THK GREEN SINGING FINCH. 35 



contained two pure white eggs, showing the usual rosy reflection of 

 the yolk, but a few days later the nest was empty. Later attempts to 

 breed were equally fruitless in both instances and the birds in the outer 

 aviary became so aggressive that I was obliged to banish them to 

 another enclosure and the company of larger birds. 



A writer to 77/6- Bazaar (Mr. W. T. Catlengh) had a far more 

 satisfactory experience: "At the end of the year 1884, a pair came 

 into my possession. For some days I considered that I had been 

 'done,' and that my pair were two cocks. Directly one or other of 

 them warbled for a short time, it was the signal for a scrimmage. As 

 a rule, they generally attacked each other; but occasionally they 

 vented their spite on the Waxbills. To test whether they were a 

 genuine pair, in the following year (on the 4th Feb.) they were put 

 into a breeding-cage i8in. in length, nin. in height, and Sin. in depth. 

 Being so small a cage, I took out the nesting arrangements and the 

 wired-oif division underneath. One qiiarter of a cocoanut was then 

 sawn off for an opening, the fruit scooped out, and the shell wired to 

 the back of the cage. Into the bottom and sides of this was pressed 

 firmly an ordinary moss-and-cow-hair nest that had been well pulled to 

 pieces. The birds altered this but very little and soon took possession. 

 Five eggs where laid, and the first one was hatched on the 25th March, 

 and in less than seven weeks (viz. loth May) the young birds began 

 to sing. The breeding-cage was hung in the nursery facing south-west, 

 as it was the only room available with a sunny aspect. I firmly 

 believe that greater success is achieved in a room where there is plenty 

 of noise, talking etc., than in one set apart for the purpose." 



The above struck me as such an extraordinary fact that it seemed 

 worth quoting. That these excitable birds should have laid and 

 reared their young in an ordinary London-made Canary breeding-cage, 

 and in a room where children were continually romping about ; whilst 

 my pair, in a cage measuring aft. Sin. high, aft. deep, and iS-aoin. 

 wide, never showed the slightest inclination to do so, seemed barely 

 credible ; but, in the matter of Bird-breeding, one has always to bear 

 in mind the fact that it is usually the improbable which happens. 



Wiener quotes the following from Dr. Russ' Stubenvogel : "From 

 afar we hear a clear melodious note. Repeated again and again, we 

 fancy the same song is faintly echoed. Attentively listening and 

 watching, we observe the hen answers each warble of the male." 



I must confess to being utterly unable to support this statement : 

 I have heard the male bird sing " from afar," if the distance between 

 my dining-room and my bird-room can be so designated ; but, though 



