Favourite Foreign Birds. 



of the tail feathers yellowish-green, while the rest 

 of the under-parts are scarlet. 



The female is much more soberly attired in yellowish- 

 green, and the young males resemble her ; so that 

 amateurs who think they have a pair are very often 

 disappointed when they find they have only got an 

 old cock and a young one. 



These birds have occasionally bred in confinement, 

 making a nest of hay or fibre in a bush on a founda- 

 tion of their own construction, or in a basket hung 

 up behind some convenient shelter. The eggs, which 

 are from three to five in number, are bluish-white, 

 speckled with violet and brown. The readiest food 

 consists of ants' eggs, given as bought, and to this 

 should be added small ripe fruit, gentles in the pupa 

 stage of their existence, groats, and millet. It must 

 be recollected that these birds are mainly insecti- 

 vorous, and cannot live long on a diet composed of 

 seed alone, which they cannot digest in any quantity, 

 and which if persisted in will cause constipation and 

 fits, from which so many Nonpareils die in captivity. 



THE PIN-TAIL or EAST INDIAN NONPAREIL, Ery- 

 thrura prasina, is a native of Java and Sumatra, and 

 at one time used to be very freely imported; but, 

 owing to its correct management not being understood, 

 it seldom survived long in this country, and amateurs 

 gave it up. However, it may be preserved as long 

 as its American cousin, by adopting for it the dietary 

 recommended for the latter, with the addition of a 

 free supply of paddy rice ; that is to say, rice in the 

 husk, on which it has even bred in the aviary of 

 Dr. Russ, of Berlin. 



