u6 Favourite Foreign Birds. 



This species is of much rarer occurrence in this 

 country than either of the preceding. 



THE COMBASSOU, OR ULTRAMARINE FINCH, Frin- 

 gilla nitens (illustrated at Fig. 38), is now generally 

 allowed to be a member of the group we are con- 

 sidering. It is a very pretty little creature, quiet as 

 a rule, but occasionally displaying a disposition to 

 enact the part of tyrant over its companions, par- 

 ticularly during the breeding season, when it dons its 

 beautiful steel-blue coat, for at other times it is not 

 at all unlike a female redpoll. 



This change of colour, and the habit of scratching 

 with the feet on the ground, connect it clearly with the 

 Whydahs, though it cannot boast of their excessive 

 wealth of tail-feathering. 



It is a native of Abyssinia, and requires to be 

 kept warm, otherwise it will not moult, and will 

 then soon fall into a decline. 



Food : millet- and canary-seed, and ants' eggs, which 

 must be given as bought. 



Many more might be added to the foregoing did 

 not exigencies of space forbid ; but it is hoped that 

 the beautiful species here mentioned will suffice for 

 beginners, at all events, who will find them the 

 most charming and attractive of pets, and be well 

 rewarded for the money, care, and attention spent 

 upon the little strangers. 



