THE PARROT FINCH. 157 



exhibition of the " Ornis " Society of Berlin in 1877.* Prince 

 Ferdinand, of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, informed me that he had already 

 seen a pair in 1873, belonging to Monsieur Geoffrey St. Hilaire, of 

 Paris. He purchased two pairs from Mr. Wiener, each for 100 Marks 

 (a little under ^5). A more successful hatching has not been accom- 

 plished, and since then this species has been extremely seldom 

 imported." 



A very good pair, however, was exhibited at the Crystal Palace 

 Show, for 1890, and either the same, or other specimens, have been 

 shown there every year since that date. A fair number came to 

 England, in 1897, and I was offered a pair in splendid condition, but 

 the price was still too high to tempt me, my experience with the 

 Rufous-tailed Grass-finch having somewhat daunted me. 



In the first edition of Cassell's Cage Birds, Wiener says : " The 

 only record of a live Parrot Finch, in any European Zoological Garden 

 is, that in 1873, one specimen was seen in the garden of the Paris 

 Acclimatization Society. My Parrot Finches were always perfectly 

 amiable towards other birds, and nested within a few feet of the 

 Double-banded Finches, without either interfering with the domestic 

 arrangements of the other. At first they were rather shy, and left 

 their nest whenever anyone came near, but latterly they have become 

 xised to visitors. My success in breeding this rare and valuable 

 Finch, is probably due to the birds being placed in an aviary sufficiently 

 large to leave them comparatively undisturbed. As food, canary, French 

 millet, and millet in the ear proved sufficient, with the usual addition 

 of animal food in the breeding season." 



In the Gefiederte Welt for April 2ist, 1887, Lieut. Hauth says: 

 "Respecting my Red-headed Parrot Finches (Spermestes psittacea, GMEL), 

 I can inform you that the young of the first nest have thriven 

 excellently ; they are to-day (i4th April) fourteen days old. Also the 

 young in the second nest came out four days ago, and lastly I have a 

 laying of four eggs of the same species deposited in a third nest : as 

 you are aware, I possess several adult pairs." 



In June, of the same year, he contributes a long article to the 

 Gefiederte Welt in which he gives a full, indeed almost unnecessarily 

 prolix account of his experiences with this species. At first, I 

 commenced to translate this account verbatim, but after wading 

 through the first half, concluded that the facts could be stated more 

 concisely. He mentions the fact that, whereas the " Leek-green 

 Amandine " (Pin-tailed Nonpareil) is always extremely delicate when 



* Wiener says that the three others were accidentally killed. A.G.B. 



