Finches. 191 



pany with a flock of Sparrows, of which it seemed the 

 leader. I found my birds very good-tempered and 

 amiable to their smaller companions, but they are 

 sometimes accused of being pugnacious and mis- 

 chevious, and the cocks will fight with one another and 

 with the Whydah Birds (with which Dr. Russ says they 

 are nearly allied and ought to be classed), and their 

 habit of hovering in the air and chattering is alarming 

 to the other inhabitants of the aviary. There is a 

 variety of the Cambasso which is green instead of blue, 

 but it is very seldom brought to England. 



The JAVA SPARROW or PADDY BIRD (Amadina or 

 Spermestes oryzivora). This bird is about the size and 

 shape of a Bullfinch, with a thick rose-coloured beak, 

 and feet of the same colour, but paler ; the head and 

 throat are black, the cheeks white, and the rest of the 

 body is of a soft grey colour, the plumage being so 

 neat and smooth that the feathers all seem to fit into 

 each other, and all appear covered with bloom like 

 that upon plums. They are very affectionate birds, 

 and happy in confinement, and hardy enough to live 

 in an aviary with Canaries. With smaller birds they 

 are tyrannical and pugnacious, but the pairs are much 

 attached to each other and are continually dressing 

 each other's feathers. They are generally fed upon 

 canary and millet-seed, but in a wild state live chiefly 

 on rice, and commit great ravages in the rice-fields, 

 whence they are called " Oiseaux de rix" The male 



