198 Management of Cages 



collection of the little fairy-like waxbills of Africa and 

 Australia, lavender finches, small Brazilian and Gould's 

 finches, sun-birds, and other delicacies, would be de- 

 lightful. Sometimes people have some of the tiniest 

 ones at liberty in the conservatory itself, such as the 

 beautiful little fire finch of Africa, with his sleek little 

 browny-red wife ; the well-known St. Helena waxbill. 

 with his slender tail tippeting from side to side, his 

 finely-pencilled mouse-grey body, brightened by a 

 streak of crimson down the centre of the breast, and, 

 enhancing the whole effect, the small crimson beak. 



I heard of a lady whose St. Helenas reared several 

 broods successfully, which had their liberty in this 

 way. At first she had great difficulty in inducing 

 them to content themselves with a nesting-box, but at 

 last contrived one which at once suited them. It was 

 a long box, with a division in the centre, in the middle 

 of which was a hole connecting the two compartments 

 thus formed, and a hole in either of these afforded 

 exit and entrance. 



The consequence of this construction was, that in 

 one division the nest was built, and in the other the 

 little wee cock bird used to sit where he could see his 

 mate through the inner hole. When she popped out 

 of her compartment to feed, he popped through the 

 hole in the division to take his share of incubating the 

 tiny eggs. Thus four broods were successfully reared 

 in one season. 



Amongst the ferns and plants of the conserva- 

 tory no doubt many a green bug was captured, 

 whereby two birds (not the St. Helenas) were killed 



