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The VioIct-Earcd Waxbill.
small flocks and feeds on little seeds, wliicli it seeks upon the ground.' "
Holub speaks of the resemblance of this Finch to the Weavers and Whydahs
as regards its tasteful plumage, the change of the same, and its manner of building.
He must therefore have been acqirainted with the nest, though he fails to
describe it, the eggs, or their number. He, however, tells the same tale as other
writers as to its seeking its food (consisting of seeds and insects) among the grass
and on the ground.
Russ says that this Waxbill is "one of the first that was brought alive to
Europe (it had already reached Paris in 1754), but since Vieillot's time, and up
to the present, has almost entirelj- disappeared from the bird-market. Considering
its beauty this is much to be deplored, and therefore I am all the more delighted
that I have at least once received this rare bird alive, and moreover, have seen it
several times. Pockelmann in Hamburg sent me in 1874 a male and two female
Granatastrilds, and these must, moreover, have been the first which had ever
reached Germany alive."
" D r . Jantzen of Hamburg, in the winter of 1869-70, acquired a pair on a
ship at Madeira, the only Granatastrilds which he saw at that time among
thousands of birds on ships which arrived there from West Africa. He kept them
for a long time in a cage and designates them as splendid coloured, pleasant,
peaceful birds. Moreover, in 1870 A. T. Wiener, of London, bought three Granatastrilds
at Liverpool. At the Berlin Bird-show of 1877 Miss Hagenbeck had a
pair and H. Möller three males. Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha obtained
Granatastrilds several times. Now and again single Granatastrilds arrive in Hamburg
and London."
" I t is to be hoped that this ravishing Astrild will again be regularly imported,
and this may be expected to happen as soon as the tracts in Africa which it
inhabits are more thrown open to trade and commerce. It will surely never come
into the bird-market in great abundance."
I do not quite see the force of this last observation, unless the Violet-eared
Waxbill should prove to be too delicate to reach Europe in any quantities. In
Africa it is common enough, as ma}? be seen by the series of dead specimens in
collections. So far as I can see, there is no reason why large consignments
should not be imported.
Mr. Abrahams wrote to me on December 12th, 1893, as follows: — " I have
never had a Violet-eared Waxbill, but a short time ago there were a few at the
'Zoo.' "
It seems to me that, in the case of rarely imported though common birds.
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