The Nonpareil Bunting.
one does not often get a chance of obtaining that sex, even at nearly double the
price of a cock-bird.
Though usually wild when first turned loose in a large avairy, the Nonpareil
soon gets to know his keeper and will come to the front when called, to take
mealworms or flies from his fingers: in fact, after a time the bird calls to its
owner, if he offers to pass the aviary without paiising to give it a tit-bit.
The song of the Nonpareil is soft, gentle and sweet; in character it is not
unlike that of the Indigo Bunting, but it has none of the shrill notes of that
species : in fact it would make a far more amiable and suitable pet for a nervous
old lady than a Canary; and, if it were onlj' generally kiro-\vn, that it was a
hardier, cheaper, tamer, less noisy and infinitely more beautiful bird, it is probable
that the demand for Nonpareils woiild rapidly exceed the supply.
I n its native country Cyanospiza ciris usually frequents small thickets, where
the cock bird sings to his hen from the topmost branch of some shrub or bush,
as she sits in her nest in the lower branches of bramble or orange. So steadily
does this mother brood over her eggs, that she may even be lifted from them,
before she will attempt to escape. The nest is formed of extremely dry grasses,
intermixed with rootlets and fine hair, felted together with the silk of caterpillars.
The eggs are pearly white, blotched and dotted with purplish and reddish-brown.
Mr. G. T. Gatimer in his notes on birds from Yucatan speaks of C. ciris
as " Common in all open lands and villages, often seen in the principal streets
of Merida, but most common on the coast. It lives among the weeds and low
bushes, where it finds its food, which consists chiefly of seeds. Rather rare in
midstmimer."
The Nonpareil Bunting has one fault, it is decidedly a combative bird; if kept
with Indigo Buntings it renders their lives a burden by its frequent attacks; nor
is it always wise in its choice of opponents, for my second cock of this species
nearly lost his life by attacking three Saffron Pinches, which fell upon and so
mauled him, that after a second day of a series of such encounters I discovered
him sitting upon his tail, on the sand; the feathers all plucked from his neck.
The poor fellow felt so bad that lie let me pick him up without an effort to
escape.
As the above event occiired in the summer time, I turned niy Nonpareil into
an outer aviarj', open all day to the air; and, after moping about for nearly a
week, he suddenly plucked up his spirits and became as lively as ever; nevertheless
he did not regain the feathers on his neck until his autumn moult; but went
about, looking like a scarecrow, for several months.
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