90) GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 
The Zebra Finch is not common in the Calcutta Bazar, 
but may be obtained at times, and is always worth get- 
ting as it is one of the easiest birds to breed in captivity 
and propagates as freely as a Sparrow. ‘The nest is not 
built in a hole, but in the branches of a bush ; a small 
cage with the door removed will be. readily accepted as a 
substitute. The eggs are pure white. Zebra Finches will 
live well on canary and millet, but need egg-food when 
breeding. At all times some green food, such as seeding 
grass, green paddy, lettuce, &c., should be supplied. 
The cock has a very funny little song, quite unmusical, 
but strangely metrical ; it is a stanza of four lines, so to 
speak, the last much the shortest. The ordinary note 
of these birds, which they utter continuously, irresistibly 
reminds one of those toys which squeak when they are 
pinched. 
Tue AvapavaT (Sporeginthus amandava), the Lal 
Mumia, or simply Lal, of the natives, is a very familiar 
representative of the Waxbills. very beautiful tiny Finches 
with red beaks of only moderate size. They are very 
sociable and have pretty little voices. 
The Avadavat is a very small bird, barely exceeding 
four inches; in colour the cock is very handsome, being 
nearly all red with white spots. But this plumage, in 
which he is figured on Plate I, Fig. 3, is only borne during 
the breeding season; at other times he resembles the hen, 
which is always brown above and _ buff below, with a touch 
_ of red above the tail and a few white spots on the wings. 
Both have red bills and flesh-coloured feet. The young 
birds are plain brown with black bills. 
