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THE TWO-COLOURED MANNIKIN.
Sper?ncstes bico/or, FRASER.
'J^'^HIS little Manmkiii inhabits West Africa from Sierra Leoiie to Dalioinej-.
According to Dr. Rnss it is oulj' occasionally imported, a few pairs at a
time.
The whole upper surface of this bird is black, glossed with green excepting
on the flights and tail-feathers ; the chin, thrbat, chest, and sides are also
black glossed with green, the edges of the black at the sides being irregular,
having a barred character; the remainder of the under-snrface of the body is
white, the flights and tail-feathers below gre^-ish-black: lYength inches. Beak
leaden-grey; legs dark leaden-grey ; iris black.
I only once possessed this species for a single night; it was caught by a
policeman in South Kensington. The poor little mite had probabl}^ escaped from
some cage or aviary in the neighbourhood and was being mobbed by Sparrows :
as it was probablj- faint for want of food, it was easil}' captured and brought to
me; and, within five minutes, it was greedily devouring millet and canary-seed.
I took the bird home and turned it into a flight-cage with Waxbills ; it
seemed to be quite happ3' and contented, when I left it for the night; but in the
morning I found it dead. The skin was preserved and was pronounced by a
friend to be that of the Bronze Mannikin, and it was not until years later, when
two specimens of the latter species had died and I was able to compare the skins,
that I discovered the blunder.
The wild life of this bird is probably similar to that of the Bronze Mannikin;
but remarkably little seems to have been observed bj' travellers of the habits of
the smaller West African Finches : they seem too frequently to have been content
to destro}' life without one thought for their victims, or one desire to know anything
of their domestic econonij^. In short, to be a first-rate collector a man
needs only to be a good shot and to know how to skin well; he must set aside
all sentiment, all compunctions; and, mth these qualifications, though he be as