ii4 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



There are varicnis degrees of excellence among singers of this 

 species : all sing on a descending scale ; but a bad performer will only 

 give an outline of the true song, represented by four or five notes ; 

 on the other hand, a really good vocalist, commences with five or six 

 single shrill notes, all alike, each separated by a pause from the 

 other, as though he were tuning his instrument, or trying to find the 

 key-note : then suddenly he sings somewhat as follows : " Tetti, tetti, 

 tetti, tettitera, teeta, tur, tur" commencing high and rapidly running 

 down, like a scale played on the flute with variations, the two last 

 notes grave and low. The effect is decidedly pleasing; but the same 

 individual never varies his song and, so far as I have been able to 

 discover, a bad singer never improves. 



I do not believe that the hen ever sings ; jitdging from my own 

 experience alone, I should be inclined to say that it certainly does 

 not ; but the cock bird sings at all seasons and when in female dress, 

 which would lead anyone who was not certain of the sex of the 

 performer, to imagine that a hen sang as well as a cock. 



As a matter of fact you could not whistle the Amaduvade's song, 

 with the lips as written above, though you might succeed better by 

 whistling through the teeth ; but the flute-like sounds uttered suggest 

 the above syllables. I always try to get a clue to the suggested 

 words by imitating the song immediately after hearing it. 



Though very hardy and long-lived in a large cage, or in an 

 unheated aviary, I find the Amaduvades drop off, one by one, in my 

 bird-room more quickly than many other Waxbills: thus, in 1892 I 

 must have added quite three dozen examples, to the half-dozen or so, 

 which were previously living in the aviary devoted to small Finches ; 

 yet by February, 1894, there were certainly not more than half-a-dozen 

 examples remaining; whereas, a dozen turned loose in 1892, in my 

 coldest aviary, were all living at the above mentioned later date, in 

 spite of severe frosts and the trying nature of this most changeable 

 climate. Indeed, provided that the north and east winds a,re shut out, 

 cold appears to invigorate these Waxbills, and I do not doubt that if 

 turned loose in the extreme soiith of Bngland they would thrive, 

 provided that they could always obtain food. 



Illustrations from living specimens and skins in the author's 

 collection. 



