A USTRALIAN FlXCHEH. 



395 



As food for the young brood, egg-yolk, sponge-cake, and scalded, strained millet-seed should 

 be given, together with some soaked or fresh ants' eggs. A very few mealworms might be 

 given in addition whilst the brood is very young, but the stimulating effects of mealworms 

 always involve a little risk, and fresh ants' eggs, if procurable, are safer. 



CHESTNUT-BREASTED FINCH {Donacola castaneothorax) , Queensland. 



(Illustration painted from live specimen kindly lent by Mr. Charles Jamrach.) 



Spennestes castaneothoi-ax (Russ), Amadina castaneothorax. English dealers' name — Chestnut Finch. 



German name — " Schilfamandine," or " Schilffink." French name — ■" Diamant Brun." 



The Chestnut-breasted Finch is the last on the list of Australian Finches, and a bird of 

 whom it is somewhat difficult to say much, although he is now regularly imported in considerable 

 numbers. The German name means " Reed Finch," and all we know of his wild state is that 

 he is supposed to live on marshes or in swampy districts, and to feed on the seeds of reeds 

 and coarse grasses. 



Hard dry millet and canary seed, on which this Finch is fed during the voyage 

 to Europe and in our aviaries, are probably but a poor substitute for the bird's natural food, 

 and consequently the Chestnut-breasted Finch often arrives sickly, though apparently in 

 fair health, and rarely endures as long in the cage as other Australian Finches of equally 

 robust body. I feel, however, confident that with suitable treatment and a little extra care 

 the Chestnut-breasted Finch might be completely reconciled to our climate and the ordinary 

 seed-food, if gradually accustomed to it. If purchased early in summer, various grasses in 

 flower and with seed-stalks, a little millet in the ear, and a trifle of insect food added to the 

 ordinary diet of seed-eating birds, would probably build up the constitution of the Chestnut 

 Finch, and fit him for many years of cage-life and for breeding. 



A few instances are known of the Chestnut-breasted Finch having been bred in confinement, 

 but success has been exceedingly rare, and non-success the rule. An extraordinary cross 

 between the Chestnut-breasted Finch and the White-headed Maja Finch is recorded by 

 Dr. Russ, a German amateur having reared several broods of this peculiarly matched pair. 

 It should, however, be added that the anatomy of the Chestnut-breasted Finch, and especially 

 the form of the beak, is very similar to that of the family of " Nuns " {Munia). 



Like the Nuns, the Chestnut Finches appear when singing to monopolise their own 

 music, and to sing inwardly, for they will sit nearly upright, and seem to make a great effort, 

 whilst a few scarcely audible long-drawn sounds issue. 



The colours of the plumage are soft, and form agreeable contrasts of light grey on 

 the head, cinnamon-brown on the back ; the face and throat are dark brown, whilst the chest is 

 light chestnut colour, with a broad black band across the middle of the breast, the lower 

 part being pure white. Male and female are alike, but the black breast-band is less sharply 

 marked in the case of the female. 



JAVA SPARROW (PaMa orjzivora), Java. (Illustrated.) 

 Spennestes oryzivora, Loxia oryzivora, Loxia Javensis, Coccothrausies oryzivora, Frinplla oryzivora, Amadina oiyzivora, Oryzivora 

 leucoiis, Munia oryzivora, Oryziornis oryzivora. English dealers' names — Paddy-bird, Java Sparrow. German name — 

 "Reisamandine," "Reisvogel." French name — "Padda." 



The Java Sparrow, Paddy, or Rice-bird is a native of Java and of other East Indian 

 islands. From thence this Finch appears to have spread, probably through the escape of 

 cage-birds, to the Madras coast, and to Southern China. Whether the Java Sparrow was 

 always indigenous to Japan, or has been imported there, is uncertain. In most rice-producing 



