THE ST. HELENA WAYBILL. 47 



Although I have kept these Waxbills for many 

 years, and am acquainted with numerous amateurs who 

 have also had them in their possession, I have never 

 met with a single instance in which the young ones 

 have been successfully reared in this country. 



It is curious that at first the beak of all the young 

 Waxbills should be quite black, instead of resembling 

 the brilliant hue of that of the parents, which as the 

 name (Waxbill) indicates is the colour of vermilion, and, 

 judging from analogy, the youthful St. Helenas do not 

 differ in this respect from their congeners. 



Although natives of Africa and some of the adjacent 

 islands, these little birds are not at all delicate, but 

 will live for twelve or fourteen years in a cage without 

 showing any sign of ailment, and moreover they are 

 able to stand a considerable degree of cold with 

 impunity. Damp, however, soon puts an end to them, 

 and on that account it is not advisable to let them 

 remain out of doors during the winter in this country, 

 although they greatly enjoy a summer holiday among 

 the bushes and on the grass of a good-sized garden- 

 aviary, in which they are also seen to far greater 

 advantage than in the house, and where they spend a 

 large portion of their time searching for minute flies 

 and other insects, in the grass and among the leaves: 

 to the latter they do no harm by nibbling them as our 

 own and most of the large foreign birds habitually do. 

 Indeed, I cannot help thinking that if two or three 



