178 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



parts in 1869-70, not a specimen could be found, the bird having 

 been entirely exterminated by the ' trappers ' for the European 

 markets. It is thinly dispersed over the country to the north, but is 

 replaced in the Gulf districts by its near ally P. atripygialis. It nests 

 in long grass and Pandanus bushes, and lays five eggs of a bluish 

 white, elongated in form." 



Whatever it may do in a wild state, it certainly does not lay 

 bluish-white eggs in confinement ; those laid from time to time in the 

 seed pan, by one of my hen birds, were not distinguishable from eggs 

 of the Zebra Finch, being pure white, and similar to those of all other 

 Grass-finches. In my opinion the bluish tint described by Mr. 

 North was purely imaginary. 



Mr. Wiener thinks " it might be somewhat risky to keep Parson 

 Finches in an out-door aviary during winter." In this he is mistaken, 

 which shows that proved facts are better than suppositions. If I want 

 to know whether a species is hardy, I try the experiment of keeping 

 it in a cold aviary throughout the winter : if it dies, I have gained a 

 fact, which I can publish for the benefit of other bird lovers : one bird 

 dies to save the lives of many. On the other hand, supposing that 

 the bird is none the worse for the cold treatment, there is an in- 

 teresting fact for the aviarist who has no heat available. 



I believe it to be a mistake to speak of any Australian Finch as 

 sensitive to cold : none that I have experimented with have proved to 

 be so. Of all my Gouldian, Parson, Zebra and Cherry Finches, and 

 Sydney Waxbills, which have been wintered in an unheated aviary 

 open to the air : not one died from cold, though many died from 

 laying, (or failing to lay) soft eggs, from killing one another out of 

 jealousy, from a miserable disease resembling " staggers " in horses, 

 and lastly, from that common and almost invariably fatal disease, 

 inflammation of the bowels ; usually due to an incursion of mice into 

 the aviary. In a word, the Parson Finch is utterly indifferent to cold, 

 quite as much so as the Zebra Finch. 



At the same time, if Parson Finches are to be bred ; I believe 

 from my own failures, (with the exception of the one partial success 

 previously recorded, where, two young birds actually left the nest,) 

 that heat is a necessity ; and that it is only because they were kept 

 in a rather high temperature, that the Parson Finches belonging to 

 Dr. Russ, Mr. Wiener and other German breeders, were so easily and 

 abundantly bred. If kept at a winter temperature of 70 degrees 

 Fahr., I should anticipate that none of the Australian Finches would 

 be at all difficult to breed. That they need a large area for exercise 



