90 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



bases to the feathers ; thighs and under tail-coverts white ; under wing- 

 coverts and axillaries white, with a dusky patch near the edge of the 

 wing; quills below dusky, ashy along the edge of the inner web." 

 R. B. Sharpe. The beak is pale yellow, the legs flesh-tinted ; iris 

 greyish brown. Length 4 T 3 inches. 



Dr. Sharpe describes the hen as " Different from the male. General 

 colour above olive-brown : wing-coverts, quills, and tail-feathers dusky- 

 brown, edged with olive-brown like the back ; eyelid and feathers below 

 the eye dull whitish ; cheeks and under surface of body ochreous brown, 

 washed with olive-yellow, the throat whiter in the centre ; sides of body 

 and flanks somewhat browner, the abdomen yellowish-white, thighs 

 brown ; under tail-coverts ochreous white ; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries olive-yellowish, the former white at the base ; quills below 

 dusky, ashy along the inner edge." Length 4^ inches. 



Mr. E. W. White says that " This bird, which is very quick in its 

 movements, builds a very delicate little nest, of a deep but very round 

 cup-shape, formed of interlaced horsehair, so open and thin as to be 

 seen through. It is abundant in the orchard trees around Buenos Ayres, 

 but sometimes may be seen pendent from maize stalks. It is possessed 

 of a nice song, and breeds very late, indeed quite up to the beginning of 

 autumn. It lays three eggs in a clutch, of a pale bluish green, mottled 

 with small sepia blotches and spots, which, occurring more thickly in a 

 central band, leave the ends somewhat free. Measurement : axis 18 

 millimetres, diameter 13 millimetres." 



Personally, I am unable to speak of the song, having never heard 

 anything but a savage scream from my birds when alarmed ; but, 

 judging from the general similarity of 5. c&rulescens to 5. albigularis, 

 one would not expect to find much dissimilarity in the vocal per- 

 formances of the two species.* The genus to which these birds belong 

 contains no less than thirty-six recognized forms, and nine which may, 

 or may not, prove to be different ; these birds are imported more by 

 chance than design ; being, apparently, introduced by the South, American 

 agents, in order to make up a full number in a consignment. Many 

 of them are, at first sight, very similar ; and it is probable that the 

 White-throated Finch alone is likely to be brought to England with 

 anything approaching regularity. 



The greatest obstacle to breeding this and many other little foreign 

 finches in captivity is, that so very few hens are ever sent home. 



In Sclater and Hudson's Argentine Ornithology S. ccerulescens is 



* The "Reddish Finch" aud the "Guttural Finch," which I have had for years, as well as 

 the "Lined Finch," all sing much like the "White-Throated Finch." A.G.B. 



