194 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



assembled in small flocks of from four to eight in number ; these 

 when flushed from among the grasses would perch on the neighbouring 

 bushes, rather than fly off to any distance, and indeed, the form of 

 its wings and tail indicate that it possesses lesser powers of flight 

 than many of the other Finches." 



Mr. North says: "The habitation of this Finch is the interior 

 and the northern and eastern portions of Australia. Like all other 

 members of this family it constructs a flask-shaped nest of dried 

 grasses, which is usually placed in a low bush or long grass. Eggs 

 five in number for a sitting ; pure white." 



Dr. Sharpe places the genus Stidoptera next to Taniopygia. Dr. 

 Russ, on the other hand, calls it " Ringel-astrild," Belted or Ringed 

 Astrild. Although, in some respects, it approaches the Waxbills, its 

 bluish-grey beak, style of coloration and song, are much more 

 characteristic of the genus Aidemosyne ; I, therefore, prefer to locate it 

 here ; on the other hand I have not followed Dr. Sharpe in placing 

 the Amaduvade, Zebra and Orange-cheeked Waxbills between Grass- 

 finches and Mannikins ; since this arrangement would widely dissociate 

 one group of Waxbills from another, in opposition to the fact of their 

 entire similarity in habits and general appearance. Such dissociations 

 are purely scientific, and are necessary to the naturalist, who lays 

 down for himself certain structural characters upon which to base his 

 classification; whether his arrangement is natural or not, is a point 

 which he cannot always consider, without adding considerably to the 

 difficulties which already stand in his path. The scientist is often 

 hampered, by the fact, that similarity in certain structural characteristics 

 is, not unfrequently, produced in different genera; and if this part of 

 the structure chances to be that upon which a classification is based, 

 the two genera necessarily are brought into juxtaposition: it may have 

 been possessed by some remote ancestor of both groups, and have 

 persisted in these two isolated genera, or it may have been lost and 

 regained, or lastly, it may have been independently acquired. The 

 student of bird-life is hampered by no very arbitrary rules ; he calls 

 one group of active graceful birds, with more or less crimson beaks, 

 shrill songs, and a peculiar style of dancing, " Waxbills," and he 

 notes that the majority of these build a nest with a covered passage, 

 or tube, leading into the entrance hole ; but if he finds a Grass-finch 

 which builds a similar nest, or has a shrill cry, he does not call it a 

 Waxbill; neither, if a member of the latter group fails in any one 

 point, does he immediately reject it. The fancier, indeed, bases his 

 opinion upon the majority of living characteristics ; he might perhaps 



