50 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



other times peaceable, they now drive every bird away from the vicinity 

 of the nest. Males are much commoner than hens in the trade; and 

 frequently kept singly as songsters. The objection to breeding them 

 is: all young Pope- Finches (the German trivial name) in the first 

 spring almost entirely resemble the female ; males can only be with 

 difficult}" distinguished by the yellow or orange-coloured eye-ring and 

 brighter under surface. Enduring, unassuming and peaceable; the 

 males should, nevertheless, not be kept with their own species or the 

 allied Indigo Bird." 



"Song pleasant, yet low-pitched and not rich in variations, from 

 March to July. Dies from being fed on seeds alone, of constipation 

 and other illnesses. Old Pope-Finches will readily feed all kinds of 

 young insectivorous birds with fresh ants' cocoons etc., Dr. Bolan is 

 satisfied that a bird which does this must have reared a Cuckoo." 



In Dr. Russ' Die Fremdldndischen Stubenvogel, that most reliable 

 author makes an extraordinary assertion, almost the only statement 

 made in any one of his writings, so far as I have studied them, which 

 I am utterly unable to endorse. He is criticizing Dr. Gundlach, who 

 says that the wild Nonpareil retains its coloured plumage, when it has 

 once acquired it, and is thereby distinguishable from its predecessors ; 

 and he says : " In the latter assertion, as is well known, Dr. Gundlach 

 is mistaken ; for the Pope-Fitich, as well as the Indigo Finch, belongs to 

 those birds which in the autumn change their colouring to the incon- 

 spicuous plumage of the hen. The male is then distinguished from 

 the latter only by its somewhat deeper shading." 



Now, of course, we all are well aware that the nearly allied Indigo 

 Finch, at the approach of winter, assumes the dull plumage of the 

 hen ; but as regards the cock Nonpareil, I have no hesitation in 

 asserting positively, that Dr. Gundlach was not in error. Personally 

 I have kept the species for about eleven years, and therefore have only 

 observed eleven moults ; but, in no single instance have my cock birds 

 assumed the female plumage, or anything approaching to .it. 



In the second place, the Crystal Palace Bird Show, as is well 

 known, regularly takes place in the winter (for the benefit of Canary 

 breeders and to the great dissatisfaction of foreign bird keepers) : at 

 that show there is usually at least one cock Nonpareil which ought to 

 be in undress uniform, if Dr. Russ were correct, but is invariably an 

 unmistakeable male. 



Lastly, Mr. Abrahams, who has had hundreds, or more probably, 

 thousands, of Nonpareils through his hands, and has made a study of 

 them, as he does of all birds which come into his possession, assures 



