THE



Avicultural Magazine


THE JOURNAL OF THE

AVICULTURAL SOCIETY



Fourth Series— Vol. XI.—No. 9 .—All rights reserved. SEPTEMBER, 1933.



THE MASKED GRASSFINCH


(.Poephila 'person at a)


By Edward J. Boosey


The Masked Grassfinch—an inhabitant of Australia—is about

the same size and shape as a Long-tailed Grassfinch, but, though

equally slim, its general appearance is rather heavier owing to its

larger beak.


Its plumage is an attractive blend of warm golden brown, a paler

cafe-au-lait colour, black and white, with a bright yellow beak.


The sexes are difficult enough to distinguish, but, if anything, the

various black areas in the plumage are less extensive in the hen ; nor

is her back of quite such a rich golden brown, and in some cases, she

is just preceptibly the smaller bird of the two.


With all birds, where the cock and hen are so alike as in this case,

it is a difficult and dangerous matter to lay down any hard and fast

rule for sexing them. I say “ dangerous ” because of the ensuing

chorus of disagreement to which one invariably exposes oneself. One

has only to state that the hen of a particular species is smaller than

her mate for a number of people instantly to discover that judging

by their pair, the hen is quite obviously much the larger bird of the

two !


Similarly, one only has, tentatively, to venture the opinion that


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