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bright, cheery disposition. They are ever on the move, hopping

merrily about in an inquisitive Robin-like style, and with every

jump giving a lively chirp, while the cock constantly breaks

forth into his pretty chattering song. There is not much music,

perhaps, in this short song, but all true bird-lovers delight in it—

it is such a bright, good-tempered, unpretentious little song.


The French call the Cuba Finch Chanteur de Cuba , while

the Zoological Society of London, followed by Mr. Wiener and

Dr. Butler, call it the Melodious Finch. It does not deserve

these names, and I feel sure the unassuming little bird would

never think of claiming them. But Dr. Russ goes quite to the

other extreme when he says “ It has no song.”


The Cuba Finch has often been bred in Continental

aviaries ; in England it has hitherto been very rare, consequently

few aviculturists have been able to experiment with it. I have

been unable to find any account of its successful breeding in

this country, though probably it has been reared more than once.

An interesting account of the nesting of a pair of Cuba Finches

belonging to Dr. Simpson will be found on page n of Vol. I of

the Avicultural Magazine — but though one young bird was

hatched it died very soon afterwards.


Mr. Wiener remarks on the facility with which Cuba

Finches breed, and adds, “ To breed them is very amusing,

for they will build a nest nearly as cleverly as any Weaver-bird,

and very similarly constructed. Branches of arbor vitae or firs

are most to their taste, and to these they will fix a nest about the

size and shape of a Goose’s egg, with a tube opening downwards


attached to the side, which serves as a door.Male


and female are frequently found sitting together.” I infer, from

Mr. Wiener’s phraseology, that this bird had not been bred in

his own aviary.


Dr. Russ was very successful in breeding this bird, both

in a cage and loose in his bird-room. He describes the nest as

being built “ in a thick tangle, a purse with a long entrance tube

running obliquely to and below it, only rarely an open cup, of

agave- and cocoa-fibre, strips of bast, wool and hair artistically

felted together ; completed in six to eight days.” He states the

plumage of the young to be “ brownisli-olive green ; collar pale

yellow, in the male already distindl; face and breast blackish

brown ; underside dusty grey ; little beak dusty brown. Up to

the first moult in dull plumage, then the blackish mark shows

itself, continually getting darker, moreover, the colouring of the

breast and simultaneously the previously narrow yellow stripe



