52 FEATHERED FRIENDS. 



No, the Crimson-eared Waxbill is not particularly 

 delicate, in fact I consider that he is really the hardiest 

 of all the small foreign Finches ; but his mate is not as 

 strong as he is, for many females of the species which 

 I have had at different times have all died, sooner or 

 later, from egg-binding, which was a great pity seeing 

 that they are such lovely little creatures and so soon 

 become quite familiar and tame. 



Owing to one mischance or another, but principally 

 thanks to the mice, I have never succeeded in obtaining 

 any aviary-bred Cordons Bleus of my own rearing. 

 But given an enclosure from which the pernicious rodents 

 were altogether excluded, and in which no other birds 

 were kept, I feel certain that it would be as easy to 

 breed them as it is to multiply the well-known Zebra 

 Finch, if not, indeed, more so. 



The nest, which is made of hay, bass-matting and 

 cocoanut fibre, is sometimes placed in a box, or in 

 a small cage, in the deserted toy-nest of a Weaver-bird, 

 or in any convenient nook or corner, but sometimes 

 it is built in a bush, and is then domed, or it may 

 be made on a shelf beneath some projecting ledge; it 

 is lined with small feathers, cotton-wool, or cow-hair, 

 though feathers are preferred. 



The eggs, which are five or six in number, rarely 

 more than the latter and seldom less than the former, 

 are pure white and about the same size as those 

 of the European Regulus, or Golden-crested Wren. 



