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A U S T R A L I A N FIRE^TAILED FINCH.
XoncegintJiiis bellus, LATH.
j ^ A T H A M called tliis the Black-lined Grosbeak, a very misleading name: it
occtirs, according to Ramsa}^ in New Sontli Wales; Soutli Anstralia; Interior
Province to Wide Ba}- District.
The male above is brown narrowly barred with, blackish; the primaries only
indistinctly barred mth lighter brown on the onter web ; lower part of rump and
tipper tail-coverts carmine red; the central tail feathers black, tinted near the base
with crimson; the others with light brown bars on the outer webs; the black
banding on the head very fine, so as almost to appear uniform; the lores, a narrow
frontal band and the feathers encircling the eye black, inside which is a bare
bluish zone; under surface of body silver-grey, barred with black, most finely on
the throat and front of neck ; abdomen and under tail-coverts black; under wingcoverts
pale tawny, with faint dusky bandings; length inches; beak crimson,
paler at the base of the upper mandible; legs flesh-coloured'; iris dark brown.
According to Gould, the sexes are alike.
The London Zoological Societ}- purchased a pair of this species on the 34th
May, 1870, and recorded them under the name of "Red-tailed Finches": * this
was probably the first living pair kept in confinement in Europe; though it seems
likeh' that so prett)^ a species was previously known as a cage-bird in Australia.
Herr Wiener says that he always found Fire-tailed Finches "die in the most
unexpected and disappointing manner. One single bird out of many lived in my
aviary for over a twelvemonth, but he was sent to a show on the Continent as a
curiosity, and died there as unexpectedly as many newly imported specimens had
done." He continues :—
"My own experience has been unfortunately shared b}' Dr. Russ, by Prinz
Ferdinand of Coburg Gotha, and all other amateurs. The bird seems to require
* The trivial nane of "Rufous-tailed Grass-iiiicli." which I recently proposed for BaUiUda ruficauda, thu.s
becomes necessary, to avoid confusion.
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