370 Canakies and Cage-Birds. 



of the breeding season drawing near. I decided to remove the two most belh'cosc gentlemen, 

 associated each with a hen, and sent one pair to Dr. Russ, the other to another friend, in 

 hopes that one of us three would succeed in breeding. Of the pair sent to Dr. Russ the hen 

 arrived dead ; of the other pair the hen died a few days after arrival. The birds I retained 

 pro\'ed to be rather susceptible to cold weather during the winter, but continued to thrive. 

 In February the plumage of one pair became wonderfully brilliant. They took possession of 

 a little German canary-cage hung against the aviary wall, and piled up a layer of leaves 

 nearly two inches high on the bottom of the future breeding-place. The male carried hence- 

 forth aloe fibre with restless activity into this receptacle, and filled the remaining space 

 completely with this material. The fibre carried into the little cage was turned and twisted 

 until it formed a hollow ball. A deep mould, completely arched over, with a very small 

 entrance at the side just large enough to admit this tiny bird, formed the nest. In the 

 course of about as many days five pure white eggs were laid, and then began the serious 

 business of incubation. 



The birds' manners now became daily more interesting. Woe to any bird that dared 

 approach the nest, for the male Crimson Finch would attack him furiously. But a model 

 father of a family was he. When he thought the female wanted food or a bath, he would 

 fly to a branch nearest the nest and wake her from her slumbers by a call. As soon as she 

 answered he would creep through the narrow hole into the nest, and when he had fairly 

 settled on and covered the eggs, the female crept out and flew down to take her food. 

 The male would patiently sit on the eggs until his mate had leisurely taken her food, her bath, 

 and an airing. When she was again ready for her maternal duties she relieved the male 

 exactly as he relieved her. It was amusing to observe how the male crept into the nest 

 and turned to the left, and the female evidently turned right about, for the tails of these little 

 birds became quite twisted through sitting in the narrow nest, and the twist of each tail was 

 the reverse way. 



The successful amateur \n Hamburg thought the eggs were hatched in eleven or twelve 

 days. In my case I did not note exactly when the birds began to sit in earnest, nor when 

 the young were hatched, as experience had taught me to be very careful not to look at nests 

 unnecessarily. But when the birds had been sitting about three weeks, without the usual 

 signs of broken egg-shells thrown out of the nest, I had given up the hope of a young brood. 

 I therefore looked in, determined to destroy the nest, when I discovered that every egg had 

 been hatched, and a remarkably strong lot of young birds were in the nest. 



On the chance of such an event I had fed the birds, in addition to their usual allowance 

 of dry seed, on millet and maw seed soaked over-night in warm water and then strained, also 

 yolk of egg and sponge-cake mixed with dried ants' eggs soaked, and a few mealworms. 

 The young brood prospered nicely for a week, when one day their voices became faint, and 

 next day I found them all thrown out of the nest, and their dead bodies carried to the furthest 

 part of the aviary. The parent birds wanted to build again. I removed the old nest, and they 

 at once commenced a fresh one, and within a fortnight they had again fiv.e eggs, on which they 

 are sitting while I write. It is therefore clear that when once this beautiful little bird has 

 become fairly acclimatised there cannot be much difficulty in breeding, and a pair of cage-bred 

 Crimson Finches being worth over _^3, there is some inducement for other amateurs to try the 

 experiment. 



In the aviary the Crimson Finch is one of the most combative of small birds, especially 

 at breeding-time. I had two pairs in a large room, and one male was nearly killed by the 



