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had to be condemned to life-long solitary confinement on account of their

insufferable quarrelsomeness. They are a true pair and have been in this

country for three years or more, and before they came into my possession

they lived together, without any partition between, in peace, as husband

and wife should. Very likely you have seen them yourself, at the Crystal

Palace or other Shows, for they were noted prize-winners in their day.

They never could be trusted with other birds; that was tried, with

unfortunate results to the others-, but still they did not quarrel, or at any

rate not much, with each other. However, shortly after their removal to

my bird-room, I left them safely one morning in a roomy cage together—

when I returned at mid-day I found the hen huddled up at the bottom of

the cage, apparently just expiring. It seems that the cock had had a

dispute with his wife; from words he had proceeded to blows, and in the

end had nearly pecked her to death. I took the hen out of the cage; but

she was very cold and showed no symptoms of reviving until I poured a

little brandy and water down her throat, after that she recovered a little and

in time got well—but her head was denuded of feathers and fora long time

I thought her eyes had been permanently injured. I have often wondered

why they took it into their heads to quarrel so desperately just after they

came to my house—I really don’t tnink that a bad example has been set

them here. These Crimson-finches are very fond of all kinds of soft food,

mealworms, ants’ eggs, egg; anything which insedlivorous birds will eat is

appreciated by them, and yet they will live perfectly well on seed alone.

Now, in their old age, they have a tendency to baldness about the sides of

the face and over the beak ; but not on the neck and back where baldness

generally commences. The}' seem to be very hardy. It is a great pity that

their quarrelsomeness prevents any attempts at breeding.


Now, leaving the occupants of the double breeding-cage and turning

in the same direction as the hands of a watch, you will next see before you one

of my aviaries which contains a mixture of Waxbills and other birds which

I do not expect to nest. Many of these are birds which seldom or never

breed except at a much higher temperature than that here maintained;

others are birds which might be expected to breed if they were kept in

pairs, but unhappily I have only solitary specimens or two of the same sex.

Beginning with the waxbills, you will notice a pair of Avadavats and an

odd hen. The pair were brought from India by an acquaintance of mine,

along with about 50 others of the same species, in one of those beautiful

Indian cages which the natives make out of cane and wire—they and their

owner made the passage in the very hot summer of 1893, and during the

voyage, and for some mouths afterwards, only one of the birds died, and

that was accidentally drowned. This shows that if birds be carefullv

imported the mortality, so great under ordinary conditions, may be reduced

to very small proportions. The odd hen Avadavat is the patriarch of my

collection—I have had her a year longer than any of my other birds. A

pair of Orange-cheeks and a pair of Golden-breasts do not call for special

notice; but a fine pair of the rather rare Sydney Waxbill are worth more

than a passing glance, while the gem of the collection of Waxbills is

the very uncommon Dufresne’s Waxbill (a hen), unfortunately a solitary

specimen and in rather bad plumage.


Of the Spennophilce I have only the Half-white Finch (S. hypoleuca)

and the Lined Finch (S. lineola). The latter was sold to me as a hen

White-Throated Finch, and for more than a year I believed it to be a hen—-

it then began to sing and to assume the distinctive plumage of the cock Lined

Finch. Moral: buy female Spennophilce of unknown species when you can

get them cheap, for you never know what they may turn out to be. My

Lined Finch is a very good songster, in my opinion a far better one

than the White-throated Finch. I have never heard the Half-white Finch

sing during the year-and-a-half that he has been in my possession.


There are only two Mannikins in this aviary, but they are both rather

rare ones : the Striated (Uroloncha striata) and the Sharp-tailed (Uroloncha

acuticauda) —they are cock and hen and ought to breed mules; but somehow

they don’t, although the hen (the Sharp-tail) lays an egg now and them



