216



On the Yellow-rwnped Finch.



fact appears to have been the only specimen in the United King¬

dom, until the arrival of the first living specimen in 1904, whose

history I shall presently relate.


Mr. Campbell, in his Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds

writes that since Gould’s time “ there is positively nothing to

record of its economy.”


Elsie, who procured the British Museum specimen, pub¬

lished a few notes on the species in the Proceedi>igs of the Zoological

Society for 1856. He writes : “ There are two Donacolas , flavi-

prymna and a crimson and brown one, of which there are one or

two varieties. The Donacolas build in some parts in low tea-

trees overhanging water, making a large spouted nest, with small

cavity, of dry bark of tea-trees and pandanus.”


According to Mr. Campbell (1901) the eggs are as yet

undescribed.


In the early part of last year (1904) a few specimens of

Munia flaviprymna appear to have been trapped. A pair found

their way to the Melbourne Zoological Gardens, of which Mr.

D. Le Souef, the Director, wrote in the Emu for July 1904 (his

letter being dated March nth), that they were “just at present

busily constructing a bulky dome-shaped nest of grass. The male

is of a richer hue than the female. . . . They are altogether very

neat trim little birds in appearance, and seem fairly hardy. This

pair came from North-Western Australia, inland from Cossack.”

Seven specimens arrived in Sydney about this time, and were

purchased by my friend, Mr. H. E. Peir, who sent one of them

to England to compete at the cage bird show at the Crystal

Palace. It appeared at the show held in October last, but

although it was almost certainly the first of its kind ever seen

alive in Europe, it was only awarded a second prize, as the Judge,

and many ethers who were present, took it for a hybrid, having

the Chestnut-breasted Munia ( Mcastaneithorax ) for one of its

parents.


This bird again appeared in January at the “Great

National” show where its rarity was recognised, and it was

awarded the special prize for the rarest bird in the show, as well

as first prize in its class.


I exhibited this specimen at a meeting of the British

Ornithologists’ Club, on the 16th of November, 1904.



