76 Favourite Foreign Birds. 



THE PARSON " FINCH/' Poephila cincta, is a native 

 of the eastern parts of Australia, and bears many 

 points of resemblance to the preceding, but is alto- 

 gether a more striking-looking bird; it is a trifle 

 smaller than the Diamond Sparrow, which about equals 

 our siskin in size. The general colour is brown, the 

 head and neck are bluish-grey, a black band crosses 

 the throat and another passes behind the thighs ; the 

 under-tail coverts are white, and the tail black. 



Food and treatment the same as recommended for 

 the last species. 



FIG. 27. THE ZEBRA FINCH. 



THE ZEBRA or CHESTNUT-EARED " FINCH," Amadina 

 castanotis (illustrated at Fig. 27), is rather smaller than 

 the preceding, but, like it, a true Sparrow and a native 

 of Eastern Australia. 



The male is a perky little creature somewhat difficult 

 to describe ; the female is readily distinguished from 

 her mate by the absence of purple-spotted sides and 

 the chestnut-coloured ear patches, her plumage being 

 for the most part grey ; the beak is coral-red. The 

 young resemble the hen, but have a black instead of 



