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sight. In one or two houses I visited of the higher class, they

had properly made cages, but they might have only been cleaned

out once a year for the excrement had formed into pyramids

until it touched the perches, and this was in canaries’ cages.


The male Black-headed Siskin is a very pretty little bird,

with a black head and throat, greenish yellow back, the breast and

underparts more or less yellow with green shading on the flanks.

The wings are black and barred with bright yellow, the secondary

feathers are tipped with white. The female lacks the black head

and is a more uniform brownish green, and the yellow on the

wings is also much less distinct.


Some species of doves are very abundant in the immediate

neighbourhood of Quito, but they call for no special attention with

the exception of the little Chamtzpelia passerina which abounds

in the valley of Chillo. This is rather a dry sandy valley where

acacias and aloes chiefly flourish, and has been devastated over

and over again by eruptions from Cotopaxi. Here these little

doves may be seen running along the dusty roads everywhere,

and might easily be snared in great numbers. The male is

especially pretty with his delicate fawnish pink colouring; the

wings are spotted with purple bronze, and the primary and

secondary feathers are rufous red edged and tipped with black.

When flying the wings have the appearance of being wholly red.

In the female the fawnish pink colouring is not so bright. The

bird does not exceed 5^ inches in length. I found their nests 011

the branches of the acacia trees and also one on the giant flower

stalks of an aloe. It was exposed to all weathers and liable to

attack from birds of prey, which were common about there. I

could not have got it without chopping down the plant, but

I could see the bird sitting on the nest. The other nests I saw

were in each case built of fine twigs, a little dry grass, and the

thin dry seed pods of the acacia trees. They appear to have a

wide range through Central and South America, and we met

wdth them in many parts of Columbia, but always in the higher

mountains.


Another pretty Dove much larger than the preceding

species was the Metriopelia melanoptera, which we met with only

on the high wind-swept regions at the foot of the cone of

Cotopaxi at an altitude of from thirteen to fourteen thousand

feet. I can’t imagine what they find to eat amidst such

desolation, for the only vegetation was a scanty wiry grass

growing here and there, among the cinders, rocks and lava



