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T H E GRASS-FINCHES.
''I^'HESE represent a very ill-defined group, difficult to distinguish fronr tlie
Waxbills on tlie one hand and from tlie Mannikins on the other. Indeed it
is highly probable that two or three of the preceding species, wliich I have
placed at the end of the Astrild group, ma}- prove to be true Grass-Finches. If
this is the case, they will sho\\' themselves to belong to the present section by
standing erect to sing, with elongated neck, depressed beak widel}- open, but
emitting a ridiculous humming or sibilant song; their actions, as compared with
t\-pical Waxbills will also be heavier or more clumsy. A ver3- rare bird Baihilda
nificauda, which Jilr. Gould regarded as a tj-pical Astrild, was imported b}- Mr.
Abrahams in 1893 : only two pairs were received, I believe. I had the pleasure
of seeing this bird and hearing it sing at Air. Abrahams' house, and I at once
discovered that Dr. Sharpe had correctly located it, in his catalogme, next to
PoephUa: it is undoubtedly a Grass-Finch, with the general coloration of a
Waxbill.*
As regards the Mannikins; they are merely heavy-billed Grass-Finches, with
which the}- are connected by the Sil\-er-bills, a little groTip combining characteristics
of the three types—Astrilds, Grass-Finches and Mannikins ; liut, to my mind,
better placed between the two latter sections than elsewhere.
The Grass-Finches nest readily iu captivity, building large spherical nests of
hay, with an opening in front. Some of the species are easy to breed; but several
of the more beautiful Australian forms are particularly liable to die from eggbinding;
whilst others are extremely aggressive and quarrelsome during the
nesting-season; therefore can only be safely kept in pairs, and bred iu spacious
cages.
' In March, 1895. a few ivere imported by a friend, from whom I purchased a lovely pair, ljul at a miicli
hiiilier price than I ii.sually care to sjive for these tiny Finches: the female plucked tlie male hare and at the
end of a month he died: she survived for ahont six months and then died in her nest.
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