Foreign FincJics in Captivity.
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the memto-e of every house in the country. This large supply of caged-birds conies
from South Brazil, Paraguay, and the north-eastern part of the Argentine country,
where the Cardinals are most abundant and unite in large flocks. Probably they
are not snared, bnt taken \vhen young from the nest, as most of the birds exposed
for sale are in immature jjlnmage."
The best seeds on -ivhieh to feed this and the other South American Cardinals
are canary, oats, small sunflower seeds, melon seeds (of which they are very fond),
millet, thistle and a little hemp.* Thistle seeds are a favourite food with them
in their wild state.
1 kept my first pair of Red-crested Cardinals in an aviary- with a Rosella
Parrakeet and a pair of Grey-headed Love-Birds, The cock bird had a bad time of
it, as both Parrakeet and Love-Birds were constantl}- going for him : eventually
matters came to a crisis,—the hen Love-Bird began to make a practice of
disappearing into a nesting log, and the Cardinal, I suppose, began to wonder
what she did it for, and when she slipped into the hole in tlie log, he \\'0uld fly
aei'oss and take a peep into the hole to see ^vhat had become of her; this used
to greatly irritate the Gre}--head, nor can one blame him for his indignation. One
morning i\'lien I entered m}- bird room and glanced round, I discovered the two
birds. Grey-head and Red-liead in deadl}' combat, and in spite of its superior size
and strong pointed beak, the latter had already had very much the worst of the
fray; his feathers were Ij'ing abont, nearly all his toes had been bitten through,
and his thigh was severely wounded and bleeding profusely : he was well nigh
spent -ivhen I went and picked him up ; so I had to cage him up separately : he
soon recovered his spirits, bnt not his claws, and thus he lived for fully a year
longer.
The Love birds never attacked the hen, and as for the Rosella, he seemed to
think her a queer sort of female of his own species ; for he was always making
up to her, bowing and dancing to her and pawing her back in a clumsy fashion;
treatment to which she showed her dislike, by pecking at him somewhat viciously:
this love-making between so ill-assorted a pair was one of the most laughable sights
I think I ever witnessed. Eventually she caught cold and died, whereat the
Parrakeet was greatly distressed and moped for several days.
Dr. Russ says that this Cardinal is "easily bred, but not with certainty. First
bred by Dr. Bodinus, then living in Cologne. Both consorts build the nest.f The
* Some fanciers have objected to this seed, under the mistaken notion that it affects the colouring ; if they could
see my birds, they would have to retract their own assertions, which can hardly be based on personal e.xperience,
Canary, with a little hemp, are sufficient to keep them in health.
t My experience is that the male builds and the female merely arranges details.—A.G.B.
T'/ie Red-crested Cardinal. ^^
greenish, sprinkled with brownish or greenish-crev NeJn d ^^^^'
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A pair of Red-crested Cardinals belonging to Mr T Housden of q ^ ,
went to nest in iSo- in .^nnMl 1 1 Sydenham,
C u d i n a l s - ,„<] ¡,f„, '" " l " the title of "G„v
covered with Imk ^ "" ^^ three white eggs,
which hatehir 01;^: r ^^ e Arst young o t :
p e n n i t t e d t o s t a i w e ; a n d o n i ; i t ' l i f ^^^^ ^^^
been given for feeding them c " e s i c L s s S
August. He observed that t ie ^-o S Z . M ^ "" " " "
colouring of plumage before t h ' ^ S vet'
a flat basket-uest w a s . ^ f i r ^ f r ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ I- P P e a r s that
"1 a niche in the wall with l / • f building site, it was placed
branches serve s p r l ^ Of f "^"^^-'^^metres high in front, and vLious
peiches. Of four similar nests they selected one which stood
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