146 
The Birds of Gamhia. 
nape ; thi'oat blue-green ; chest and belly, as far as the legs, a lovely rose- 
pink ; vent and under tail coverts turquoise blue ; under surface of wings 
tawny with black tips. Iris deep red ; bill black ; legs brown. Length to 
end of longest tail feathers 13 inches. 
\_To he cdiitiiniedA 
BRITISH BIRDS. 
Breeding the Goldfinch 
(Cnrduelis eJegans), 
By 1?. SufiGITT. 
Tlie Goliirmcli is probably the favourite of our seed-eating birds, 
and no doubt tliousands are caught and caged annually, it is easily 
catered for, and owing to its biight plumage and pretty little song is 
eagerly sought after and liolds a justly proud position in both cage 
and aviary. Early in the spring of 1904, I purchased two pairs and 
13ut them into my aviary (Cleetlwrpes, Lines.) with the intention of 
attempting to breed them ; in this I was fairly successful. The first 
nest was built under the covered portion of the aviary in a Hartz 
ti'avelling cage early in May, and four eggs were laid, all of which 
were duly hatched. On the fourth day, however, for some reason, 
which T could never understand, the nest was deserted and the off- 
spring perished. In the meantime, tlie other jiair built a nest in a 
Cyprus biisli, quite close to the ground. Only three eggs were laid, 
all of which duly liatched and two of tlie youngsters were reared. 
During tliis time tliey principally fed on chicUweed and groundsel, 
supplied fresh twice daily, and although flowering grass was always 
handy my notes make no mention of any attempt to feed thereon. The 
pair which failed witli their first attempt now built a typical nest in a 
privet Ledge, running the whole length of aviary, almost at the top, 
Four eggs were laid which duly hatched and the young were all 
reared. This pair fed freely oi' soft food mixture from the first, and 
later botli pairs were often seen feeding on bananas, it is quite surpris- 
ing how the majorit}' of our indigenous finches readily take to fruit 
and insect food. Each pair had three nests with a gross result of 14 
young finches reared to maturity during the season. When the 
youngsters were cn the wing they were fed by all four of the birds in- 
descriminately, tli>^ male in particular paid every attention to young of 
