A Retrospect. 
107 
birds would come to my feet for small meahvoniis, on which 
to rear tlieir youn,L;\ 
The love dance of the male bird is peculiar; he stands 
on a bough of a tree and suddenly jumps into the air, appearing 
almost to turn a somersault before he lands where he started 
from; at the same time he utters his strange little song, not 
much of a song certainly, but, if it pleased the hen to watcli hin: 
as much as it did me, he certainly achieved his object. 
The young in juvenile plumage are like the hen, but, if 
born early in the season, the young males soon begin to assume 
their metallic blue hue. 
A second pair that 1 had were just as prolihc as far as 
eggs went, but they were infertile; thus 1 suppose that it is safe 
to assume that they are easy to breed ; in any case they are well 
worth a place in anyone's aviary, particularly if a true pair can 
be obtained. 
Waxbills are favourites tco, but were never very prolific 
breeders with me. The only ones I succeeded in breeding were 
the Golden-breasted and the Grey; with the latter success I was 
very pleased as I thought that a medal was coming my way, but 
at the last moment it was discovered that someone else had bred 
them first, although the fact had not been announced; still, it 
gave me lots of fun watching" them. 1 found the Grey Waxbill 
more hardy than its prettier relation, the St. Helena; I never 
managed to breed the latter, although I generally had several 
pairs flitting about my aviaries. 
The lovely Violet-eared Waxbill ( Graiiatina granatina ) 
was my favourite, and they were always tame and ready to take 
mealworms from one's hand. They were the one species that 
reconciled my wife to the birds, as she never tired of watching 
them. 
Of the .Singing I'inches I only care for three — the common 
Grey fSeriiuis lettcopygius) , the Yellow-rumped (S. augolensis ) 
and the Alario ( Alario alano). In each case the male has a 
glorious song, and it was beautiful to hear the males of the 
pairs in the different aviaries singing against each other; with 
the Alario the difficulty is to get a healthy hen or a hen at 
