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Birds and Flowers . 
CHAPTER III. 
FOREIGN BIRDS. 
Java Sparrows, Indian Sparrows or Cut-throats, 
and Wax-bills or Avadavats, require very similar 
treatment ; so we will class them all together. 
The Java Sparrows are good-sized birds, as big 
as a Bullfinch ; they are a sort of pale slate colour, 
and black, with white cheeks, pink beaks, a rim of 
red round their eyes, and exceedingly pink feet. 
They have a very sweet short song, but I do not 
think they are so taking as many birds. They 
eat millet-seed and canary, drink a good deal of 
water, and keep each other’s plumage in very neat 
order by a constant pruning. 
Avadavats or Wax-bills are charming little pets, 
much smaller than a Goldfinch ; they have bright 
red beaks, brown feathers spotted and tipped with 
red, pretty white spots down their wings, and little 
fan-like tails, which they keep spreading out sud- 
denly and closing again as quickly. They are 
very active and constantly changing places with 
each other on the perch, where they are fond of 
sitting all in a row and singing. They are ter- 
