79



I would like to know what my bird really is.

almost from the first fej.



I have kept Napoleons

A. A. Pearson.



SYCALIS A R YEN SIS.


Sir, —With reference to an advertisement of wild Canaries,. I wrote

to the advertiser, and in reply he says they are some which he bought from

Cross and which were said to have been imported from South America. I

don’t suppose the true wild Canary is found in South America, but I

thought possibly the birds might have been taken there from the Canary

Islands and then shipped to England.


The advertiser describes them as follows : “ The cocks are dark green

on the back with still darker markings, the breast is a greenish yellow

getting to a deeper yellow under the throat, also a streak of yellow from

the beak to the ey 7 e. Their call-note is more like that of a Siskin, but in

build they are like the ordinary Green Canary and, of course, smaller.”


Will you kindly let me know whether the above description points to

the birds being some finch known to belong to South America, or to their

being true wild Canaries.


C. Harrison.



The following reply was sent to Mr. Harrison :


The wild Canary of South America is the Saffron-finch (Sycalis

flaveola) ; but your birds are, I have no doubt, Sycalis arvensis. In

the description of the latter species in the British Museum Catalogue,

we read,—‘‘ lores and feathers below the eye pale yellow, surmounted by a

streak of bright golden yellow ” : this answers to what you describe as—“ a

streak of yellow from the beak to the eye.” Dr. Sharpe’s description of

the back differs a little from yours, but he says,—“All the males in the

British Museum appear to be in seasonal or winter plumage, or else the ashy'

shade which pervades the general aspect of the bird is an additional

specific cliaradter.” According to him the base of the forehead is yellow,

the remainder of the crown and nape ashy-olive-yellow streaked with

blackish ; remainder of upper parts olive-yellowish-browu shading into

ashy^-olive-greenisli on the lower back and rump; the feathers broadly

streaked with blackish : his description of the under parts answers tolerably

well to yours, only 7 he says the abdomen is rather brighter yellow than the

throat (or possibly he may mean than the breast, which he describes as

ashy).


Putting a liberal construftion on the two descriptions, Dr. Sharpe’s

differs from yours chiefly in the fact that he notes a sub-tint of brown in

the colouring of the mantle.


A. G. BuTEKR.



(e). It is the Grenadier Weaver : these birds are orange when young, but gradually

become more crimson with age.—A.G.B,



