12



and remained pretty constantly on the nest. The cock did not appear to

share in the duty of incubation, though he would sometimes pay his

wife a visit and remain in the nest for half an hour or so. Neither

bird would touch soft food of any sort; they lived mostly on spray

millet. On July 6th, a newly hatched bird was discovered dead on

the floor of the cage. The nest was then removed and examined

and was found to contain one egg, the contents of which were dried

up. The nest was replaced, but the birds appeared to take no notice

of it for some weeks. On August 29th, however, the hen was discovered to

be egg-bound and in spite of every attention died on the following night.

On examining the nest, another egg was found.


The eggs were white, thickly spotted with reddish brown and measured

§ of an inch in length.


The result, though unsatisfactory and disappointing, appears to indi¬

cate that the Cuba finch might, under more favourable circumstances,

succeed in rearing young in this country.


C. S. Simpson.



RARE FOREIGN BIRDS.


I.


THE BEACK-TAIEED HAWFINCH.


By H. R. Fii^mer.


The Black-tailed Hawfinch (coccothraustes melanurus) is a native of

China, and it is also brought to this country from Japan, but is said not to

be indigenous to the latter.


It is much larger than any other seed-eating cage bird of the finch

group ; being considerably larger than the Virginian Nightingale, which it

resembles in the shape of its beak.


The general colour of the male consists of various shades of light

drab or fawn colour; the whole of the head is black and so is the tail; the

under tail coverts are white ; the wings are glossy black, except the ends

of the primaries and the tips of the secondaries, which are white. In the

female the head is the same colour as the body, and the primaries are

only tipped with white; the black on the wings is less extensive and not

glossy, and the tail is rather brown than black. The beak is yellow, except

at the base, where it is white; and is curiously clouded with greenish

black (especially in the male). The feet are flesh-colour. It habitually

stands very upright on the perch.


It is a decidedly handsome bird and yet not much of a favourite; its

size repels some people, and its colouring although striking, is not brilliant.

It appears to be of a somewhat wild and nervous disposition. Its chief

attraction is its song, which is very loud and musical, and resembles that

of the blackbird. Both sexes sing about equally well : in this again it is

like the Virginian Nightingale.


This species will breed in confinement, but I have not yet heard of

any young having been successfully reared. However, as almost all

specimens show a disposition to nest, and it comes from a temperate

climate, and its breeding season corresponds with our summer, there

should be no difficulty in propagating the Black-tailed Hawfinch in this

country.


This bird thrives on canary seed, millet, and paddy; but seems to

require a little soft food occasionally, the preserved egg does very well for

it, but it should not have too much of this or any other soft food. It is

very fond of fruit, and I have never found that any quantity of ripe fruit

would hurt a bird. It should also have plenty of green food.



