44 Godfrey Davis—Breeding the Striated Finch or White-hacked Munia


the description of this cage is long and tedious and much of it may

be unnecessary if the photos I have sent to our Editor are fit for

reproduction. 1 Perches were merely thin branches pushed into the

wire netting but thick enough at one end to fill the mesh.


I had occasionally seen some black and white Munias in the bird

market in Crawford Market in Bombay, and when I knew I was going

to be for some months in one bungalow during the rains in the Deccan


1 asked Hussain, the “ bird merchant ”, as he calls himself, to get me

two pairs and a few pairs of Bengalese. The Munias were to supply

the eggs and the Bengalese were to hatch them and feed the young.

Hussain, with his usual generous interpretation of my orders, arrived

in due course with two pairs of Munias, three pairs of Bengalese, two

pairs of Green Avadavats, and three pairs of Silverbills. The black and

white Munias are, in fact. White-backed Munias and Silverbills are

White-throated Munias. The White-backed Munias are more southern

birds, hence their dark, rich plumage ; the Silverbills are more northern

birds, inhabitants of sandy tracts of country, hence their pale fawn

plumage. I had a few spare cages but not sufficient for this little flock,

so I got my Sikh carpenter to make me a flight cage, 4 ft. long by


2 ft. wide by 3 ft. high to the ridge, on the same pattern as the cage

he had made before, and in this I put my spare Bengalese and the

Silverbills. In case they should be inclined to breed I hung on the wire

netting six nesting-boxes until the cage looked like a miniature dovecot,

but when the Bengalese and Silverbills got into condition, they fought

and so interfered with each other that successful breeding was

impossible. My experience has been that no more than one pair of

small birds, if in breeding condition, can be kept without fighting in

one large cage, but the experience of others may differ. I had another

cage of the pattern I have first described, and which I think may fairly

be called a “ breeding pen ”, made for a pair of Bengalese, while the

two pairs of Green Avadavats and one pair of White-backed Munias

were put into separate cages, oblong wire cages measuring 24 in. long

by 14 in. high by 14 in. wide, but though I hung nesting-boxes on

the ends of these cages, it was only in the “ breeding pen ” that eggs

were hatched and young reared. The pair of White-backed Munias


[ x The photos were unfortunately too small for reproduction.—E d.]



