98 Favourite Foreign Birds. 



vent, are of a much deeper red, and the red of the 

 bill and eye-streak more intense. The long tail is 

 black and kept in incessant motion, now jerked up 

 and down, then spread out fan-wise ; and whether the 

 bird is feeding, hopping about, or singing, the tail 

 vibrates in keeping with every, movement, and has been 

 compared, not inaptly, to the pendulum of a clock. 



This pretty bird not only breeds freely with members 

 of its own species in the aviary, but will also pair 

 and produce hybrids with the Grey Waxbill, as well 

 as contract matrimonial alliances with the members 

 of other species which, however, I have found to 

 be unfruitful. For instance, a male that has been 

 in my possession for several years paired last summer 

 (1890) with a hen canary, but the only result was 

 barren eggs, though the little Waxbill was most 

 attentive to his yellow-coated spouse. 



The food, treatment, and nesting arrangements of 

 this species are identical with those of the last. 



THE ORANGE-CHEEKED WAXBILL, Estrelda melpoda 

 (illustrated at Fig. 34), is another charming species, 

 the same size as the Grey Waxbill ; its general colour 

 is brown on the upper and greyish-white on the under- 

 parts of the body; the rump is red, and the tail 

 nearly black; a reddish-orange patch surrounds the 

 eye, the beak is of the same colour, and the legs and 

 feet of a reddish flesh-tint. 



It is an exceedingly free breeder in the aviary. One 

 that I had for a long time paired with a hen Cordon 

 Bleu, and the eggs were fertile ; but an accident over- 

 took them just as they were due to hatch, and the 

 chance did not occur again. 



