CARDINALS. 



137 



be selected for them, but an outdoor aviary is the 

 proper place for them. One of my earlier purchases 

 of this species lived for many months in an aviary of 

 this kind. 



The great objection to an outdoor aviary in winter is 

 the necessity to visit it at this inclement season in 

 order to look after the needs of its inmates. I found 

 the best seeds for this Cardinal to be maize, hemp, 

 oats, sunflower, rape, canary, and millet ; but fruit, 

 green-food such as chickweed, and insects are requisite 

 to keep it in good health. 



VENEZUELAN OR PURPLE CARDINAL 



(Cardinalis phceniceus). 



Above dark vermilion, becoming clearer towards 

 rump and upper tail-coverts; lesser and. median wing- 

 coverts brighter vermilion but with dusky bases ; re- 

 mainder of wing-feathers dusky, washed with rosy ver- 

 milion externally ; tail-feathers dark vermilion, dusky 

 towards tips and paler on inner margins ; crown and 

 sides of head bright scarlet, the crest tipped with 

 dusky; a narrow frontal line, the lores, a small spot 

 at base of cheeks, and the chin black ; under- surf ace 

 of body scarlet ; flank -feathers barred with white ; 

 arillaries and under wing-coverts bright rose-red, white 

 at base ; flights below dusky, with the inner webs 

 rose-reddish ; beak (which somewhat approaches that 

 of Pyrrhuloxia in form) leaden greyish ; feet bluish 

 leaden-grey ; irides clear brown. Female buff brownish 

 above, more ochreous and paler on lower back and 

 rump ; lesser wing-coverts like the back ; remainder of 

 wing feathers dusky, with the outer edges dull ochreous 

 tinged _ with vermilion; tail dull vermilion, dusky at 

 tip, with dull ochreous edges to the feathers ; crown 

 and nape dull grey ; crest dark vermilion, centred 

 and tipped with blackish ; lores, eyelid, leathers below 

 eye, and front of cheeks white ; ear-coverts dull igrey ; 

 a spot on cheeks and chin blackish ; under surface of 

 body buff, greyish on throat and paler on abdomen; 

 axillaries pale rosy washed with buffish ; under wing- 

 coverts pale buff ; flights below dusky, the inner webs 

 pale rosy. Hab., Venezuela. Trinidad, and Colombia. 



Mr. A. Goering states (cf. P.Z.S. 1868, p. IT/)) that 

 in Venezuela this species is " found only on the coast, 

 and not met with a few leagues in the interior," and 

 (P.Z.S. 1869, p. 251) he points out that although com- 

 mon at Carupano, it is very rare at San Esteban, and 

 he adds : " I have never seen this bird on the hills, 

 but only on the plains near the coast, which are 

 covered with a simple vegetation of mimosa, cactus, 

 etc." 



Mr. E. C. Taylor, in The Ibis for 1864, also gays 

 much the same thing. 



Mr. P. R. Lowe (The Ibis, 1907, p. 549) gives an 

 amusing account of the pleasures of a collector of this 

 and other birds at Margarita Island, Venezuela; he 

 says : " The soil supports a flourishing and boneless 

 tangle of cactus-scrub (Cereus and Opuntia). Every- 

 thing, in fact, that grows in this zone is armed with 

 terribly long thorns and prickles. The growth of up- 

 right cacti is so thick in places that constant and 

 worrying detours are continually needed to make any 

 progress. We did not forget our experiences of it 

 for many a day. After each excursion ashore quite a 

 long time had to ibe spent in extracting the poisonous 

 thorns from various parts of our bodies, and some of 

 us suffered from painful abscesses which were long in 

 healing. To retrieve bird in this sort of scrub is 

 often a long and tedious process, and much time is 

 pasted in this way, while the explorer is converted 

 into an animated pin-cushion." The Margarita form 

 of C. phceniceits has been separated by Mr. Richmond 



under the name of C. robinsoni, but Mr. Lowe says 

 that the characters by which it is distinguished are 

 inconstant, the length of the crest being especially 

 variable, and the wings vary also. 



I have discovered no notes on the nidification of this 

 species. 



Hitherto C. phceniceus has rarely been imported 

 as a cage-bird, but in 1877 Miss Hagenbeck exhibited 

 one example at a bird-show at Hamburg, and another 

 at the Berlin Exhibition known as " ^Egintha." 



Mr. Astley purchased two specimens in Italy, but 

 they did not live long. 



THICK-BILLED CARDINAL (Pyrrhuloxia sinuata). 



Above greyish-brown, greyer on head and neck ; 

 wing-feathers dull reddish at base ; front edge of wing, 

 primary coverts and primaries mostly dull red ; tail 

 dull deep crimson, dusky towards tips of feathers ; 

 central feathers broadly dusky toward:- base and with 

 greyish edges ; crest deep crimson with blackish cen- 

 tres to the feathers ; sides of head tinged here and 

 there with crimson ; lores and orbital ring dull red ; 

 forehead, chin, throat and centre of body below, thighs, 

 under wing-coverts, and axillaries bright crimson ; 

 sides of body brownish ashy, buffish behind ; flights 

 below dusky, with rosy wash on inner web ; beak ir 

 summer yellow, in winter horn-coloured, with paler 

 lower mandible ; feet brownish ; irides Drown. Female 

 more buffish generally and less crimson, the crimson 

 of face and body below either wanting or ill-defined, 

 the general colouring of the under parts being buffish. 

 Hab., " Southern border of United States, from the 

 valley of the Rio Grande westward, and southward 

 into Mexico." (Sharpe). 



J. G. Copper (" Ornith, Calif.," Vol. I., p. 237) 

 says : " This beautiful bird is said to have much of 

 the habits of the common Cardinal of the Eastern 

 States, and the nest and eggs are scarcely distin- 

 guishable." Furtheir on, however, he observes : 

 " Captain J. P. McCown (in " Cassin's Illustrations ") 

 mentions it as a gay, sprightly bird, frequenting damp, 

 bushy woods, generally in small flocks ; its voice 

 resembling that of the Virginian Cardinal, which utters 

 a loud, clear whistled note, repeated several times, 

 and varied on different occasions. Our Canada Jay 

 has at times a similar whistle. It is said to be usually 

 very shy, as are the males of all these brilliant song- 

 sters. The nest and eggs are yet undescribed." 



Russ says that this species has not yet been brought 

 home alive ; but most show-frequenters will call to 

 mind a fine specimen which was exhibited at the 

 Crystal Palace and I think elsewhere, about the year 

 1905. 



CHINESE GREENFINCH (Chloris sinica}. 



Above chocolate, washed with greenish yellow, rump 

 of the latter colour ; outer lesser wing-coverts bright 

 yellow ; greater coverts dusky tipped with greyish, 

 the outer ones yellow on inner webs ; other wing- 

 feathers black, with both webs golden yellow at base, 

 the flights tipped with ashy whitish ; upper tail coverts 

 ashy ; central tail-feathers blackish, edged and tipped 

 with ashy ; other feathers with the 'basal half bright 

 yellow, and the terminal half black with ashy edges ; 

 crown ashy with a greenish tinge, darker at ibase of 

 forehead ; lores and eyelid dusky ; cheeks and throat 

 greenish yellow tinged with grey ; centre of abdomen 

 bright yellow, becoming whitish at vent : breast, sides 

 and flanks chocolate, with an ashy suffusion ; thighs 

 ashy, washed with yellow ; under tail-coverts, wing- 

 coverts, and axillaries bright yellow; flights !below 

 dusky, with yellow on inner weos ; irides dark brown. 

 Female altogether duller, browner above, the head 



