198 Bird-keeping. 



becomes almost white on the chin, throat, and breast, 

 but deepens again on the lower part of the body; 

 there' are several silvery white spots on the sides. All 

 these Waxbills come from Africa. 



A later importation is the Aurora Waybill (Estretda or 

 dEgintka phcenicoptera), which is of a light ash-coloured 

 grey, streaked with darker grey on the head, and with 

 transverse white lines on the lower part of the body ; 

 the wings, lower part of the back, and tail are red. 



The AVADAVATS (Estrelda amadavd), Amandava, or 

 Amaduvade Finch, which belong to the same family, 

 come, I believe, from India and the Indian islands. 

 They are rather bigger than the smaller species, but 

 less than the St. Helena Waxbill. They vary some- 

 what in colour, and are some years before they come 

 to their perfect plumage ; but the males I have had, 

 have had the head and under part of the body of a 

 fiery red tinged with black ; the feathers of the back 

 are brown, but with such a margin of red as to make 

 that the prevailing colour ; the quills are dark brown, 

 and the tail is black. All the feathers, both red and 

 black, of the wings, and most of those of the body, 

 are tipped with white^ giving the bird the appearance 

 of being speckled with white spots. The beak is red, 

 but the upper mandible is almost black on the top. 

 The hen is not quite so large as the cock, and has 

 very little red about her plumage ; the under part of 

 the body is of a pale sulphur-colour mottled with 



