58 How to Sex Cage Birds. 



Although Dr Russ included this bird among the Astrilds, he says 

 its mode of life is similar to that of the Diamond Finch. He says 

 the same of the next bird, which he placed among the Grass-Finches, 

 though it had been regarded previously as a Wax bill. 



Australian Fire-tailed Finch (Zoncegintkus bellnn)-. 



No sexual difference has been pointed out; but if I were selecting 

 a pair I should look out for narrowly and broadly barred under parts, 

 as indicated in the illustrations of an undoubted pair in my Foreign 

 Finches in Captivity (opposite p. 1GU of the first edition). Tn 

 Pytelia the dark bars across fche under parts are slightly broader in 

 the males, and the white alternate bars distinctly narrower, and I 

 believe this is also the ease with ZonceginthvA. 



The Waxbills, Grass- Finches, and Mannikins all come into Captain 

 Shelley's subfamily Estrildinae, a division of the Ploceidce, based 

 mainly upon the absence of a distinct male winter plumage. This 

 answers very well for the African forms, with which Captain 

 Shelley was dealing, but breaks down utterly in the case of the 

 Indian Amaduvade Waxbill. 



Parrot-Finch {Erythrv/ra psittacea). 



"When in perfect condition the cocks are brighter coloured, the 

 red on the throat and forehead is rather more extensive, and the 

 legs and feet are slightly darker in colour than in the hens; 

 moreover, the cocks have an altogether folder appearance than their 

 wives'' (1). Seth-Smith, Avicultural Magazine, N.S., vol. iv. p. 78). 

 As Mr Seth-Smith has been a very successful breeder of this species, 

 his opinion is of the more value. 



Thkek-coloured Parrot-Finch {Erythrwra trichroa). 



Respecting this Moluccan bird, Dr Sharpe says that the adult 

 female is "everywhere duller in colour than the male " (Catalogue 

 of Birds, vol. xiii. p. 386). It is also about three-fifths of an inch 

 shorter, which makes quite a noticeable difference in a small bird. 



Pin-tailkd Nonpai;kil (Erythrura prasina). 



The form of the beak differs very little in the sexes, but that of 

 the male is a trifle longer and liner at the point, giving it a slightly 

 more bell- shaped outline when viewed from above. The female has 

 a shorter tail, and is altogether duller; the face is less blue, and the 

 throat shows hardly a trace ; the under parts being dull ochraceous, 

 greyish on the breast, and showing no trace of 'the vivid rose-red 

 and vinaceous buff of the male. In total length the female, chiefly 

 owing to its abbreviated tail, is an inch shorter than the male. In 

 the Catalogue of Birds the female is described as having a small 

 patch of scarlet in the centre of the breast; this must, I think, 

 either be a very old hen commencing to assume male plumage or 

 an immature cock bird. 1 have taken my characters from an 



