THE ALARIO FINCH. 39 



In his Frcmdlaiidm-licn Stubenvi>gcl Dr. Russ tells us that Vierthaler 

 describes the propagation of this species very superficially ; (the majority 

 of collectors pay very little attention to the habits of birds, their object 

 being either to live by destroying them, or to get together a large 

 collection and thus obtain an insight into the geographical distribution 

 of birds ; it is only the truly scientific collector who cares anything 

 about the life of the things he obtains, or takes the least trouble to 

 learn anything about them. In short, ordinary collectors are little more 

 than machines for the accumulation of dead materials). However, to 

 continue, it appears that Vierthaler found the nest on the Blue Nile, 

 about five feet above the ground, with three eggs ; and that is all that 

 is known of the wild life of the species. 



Illustration from living specimens in the author's collection. 



THE ALARIO FINCH. 



Alario alario, LlNN. 



THIS is a very melodious song-bird from Southern Africa, its range 

 extending from Cape Town northwards to Damara Land, and 

 eastwards to Port Elizabeth. The cock-bird in its colouring is curiously 

 like the Three-coloured Mannikin : its entire head, with the exception 

 of a whitish spot at the base of the lower mandible, and a crescentic 

 band on the chin are jet-black, this colour extending from the sides 

 of the neck and throat so as to join a broad, almost square, patch on 

 the chest; the latter is only at all distinguishable from the black of 

 the throat by a few white hairs in the hinder feathers of the latter; 

 from the posterior angles of the thoracic patch, two well-defined lateral 

 black streaks run irregularly into the whitish breast ; the black of the 

 nape is defined laterally by a white band, slightly stained with dusky, 

 which forms an imperfect collar and passes into the white of the 

 shoulder ; the back of the neck, mantle and whole upper surface, 

 including the wing-coverts and tail, are bright reddish-chocolate, 



