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iS6 ForíigH J'^inchís in Captivity.
yet seen to be quite different in colouring and belia\-iour.
" ITnlike the Diamond Fiucli in its greater gracefulness and activit}-, it often
utters a little song, with continual comical head-^x'agging, including a prolonged
call-note. The female likewise -wagging her head, nevertheless does not sing.
Almost ever)- pair, innnediatel_y after its arri\-al in the Bird-room, as in the breeding
cage, begins a nest of dry bents, bast, Agave fibres, little roots, cotton and
other threads ; spherical, somewhat more skilful than that of the Diamond bird, in
a Hartz cage with lined basket-nest, or in a similar contrivance, lined with little
patches of wadding and feathers; many pairs breed easily and productively in
several broods with laj-iugs of four to six, even nine, to as ninch as twelve eggs ;
others with the best intentions make numerous failures in breeding. Duyation of
incubation t\i-elve da3-s.
Young Plumage duller and more weakly colonred, as if an old bird should be
seen through a grey veil. The change of colour takes place like that of the Zebra-
Finch in the eighth to the twelfth \veek, in that especially the blue-grey of the
head, the black of the throat and the black and white of the abdomen come ont
more strongly and more sharply defined from one another. Generally peaceable,
and When breeding not sensitive to disturbances, but nevertheless causing havoc
in the Bird-room, by the destruction of the nests of other birds, like the Ribbon-
Finch ; breeding is therefore best done in pairs in the breeding cage. Hybrids
bred with the Japanese Bengalee and White-lieaded Nun."
This little Finch always reminds me of our Bine-tit in its actions ; the impudent
M'ay in which it hops about, bobbing its head in a self-assertive manner
and its mischievous destrnctiveness are essentially Tit-like. I cannot at all agree
with Dr. Rnss that it is generally peaceable in a Bird-room ; on the contrary', it
ahvays fights with males of its own species and one of mj' cock birds killed a hen
Ribbon Finch, and would have done the same to her hnsband if the latter had
not plucked up courage, after some days of persecution, and defended himself
The call-note is plaintive, and, not unlike the cry of a kitten, decidedl}' unpleasant
; but the song is rather pleasing.
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Although the Parson Finch has the appearance when not actually compared
with it, of being as large as the Diamond Finch, it actually is decidedly smaller :
if looked at after a journey in a travelling-cage, when the wrapper is first taken
The Parson Finch. 1S7
off, one sees at once that it is only slightly larger than a Zebra Finch; but when
s t r u t t i ng about in the aviar}- it seems about as large again.
Mr. Gould says:—"This species is tolerably abundant on the Liverpool Plains,
and the open country to the northwards towards the interior. It occurs so rarely
on the sea side of the ranges, that I only once met with it during my sojourn in
New South Wales. It is doubtless a native of the great basin of the interior,
where, like the P. acuticauda, P. personata, and P. lencotis, it frequents those parts
of the open plains which abound in grasses, upon the seeds of which and other
plants it mostl}' subsists."
Mr North observes:—"This species was formerly abundant in the neighbourhood
of Rockhanipton, but during mj- visit to those parts in 1869-70, not a
specimen could be found, the bird having been entirely exterminated bj' the
" trappers," for the European markets. It is thinly dispersed over the countr}' to
the north, but is replaced in the Gulf districts by its near ally P. atripygialis.
I t nests in long grass and Pandanns bushes, and lays five eggs of a bluish white,
elongated in form."
Whatever it may do in a wild state, it certainly- does not la^- bluish-white
eggs in confinement ; those laid from time to time in the seed pan by one of ni}-
hen birds were not distinguishable from eggs of the Zebra Finch, being pure
white and similar to those of all other Grass Finches. In mj' opinion the bluish
tint described by Mr. North was purely imaginary.
Mr. Wiener thinks "it might be somewhat risky to keep Parson Finches in
an out-door aviary during winter." In this he is mistaken, which shows that
proved facts are better than suppositions. If I want to know whether a species is
hardy, I try the experiment of keeping it in a cold aviary throughout the winter:
if it dies, I have gained a fact, which I can publish for the benefit of other
fanciers : one bird dies to save the lives of many. On the other hand, supposing
that the bird is none the worse for the cold treatment, there is an interesting fact
for the aviarist who has no heat available.
I believe it to be a mistake to speak of any Australian Finch as sensitive to
cold : none that I have experimented with have proved to be so. Of all mj' Gouldian.
Parson, Zebra and Cherry Finches, and Sydney Waxbills which have been
wintered in an nnheated aviary open to the air; not one died from cold, though
man}' died from laying, (or failing to lay) soft eggs, from killing one another out
of jealousy, from a miserable disease resembling 'staggers' in horses, and lastly,
from that common and almost invariably fatal disease,—inflammation of the bowels ;
usnall}^ due to an incursion of mice into the aviary. In a word the Parson Finch
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