402 THE BIEDS OF AUSTEALIA 



It is the misfortune of the Finches that they are grain 

 feeders and so easily kept alive in captivity, and that they are 

 charmingly coloured, so that they are an ornament to the aviary. 

 Easily trapped, thousands of these pretty birds lose their 

 freedom every year, and it is a sad sight to behold them cooped 

 up in dozens in small cages in the shops. In a large aviary with 

 plenty of opportunity of nest-making and bringing up a family, 

 the conditions are not so bad, but it is to be feared that the 

 habit of keeping the little creatures as "pets" in small cages 

 is resulting merely in the depletion of the countryside of many 

 of its prettiest denizens. In the wild state the Finches usually 

 move about in small companies, but the beautiful Gouldian and 

 Scarlet-headed Finches of the North occur in hundreds. The 

 common note is a succession of Twit Twits, but a mournful long 

 drawn out note is produced as well by some species. 



Genus Staganopleura. 

 Sexes alike in plumage. Confined to Australia. 



The Spotted-sided Finch. 



Staganopleura guttata. 



South Queensland to Victoria and South Australia. 



Crown of head and hind neek ashy-grey; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 crimson; tail black; rest of upper surfaces brown; lores black; sides of 

 body and flanks black, each feather with a large white sub-terminal spot; 

 under surfaces white, with a black band across the fore-neck; bill blood- 

 red; leet purplish -brown; iris red; eyelash lilac-red. Total length 4.3 

 inches, culmen A, wing 2.55, tail 1.55, tarsus .55. Egg white, .75 x 

 .5 inch. 



Genus Zonceginthus. 

 Sexes alike in plumage. Confined to Australia and Tasmania. 



The Fire-tailed Finch. 



Zonmgintlius belliis. 



South Queensland to Victoria and South Australia, Tasmania. 



Above generally brown, with narrow blackish wavy cross lines 

 especially marked on the back and wing-coverts; lores and a narrow 

 frontal band and a ring round the eye black; lower rump and tail coverts 

 bright crimson; under surfaces silvery-grey more coarsely vermiculated 

 with black cross bars, wider on the breast; abdomen and under tail- 

 coverts black; bill crimson; feet flesh colour; iris very dark brown- 

 eyelash light blue. Total length 4.4 inches, culmen .45, wing 2.2 tail 1.7 

 tarsus .65. Egg fleshy-white, .7 x .55 inch. 



