things about No. 4, who, standing near, listens attentively to all

their remarks ; so far, however, they have not carried out the

"sentence of the court and executed the offender, after the manner

of Rooks. Their ordinary calls and notes, which have man3^

variations, are of the trumpet class, and very like those of the

Masked Grassfinch, but more prolonged.


I observe that different individuals of this species var}'

considerably in the colourings of their plumage, and, in a lesser

degree, in the shades of their bills, legs, and feet ; this seems to

be the result of surroundings, health, and general condition

rather than of sex or age. Recentl}^ I saw some in a dealer's

shop and took them to be Masked Grassfinches, but on looking

at them again more carefully I found they were White-ears.

Although well kept, they appeared to me to be nearly as

dull and dark in their colours as the Masks. Three I bought

in the early spring had likewise been dull and dark where

now they are light and bright, excepting the bills and legs,

wdiich perhaps retain their different shades. This close re-

semblance, under certain circumstances, to P. personata is

suggestive of the close affinity which probably exists between

the two species, and tempts one to be so profane as to suggest

that the one may be but a bleached variety of the other. My

Masks and White-ears freely associated together for some months

and formed one flock, and all slept amicably together at night

in the same box, and their notes are much alike as has already

been remarked. One of my Masks paired off with a White-ear

in a half-hearted sort of a way ; and there was a good deal of

indiscriminate kissing going on during the off season. The eggs

from such a cross would certainlj^ be fertile ; and probably the

progeny would not be altogether barren. For all that, although

so nearly allied, the two species are now obviously distindt. I

notice that, if approached when on the ground, where they

spend a good deal of their time, the whole flock becomes still

and motionless, each individual retaining its exact position and

posture as if turned into stone, trusting to remain undiscovered,

all of them flying off simultaneously with wild cries when the

intruder comes too near. Here we have a peep into their native

life, of which, unfortunately, so little seems to be known.

Neither will associate with members of the other species of the

genus, and when along with them endeavour to keep out of their

way ; and in one way or another they differ from all of them.


My first pair of White-eared Grassfinches was placed in a

large aviary-cage in a warm room with the Masks and lyong-tails

(P. acuticauda), the door being usually left open for a few hours



