CANARIES AND SEEDEATERS 85 



lively though simple song, and in its richly tinted garb 

 makes truly a charming cage bird. 



Another pretty little species is the Icterine Seedeater 

 (S. icterus), which is the common form in the Central 

 Transvaal, being fairly plentiful from the Modderfontein 

 Dynamite Factory, through Irene and Pretoria to the 

 " Bushveld." It is lively, tame, and of confiding habits, 

 and has a charming melodious song with full flute-like 

 notes ; hence it is often caught and even exported over-sea 

 as a cage-bird. 



It is prettily marked in yellow, green and black. 



A vastly different bird is the sombre-plumaged White- 

 throated Seedeater (S. albigularis) called " Dik-bek 

 Seisje " or " Berg-seisje " by the Boers. It has a loud 

 musical song which is by some critics even preferred to 

 that of the Cape Canary. 



Another good little songster is the Yellow-rumped 

 Seedeater (or " Black-throated," as it is usually called 

 S. angolensis), which is pale huffish-brown with a blackish 

 throat and yellow rump. It is exceedingly common in 

 the Brandfort and Kroonstad Districts, Orange Eiver 

 Colony, and Pretoria District, Transvaal. 



A favourite little songster is the dainty little Mountain 

 Canary (Alario alario) familiarly called the "Black-head" 

 by the schoolboys of the Eastern Cape Colony. It thrives 

 readily in captivity, is of gentle habits, and inter-breeds 

 with the Cape and Common Canaries. It is essentially 

 a Cape Colonial bird, but ranges into Great Namaqua- 

 land, and the Orange River Colony as far north as 

 Bloemfontein. The males are of a chestnut-red above 

 with part of the wing and entire head black ; the sides 

 of the neck and under surface white, excepting the throat 

 and centre of breast, which is black, forming a " tie." 



