99



THE GROSBEAKS.


By H. R. Fieemer.


(Continued from page $q),


The Cuba Finch (Phonipara canora).


There seem to be great doubts about the classification

of the genus Phonipara. Dr. Sharpe places them among the

Grosbeaks, but adds that they are very probably Buntings. Dr.

Butler, on the other hand, leans to the opinion that the genus is

allied to the Ploceidce or Weaver Finches, and places it between

the Fringillidce and the Ploceidce. Whichever view we adopt, we

are surrounded with difficulties. This paradoxical little bird

differs from the Fringillidce in building a domed nest like a

Weaver, and differs from the Ploceidce in laying speckled eggs

like a Finch. The fadt which to my thinking tells most in

favour of this bird being allied to the Fringillidce rather than to

the Ploceidce is that it is an inhabitant of the New World, from

which, so far as I am aware, the Ploceidce are entirely absent.

Nevertheless, even this fact is not conclusive, for in the Opossum

we have a solitary example of a marsupial inhabiting the Western

Hemisphere, and if such a remarkable exception to a general

rule can be found among mammals, we cannot deny its possibility

among birds, whose powers of locomotion are so much greater.


The Cuba Finch is about the size of the Avadavat, but

stouter in proportion to its length. The colours of the male are

as follows :—Back of the head, back, wings, and tail, green ;

forehead and face, black; on each side of the neck a crescent¬

shaped patch of yellow, meeting on the throat; breast, blackish

grey, fading to a dingy white on the abdomen ; beak and legs,

black.


The female has a brown, instead of black, face ; the yellow

collar is less bright; and the breast is lighter.


If I could keep one pair of small birds, and one pair only,

I should most certainly choose Cuba Finches ; and I think most

aviculturists would make the like choice. There is a charm about

these little birds which is possessed by no other species. They

are not so gorgeously coloured as the Gouldiau Finch, not

such good singers as the Grey Singing Finch, not so graceful in

form as the Waxbills, not so tame and confiding as the Alario

Finch. They have a fair share of these various desirable

qualities, and may be called good all round birds; but it is

difficult to say in what their charm lies, unless it is in their



