84 DENIZENS OF THE FOREST 



browner on the back and paler below. It is a common 

 resident in most districts of the Cape and Natal, but in 

 the Orange Eiver Colony and Transvaal it is uncommon 

 and "local." This bird has a fine sustained song of 

 sweet full notes, the quality of which varies, however, 

 in individual members. 



It lives principally on weed seeds and insects, thus 

 being useful as well as pretty and a songster. It builds 

 a neat little cup-shaped nest and lays three or four eggs 

 of a very pale blue, streaked and spotted at the obtuse 

 end, with purple and reddish-brown. 



It takes readily to confinement, being hardy, and can 

 be bred in captivity; it is in consequence much sought 

 after by the schoolboys of the Eastern Districts of the 

 Cape, who made a regular traffic in the catching and 

 selling of Canaries before the Wild Birds' Protection Act 

 of 1899 was in operation. [Unfortunately no clause was 

 inserted allowing the collection of birds for scientific 

 purposes.] This Act is largely due to the praiseworthy 

 efforts of the genial and sporting magistrate of Grahams- 

 town, Mr. Francis Graham. 



The Large Yellow Seedeater (Serinus sulphur atus), the 

 Geel-seisje of the Boers, and " Bully " of the Colonial 

 boys, and its smaller congeners, the Klein e Seisjes 

 (S- flaviventris and S. marshalli), make handsome cage- 

 birds in their greenish-yellow and bright golden colours. 

 The Northern form (S. marshalli) is extremely common 

 around Bloemfontein and Brandfort in the Orange Eiver 

 Colony, and it is a pretty sight to see a small flock of 

 these birds, consisting of some half-dozen males with a 

 like number of their sombre-coloured spouses, flitting 

 about amongst the mimosas at sunset. Although not 

 such a renowned songster as the Cape Canary, it has a 



