FiNCH-AND-FlNCH MuLES. 275 



will make upon the feeding capabilities of their foster-parents. The rest is only a question of 

 ordinary management. The following is a brief account of a Mule of this description, which for 

 beauty was second only to the subject of our illustration, and will be read with none the less 

 interest from the fact that it is furnished by the lady who bred it, Mrs. Tallent, of Mettingham, 

 Suffolk. She says : — " The Bullfinch hen was one bought from a poor man in my neighbourhood 

 in the autumn of '76, being a young bird of that year. In the following spring I put her in a 

 cage — an ordinary breeding-cage — with the Goldfinch. I cannot quite remember the date when 

 the first egg was laid, but she laid in all nineteen: on the first occasion six, then eight, then 

 four, and finally one, the last being without any shell. She seemed very ill all the day, and 

 I gave her a drop of castor oil, and late in the evening she laid, but died a few minutes 

 afterwards. She built her own nest in a round zinc nest-box, and usually sat for a day or 

 two. Once she sat for a week, and once for thirteen days, on Canaries' eggs, which would have 

 hatched, but on the last day she refused to sit any longer, so I never knew if she would 

 have brought up any young ones. The Goldfinch was always with her, and never attempted 

 to touch the eggs, which, with the exception of two or three, were all laid in the nest. From 

 the nineteen eggs only five young birds were hatched, of which two died at about three days 

 old. In the same nest with the Mule which I reared were two others, both healthy birds ; 

 but at the end of a week, upon examining them, I found one had no eyes, but simply an 

 indentation at the place. This bird I had destroyed. The other lived eight weeks, and died 

 suddenly. All were hatched and reared by Canaries, the food being egg and bread, with the 

 addition of a little hemp-seed. I may add that I removed the Goldfinch on one occasion for 

 a short time, but was obliged to return him, as the hen pined so much that I am sure she 

 would have died if I had not done so." 



A Hybrid much more common than the foregoing is the Greenfinch-and-Goldfinch 

 Mule. It is not a very pretty bird, being built more on the lines of the former than the 

 latter, and partaking to a considerable extent of its dull colour, though occasionally a more 

 brilliant example than usual, having a good deal of the Goldfinch character about it, appears 

 on the stage to keep alive an interest in a bird at no time a very popular favourite. We 

 have seen a few specimens of singular beauty, with large Goldfinch blaze, and lustrous plumage 

 different in texture to that of either parent. Its song is full of melody, without being noisy. 

 It is easily bred, the female Greenfinch mating readily and laying a great number of eggs, 

 though much in the irregular fashion of the Bullfinch. 



Among other curious Finch-and-Finch Hybrids bred in captivity which have come under 

 our notice is the Goldfinch-and-Linnet Mule, of which the specimen now in the possession of 

 Mr. Jno. Brown, jun., of Penrith, and which figures in our illustration, may be accepted as 

 an exceptionally good type. In his "little ways" he is a Goldfinch all over, and will fight 

 with the finger, and in other respects deport himself like that bird. We have also met with 

 examples of the Bullfinch-and-Linnet, in which the character of each was too plainly stamped 

 to leave any doubt of the parentage. Where it is desired to experiment in the way of 

 Hybrid-breeding with the Linnet for one parent, it should always be the male bird, as but 

 few accredited instances are on record of the female Linnet breeding in captivity, notwith- 

 standing an entire aviary, fitted up with whin-bushes and such cover as the bird delights in, 

 has been placed at its disposal. 



Doubtless many other interesting and curious Hybrids might be added to our list, but 

 they scarcely come within our province, especially such as, having been caught in a wild 

 state, afford no further evidence of their supposed parentage than a family likeness. 



