î 1
180 Foreign Fincha in Cap/ivify.
: I
to fnniisli tliein with. 1 have had them nesting on the flooi- of a large cage,
in a tiny cage ; in a covered box, and in an open box ; in a tree, in—nothing!
And -ivitli a liandfnl or two of ha}- the)- will be profonncll}- content, if yon cannot
snpply them with any thing better. Moreover, they will nest in the midst of
other birds as freelj-—if not so successfnlh*—as the}' •\\-ill when alone. I may add
that, from preference, they will nest in a high position rather than a lower one.
One of the difficulties—^\'ith others following in its train—to be faced in the
breeding of these birds is the circumstance that the Gonldian Finch, coming
from the south of the equator, usualh' wants to nest during" our winter. Should
}-ou allow them to go to nest, sa}' in an artificial!}- heated room, the short dark
days, and the Loudon fogs (if, like me, ^'ou reside in London town), will
probabl}- prove too nnich for }'0u and your birds. If you, in your wisdom, put
^•our foot do^vn and sa}-. No, you two shall be kept separate until the warm
weather comes, and then will I put you up to nest,—lo, they, in their unwisdom,
will possibly foil }-ou, w-hen the warm weather does come, by falling into moult.
AMien }'ou have, however, got safel}- through these little hindrances, and when
e^-er^- thing seemingly is now square and plain sailing, }-our hen will, likely
enough, once more disappoint your expectations by becoming egg-bound. And,
lastl}-, when ever}'thing is really all right:—when the season is propitious and the nest
is ready, when the eggs have been laid and the hen is still well, the cock bird,
in his turu, out of sheer cussedness, will, as likely as not, destroy the eggs.
But these are all difficulties that ma}- be overcome. A little foresight, a
little management, a sharp e}'e to detect at once wheir anything is going wrong,
and, with birds so willing to nest, success must follow sooner or later, if, as I
hinted before, you are able to provide the needful accommodation.
So far as my own bird-room and aviary are concerned, I have not had, and
have not no'^'s-, any suitable place for these little birds. A succession of Hawks
and Owls, Choughs and Crows, Jays and Pies, Parrots and Parrakeets, and a host
of other foes to tiny creatures and their eggs, have made it impossible for me to
keep them properly, almost impossible, indeed, to keep them at all. But in the
spring of i8gi, notwithstanding these impossibilities and disadvantages, finding
that no one had so far been able to breed them, I, in a spiteful spirit of
emulation—but could there be a better cause ?- -obtained a fresh pair of Red-faced
Gonldian Finches, and put them up to nest on the 28th April of that year. The
birds immediately commenced to build in a dead tree which I had fixed in a
large aviar}'-cage in my dining-room ; there was another large aviary-cage on the
opposite side of the room ; and, as the doors of both were usually open, the birds
The Ciowldiau Fineh. 181
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had a fair amount of exercise, flying backwards and forwards. A lad}' aviarist in
Hampshire had most kindly provided me ^vith two kinds of dry grass, one rather
broad and the other fine; and with these, and a few odds and ends, the
Gouldians constructed a ver}- large uest, domed, but with the aperture nearly at
the top. The first egg was laid on the 5th May, the 5th and last on the 9th,
when the hen commenced to sit in earnest, the cock taking her place when she
came off to feed. The first young voice was heard on the 24th May ; and, on
the 16th June, two young birds in full feather were enticed out of the nest by
their good old mother. On the following day, on examining the uest, I found
another young bird and two clear eggs. The two elder became grand birds ; but,
not having room for theui, 1 parted with them on the 5tli September. The other
was killed by some ruffian in my bird-room on the 5th November : it had not
shewn any signs of falling into moult.
I t must not be supposed from the foregoing that the nesting of these two
birds, and the rearing of the young, passed over without a hitch. Amidst such
unnatural surroundings, the course of events could not be expected to run
altogether smoothly, especially as the parents were unseasoned, and the weather
treacherous. But the chief difficulty was with the cock who, although he behaved
splendidly for a time, behaved badly later on, and had eventually to be ejected
from the room to prevent worse mischief—a circumstance which greatly upset
the hen, who seemed strongly disposed to forsake the nest altogether.
These particular birds, while nesting, fed on spray and white millet, and
occasionally a little canar}- seed. Nothing else that I gave them would they
touch. They fed their young b}- regurgitating food from their crops.
There was one curious peculiarit}' in the inner arrangements of the uest
which I must not pass over in silence. Imagine a pear with two small ends,
hdng on its side. This was the form of the interior, which was 6j inches, by
inches in greatest measurements, and some 4 or 5 inches deep. Thus was it
divided into three fairly distinct compartments, one large, and two smaller ones
opposite. Evidently the young birds had lived in the larger chamber, which was
scrupulously clean :—the other two had been used as retiring rooms. I have examined
birds' nests of many kinds times without number ; my earl}' days were
mostly spent in the woods and fields, looking after the birds, but I never before
saw anything of the kind:—although probably the nest had been pressed into its
peculiar shape simply by the weight of its occupants. Owing to its domed construction,
and the height of the aperture above the heads of the young, it was
impossible for the latter to have ejected their excreta outside ; and the parents did