The Zoologist/4th series, vol 1 (1897)/Issue 672/Foreign Finches in Confinement

by Arthur Gardiner Butler

 

FOREIGN FINCHES IN CONFINEMENT,

WITH HINTS AS TO THE DIFFICULTIES ARISING FROM THE
ASSOCIATION OF VARIOUS SPECIES IN THE SAME AVIARY.

By Arthur G. Butler, Ph.D., F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c.

 

For many years before I ventured to arrange for the publication of my 'Foreign Finches in Captivity,' I had kept and studied a considerable number of species of both the Fringillidæ and Ploceidæ; but thoroughly to comprehend the peculiar dispositions of these birds is the work of a lifetime, perhaps of several generations of lifetimes.

The first aim of the aviculturist is so to group the species that they may dwell harmoniously together, but with certain birds this is practically impossible, as I shall now proceed to explain.

The genus Spermophila was considered by my friend Herr August Wiener to consist of uninteresting but perfectly harmless birds which were content to pass an uneventful existence in munching millet-seed. I find the species of this genus very interesting, the whole of them fair, and some excellent, songsters. Most of them are innocent enough, but one—the White-throated Finch, Spermophila albigularis—is a perfect little demon. I have kept the White-throated Finch for nine or ten years. For the first year, in a large aviary, he is on his good behaviour, and sings his pretty see-saw song almost incessantly; the aviculturist is charmed, and buys two or three more males, and perhaps a female or two. From that day there is incessant war in the aviary; the males fight from dawn to twilight. If only two equally powerful males are together the fighting does little harm, but when there are three the weakest goes to the wall, is literally scalped, and unless promptly removed is certain to be torn to shreds.

When I had got as far as this in my study of S. albigularis, I thought I had plumbed the depth of its iniquity; so, never having seen it attack anything but a Spermophila, I purchased a pair, and turned them out in a large cool aviary with about fifty small birds of various kinds. During the whole of 1896 S. albigularis, with the exception of occasional wordy disputes with S. gutturalis, was a pattern of amiability; but from the beginning of April, 1897, he began to show his true character, disputing incessantly with my Goldfinches, one of which he would have murdered had I not fortunately come upon the scene just as he commenced to tear at the feathers on its forehead, making it scream with fright and pain. Within a fortnight from that date it had killed two Amaduvade Waxbills, Sporæginthus amandava; one Green Amaduvade, Stictospiza formosa; and four Zebra-finches, Tæniopygia castanotis, one of these being a young bird only two days out of the nest, the other three adults which were breeding. The last victim had the skull entirely bared, the eyes pecked out, the neck reduced to a mere thread, the base of the wing cleared of coverts and quite raw, and the whole of one side of the breast raw and bare of skin. I have removed that White-throated Finch to an aviary where he will have the society of birds twice his own size, chiefly African Weavers (Pyromelana, Quelea, &c).

The history of the Green Singing-finch, Serinus icterus, is similar, only it is rarely aggressive excepting in the breeding season, when it fiercely attacks other Serins, Goldfinches, &c. Canaries have no chance against it; they are hunted down, and the skin almost instantly torn back from the base of the beak.

Of course many of the true Fringillidæ, such as the species of Sycalis and Paroaria, are well known to be dangerous associates for smaller and weaker birds; but, until 1896, I was not aware that Sycalis flaveola, savage and pugnaceous as it always is towards males of its species, was capable of murdering its own mate. However, after breeding from a pair in a large flight-cage for several years, the hen refused to continue to accept her husband's attentions; whereupon he knocked her down, grasped her firmly, tore off her scalp, and temporarily blinded her. Hearing the screams of the wounded bird, I took her out, applied vaseline to her wounds, and caged her separately; in a fortnight she recovered her sight, but at the end of a month I found her dead.

Among the smaller Ploceidæ there are a few very spiteful birds, notably the Parson-finch, Poephila fasciata, and the Ribbon-finch, Amadina fasciata, the former being more than a match for the latter; for I had a hen Ribbon-finch killed by a cock Parsonfinch two or three years ago. Yet individual males of P. fasciata have lived with other small finches for many years on amicable terms, only proving dangerous from the fact that they will pair with any of the tiny Grass-finches, not a few of which consequently die through egg-binding.

With nine good-sized aviaries at my disposal, I find no little difficulty in so sorting out my many birds as to avoid risk to life and limb, and I find the best plan is to mix the various Orders as much as possible. Thus in one aviary I keep the larger Doves, some Chinese Quails, a Yellow Wagtail, a Stonechat, a Paradise Whydah, a Canary or two, and a pair of Parson-finches; the Doves quarrel a little, but otherwise everything goes on smoothly. In another aviary I keep many small finches, both British and foreign, two pairs of Diamond Doves, a Redstart, and a Garden Warbler; and so on.

It has been stated that insectivorous birds and seed-eaters should not be kept together; but, when we consider that most finches are insectivorous, and most of our British insectivorous birds thrive on a partial seed diet, the objection ceases to have any weight. I have seen the American Blue-bird, the English Starling, the Robin, Redstart, and many other insectivorous birds swallow quantities of seed, and benefit greatly in consequence. When finches are breeding, soft food in the aviary becomes a necessity for most of them, and the pan put in for the insectivorous birds is largely resorted to. I have reared many broods of Java Sparrows, Saffron-finches, Zebra-finches, Ribbon-finches, and even a Rosa's Parrakeet, all of which were fed by their parents upon regurgitated food put into the aviaries for my insectivorous birds.