33



Sir William Ingram,



castaneiventris ) ; the Fire-red Finch (S. minuta ) ; the Lined Finch

(S. lineola ); and the Black-headed Lined Finch (S', ocellata).

The two last named are called “ moustache birds ” ; whilst the

whole of the genus are spoken of as “ grass-birds.” The imma¬

ture males of all the five species just mentioned are brown, vary¬

ing somewhat in intensity ; the three first-mentioned species sing.

By the bye, natives of Demerara speak of singing as “ rattling.”


Although our Magazine does not cater for Canaries, these

notes would not be complete without including these ubiquitous

birds ; their chief admirers appear to be the Portuguese—of

whom there is quite a large population in the colony—who im¬

port the birds in cane cages from Madeira. Along with the

Canaries come a few Goldfinches from the same island.


f To be contimied).



BREEDING OF THE ROULROUL

OR RED-CRESTED WOOD-PARTRIDGE.


Rolluhis roulroul.


By Sir William Ingram, Bart.


I believe it may safely be said that until my two Roulroul

Partridges hatched their chicks no young of this rare species

had ever been seen by a civilized human being. I have been

informed that eggs have been produced in this country (at the

Zoological Gardens), but in this case the female would not

incubate them.


My two birds were bought from a dealer in Marseilles in

1905, and in 1906 laid four eggs which were successfully hatched,

but all four chicks were a few days afterwards destroyed by rats.


This year, the parents again succeeded in hatching three

young birds, two of which, unfortunately, died a few days after

leaving the eggs, but one survived for over three weeks. I

attribute the death of this last bird to unsuitability of food, 110

ants’ eggs being procurable, or perhaps the excessive heat may

have been the cause of their decease.


The parents have lived since I bought them in one of my

aviaries at Monte Carlo. They are not very shy birds except



