FOR CAGES AND AVIARIES. 75 



If a pair are breeding, they should have plenty of green 

 stuff cabbage, lettuce, groundsel and all manner of garden 

 produce, as without it they will scarcely be able to rear 

 their young. Sometimes the progeny of this bird and 

 a Canary are prettily variegated, and some have been 

 met with that are wholly yellow (a form of albinism 

 probably). 



The so-called wild mules are simply females that have 

 been turned adrift by a breeder. 



The Pine Grosbeak. 



This bird and the Crossbill may be bracketed together 

 as presenting many points of resemblance : thus, they are 

 both denizens of the far north, irregular in their visits to 

 this country, which they pay during the winter only, and 

 irregular in their manner of life. Their favourite foods are 

 the seeds of the various coniferae, but failing these they 

 will eat any others they can find. Very rarely indeed have 

 their nests been reported in our islands, and notwithstanding 

 the handsome, almost brilliant colouration of the males, 

 they are not very desirable as inmates of the aviary, from 

 their Parrot-like habit of clinging to the wires, which exposes 

 them to the attacks of marauding cats. They are apt to 

 be quarrelsome, too, and are decidedly impatient of heat. 

 The male Grosbeak is a trifle bigger than the Siberian 

 Bullfinch, and the Crossbill about the same size. There 

 are supposed to be several other varieties of the latter bird 

 besides the one usually seen, but they are of extremely 

 rare occurrence. 



One peculiarity common to both the Pine Grosbeak 

 and the Crossbill is that the males lose the beautiful red 

 colour of the breast after moulting in confinement and 

 remain of a dull yellowish brown appearance that is far from 

 attractive. Why they should do so is as impossible of expla- 

 nation in their case as it is in that of the Linnet and 

 Redpoll. It has been stated that the ruddy tint is a nuptial 

 adornment, and that it is lost in confinement because the 

 reproductive instinct is then in abeyance. A moment's 

 reflection, however, should have told the propounder. of the 



