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XIII. On the Manners of the Grenadier Grosbeak (Loxia 

 Oryx, Linn.) tsohen in Captivity. By John Blackwall, JEsy. 

 F.L.S. 8fc.* 



'^ ■"'HERE is no disputing that an intimate acquaintance with 

 -*■ the ceconomy of the feathered tribes is absolutely essen- 

 tial to the arrangement of species according to their relations 

 of affinity and analogy, or, in other words, in strict confor- 

 mity with the system of nature ; yet important as this know- 

 ledge is admitted to be, perhaps it is not going too far to 

 assert, that scarcely aijy department of Ornithology is more 

 defective than that in which this interesting subject is treated 

 upon. The investigation of the manners of birds in their na- 

 tive haunts is undoubtedly attended with numerous difficulties, 

 and as regards foreign species is frequently impracticable. 

 These circumstances may certainly be alleged in palliation of 

 any charge of negligence on the part of ornithologists implied 

 in the above remarks, but still only in palliation; for that much 

 may be effected by individual exertion, the labours of Le Vail- 

 lant. White, Wilson, Audubon, &c., bear abundant testi- 

 mony. 



These animadversions have been suggested by a recent visit 

 to the aviary of Mr. Garside, at his residence in Piccadilly, 

 Manchester, where, among various objects of attraction to 

 the bird-fancier, such as piping bullfinches, loquacious star- 

 lings, and superb parrakeets, which displayed powers of imi- 

 tation as astonishing as they were entertaining, I noticed se- 

 veral choice exotic birds, whose habits and notes afforded me 

 much gratification. A fine male Grenadier Grosbeak, in 

 particular, engaged my attention; I say a male, although it 

 had not the black plumage on the throat, which Dr. Latham 

 seems disposed to regard as a characteristic of that sex ; for 

 Barrow, in his Travels into the Interior of Southern Africa, 

 vol. i. p. 243, distinctly states that " the male is remarkable for 

 its gaudy plumage during the spring and summer months;" 

 and again, " during the other six months it is stripped of its 

 gaudy attire, and adopts the modest garb of the female, which 

 is at all times that of a grayish brown." Now the ceconomy 

 of the individual under consideration is confirmatory of the 

 correctness of Barrow's observations ; as I am informed by 

 Mr. Garside that it changes its feathers twice in the course 

 of the year, the first moult occurring about May, when it ac- 

 quires the splendid livery of the pairing season, and the se- 

 cond in November, at which period its gay wedding dress 

 is laid aside for a homely suit of brown of various shades : 



• Communicated by the Author. 

 i^^. 5. Vol. 1 1. No. 62. Feb. 1832. O in 



