THK SAFFRON FINCH. 21 



or if the male should happen to be of a retiring disposition, the female 

 may be seen pursuing him vigorously. Then there is sure to be a 

 family quarrel before the beginning of each brood, and these domestic 

 feuds frequently become so inveterate as to upset the equanimity of all 

 the other smaller inhabitants of an aviary." 



In the case of my own first pair of this species, each alternately 

 pursued the other; in fact it was a kind of game like "hide and seek," 

 the cock bird sitting in a Canary nest-box, whilst the hen crept into a 

 German Canary-cage, on the opposite side of the aviary, each earnestly 

 watching the other. Suddenly the cock bird would sweep across 

 towards the hen, but she, equally on the alert, would dive through the 

 front opening just in time to avoid him, and take up her position in the 

 box he had vacated ; then she would be the pursuer, and the same 

 manoeuvre would be repeated over and over again until they wearied 

 of the sport. 



I have proved that the Saffron Finch may easily be bred in a large 

 box-cage (about three feet long by two high and two deep), provided 

 that a good-sized deep box is fixed up in one corner, and plenty of 

 hay, moss, and feathers supplied. The favourite nesting-box of this, 

 and of most Finches, is one known as of the cigar-box pattern ; in 

 fact, for the smaller species, a full-sized cigar-box, with half the lid 

 sawn off and the other half nailed down, or, better still, with only 

 one-third removed, makes a very good cradle for the construction of a 

 nest. The box must be hung up perpendicularly, with the opening 

 in front ; and it is a good plan to half fill the lower, or enclosed 

 portion, with hay. 



Mr. Abrahams strongly recommends his woven basket-nests, which 

 certainly have a neater appearance in an aviary than the oblong wooden 

 boxes described above ; moreover, birds are very fond of roosting and 

 even laying in them ; but, personally, I was never successful in 

 obtaining any young ones from these nests, though it is quite possible 

 that, in this respect, I may be an exception to the general rule. 



In its native country the Saffron Finch, and some of the other 

 species of its genus, build their nests in hollows in decayed trees, or 

 the deserted nests of other birds ; but, in the neighbourhood of towns, 

 they construct large nests lined with horse-hair, in holes in walls. 

 Their eggs are usually five in number, greenish white, spotted more 

 or less thickly with sharply-defined blackish olive and pale lavender 

 spots. In form these eggs are smaller and rounder than those of our 

 Sparrow. 



Though the genus Sy calls is placed next to Serin us in the most 



