178 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



the case, since there is an attempt at rever.sion to two 

 types of parent, and it is inconceivable that V. ant/i- 

 cauda could produce a type so closely resembling the 

 much darker U striata; but quite conceivable, if the 

 latter were originally a mere variation from (.' . atriata 

 and the fawn and white variations were piodtiecd by 

 introducing- a nearly related species, that the hybrid. 

 paired with the original parent stock, should show the 

 influence of both that and the later introduction in its 

 offspring. 



BENGALEE (fruluncJia r<iiinc*ticc(). 



The teclinieal name has been proposed by Captain 

 Stanley Flower for this domesticated Guinea-pig among 

 Finches. It is well-known in all its forms, dark sepia - 

 brown and white ; fawn or tawny-bufnsh and white, 

 and pure white. I have 'bred all three forms several 

 times, but not in great numbers. I gave up Mr. 

 Abrahams' view that the Indian Silver-bill was con- 

 cerned in the parentage of this little bird on the ground 

 that it never showed any tendency to revert to that 

 species, whereas it certainly does to both U. striata and 

 U. aruticauda. 



The song of the Bengalee is a. little louder than that 

 of the Striated Finch, and perhaps somewhat more 

 liquid ; but it 'has no great merit. 



Strictly-speaking the Bengalee is a genuine fancier's 

 bird, and therefore should have no place in the present 

 work, but both this and the Barbary Turtle-dove have 

 always been included in avicultural books, and there- 

 fore it would be pedantiic to omit them. 



COMMON SPICE-FINCH (Munia punctulafa). 



The prevailing colour of this Mannikin is ohoeolate- 

 brown, the under parts becoming paler from before 

 backwards, being quiite white on the belly, but all the 

 feathers edged with brown, which produces a regularly 

 scaled appearance ; rump simdlar to the belly in colour- 

 the beak and feet are grey, upper mandible black. 

 Female differing in form of beak as in Uroloncha. 

 Hab., the greater part <of India and Ceylon. 



Being an exceedingly abundant species, the wild life 

 of the Spice Fdnch has been well observed. It breeds 

 from February to October, building usually in small 

 trees or bushes, acacias by preference, or in trellises 

 of houses. As a rule, the nests are at a height of 

 five to seven feet from the ground, but exceptionally at 

 a much greater elevation. The typical form of the 

 structure is an oblate spheroid eight to ten (inches in 

 diameter and six to seven inches 'high. It is formed of 

 fresh broad-leaved grasses, rice and barley straw, and 

 sometimes leaves, with a, circular opening in front. 

 The lining consists of fine dry grass stems, the beards 

 of wheat and barley, or fine rootlets. Five to ten 

 white eggs are laid, but seven appears to represent a 

 normal clutch. 



This bird seems to be by no means easy to breed, 

 although Dr. Russ has succeeded where others have 

 failed. My birds have from time to time laid eggs and 

 have sat for a week or so; but, either from weaniness 

 or through 'being disturbed by other Mannikins, have 

 never persevered long enough to hatch out any young- 

 sters. The fights of this and all the Mannikins are 

 a miserable make-believe ; they simply stand up as 

 high as possible and rap their beaks together, without 

 hurting one another in the least. The only time when 

 they are dangerous is when they have a nest in a 

 German canary cage and some little fellow attempts 

 to intrude ; then they scuttle to the opening, lean over, 

 and if tihe inquisitive stranger does not look out they 

 will bring their great beaks down like a pick on the 

 top of his skull, and drop him dead in a single blow 

 This is. however, a tragedy of rare occurrence, though 



I once lost a nice little Afrir.au Waxbill thus through 

 a blow from the beak of a Black-headed Mannikin. 



The song of the Space Finch is a feeble vibrant 

 'humming, followed by three' creaky utterances, which 

 I once described as resembling an arrested sneeze, and 

 it invariably terminates with a very thin ] 

 whistle. To persons at all dull of hearing the SUM 

 quite inaudible. 



BAR-BREASTED FINCH (Mania subundulata}. 

 Differs from M. puinii/lata "in the more olive-yellow 



shade of the rump, upper tail-coverts and taiil, and 

 the geneially more ashy black of the flank 

 which. moreover, is not so strongly pronounced as in 

 J/. /iiimlulcifa. On the rump the" leathers have not 

 the second subtenninal dusky bar which is seen in 

 latter species." Ha'i.. tram Cai-har to Manipur, 

 Jiininah, and Tenasserim, eastward to Cochin China." 

 (Sharpe.) 



Dr. Sharpe 'regards this as a sub-species tending to 

 link M. punctvlata to the Malayan M. ni*nria. There 

 is not the slightest doubt in my mind that the late 

 Mr. J. Abrahams failed to distinguish it from M. 



ia, for he recognised some of my specimen 

 ceived from India as the Bar-breasted Finch. I su 

 that all those which he presented to the London Zoo- 

 logical Gardens were actually examples of M. subundu- 

 laia. Mr. Abrahams called" the Indian examples .!/- 

 // !.--<>ria. 



TOPKLA FINCH (Muni a topela). 



Differs from M. -piinrfulata in having " a shade of 

 ashy-olive over the rump, and with the upper tail- 

 coverts and tail shaded with pale straw-yellow ; the 

 chestnut throat more restricted than in the Indian 

 species, and the barring on the fhnnks more dusky 

 blackish." Hab., Southern China, Formosa, and 

 Hainan." (Sharpe.) 



Mr. Abrahams gave me a pair of this form of Spice- 

 bird in July, 1894. I have no doubt that, like the 

 other imported forms, it is a mere local race of M. 

 jiiinrtulata. Invoice, behaviour, and nesting .habits they 

 all agree, and the confusion that has arisen respecting 

 them is evidence of the difficulty of distinguishing them. 



MALAYAN SriCE-BiRD (Munia ni--<ria). 



Differs from M. piun-futafn in having "a grey shade 

 over the rump and tail, witb scarcely any olive-yellow; 

 the rump feathers are like those of M. topela, plain, 

 with a pale edging, but with indications of two dusky 

 bars.'' ' I am 'not sure that these light edges are not 

 signs of age." "Hab., Malayan Peninsula, Java." 

 (Sharpe.) 



It is probable that some of those recorded in the 600 

 lotrical Society's list are genuine M. nisoria (nut not 

 Bar-breasted Finches), whereas those which Mr. Abra- 

 hams identified in my aviaries with " M. nisorior-thB 

 Bar-breasted Finch," were M. vubundulata, the actual 

 Bar-breasted Finch. Blyth and Jordan made confusion 

 worse confounded by calling the common Spice-bn 

 India M. vixlulata,' and the Malayan bird M. punctu- 



laria. 



PECTORAL FINCH (Muma pectoralts). 



Above pearl grey; upper tail-coverts blackish; wing- 

 coverts and inner secondaries pale greyish brown, spotted 

 at the extremities with white; flights dusky, pale 

 brown externally ; tail blackish brown : a narrow bullish 

 line from base of forehead over eye and down the sides 

 of the neck; sides of head and throat black, extending 

 to fore-neck, where the feathers arc white-tipped; 

 breast crossed by a broad white belt, with here and 

 there an isolated black bar; abdomen and under tail- 



