White yAVA Sparhows. 397 



m white cages, and allow them to see no other colour but white, thereby producing a breed 

 of white young birds. There probably is a grain of truth, but only a grain, in this story. 

 If any breeder took ordinary Java Sparrows and tried to breed white birds in this way, 

 his experiment would certainly end in failure. But in breeding from White Java Sparrows 

 it frequently happens that in the same brood some of the young birds turn out speckled, or 

 even quite blue, whilst others are pure white. No doubt the Chinese allow the white parent- 

 birds to see no other colour but white, in the hope of obtaining a majority of valuable pure 

 white progeny. 



The Japanese seem to treat the White Java Sparrows very much like a breeding machine. 

 Each pair is put into a small cage with only one perch and a nest. By means of very 

 careful feeding the birds are brought to lay freely, and ingeniously contrived paper screens 

 prevent the hen-birds being disturbed whilst sitting. As soon as the young are hatched, the 

 Japanese breeder takes their care into his own hands, and with infinite trouble rears the 

 brood by hand. Thereby he avoids not only the risk of the parent-birds neglecting their 

 progeny, but also saves time, for whilst the Japanese bird-breeder is rearing the nestlings 

 the parent-birds are hatching another brood. The visitor to a Japanese breeding establish- 

 ment will see a row of small straw baskets on the floor, each provided with a lid of straw 

 matting. An attendant will lift one lid after the other and disclose a nest of chirping 

 Java Sparrows under each, and into each open beak a mouthful of millet-seed, scalded 

 with some vegetable decoction, will be conveyed by a sort of spoon cut out of a thin bamboo. 

 In the climate of Japan this purely vegetable food seems to suffice for the young White Java 

 Sparrows. In Europe they require a slight addition of egg-food to rear young birds successfully. 



The White Java Sparrow breeds very readily in confinement, and is a good-natured, though 

 rather stupid bird. He will build a nest in any kind of deep nest-box, preferring coarse 

 materials, such as hay, straw, fowls' feathers, and such-like. The nest is often built so 

 slovenly that it is as well to help the bird a little when the shape of the nest seems to go 

 wrong. 



Although the value of these Finches has declined these last few years from about £1^ 

 or £6 per pair to about a sovereign, yet their breeding deserves the attention of amateurs, 

 since from good stock-birds breeding is nearly as easy as that of Canaries, and certainly more 

 remunerative. A careful selection of stock, and scrupulous removal of defective or speckled 

 young birds, is the chief and almost sole requisite. 



FIRE-TAILED FINCH {Eiytkrnra prasma), Java and SUMATRA. 

 Spennestes frasina (Russ), Fringilla prasma, Erythrura prasina, Ltxia prasina, Emberiza quadruolor, FringiJIa sphenura, 

 Lonchura quadrkolor, Erythrura viridis, Amadina prasina, Erythrura prasina. English dealers' name — Pin-tail 

 Nonpareil, or Java Nonpareil. German name — "Lauchgriine Papagei Amandine," or " Ostindischer Nonpareil." 



It must be an oversight by which Erythrura prasina is called the Fire-tailed Finch, for a 

 beautiful and totally different Australian Finch — Estrelda bella, see page 372 — is also named Fire- 

 tailed Finch according to the list of the Zoological Society of London. For once the dealers' 

 name, " Pin-tail Nonpareil," seems much preferable, as it cannot be mistaken, and conveys some 

 idea of the bird. The reader may note with advantage that as there are two Fire-tailed 

 Finches, besides a Red-tailed Finch, considerable misunderstanding as regards some foreign 

 birds can only be avoided by habitually using the Latin name as well as the English name. 



This bird is one of the most beautiful Finches imported, but unfortunately absent from 

 many collections. In former times the Pin-tail Nonpareil arrived much more frequently, and 



