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128 Foreign Finches in Captivity.
meal-worm from tlie hand, tlie Red-tail in all other peculiarities, the further
breeding proceedings, nourishment, &c., corresponds with its allies. In the aviary,
or kept in pairs, it is one of the most delightful of all cage-birds, and the males
which take pleasure in plucking one another, are not quarrelsome with an}' other
companious."
In his " Fremdlandisclieu Stubenvogel," Dr. Russ tells us that at the commencement
of his essays at breeding he was very unfortunate with this bird, he
says:—"After I had procured five pairs at one time, and thereby, in the manner
already frequently explained, obtained true pairs for breeding, I almost immediately
found the assertion of the dealers confirmed, that this Ornamental Finch is
generally delicate and weakly."
The difference in the sexes indicated bj? Mr, Abrahams renders it quite
unnecessary for any beginner now^-a-days to purchase five pairs in order to be
sure of obtaining sexes; indeed on several occasions this naturalist has unhesitatingly
picked out and sold me undoubted pairs of Lavender Finches, which would
unquestionabl}' have bred in a well heated birdroom.
I found the Lavender Finch inclined to quarrel with the Cordon-bleu at
breeding-time, as already noted in ni}' account of the Amaduvade Waxbill: indeed,
it is a singular fact that many of these apparently peaceable little birds, which
will sit in rows in the dealers' store-cages, preen one another's feathers and never
dream of disputing, when they are turned loose in a large bird-room aviary, will
at times (but more especially in the breeding-season) attack one another with
considerable fierceness.
Dr. Russ lost some of his first Lavender Finches, which escaped through a
narrow interval between the netting over his window and the wrall, and in the
autumn wdien the nights were already becoming chill. A subsecjuent experience
was almost as distressing; he thus describes i t :—"The place in which the little
Hartz cage was situated, high up near the ceiling of the room, was very difficult
of approach, because below it much dense scrub, quite richly studded with nests,
was collected. Until the flight of the 3'oung from some of these nests I was
therefore obliged to put off the examination of the Red-tails' brood. When,
however, I had an opportunity to take down that little Hartz cage — wlio can
describe my astonishment and my distress ! Immediately I found the nest of the
little Red-tails entirely closed up, so that I could nowhere discover an opening,
and when I cleared awaj' the entrance hole, I saw that it was fast stopped up
with the stems of grasses different from those used for building the nest. Inside
were the two little birds lamentably starved upon five almost completely incubated
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The Favendcr-Fiuch. 129
" Further observation enabled me to arrive at the following explanation. In
the bird-room there was also a pair of Parson birds or Banded Grass-finches,
which, in common with several other species of birds, are accustomed to construct
one nest after another' with great assiduitj', then to desert tliem, in order hastily
to begin a new? one. Thus they proceed for a considerable time before tliey finally
go to nest in earnest."
" N o w these birds, since the little Red-tails had betaken themselves to rest
very early in the evening, had completeh;- filled up the narrow entrance-hole
behind them as they squeezed in the blades of grass and the like. Had I had a
presentiment of the event, the imprisoned birds could have been easily saved; but
even in those days I could not find leisure to observe attentively and watchfully
as formerly, as I was much occupied with urgent duties."
As I shall have to point out later in this work, the Parson Finch is quite
unsuited for the bird-room, and should only be associated with birds stronger than
himself: beautiful though he is, he is at all times more or less of a bully; and,
in the breeding-season, is quite unbearable as a companion to Waxbills; constantly
pulling their work to pieces, or turning out the builders and using a nest as a
warm roosting-place in which to pass the night.
Mr. Wiener gives no additional information respecting the Lavender Finch,
and as all that he tells us is evidentlj' quoted from Dr. Russ' works, it would
seem as though he had not kept the species: but this can hardly be the case with
so cheap and readily obtainable a bird.
The illustration of the hen-bird on my plate is taken from one which died
in my outside aviary at the approach of the winter of 1893-4. In March, 1895,
I purchased two others, which are still li-sdng.
White millet, millet in the ear, canary and grass-seed form the food of this
species in confinement. In its wild state it doubtless feeds on the seeds of weeds
and grasses which it obtains when on the ground.
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