CHAPTER IX. 



or Parson 



I His is an Australian species and was at one time 

 tolerably plentiful in the market, where at present 

 it is scarce and consequently dear. Independently of 

 its neat and pleasing appearance, quiet and harmless 

 disposition and pretty little song, it breeds freely in 

 the aviary, but the young deteriorate rapidly in size and 

 brilliancy of colouring, the brown of the body losing its 

 rich chesnut tone and becoming paler, while the black 

 throat has traces of white and the delicate lavender tint 

 of the head turns to a nondescript kind of grey. 



In regard to stamina, too, the aviary-bred Parson 

 Finch seems to lose as much as it does in size and 

 colour, and many of them fall victims to the curious and 

 tiresome disease known as French Moult, a wretched 

 complaint akin to the rickets of the human subject, 

 and for which no cure has yet been discovered. 



Probably, however, if the birds were kept in a large 

 garden aviary well planted with gum trees and other 

 Australian shrubs (in pots, of course) they would do 



