Finches. 185 



ones in a large cage in the garden aviary. They all 

 delighted in bathing, the quite young ones went into 

 the water eagerly; they had abundance of good rough 

 sand, and thoroughly appreciated the flowering grass 

 and millet-sprays given them, but did not care much 

 for the ants' eggs. The young birds were of a dull 

 mouse-coloured grey, with only a few white marks~on 

 their tails, and black beaks; but they moulted early, 

 and then their beaks became pink and then orange- 

 red, and the cocks were distinguished by their zebra 

 markings. 



Dr. Karl Russ says scarcely any sight can be 

 prettier than a pair of these bright - coloured birds, 

 with red beaks, bringing out their brood of young 

 ones with shining pitch-black beaks and light mouse- 

 coloured plumage. Their behaviour too is very diffe- 

 rent from that of young Canaries and other Finches 

 when asking for food. He says they do not flutter 

 their wings, but run like little mice straight up to 

 the old birds with a loud cry, then run back a few 

 steps and lay their heads sideways on the ground, 

 holding up their beaks and making the same loud cry 

 till they are fed. The young will often begin to build 

 when only eight or nine weeks old; but generally 

 several false nests are made before they build one 

 with which they are content, though they are not par- 

 ticular in their choice of materials, using indifferently 

 hay, grass-stems, millet-stalks, feathers, cotton-wool, 



