16 H. S. Sewell—Breeding the Painted Finch in Australia


under parts are of a lighter, more bluish, green, with none of the

slaty-blue shown by both the parents. The under tail coverts are

of whitish-green, darker towards the centres. The white “ cap ” is

so far a mere frontal band not more than \ in. in width The

feathers on the top of the head are green with dull blue edges,

and those on the sides of the head are more slate-coloured.

The bastard-wing, primaries, and lateral tail feathers are deep

cobalt blue, but the tail feathers have the inner webs towards the

base of salmon pink. The secondaries are green and blue, and the

central tail feathers are bluish-green. The beak is of bone colour,

with a blackish area on either side of the upper mandible; the

legs and feet are also of bone colour, with the claws black. The

irides are a fairly dark brown.


In spite of the dry heat of the hospital, the feathers are of

excellent quality and are quite glossy.


A curious habit of this little parrot is that of always going into

the box to exercise its wings : it also stands on the perches with a

very upright pose and with its chest expanded as though it fully

expects at any moment to receive a decoration of some kind.



BREEDING THE PAINTED FINCH IN

AUSTRALIA


By H. S. Sewell


Being the first member of the Avicultural Society of South

Australia to breed the Painted Finch (Emblema picta) I thought

perhaps a few notes on this species and its nesting activities may

be of interest to the readers of your splendid magazine.


The Painted Finch is one of our rarest finches and has for

many years been practically unprocurable, in fact some years ago

it was freely rumoured that the species were extinct. Fortunately,

however, this rumour was exploded this year, by a number of those

rare birds making their appearance from the far north of this

State (South Australia). I quickly secured a few pairs in the early

winter and set about the task of trying to breed them.



