86 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



his cage is uncovered and his churlishness aroused by the sight of 

 associates whom he chooses to consider foes. At that charmed hour he 

 will favor his delighted audience of one with a sweet and tender strain, 

 utterly unlike his performance at any other time. A pining captive is 

 an unwelcome guest in this small bird colony, and the Cardinal could 

 have his liberty at any moment. But that is not his desire. He 

 evidently appreciates the comfort of a cage, is satisfied with his bill of 

 fare, and has no inclination to forage for himself. The only thing he 

 wishes is to be let alone. His dream of happiness, if put into words, 

 would, I think, resemble the ideal of some of the human family a 

 well-appointed house, having everything to please the eye and gratify 

 the taste within and about it, and surrounded by a wall unsurmountable 

 and impenetrable, even to the glances of the world at large." 



The illustration of the cock bird is taken from skins of specimens 

 formerly living in the author's collection. 



THE WHITE-THROATED FINCH. 



Spermophila albigularis, SPIX. 



THE merits of this extremely fascinating little bird have only recently 

 begun to be appreciated by aviarists. Herr Wiener, in Cassell's 

 Cage Birds, speaks rather contemptuously of the entire genus 

 Spermophila : he gives a list of seven species and devotes three, paragraphs 

 to the whole : he says " They are distinguished by a singularly thick 

 and arched beak, which gives them a peculiar appearance. Their 

 plumage unpretending, and their song quite insignificant ; but they 

 are funny-looking amiable little beings, who are content to lead a 

 perfectly harmless existence in the aviary, munching millet and canary 

 seed. In the course of years I have kept all those named above, without 

 discovering anything specially interesting in any one of them." Well, 

 I don't agree with him. The White-throated Finch is a native of 

 Brazil, and is an extremely beautiful little bird ; reminding one, in the 



