family is of a soft rich color, like that of the Juncos, the Fox-colored Sparrow, the 

 White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, etc., while many are birds of great beauty 

 (Cardinal Redbird, Rose-breasted and Blue Grosbeaks, Nonpareil, Indigo Bird, Goldfinch, 

 Leucostictes, etc.). Their lively ways, their confidence in man, their beauty and song 

 combine to make them important factors of the landscape, which they idealize and 

 impart with happiness and poetry. 



No other birds are so easily kept in the cage as the members of this family. Not 

 only such httle elfs, as the Magpie Finches*, Silver-bills^, Orange-cheeked Wax-bills^, 

 Cordon Bleus^ Fire Finches^ etc., of tropical Africa; Zebra Finches", Diamond Sparrows", 

 Australian Grassfinches ', etc., of Australia; the Java Sparrow', Nutmeg Bird", Aihanda- 

 vade Finch" of India, and the Canary Bird, but also many of our native species, such 

 as the Cardinal Redbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bird, Nonpareil, 

 and many others stand exceedingly high in the favor of German bird lovers and bird 

 fanciers. Dr. Carl Russ, of Berlin, has written several volumes on this subject.* 



The Finch family is represented in our country by about ninety-five species, which 

 are divided into the following thirty-four genera: 



1 Spermestes cucullata Sw. 2 Aldemoayne caiitaas Skakpk. s Spormgintbaa melpodus Sharpe. ■• Estrelda pboeni- 

 cotis Sw. 5 Lagonoaticta minina Cab. « Stagonopleura castaooiis Cab. ' vS. guttata Cab. » Aidemoayne modeata 

 Reichenb. 9 Amadina otyzivora. lo Mania undulata. n Estrelda amandava. 



» Dr. Carl Russ. "Die fremdiandiachen StubenvBgel." Bd. I. 13 Colored PI., and "Handbuch fur Vogelliebhabcr" etc. Vol.1 



