. Foreign birds for cage and aviary . oo great torender a successful fertilisation likelv, though it may 176 FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. be possible, as in the cafe of Bullfinch and Redpoll hybrids. It is difficult to say whatlior the species of Amadinaought to hi called Grass-finches or Mannikins; thtycertainly approach near to the Spice-fiiiches. The Mannikins. These birds are merely sombre-coloured Graiss-finches with slightly heavier beaks, the culmen (orridge) of which is in a line continuous with the fore Quail Finch {Ortygonpiza polytona). Above brown, slightly mottled with darke
. Foreign birds for cage and aviary . oo great torender a successful fertilisation likelv, though it may 176 FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. be possible, as in the cafe of Bullfinch and Redpoll hybrids. It is difficult to say whatlior the species of Amadinaought to hi called Grass-finches or Mannikins; thtycertainly approach near to the Spice-fiiiches. The Mannikins. These birds are merely sombre-coloured Graiss-finches with slightly heavier beaks, the culmen (orridge) of which is in a line continuous with the fore Quail Finch {Ortygonpiza polytona). Above brown, slightly mottled with darker brown ;forehead blackish; wings and tail brown; coverts andsecondaries edged with ; outer primary and outertail-feiilher edged with white ; second tail-feather witha white streak; lores blackish, a broad white orbitalring consisting of the eyebrow and a streak joining itbelow the eye; ear-coverts and sides of neck greyishbrown; cheeks blackish, united by a widening blackishstreak to the black throat; a large, Quail Finch. head. They are the most stupid and generallyapathetic of all Finches. With the exception of theJava Sparrow, which I more nearly related tothe typical Weavers than any other Mannikin, theycan hardly be expected to sing, ihe sounds they ntterbeing weak and frequently almost inaudible; indeed,some aviculturists ha,ve declared themselves quiteunable to detect the slightest sound, although I mustconfess that I always regarded this as a slight exagge-ration of the fact. The song of tho Chestnut-breast isthe loudest of all these feeble singers, and even hisperformnnce only consists of four feeble notes, eachrepeated from four to six times. I will, however, givethe Mannikins credit for one thing: if they •■annotsing, it is not for the want of trying: their efforts toexpress themselves are prodigious and the effectludicrous. white chin-spot; upper breast grey, barred with Idackand white, [Kissing into light ches-tnut on the lowe
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidforeignbirds, bookyear1910
