THE



Avicultural Magazine


THE JOURNAL OF THE

AVICULTURAL SOCIETY



Fifth Series .—VoL I.—No. 10 .—All rights reserved. OCTOBER, 1936.



THE STAR FINCH


Bathilda ruficauda


By E. F. C.


The Star Finch (.Bathilda ruficauda) sometimes called the Rufous¬

tailed Finch, is a native of Australia, and is not considered hardy

even in its own country. In Yol. XI, fourth series, of the Avicultural

Magazine, pp. 412-14, Mr. H. V. Highman, Hon. Secretary of the

Avicultural Society of Western Australia, describes their nesting and

successful rearing of young in confinement in a large outdoor aviary

among a mixed collection of birds. The nest was constructed of grass,

oval in shape with a side entrance, and both birds incubated the three

white eggs in turn. They ate a great deal of soft food, a mixture of

crushed biscuit, dried flies, and egg yolk. Incubation lasted a fortnight,

the young had luminous globules on each side of the gape like Gouldians,

and were reared almost entirely on the soft food. The fledglings were

drab olive green, did not show any real sign of colour until three months

old, and did not moult into complete adult plumage until six months

of age. Sexes are not distinguishable with certainty until then.


Mr. Highman’s pair went to nest four times and reared seven young,

the same nest was used throughout.


The following year Mr. S. D. Potter also bred these Finches, but

his birds behaved quite differently from Mr. Highman’s. He writes



19



