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200 Foreign Finc/ics in- Captivity.
shining black, wliite near the cheek strips ; flights dark-grey with paler margins ;
tail blackish, banded witli white ; feet flesh-coloured. The change of colour begins in
the fifth week; on the upper breast a fine black line becomes noticeable, which
continually becomes more intense ; on the under surface the feathering becomes
brighter, passing through dirty yellow into pure ^\'hite ; the upper plumage constantly
becomes deeper brownish, by degrees the outlines of all the markings become defined;
the beak passes through dull yellow into red yellow; the change of colour usually
continues to the end of the eight weeks. The young must be taken away, they
disturb the old birds and others wdiich are nesting. As a lodging they should have a
large cage ^^dth little nest boxes, together with building material to keep them warm
at night. This bold bird readily deserts its nest in the most astonishing manner, if
disturbed when sitting; I therefore give emphatic warning, Tlie experiment of
getting the Zebra-Finch to rear the eggs of other valuable birds, mostly ends
successfully. Mules have been bred with the Diamond Finch, Little Silver-pheasant
and others. Aber rations of colour have also been bred from the Zebra-Finch, but no
importance can yet be attached to these."
Gould sa3-s: "This bird appears to be almost peculiar to the interior of
Australia; among other places it inhabits the large plains to the north of the
Liverpool range, and is particularly abundant about Brezi and the banks of the river
]\Iokai; but tliat it sometimes occurs on the southern side of the range is proved by
ni}' having killed five specimens on the Upper Hunter. It has also been found,
though very sparingly, at Swan River, and a specimen is contained in the collection
formed by Mr. Bynoe at Port Essington. It passes much of its time on the ground,
and feeds upon the seeds of various kinds of grasses. On the plains it congregates in
small flocks, and evinces a decided preferenoe for those spots where the trees are
thinly dispersed and grasses abundant."
That is all that Mr. Gould was able to tell us about the habits of this common
bird in a wild state. Mr. North, however, gives the follo\\'iug account :—
" T h e Chestnut-eared finch is found breeding in companies in the neighbourhood
of Lachlan and the Darling Rivers, during September and the two following months.
It constructs a flask-shaped nest of dried grass, stems, &c., and it is placed in the
branches of a low tree or thick bush. Eggs five or six in number for a sitting, in
colour faint bluish Avhite ; a set now before me taken by Mr. James Ramsey, at
Tyndarie, in October, 1879, has one specimen with a distinct and well-defined band of
blue round the centre of the egg ; this is the only occasion I have ever seen any
variation from the tj'pical egg of the species."
The foregoing note gives us an explanation of the bluish tint, ^vhich on more than
The Zebra Finch. 201
one occasion Mr. North has mentioned in the eggs of these Grass-Finches ; he
describes from blown specimens in the cabinet. Many white eggs, especially if thinly
shelled, .show a bluish tint when emptied of their contents ; it is not a colour, but
merely due to the transparency of the shell. When freslily deposited in the nest, the
eggs of all the Ornamental Finches are pure white ; the yolk casting either a pinkish
or yellowish tinge over the wdrole centre, owing to the transparencj' of the shell; a
" bluish," or thin belt round the centre, woidd probably appear as ros}- orange in the
nest.
On October i8th, 1895, a nest of five Zebra-Finches flew in my unheated aviary ; a
fortnight later the parents built again in a furze-bu.sh, and the hen laid three eggs ;
the nest, however, was too near to the wire front of the aviary, and the hen thus was
so frecjuentlj' disturbed that she deserted them.
Illustrations from living examples and skins in the author's collection.
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