All rights reserved. 
April, 1918. 
BIRD NOTES: 
THE — - 
JOURNAL OF THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB 
The Diamond Finch, 
{St egano pleura guttata). 
By WEsr.Kv T. Page, F.Z.S., etc. 
The Diamond Finch, niamond Sparrow, or Spotted-sided 
Finch lias been l<no\vn to aviculture for many years, and has 
been fairly frequently bred. It is a very handsome species, the 
charmini:;- contrast of the s^reys, browns, black and whites of its 
pluma.^e are intensified l)y tlie brilliant carmine-scarlet of the 
lo\ver-l:)ack and upj^er tail-coverts, and crimson beak, but it will 
be better to i^ive a brief description, which, with the aid of Mrs. 
Cook's characteristic drawing;, will enable even the tyro to 
recoi^nise this charming' species at sight. 
1 )i:scRiPTio>i : The general colouring is grey-brown 
(mouse-colour); head grey: rump and upper tail-coverts fiery 
carmine; tail black; nnder-parts white, with a broad band of 
black across the chest ; sides black, regularly spotted with white, 
beak crimson (the hen has the base of her upper mandible rose- 
pink); lores l)lack; eyelids crimson; legs grey. 
Hahits: Tn its wild state (T am quoting Gould and 
North) it is widely distributed, is very common in South Austra- 
lia and N.S. Wales; passes most of its time on the ground, and 
feeds on the seeds of various grasses. Gould states that the 
nest is frequently built among the sticks forming the under- 
surface of the nests of the smaller species of Eagles, and that, 
too, during the time the Eagle is incubating, both species hatch- 
ing and rearing their iM-ogeny in harmony; this he witnessed 
