The Nesthig of the. Grey Finch. 
65 
Nesting of the Grey Finch (Spermophila grisea). 
By R. Suooitt. 
I have possessed a good many pairs of the handsome 
and hardy litth' Grey Fineli (S. grism). 
The first consignment of ch^vcn l>irds, were jointly 
imported by Mr. A. Sutcliffe and myself, from Colombia, in 
1908. Up to this time the species appears to have been 
extremely rare, and it is ])ossible that this was the fi.rst 
arrival of living l)irds in thi-; country. 
Two birds, out of this lot, were exhibited Ijy Mr. 
Sutcliffe at the Crystal Palace in 1909, as a pair, but really 
the supposed female was a young male, just commencing to 
get his adult plumage. These birds were awarded the fourth 
prize in theii' class, it being the first appearance of the species 
on the show -bench. 
In 1910 al>out 1.50 specimens were received, mostly 
from Ti-inidad, of which I kept several pairs. 
The male is quite a handsome little bird. His plumage 
is principally slate grey, with darker wings and tail, and a 
good deal of white on the underparts; his ]>eak is bright 
yellow. In the female the grey is replaced with various 
shades of brown, and her beak is black. 
In spite of their strong beaks, they are quite harmless 
to other small species in the aviary. They squabble consider- 
ably amongst themselves, but their disputes are usually con- 
fined to threatening language; they seldom actually fight. 
The male has a very pleasant song, the notes being 
clear and loud. 
Our Editor successfully reared young of this species 
in his aviary in 1911, and again in 1912. 
From the commencement of the season in 1910, to the 
end of 1912, I had 6 pairs flying together in my aviary, all 
in splendid condition. It may have been owing to the fact 
that so many pairs were associated together, that no attempt 
was made to nest during these three summers. At the com- 
mencement of the 1913 season, I liad disposed of most of them, 
my stock being reduced to a single pair. 
On June 4th the hen of this pair commenced to build 
near the top of a box-t'^sh. The materials used were very 
