154 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



resembles that of the females ; hitherto the order and 

 seasons in which the.se changes take place have not been 

 carefully noted. Hab., India, Cochin-China, Siam, Java. 

 The " Avadavat," as this bird is often called, in its wild 

 state frequents cultivated land, gardens, etc., usually 

 building its nest in a thick bush, reeds, or long grass ; 

 the nest itself is similar to that of the preceding species, 

 .as are also the eggs. 



This Waxbill is one of the commonest and cheapest in 

 the bird-market. When I first began to keep birds its 

 price wais five 'shillings for a pair; though, from ignorance 

 of its value, I gave considerably more for the first pair 

 I ever bought (nearer 2 I think) ; now it averages about 

 3s. 6cl. a pair, and when the market is glutted with it, 

 as does sometimes happen, it is considerably cheaper. I 

 well remember buying two dozen for ten shillings, tJhe 

 last of them dying, I believe, early in 1907 ; I could not 

 say how old it was. 



Like all -the Waxbills, this tiny bird lives well on 

 white millet, canary, millet in the ear, and grass-seed ; 

 Taut a turf should always be in the. aviary, and a saucer 

 of egg-food or biscuit. All the species of Waxbills are 

 also very fond of small spiders, or even house-flies, if 

 they are pinched, to enable the birds to eat them they 

 will not catoh them on the wing. A pair of Avadavats 

 'built a nest in a box-tree, which I introduced, in a pot, 

 into my bird-room ; but no sooner was it finished than 

 a pair of Cordon Bleus took possession, to be in turn 

 ejected by Lavender Finches; shortly afterwards the 

 cock Cordon Bleu died, having suffered from the attack 

 of _the Lavender Finch, and, the hen of the latter bird 

 dying about the same time, the widow and widower made 

 a match of it and occupied the nest together. However, 

 nothing resulted from, all this struggling beyond the loss 

 of several pretty species' which previously had lived 

 together in amity. 



The common Amaduvade is absolutely hardy, and can 

 be_ bred in the open air in a netted-in garden ; in an 

 aviary with numerous other birds it gets too much dis- 

 turbed. 



Dealers generally insist upon there being two species 

 of Avadavatsi the common one from India and the 

 Malayan one Sporceginthus (Estrilda} jnniicea, which 

 they distinguish under the popular name of Tiger-finch. 

 Dr. Sharpe says : " I have come to the conclusion that 

 E. j'ntnicca cannot be separated from E. am and am." 

 Those that I have seen appeared to me to differ much 

 as Lagonosticta minima from L. senegahi, and doubtless 

 our American friends would call both sub-species, in 

 epite of intergrades passing from the one type to the 

 other. 



ZEBRA OB GOLD-BREASTED WAXBILL (Sporceginthus 

 subflavus). 



The cock Zebra Waxbill above is of a brownish olive- 

 green, the tail black, the throat, abdomen, and under 

 tail-coverts are bright yellow, shading into bright orange 

 on the breast ; the beak and a streak passing through 

 the eye to the ear are coral-red ; the sides of the bodv are 

 grey barred with white. The hen is more soberly 

 coloured than the cock, the yellow and or;inge of the 

 under parts being much paler. Hab., North Tropical 

 Africa, between about 16 degress N. lat. and the 

 Equator. 



Captain Shelley distinguishes the Southern representa- 

 tive under the name of the Southern Zebra Waxbill 

 {Estrilda darkei], and says it differs in the entire 

 throat and centre of breast being pale yellow, with, at 

 most, a slight wash of orange on the crop. Centre of 

 breast in female buffy white, with a faint lemon shade 

 on the breast. Hab., Natal to the. Equator. 



No doubt both forms are sold indiscriminately under 



one name, and it is probable that at the Equator where 

 the two forms meet it would ibe very difficult to eay 

 which was which. 



Mr. W. R. 0. Grant, describing an example obtained 

 at Moradar (The Ibis, 1907, p. 583), says :" The 

 example o>f the Sanguineous Waxbill procured by Mr. 

 Zaphiro, apparently an unusually fine bird, has the 

 breast and belly scarlet and of a much more intense 

 colour than in any of the specimens in the British 



ORANGE-BREASTED 01; ZKI;I:A FINCHES. 



Museum. Happily he does not give it a distinctive 

 scientific name. 



Of tihe Southern form Mr. Stark writes (" Birds of 

 South Africa," Vol. I., p. 106) : " These very beautiful 

 little Waxbills differ somewhat in their habits from the 

 common Extrihla a*tril<ld. They prefer the borders of 

 ^iriMins and marshes, where there is a thick growth of 

 bushes and reeds, to the more open gratss-lands, and 

 they are much shyer and more easily alarmed. In Natal, 

 where they are not uncommon from May to December, I 

 have generally met with them in flocks of no great size, 

 feeding on the ground on grass-seeds, but- taking refuge 

 in bushes if disturbed. When feeding they keep up a 

 continuous chirping.'' 



" The eggs of this species are pure white, and measure 

 on the average 0.52 by 0.40." 



In captivity this Waxbill has 'been induced by the 

 Germans to breed tolerably freely in a high temperature ; 



