Thirty-two Years of Aviculture.



227



propensity to interfere with the nests of other species, which they

pick to pieces for sheer mischief.


Of Buntings of the genus Emberiza only British species have

come into my hands. I have had several Yellow-Buntings, a Cirl-

Bunting or two, three Ortolan-Buntings, and a fair number of Reed-

Buntings. I found the Ortolans aggressive towards smaller and

weaker birds, but the other species were quite inoffensive. Reed-

Buntings are rather inclined to skulk, so that if there are bushes in

the aviary in which they can hide, one may not see them for days.

An example of the Grey-headed Song-Sparrow was given to me in

1897 upon condition that, when it died, the body should be presented

to the Natural History Museum : as it died the same night I did not

see much of that species ; but of the allied Chingolo Song-Sparrow I

have had several pairs, the last being a pair bred by Mr. Teschemaker

which he kindly gave to me. Oddly enough these birds were

hatched from eggs with a white or creamy ground-colour, yet the

hen (before she was killed) laid eggs with a pale greenish ground-

tint (see my plate, fig. 2). Hudson speaks of the Chingolos as

quarrelsome birds, but I have not found them so ; perhaps they

only quarrel with other members of their own species.


The Nonpareil Bunting, of which I have had a fair number

of examples, but only two hens, is quite amiable excepting towards

species of its own genus : it is a pity that this lovely bird loses much

of its beauty after the first moult, and that with each successive

moult (unless kept in an open-air sunny aviary and supplied with

plenty of insect-food) its brilliant scarlet under-surface becomes

more and more yellow. I found the Indigo-Bunting v (absurd name

for a brilliant blue bird!) far more interesting, and I rarely missed

an opportunity of purchasing specimens when offered to me; the

gradual assumption of the summer plumage interested me, since it

was quite evident that the feathers slowly changed from brown or

whitish to blue without a moult. Both the Nonpareil and the

Indigo Buntings are confiding species which soon learn to take meal¬

worms from one’s fingers, and both have pretty little songs.


Of Pileated-finches (Goryphos%>inqus) I have had several pairs,

the first two hens I received from Mr. Abrahams in exchange for a

* Indigo Blue is a very rich colour and need not necessarily be dark.—ED.



