Foreign Fuichcs in Captivity.
The pugnacious disposition of tlie Nonpareil is taken advantage of by the
American bird-catchers, somewhat as that of the ChafSnch is in England; only,
instead of using limed twigs, they set up a stuffed specimen on the platform of"!
trap-cage.
Dr. Carl Russ, in his little work entitled "Canary Birds: hma to brad for
profit or pleasure:' in the chapter on innle-breeding (p. n o of the English edition),
states that the Nonpareil and the Indigo Bird are adapted for this sort of breeding.'
In his " Handbuch fir VogctHebhaber" he sa3rs Belonging to the most
beautiful of all Finches, one of the commonest in the bird-shop ; imported yearly
in many hundreds, they always go off well."
" If suitably fed and not disturbed, nests regularlA*, in two to three broods.
Ncsf a shallow cup, formed in a bush or in a little basket, of soft strips of paper,
stalks, bast-fibres and after that of moss, cotton-threads, agave fibre and horsehair.
Laying three to four eggs, bluish-white, sprinkled with brown and violet.
Incubation thirteen days. The hen builds and incubates alone. The male feeds,
both with her and alone, if the hen begins to nest again. Yovng plumage like that
of the hen, only duller grey green; the male first acquires its full-coloured plumage
in the third year, up to that time it is parti-coloured.
" At breeding-time very excited, they jerk their tails ; though at other times
peaceable, they now drive every bird awaj- from the vicinity of the nest. Males
are much commoner than hens in the trade; and frequently kept singly as
songsters. The objection to breeding them is: all young Pope-finches (the
German • trivial name) in the first spring almost entirely resemble the female,
males can only be -sidth difficulty distinguished by the yellow or orange-coloured
e5^e-riug and brighter under surface. Enduring, unassuming and peaceable ; the
males should nevertheless not be kept ^vith their own species or the allied Indigo
Bird.
" S o n g pleasant, j-et low-pitched and not rich in variations, from March to
July. Dies from being fed on seeds alone, of constipation and other illnesses
Old Pope-finches will readily feed all kinds of young insectivorous birds with fresh
ants' cocoons etc. ; Dr. Bolan is satisfied that a bird which does this must have
reared a Cuckoo."
I t is probable that the cause of dispute between my Nonpareil and Saffronfinches
was that the former mistook a hen Syealis for a female of his own speciesthe
size and general coloration would be sufficiently near to deceive a bird, whicli
had not been introduced to a lady of his own set for three or four years'
In Dr. Russ' " Die Frandedndischen Stubenvogd" that most reliable author
Í :
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The ATon-pareil Bunting. ^^
makes an extraordinary assertion, almost the only statement made in any of his
wi-itings, so far as I have studied them, which I am utterly unable to endorse.
He IS criticizing Dr. Gundlach, who says that the mid Nonpareil retains its
coloured plumage, when it has once acquired it, and is thereby distinguishable from
Its predecessors ; and he says, " In the latter assertion, as is well known Dr
Gundlach is mistaken ; for the Pope Finch, as well as the Indigo Finch, belongs
to those birds which in the autumn change their colouring to the inconspicuous
plumage of the hen. The male is then distinguished from the latter only by its
somewhat deeper shading."
Now of course we all are well aware that the nearly allied Indigo Pinch, at
the approach of winter, assumes the dull plumage of the hen ; but as''regards 'the
cock Nonpareil, bold as it may seem for me to dispute the authority of so
experienced and usually accurate an observer as Dr. Russ, I have no hesitation in
asserting positively, that Dr. Gundlach was not in error. Personally I have kept
the species for about eight years and therefore have only obseiwed eight moults •
but, in no single instance have my cock birds assumed the female plumao-e or
anything approaching to it.
In the second place the Crystal Palace Bird Show, as is well known, reo-ularly
takes place in the winter (for the benefit of Canary breeders and to the" great
dissatisfaction of foreign bird keepers) : at that show there is usually at least one
cock^ Nonpareil which ought to be in undress unifonn, if Dr. Russ were correct,
but is invariably an nnmistakeable male.
Lastly, Mr. Abrahams, who has had hundreds or more probably thousands of
Nonpareils through his hands and has made a stndj^ of them, as he does of all
birds which come into his possession, assures me that when the cock Nonpareil
once acquires its full breeding dress, it never again assumes the hen plumage.
The only change which the cock Nonpareil is liable to in confinement, unless it
has plenty of liberty in a large airy and sunny aviary, is—that the Vermillion of
the cheeks, throat and under parts gradually, moult by moult, is replaced by yellow
but the blue of the liead and the golden green of the back are never lost. My
present bird, which was taken from a not too well lighted indoor aviary and turned
outside, became at his last autumn moult much brighter in colouring, the yellow
having assumed an orange tinge which will, I hope, gradually deepen into the
original red colouring.*
Further on, Dr. Russ makes some observations which are of considerable
interest; he says " Many attempts have recently been made to breed Canary
mules with it. In spite of the fact that no authenticated instance of the success
• Since writing the above I have acquired two others.
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