178 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



AFRICAN BIEDS. 



Most of the cage-birds from Africa, which are brought to London, 

 Liverpool, Marseille, Bordeaux, and other European ports in immense 

 numbers, are secured for beauty of plumage, not song. The African 

 weavers, 994 of which were imported during the year, in addition to 

 attractive coloring offer an interesting exhibition of their skill in the 

 art that has given them their name. At nesting time, if furnished with 

 worsted or other suitable material, they will weave this in and out of 

 the wires of their cages, making neat and compact examples of their 

 handiwork. Bishops and Madagascar weavers are brilliant red and 

 black in coloring, cut-throats have a band of red across the throat, 

 from which is derived the name, and whidah birds (incorrectly called 

 "widow" birds) have extremely long tails. The group furnishes an 

 instance in which one family contains both bishops and cut-throats. 

 A Napoleon also figures among its members, and all are frequently 

 associated with Japanese nuns and Brazilian cardinals. 



Waxbills numbered 555 in the year's importations. These include 

 the dainty little cordon bleu, or crimson-eared waxbill, various species 

 of silverbills, and several other kinds. The violet-eared waxbill, a 

 bird of radiant, prismatic beauty, is brought to England, but has 

 apparently not yet come to the United States. The tiny zebra finches, 

 easy to keep and breeding readilj'^ in captivity, are favorites with the 

 bird-keeping public, 591 coming in during the year. African siskins 

 are also somewhat popular, and a small but increasing number of edel- 

 singers, or African gray singers, one of the few African species that 

 have a pleasing song, are imported annually. 



African birds generally brmg |1.50 a pair at wholesale. Most of 

 them have light, unmusical, but not disagreeable, notes, and being 

 bright and active, give life to room or aviary where they are confined. 

 While the breeding time of most of them is during our winter (the 

 seasons being reversed south of the equator), many of the little immi- 

 grants adapt themselves readily to the changed conditions and breed 

 in the summer of the North Temperate Zone. 



AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Ordinary Australian birds also sell for $1.60 a pair wholesale. Of 

 these, apart from shell parrakeets, diamond sparrows are imported in 

 the largest numbers, the year's supply being 332. 



Australia is notable, however, for its charming Ladj' Gould finches, 

 which, perhaps, reach the highest point of beauty and elegance attained 

 by any of the smaller cage-birds of the world (see PI. IX). Few are 

 sold in this country, possibly because of their high price — 19 to $10 a 

 pair at wholesale — and because they are difficult to keep (an English 

 fancier says of them that they suffer all the ills that beset other cage- 

 birds and several special ones of their own). They are highly prized 



