104 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



YELLOWISH FINCH (Sycalis arvensis). 



Above pale olive-green, mantle and upper back broadly 

 streaked with blackish-brown ; wing, excepting the 

 lesser coverts, which are greenish yellow, deep brown, 

 the feathers with pale borders ; tail similar ; eyebrow- 

 stripe bright yellow; below, the throat and breast are 

 dull ashy huffish, the lower breast and abdomen bright 

 yellow ; beak and feet horn-colour : irides brown. 

 Female, browner, the back less yellow, as ailso the lores 

 and eyebrow-stripe ; yellow of under parts paler. 

 Habitat, South Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and Chili 

 to South Peru. 



Dr. Sharpe distinguishes three sub-species of this 

 bird, among which S. luteiventris (which has white on 

 the outer tail-feather) may possibly be fairly distinct ; 

 but when one has bred dozens of S. Aaveola and seen 

 how many plumages it assumes before attaining its final 

 colouring, and how it also varies in size, it makes one 

 very sceptical about the validity of sub-species based 

 upon slight colour-differences. I am not even sure that 

 the characters by which the sexes of S. arvensis are 

 usually distinguished are constant, inasmuch as the last 

 specimen of mine which died (always supposed to be a 

 male on account of its brilliant colouring) proved after 

 death to be an undoubted female with fully developed 

 ovary, was larger and brighter than a male which died 

 six years previously, and almost as bright as a con- 

 siderably larger male which died two years previously. 

 Now, supposing this largest bird to be typical 

 S. arvensis, what are we to do with the smaller and less 

 bright form (the female of which is brighter than its 

 male)? It will not fit the description of any one of the 

 sub-species. 



Messrs. Sclater and Hudson (" Arg. Rep.," Vol. I., pp. 

 69-71) call this Sycalis luteola, and describe its habits as 

 follows : " This is a slender, graceful bird, less than 

 the Canary in size. 



"This species is resident and gregarious in the 

 Argentine Republic, and in autumn frequently congre- 

 gates in flocks of several thousands. They are not so 

 universally distributed as the Chingolo, and are not 

 wood-birds, but frequent open plains abounding in 

 thistles and other coarse herbage, which affords them 

 shelter. In cultivated districts, where their food is 

 most abundant, they are excessively numerous, and, 

 after the harvest has been gathered, frequent the fields 

 in immense flocks. While feeding, the flocks scatter 

 over a large area of ground, being broken up into small 

 companies of a dozen or more birds, and at such times 

 are so intent on their food that a person can walk 

 about amongst them without disturbing them. They 

 take flight very suddenly, bursting into a thousand 

 chirping, scolding notes, pursue each other through the 

 /Jr, and. after wheeling about the field for a minute or 

 two, suddenly drop into the grass again and are silent 

 as before. 



"In August they begin to sing, here and there an 

 individual being heard in the fields, but when the 

 weather grows warmer they repair to the plantations in 

 vast numbers, and, sitting on the branches-, 'sing in a 

 concert of innumerable voices, which produces a great 

 volume of confused sound, and which often continues for 

 hours at a time without intermission. 



By-and-by these pleas-ant choirs break up, the 

 birds all scattering over the plains and fields to woo 

 and build, and it is then first discovered that the male 

 has a peculiar and very sweet song. Apart from his 

 fellows, he acquires a different manner of singing, 

 soaring up from his stand on the summit of a bush or 

 stalk, and beginning hie song the moment he quits his 

 perch. Ascending, he utters a series of long, melodious 



notes, not loud, but very distinctly enunciated and in- 

 creasing in volume ; at a height of fifty or sixty yards 

 he pauses, the notes becoming slower; then, as he 

 descends with a graceful spiral flight, the wings out- 

 stretched and motionless, the notes also fall, becoming 

 lower, sweeter, and more impressive till he reaches the 

 earth. After alighting the song continues, the notes 

 growing longer, thinner, and clearer, until they dwindle 

 to the merest threads of sound, and cease to be 

 audible except to a person standing within a few yards 

 of the songster. The song is quite unique in character, 

 and its great charm is in its gradual progress from the 

 somewhat thick notes at the commencement to the 

 thin, tremulous tones with which the bird returns to 

 earth, and which change again to the excessively 

 attenuated sounds at the end. 



" The nest is deep, well-built, and well -concealed, 

 sometimes resting on the ground, but frequently raised 

 above it. It contains five long, pointed eggs, with a 

 white or bluish-white ground-colour, and thickly sp; -It- 1 

 with brown." 



I have quoted the full account of the song of this 

 bird, because it shows how exhilarating the climate of 

 Argentina must be when a very third-rate performance 

 can arouse such enthusiasm in the mind of the listener. 

 Heard in an English aviary the song is a trifle inure 

 musical than that of the Common Saffron-finch ; but, 

 like many of the songs of Argentine birds it is just 

 that sort of thing which can be produced by screwing 

 round the lid of a circular wooden box.* The flight 

 is graceful and pleasing, resembling that of the Grey 

 Singing-finch in its fluttering butterfly-like character. 



My birds built in 1907 in a cigar nest-box hung high 

 up in the small aviary where I kept them, but the hen 

 never settled down to lay and eventually died, leaving 

 the cock bird solitary. 



Millet, canary, and green food, with a little soft food 

 euit all the Saffron-finches well. 



We now come to the SERINS or CANARIES, which 

 do well upon the game food as Saffron-finches. 



CAPE CANARY (Serinus canicollia). 



This species is yellow, greenish above, excepting on 

 the crown, nape, and lower back ; the nape is grey ; 

 the scapularies and mantle with dark shaft -.streaks ; 

 flights and tail-feathers blackish, with yellow outer 

 margins: ; beak pale horn colour; feet greyish-brown; 

 iris dark brown. Female browner 011 mantle and back ; 

 streaked with dusky brown : crown pale yellow with 

 dusky streaks ; below paler yellow. Habitat, Cape Colony, 

 where it is resident. Natal, the Orange Free State and 

 Transvaal : introduced into Reunion. 



Messv.-. Stark and Sclater (" Birds of South 

 Africa," Vol. I., pp. 168, 169) say : This 

 well-known and favourite cage-bird is, in its wild 

 state, a common resident in nearly all districts that 

 are overgrown with bushes or low' trees varied with 

 open glades and clearings. It is perhaps more 

 abundant on the bush-clad slopes of hil^s and mountains 

 as well as in gardens and shrubberies, and I have met 

 with it in some numbers among the low scrub on the 

 andy coast of Little Namaqua Land. In autumn and 

 winter small flocks frequent the more open pasture and 

 ploughed land, to feed, with other Finches and Weaver 

 birds, on small seeds and insects that they find on the 

 ground. The justly admired song of the Cape Canary 

 is prolonged and very sweet, and is compared by Dr. 



* My little grandson, who is a very musical child, remarked that 

 it sounded " like twisting round a cork in a bottle," when I as! ed 

 him if he thought it was a pretty song. The song often resembles 

 the running down^of albroken watch-spring. 



