THE WAXBILL. 103 



that kind of bloom which you see on plums ; this gives them a 

 very beautiful tint." 



In the female the colours are rather lighter on the back and 

 belly : the young are not only paler, but also irregularly spotted 

 with dark brown on the cheeks and lower part of the belly. 



OBSERVATIONS. There are few vessels coming from Java and the Cape 

 of Good Hope that do not bring numbers of these birds, -which have as 

 bad a character in those countries, and particularly in China, their native 

 olace, as the sparrows have amongst us, on account of the ravages they 

 make in the rice fields. They have nothing attractive but their beauty, 

 for their song is short and monotonous. They cost four or five pounds 

 sterling a pair in Germany. 



THE WAXBILL. 



Loxia Astrild. LINNJEUS ; Le S^n^gali ray, BUFFON ; Dor Gemeine Scuegalist, 

 BECHSTEIN. 



THIS bird is hardly larger than a golden-crested wren, its 

 length being four inches and a half, of which the tail measures 

 two inches ; the beak is rather rough at the base, and of a dark 

 red ; the band which crosses the eyes, the centre of the breast 

 and belly, are red ; the upper part of the body is brown, and 

 the lower reddish grey, the whole streaked with transverse 

 blackish lines, which become finer as they approach the head ; 

 the quill-feathers are brown, as well as the tail, which is 

 wedge-shaped, and streaked with darker transverse lines ; the 

 feet are brown. These birds change colour like the amandava 

 finch; thus some are found with the tail entirely brown, 

 others which have the rump crimson, and the rest of the body 

 brown above and white below, and some have the belly yellow, 

 and the back spotted with white; there are some, indeed, 

 which have the neck and throat bluish, the under part of the 

 body white, mixed with iron colour, and the upper part blue. 



OBSERVATIONS They inhabit the Canary Islands, Senegal, Angola, the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and may even be found as far as India, whence they 

 are brought to Europe. Their beautiful shape, their umiable disposition, 

 and the affection which they show to every one indiscriminately, render 

 them such favourites, that a dozen may be often seen in one cage. Their 

 song is scarcely any thing. They are fed on millet, which also forms their 

 food in their native country, to the damage of the fields which are sown 

 with it. They approach villages like our sparrows ; they are caught in 

 traps made of the shell of a gourd, and cut like a bowl, on which some 

 millet is scattered. 



