134 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



majority of dictionaries ; some of them, perhaps, coined for the occasion, 

 others technical, or perhaps, popular trade terms, equivalent to such 

 English words as "Old Judge" or "Navy-Cut"; all of which are 

 doubtless as clear as noonday to the German reader, but a Cimmerian 

 fog to the English translator. 



Illustration from a skin of the male in the Natural History Museum. 



THE ST. HELENA WAXBILL. 



Estrilda astrilda, LlNN. 



A South-African species, ranging to the Matabele country on the 

 east, and to Damara-Land on the west. Introduced into St. 

 Helena, Mauritius, Madagascar, &c. 



This Waxbill nearly resembles E. cinerea, from which it chiefly 

 differs in its superior size (length 44 inches), its deeper and greyer 

 colouring above, the greater development of rose-red on the abdomen, 

 and its long tail. 



Messrs. Sharpe and Layard give the following account of the 

 habits of the St. Helena Waxbill; or Red-beak, as the Boers call it: 

 " These little birds congregate in prodigious flocks throughout the 

 colony, frequenting the fields of grain, ploughed lands, and vineyards. 

 They are not unfrequently found close to habitations, and their little 

 shrill piping notes may be heard even in towns." 



" The ' Roodebec ' is found in all parts of the colony, and 

 extends into Natal. Mr. F. R. Barratt states : ' I recognized this 

 little bird nearly all over the country, Orange Free State, Diamond 

 Fields, Pretoria, Lydenberg Gold Fields; and I have seen it in the 

 Kaffir gardens a few miles further north. I also met with it at 

 Rustenberg. They congregate in large flocks, and are said by the 

 Boers and farmers to do considerable damage to grain crops." 



" Mr. Frank Gates procured it in the Matabele country, where it 



