FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



drive away Saffron or Nonpareil Finches until tits own 

 appetite has been appeased. It is said to have crossed 

 with the domesticated Canary, but I find it very spiteful 

 when paired up wdth unmarked hens. With a rather 

 heavily splashed bird it was friendly, but without result, 

 owing to the inopportune illness of the latter. 



In spite of what was stated by Stark respecting the 

 song of this bird, there is not the slightest question that 

 it is a far more meritorious performance than that of the 

 Cap Canary, the latter being >akin to the pea-whistle 

 repetitions of the trained Hartz bird, whereas the song 

 of the St. Helena Seedeater ds a loud replica of the Lark- 

 like song of the Grey Singing Finch. 



GREEX SINGING FINCH (Serinus icterus}.* 



This species nearly resembles the St. Helena Seed- 

 eater, but is smaller ; its beak is not quite so powerful ; 



THE GREEN SINGING-FINCH. 



the green colouring on its back is usually less pro- 

 nounced, and the yellow of the under parts clearer and 

 less clouded with greenish. The female is less bril- 

 liantly coloured, somewhat browner above, with the 

 yellow margins to the -wing-coverts less distinct ; a white 

 (pot on the chin. Habitat, Western Africa from Sene- 

 gambia to Angola, and the whole of Eastern Africa to 

 Natal and the eastern side of Cape Colony ; it has been 

 introduced into several of the Mascarene Islands. 



Respecting its wild habits, Messrs. .Stark and Sclater 

 say ("Birds of South Africa," Vol. I., p. 174) : " In its 

 habits it is lively and excitable, but at the same time 

 tame and confiding. In the spring of the year the cock 

 is much 'given to chasing the hens, as well as intruding 

 males of his own species, when not uttering his melo- 

 dious song of seven flute-like notes from the top of a 



* Capt. Shelley restores the name butyraceus, and I believe he 

 is correct in doing: so, but it is convenient to follow the 

 " Catalogue of Birds," as has been done by Messrs. Stark and 

 Sclater. 



bush. During the winter months these seed-eaters 

 collect in small flocks and frequent open ground and 

 stubble fields in search of the small seeds which they 

 habitually eat. They frequently feed along with other 

 Finches and Waxbills. In summer they vary their diet 

 with small beetles, caterpillars, and other (insects, and 

 I have even seen individual birds taking flies on the 

 wing. They are fond also of sipping the nectar from 

 the blossoms of certain creepers that are much fre- 

 quented by Sunbirds. Owing to its pretty plumage, its- 

 gay and lively disposition, and its charming song, this 

 species is frequently caught and caged, and i& even, 

 exported to Europe as a cage-bird. 



" The nest, a neat and pretty cup-shaped structure,, 

 is buult in a low bush, in September or October, of dry 

 stalks of grass and flowers, lined with finer grass and 

 cottony down. From three to five eggs are laid of a pale- 

 bluish, ground-colour, sparingly spotted towards the 

 larger end with pale reddish-brown. They measure* 

 0.68 by 0.2. 



" The female sits for twelve or thirteen days, and the- 

 young remain in the nest for about twenty-four days. 

 They are fed on insects, and are at first covered with 

 yellowish-white down." 



If the above account of the nidification of the Green 

 Singing Finch is correct, it is very strange, because the' 

 colouring of the eggs ds quite unlike that recorded by all' 

 those who have observed its nesting habits in captivity. 

 This bird has nested several times in my aviaries, as 

 recorded in The Feathered World for March 19th, 1897, 

 and elsewhere ; but, strangely enough, in each case the- 

 eggs mysteriously disappeared soon after tha hens began 

 to sit. They are creamy white, and frequently abso- 

 lutely without markings, 'but sometimes with a few- 

 largish pale buff spots on the obtuse end. In the breed- 

 ing season the male bird becomes spiteful towards other 

 Serins, including the common Canary, one of which was 

 so much injured by a male Green Singing Flinch that I 

 had to remove it from the aviary. 



It is generally -believed, and I think rightly, that the- 

 cock bird often devours the eggs laid in captivity. 

 Though much like a small St. Helena Seed-eater, this 

 bird is less pleasing. Its song is inferior, being more 

 shrill and less continuous ; the sexes are more sociable, 

 invariably roosting close together at night, and even by 

 day they are rarely far apart. The Green Singing Finch 

 will breed freely in an indoor aviary, building a nest 

 not unlike that of a Redpoll. Scalded or soaked millet 

 seed has been recommended as food for the young of this 

 and many other species, but it seems unreasonable that 

 nestling Finches, which are fed from the crop upon 

 partly digested food, should need this preparation of 

 their seed. Some form of egg-food is beneficial, and a 

 loiece of fresh turf might :be kept in the aviary for the- 

 pleasure of this or other species. 



According to the late Mr. Abrahams, two species (not 

 admitted as distinct by scientific workers) are con- 

 founded under this type of Serin. He tells me that the- 

 species which I have figured and described dn " Foreign 

 Finches in Captivity " is the Bearded Seed-eater, and 

 differs from the true^Green Singing Finch in its brighter 

 colouring blacker moustachal streak, and pale tips to 

 the tail feathers. Von Heuglin, who described the 

 Bearded Seed-eater under the name of Cnthagra 

 Ixirbata, says of the female that it is paler, with 

 narrower frontal band, the moustachdal streak blackish- 

 olive colour, every feather .edged with olive-greenish, 

 the tips of the outer tail feathers very indistinctly and 

 duskily margined with yellow whitish. A propos 

 this it" is a singular fact that of the four or five paurs o 

 this species which I have had, all the males have been 

 Bearded Seed-eaters and all the females Green Singing 



