H. V. Highman—The Star or Rufous-tailed Finch



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a grotesque dance on the perch before his partner. His “ song ” was

very similar to that of the Gouldian. Nesting quickly followed, both

birds assisting in the building with the cock bird the most active and

consistent. Three white eggs were laid and both birds religiously took

turns in incubating. At this time great partiality was shown towards

soft food, which consisted mainly of crushed biscuit, dried flies and

egg yolk.


The nest was constructed of grass, oval in shape with a side entrance,

the cock proving a determined defender of his handiwork. This nest

was built in the centre of a dense tea-tree in the open flight, all sheltered

positions being scorned.


The incubation occupied a fortnight and two eggs only hatched,

the third proving unfertile. The young never looked back, and had

luminous globules on each side of the “ gape ” similar to the Gouldian.

The parents both fed the young almost entirely on the soft food.

The fledglings, a drab olive green colour, did not show any real sign

of colour until three month of age and did not moult into complete

adult plumage until six months old. Sexes are not distinguishable

with certainty until then. When able to feed themselves they showed

preference for the soft foods.


They are most amusing when worrying the parents for food. They

almost stand on their heads and are most persistent in their efforts.


A peculiar feature with these youngsters was their fascination for the

song of the canaries in the aviary. Immediately a canary commenced

whistling the young Stars would fly and perch in front of the whistler,

deliberately face him and stay there throughout the solo completely

fascinated. From four subsequent nests of youngsters this same

phenomena has occurred.


In rearing the young I placed great reliance in the soft food and,

when the pair immediately nested again, I determined to experiment

and removed all soft food. Two young were hatched and survived one

week only. The parents nested a third time and I returned the soft

food. Four eggs were laid and three youngsters reared. I was astounded

when the pair again nested, this being the fourth time. From three

eggs two young were reared. The same nest was used throughout.

The fourth nest took the birds well into the summer but did not deter



