx, four species ; altogether 

 about twenty species of these singular birds are known, they 

 are no doubt the remains of a far larger number which have 

 become extinct, and their geographical distribution over the 

 earth would lead to the same conclusion. 



Stncthio (ostrich) is an African and Asiatic genera ; 

 Dromaius (emeu), Australian ; Casuaritis, Australian, and the 



