observations on Some Hybrids of the I'loceidac. 33 
white; the lower parts of the l)0(ly are hj^hter. 'I"he tail has 
tiiii^es of vivid brown, recalling the colour of the father's tail. 
A week after the birds have left the nest, their backs be.s^in to 
chani^e colour; but it is not till three months later that the birds 
obtain their complete i4rown up pluma.^e. 
The other plate represents a hybrid 1 )iamant modeste* x 
Alandarin§ born also in my aviary {Aideiiiosyiie Dwdesta. 
(lould) X T (vniopygia eastanotis, (iould). 
T read, a loni^' time at;"o in " The b'eathered W orld," that 
this hybrid hatl already been reared in (iermany. Since the 
stoppage of importation prevented me from mating the male 
Aiodeste that I possess, with a female of his own species, I 
determined to try the experiment myself. 
In order to have more chances of success, it is better to 
put the birds of the different species, which one wishes to mate, 
together in a wooden cage, closed in all round except at the 
front. If this is done in the autumn, the birds have then all the 
long winter months in which to get to know each other, and the 
closed up cage prevents them from being distracted from each 
other by their neighbours. This method has always been very 
successful with me. My cage contained two breeding-cages 
filled with feathers and hay. The female Mandarin chose one of 
them in which to pass the night. But she received very coldly 
the loving advances of the male Modeste, whose head she seemed 
to have turned completely. The result was that, in March, the 
eggs that she laid were addled. It will be noticed that in all 
the cases of hybridization so far mentioned, the first eggs laid 
were aways barren. Examples to the contrary are rare; it 's 
only with time that fertile eggs are obtained. 
In April I put the birds in the aviary, taking care to 
remove all the male Mandarins, so that the regret of a spouse 
for the object of his affections should not distract the female 
from her new suitor. The nest was soon constructed in a box-' 
into which the two biras retired the following evening. In 
July, however, I had not seen a single little one. 1 thought th:it 
perhaps a sitting had taken place without any success. At the 
end of this month the very audible chirping of young ones in 
the nest was heard by a servant. I waited a week; but not 
* Cherry Finch. § Zebra Finch.— Ed., B.N, 
