128 Birds I Have Kept. 



dull and bright red spots. Incubation lasts twelve days, and 

 both parents assist alternately in the task. The young ones 

 resemble the old birds, but are duller in all their colours. 



The male Liothrix is about the same size as the English 

 Eobin, to which it bears a considerable resemblance. The 

 back is greenish olive brown, changing to yellow on the head 

 and grey on the sides. The throat and breast are bright 

 orange; the wings are black, but each quill feather is bor- 

 dered on its outer edge by a narrow line of orange chesnut; 

 a conspicuous line of black extends down the sides of the 

 throat from the corners of the mouth, for about half an inch, 

 and give the bird the appearance of wearing a moustache, to 

 which a number of projecting black bristles arising from the 

 same spot give a further resemblance. The tail is shining 

 black, and the three longest of the upper tail coverts are edged 

 with white. 



The' female bears a general likeness to her mate, but is 

 duller in all her colours, and has no white on the tail coverts. 



These handsome birds seem to be rather subject to fits: 

 several specimens I have lost having succumbed, almost instan- 

 taneously, to this distressing malady. One minute they seemed 

 to be in the best of health and spirits, singing and dancing about 

 the aviary, and the next they were struggling on the ground, 

 and dead before relief could be afforded; a catastrophe which, 

 in some instances, I attributed to hemp seed, and in others to 

 a too liberal supply of mealworms. 



