Wh yd ah- Birds. 



399 



he called Green Parson Finches. I was abroad at the time, and on my return to London 

 there was only one of the three left unsold, and this bird was blind in one eye and bald. 

 I secured him, and found that the two others had been disposed of to a London retail dealer, 

 and ultimately these two also came into my hands. When these three birds were located in 

 my aviary they soon made themselves at home, and built a covered ball-shaped nest of Mexican 

 fibre in a German canary-cage. In due course four white eggs were laid, and four young 

 birds were hatched and safely brought up on a diet of egg, ants' eggs, maw-seed, and sponge- 

 cake. Through a vexatious accident three of these young birds were killed, when their removal 

 from their parents was intended. A second brood resulted in only two fully-developed young 

 birds. Of these young Parrot Finches, I presented one to Dr. Russ, and the other two remained 

 in my hands and bred and reared four young birds in the following year. These four cage- 

 bred Parrot Finches, of the second generation bred by me, were exhibited in Berlin in March, 

 1879, and claimed by a distinguished amateur at the supposed fancy price of ^20, although 

 at that time insignificant-looking dull green fledgelings, without the bright crimson heads and 

 throats of their parents, and minus the golden lustre body-colour of full-grown birds. If the 

 very first attempt at breeding a newly-imported valuable bird results in successfully rearing 

 two generations, that bird will surely soon cease to be unknown to amateurs. Whilst writing, 

 my old stock-birds are sitting again on four eggs, after a brood of five young birds, just 

 hatched, were destroyed a fortnight ago by a mouse taking a flying leap of fully two feet 

 horizontal distance into the nest. The mouse was subsequently caught and met his doom, but 

 the five newly-hatched birds were dead. 



The only record of a live Parrot Finch in any European Zoological Garden is, that in 1873 

 one specimen was seen in the garden of the Paris Acclimatisation Society. My Parrot Finches 

 were always perfectly amiable towards other birds, and nested within a few feet of the Double- 

 banded Finches, without either interfering with the domestic arrangements of the other. At 

 first they were rather shy, and left their nest whenever any one came near, but latterly 

 they have become used to visitors. My success in breeding this rare and valuable Finch is 

 probably due to the birds being placed in an aviary sufficiently large to leave them compara- 

 tively undisturbed. As food, canary, French millet, and millet in the ear proved sufficient, 

 with the usual addition of animal food in the breeding season. 



The beauty and the gentle graceful manners of this Finch are sure to make him a favourite 

 whenever he becomes available. His size is about equal to that of the Goldfinch; his vocal 

 powers, however, are only productive of a long call similar to that of the Diamond Sparrow, 

 and a chirp reminding the hearer of the sounds emitted by crickets. 



A very curious group of African Finches are the Whydah-birds, so called because they 

 were first brought to Europe from Whydah, on the West Coast of Africa. Linn6 gave the 

 genus the name of Vidua — i.e., Widow ; and English dealers and sailors love to talk of Widow- 

 birds. Whether Widow-bird is a corruption of Whydah-bird, and was Latinised by Linnd 

 into Vidua, or whether Linne called the genus Vidua, Widow, by reason of the somewhat 

 sombre plumage, cannot now be ascertained. At all events, it is better to call the birds 

 Whydah, and not Widow birds. Although not imported in such large numbers as some 

 of the small African Finches, the ordinary Whydah-birds are always to be had, and 

 have been well-known cage-birds in Europe for very many years. Their very striking 

 appearance is sure to arrest attention, and their endurance in our climate on very 

 simple food — millet and canary seed — is a further point in their favour. But, on 



