;62 ABORDAVAT. 



and habits of the American goldfinch, or 

 yellow bird. 



The same treatment will answer for this 

 bird ; it mates readily with the Canary, of 

 which much has been said in the preceding 

 pages, to which we refer the reader. 



ABORDAYAT, OR AMANDAVA. 



{fringilla Amandava, Liirir.) 



This beautiful and minute songster, the 

 smallest of all our cage birds, is brought to 

 the United States from Java, Malacca, and 

 other tropical countries of Asia ; it is only 

 four inches long, of which the tail measures 

 one and one-third. In the male, the head 

 and under part of the body, are of a fiery 

 red, the upper part of a dark grey ; but the 

 feathers have a broad red edge, so that this 

 color seems to prevail ; the feathers of the 

 back, sides of breast, large quill feathers, and 

 both tail coverts, are terminated at the tip 

 with shining white spots. 



The female is one-third smaller than the 

 male, and less brilliant in plumage. 



These birds are of a social disposition, and 

 when a number are kept in one cage, they 

 perch close against one another, on the same 

 perch ; and what is more singular, they never 

 sing together, but one after another, the rest 

 keeping silent to listen to the songster. The 

 females do not sing. Their food consists 

 principally of millet seed, and occasionally a 



