234 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



I had to put her to bed every night in the nest-box : how she got 

 back to the floor of the cage in the morning I cannot say ; she must, 

 I think, have tumbled out anyhow and napped her wings to ensure a 

 soft fall : eventually she died, and I turned her husband loose in my 

 outer aviary. 



On the 6th July, a friend imported a few of these birds from 

 Australia, and I purchased from him three cocks and two hens, one 

 of the latter I turned out with the widower, the others I transferred 

 to a large breeding-cage. As these were all young birds, however, 

 there was no immediate prospect of breeding with them. When fiilly 

 adult I turned all the birds into the same aviary, but they never built 

 systematically, and in 1896 three of them died, leaving only three cock 

 birds alive, two of which died in 1897. 



Dr. Russ says : " Until a few years ago the Reed Finch (German 

 trivial name) was very rare in the trade, and it has only been intro- 

 duced into the Zoological Garden of London, or to Europe generally, 

 since the year 1860. At present, it is one of the commonest forms 

 seen in the trade, can be obtained every year, though never in con- 

 siderable numbers. Like several other Australians, it proves so delicate 

 immediately after its arrival, that the greater number die. Since, 

 however, the remainder have excellent health for years, it is evident 

 that these, as also almost all birds as a rule, are badly looked after 

 during the long passage, and almost invariably arrive in a sickly 

 condition. Moreover, many Reed Amadines suddenly go wrong, even 

 after a long time, and in spite of the fact that they are apparently 

 quite healthy. The cause of death, then, is invariably fatty degeneration 

 of the liver. 



" The ventriloquial long-drawn song is delivered with great zeal, 

 and terminates in a loud high tilt !* A pair belonging to Mr. Linden, 

 of Radolfzell, nested with good results ; mine, on the contrary, allowed 

 several years to pass fruitlessly, when at length two pairs simultaneously 

 formed a careless nest, in a Hartz cage and a pasteboard box, of coarse 

 nesting materials, stalks, sea-weed, fibres, dried chickweed, and lined 

 with feathers. The young died before changing their colour." 



In my opinion the delicacy of these, and other imported Finches, 

 is principally due to overcrowding during transport ; when a cage, such 

 as is usually provided for the accommodation of some fifty birds, is 

 tenanted by less than half that number, the losses are comparatively 

 trifling, and the birds arrive in good health ; but the sailors who 



* When I wrote this article I possessed four males and three females; consequently I often 

 heard the song, but I never heard this termination. A.G.B. 



