CHAPTER XIX. 



THE WAXBILL FAMILY 



The Grey or Common Waxbill The St. Helena Wax- 

 bill The Orange-cheeked Waxbill The Cinereous 

 Waxbill The Crimson-eared Waxbill The Ava- 

 davat Waxbill The Green Waxbill The Golden- 

 breasted Waxbill The Red African Waxbill 

 The Violet -eared Waxbill The Sydney or 

 Australian Waxbill. 



HIS is a very numerous family, and includes 

 some of the most favourite foreign birds 



that are to be met with in the collections 

 of amateurs and the shops of the whole- 

 sale importers and dealers in this country. They are 

 tiny birds for the most* part, with pretty plumage and 

 lively ways, but little or no power of song. They are 

 easily kept in confinement, being very frugal livers, 

 subsisting for the most part on white sorghum- (millet) 

 seed, and not infrequently nesting in the aviary with 

 as much readiness and more success than the canary. 

 THE GREY or COMMON WAXBILL, Estrelda (or 

 Russ) cinerea (illustrated at Fig. 32), is a 



