Hvicultural flfcac^asme,


3EING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCI ETY.



Third Series —VOL. III. — NO 12 .— ALL rights reserved. OCTOBER. 1912.



THE TWO NONPAREILS.


Cycinospiza ciris and Erythrura prasina.


By Frank Finn, B.A., F.Z.S.


From the point of view of pure aviculture — by which I

understand keeping birds because one likes them, without any

ulterior scientific motive—there are no small finches which I

prefer to the Nonpareil of America and its Pintailed imitator

from the far East. Colour appeals to me more than anything

else, and no one can deny that these two birds have plenty of

it, albeit rather differently laid on.


Their status in the bird trade has changed curiously.

In the early days of this Society the American bird was the

common kind, and the other rarely imported and little known.

Now, owing to the prohibition of the export of United States

birds, the American Nonpareil has become comparatively scarce

and expensive, while the Pintaiied has during the last few years

been so freely imported that it has been the most cheaply

obtainable of all bright-coloured birds.


The American Nonpareil (Cyanospiza ciris ) is certainly

well named ; there is nothing like it in the way of startling

brilliance of colour, laid on in such a w*ay that the bird really

does look as if it were painted. In fact, on my asking a small

retail dealer whether he ever found Nonpareils were regarded

with suspicion by the public, he replied that they were ; in fact, he

had been asked how he could have the face to keep such obvious

frauds in his shop. The old belief in painted birds evidently

dies a great deal harder than the practice, now all but extinct.



