ili II.
ZEBRA FINCH. S.$.
f^Txixiopj^a cas-tanolo^-J
NHABITS Northern, Western, and Southern Australia, whence it is regularly
and abundantl)- imported ; it is hardy, easily bred, and very beautiful. The
male has the top of the head, nape, neck and front of back pearl grey, shading
into brownish-grey on the hinder part of the back; croup white, black at the
sides ; upper tail-coverts white, regularly banded with black ; lower
tail-feathers brown ; wings brownish-grey, the flight-feathers more or less edged
with ashy whitish ; front of face white, edged in front and at base of beak by
a black line, and at the back, from below the eye, by a second slightly broader
line; a large tawny patch on the cheek; chin, throat and breast silvery grey,
traversed by numerous black strise, and bounded at the back by a black band;
remainder of under surface, excepting the sides, creamy white; the sides chestnut
red, spotted with white. Length, 3/,, inches. Beak coral red; legs red; iris red.
The hen differs in the absence of the tawny patch on the cheeks ; the much
more buff tint of the croup aud under surface of the body, the mouse-grey tint of
the chin, throat, and breast, from which the black striations and band are absent,
and the uniformly greyish sides to the body. Length, 31 inches. Beak orange red.
I found no difficulty in breeding this species, which will build either in a
German canary-cage, a travelling cage with the door fixed partly open, a fig-drum
with entrance hole at the side, a log-nest, or a cigar-box; into any of these
receptacles it will carry a quantity of hay, moss, feathers, rootlets, sticks, or in
fact almost any rubbish, until it has filled up nearly the whole cavity, over-arching
the little saucer-shaped depression with hay, straws, and flowering grasses. The
Zebra-Finch lays from four to seven eggs; but frequently loses some of these
in its eagerness to dash madly out of the nest to repel intruders. In defence of
its nest it is utterly devoid of fear, and when the hen is sitting the cock bird
is usually on guard outside. No sooner does any bird, even though it be a
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