176 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



be possible, as in the case of Bullfinch and Redpoll 

 hybrids. 



It is difficult to say whether the species of Amarlina 

 ought to ba called Grass-finches or Mannikins; they 

 certainly approach near to the Spice-finches. 



The Mannikins. 



These birds are merely sombre-coloured Gras.*- 

 finches with slightly heavier beaks, the culmen (or 

 ridge) of which is in a line continuous with the fore- 



QUAIL FINCH (Ortyyospiza polyzona). 



Above brown, slightly mottled with darker brown ; 

 forehead blackish; wings and tail brown; coverts and 

 secondaries edged with grey; outer primary and < 

 tail-feather edged with white; second tail-feather with 

 a. white streak; lores blackish, a, broad white orbital 

 ring consisting of the eyebrow and a streak joining it 

 below the eye: ear-coverts and sides of neck givyish 

 brown; cheeks blackish, -united by a widening blackish 

 streak to the black throat; a large, sharply-defined. 





QUAIL FINCH. 



head. They are the most stupid and generally 

 apathetic of all Finches. With the exception of the 

 Java Sparrow, which I consider more nearly related to 

 the typical Weavers than any other Mannikin, they 

 can hardly be expected to sing, the sounds they utter 

 being weak and frequently almost inaudible ; indeed, 

 some aviculturists ha,ve declared themselves q'uite 

 unable to detect the slightest sound, although I must 

 confess that I always regarded this as a slight exagge- 

 ration of the fact. The song of the Chestnut-breast is 

 the loudest of all these feeble singers, and even hie 

 performance only consists of four feeble notes, each 

 repeated from four to six times. I will, however, give 

 the Mannikins credit for one thing : if they cannot 

 sing, it is not for the want of trying : their efforts to 

 express themselves are prodigious and the effect 

 ludicrous- 



white chin-spot ; upper breast grey, barred with Mack 

 and white, passing into light chestnut on the lower 

 breast and into buff on the abdomen ; tides and flanks 

 greyish brown, barred with black and white; lower 

 tail-coverts buff, with longitudinal black shaft-streaks ; 

 axillaries and under wing-coverts bufi; flights Lelow 

 dusky, with pale inner margins ; beak red ; feet pale 

 brown; irides bright hazel. Female with the black on 

 head and throat replaced by greyish brown ; under- 

 surface of body paler; breast and sides, barred with 

 dull brown and white. Habitat, from Abyssinia to 

 Eastern Cape Colony on the east coast, and on the west 

 from Senegal to Angola. 



Stark observes (" Birds of South Africa," Vol. I., 

 p. 110) : "These pretty little birds are usually met with 

 in small flocks, but occasionally in single pairs, on 

 open grassy flats. Here they feed on the ground, under 



