Obscrz'afiuiis on Soinc llyhrids uf the I'locc'uiac . 31 
my ( Ireiijulines, I let loose a female Cordon Bleu in the cage of 
one of them. Already 1 anticipated the appearance of hybrids 
of extraordinary beauty, but the experiment well-nit^h had a 
fatal endin.i^-; the male bird, very excited, chased the female 
without intermission, and I had to take her away for fear of 
her i^ettini;- killed. I then put the male free near to the caj^es of 
the (irenadins. They called to him without ceasini;'. Some 
months later, thinking- that the separation had made the males 
wiser, I let one of them fly into the room. But I had to take 
him back to avoid a mishap. 
The next year the experiment almost succeeded. Reunited 
since March, the birds mated, and after several sittings of addled 
eggs, I obtained some yoimg ones, which, alas ! were not reared. 
All the sununer abortive broods followed each other. The 
young were regularly abandoned towards the third or fourth 
day of their existence. Once I had some young ones that lived 
for about twelve days, but then they died also. I am convinced 
that if the experiment were taken up again under different condi- 
tions it ought to succeed, and that the hybrid thus obtained, 
would be remarkably beautiful. In any case the failure of this 
attempt proves the near relatiosnhip of these two species, and 
it has enabled me to make some interesting observations on the 
habits of the Grenadine. 
Xothing" can equal the graciousness of this bird, whilst 
it is making love. Like many other Astrilds, when he desires 
to mate, he approaches the female with a blade of grass in his 
beak, and begins to hop about near her. The feathers on the 
top of his head are then quite smooth, whereas those on the neck 
are quite rufified, forming a kind of collar round the nai)e of the 
neck; he holds his long, motionless tail aslant, and, I don't know- 
why, but whenever I see this beautifully coloured bird in this 
attitude, I am reminded of some lord of former times making a 
low bow to the princess of his heart. 
As a result of this failure, I managed to rear in the follow- 
ing year the beautiful hybrids which M. Delacour has sketched 
for us for this issue. The outline and tne carriage of the bird 
are faithfully reproduced; only the colour of the breast, purp'ish- 
red with tinges of violet, more or less prominent, according to 
the way the light fall$ on it, has not been brought out as skilfully 
