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Dr. A. G. Butler,



of Pytelia always struck me as rather apathetic and sluggish birds :

my Crimson-wings delighted to bask in the sun, but on dull days

they used frequently to hide in a bush ; excepting' in disposition,

they seemed to me to show relationship to the Lavender finch ; but

perhaps they may come nearer to Sundevall’s Waxbill.


My first pair of Cordon-bleus w 7 as given to me by Mr.

Johnston, brother of Sir Harry Johnston of Uganda fame ; he used

to exhibit at the Crystal Palace in those days. That was in the

early days of my bird-keeping, and I remember that I thought that

pair the most lovely example of delicate colouring that I had seen in

any birds, and was much surprised to hear that they were quite

cheap. After that, in spite of the delicacy of Cordon-bleus, I was

never without them for many years. At one time I thought I had

secured examples of the Blue-breasted Waxbill (I had not then had

an opportunity of comparing living specimens of the two species, or

I should not have been deceived) : of course at the next moult the

males acquired the crimson ear-patch. The colouring of the soft

parts, apart from the extent of blue on the body, distinguishes the

two species at a glance. I never had the Blue-breasted bird.


My experience of the Violet-eared Waxbill was most dis¬

appointing : Miss Gladstone sent me a perfect pair, which I turned

into one of my two outdoor aviaries: but the hen died suddenly

while flying, falling to the ground as if it had been shot, and the

cock evidently got into trouble through fighting and only lived a little

over a week. Like the Cordon-bleu it is a delicate bird when first

imported, and is so expensive that only a rich man could afford to

replace it continually until vigorous examples were secured : I never

heard my cock bird sing, which was a further grief to me. So much

for the twelve species of Waxbills which I have had, not one of

which I succeeded in breeding owing to the unsuitability of my out-

poor aviaries and to the fact that my indoor aviaries w T ere, perhaps,

too overcrowded.


With Grass finches and Mannikins I w T as rather more suc¬

cessful, though one of them—the Pintailed Nonpareil — owing to its

delicate constitution was always more or less a source of trouble :

its melamistic variations are interesting and "worthy of a coloured

illustration because of their extraordinary divergence from the normal



