In the female the beak is raven black, the upper part of the body dark
brown, with light grey edges to the feathers; the head dark grey, with
a whitish streak which passes above the eyes; the under part of the body
light grey. From this it seems to be very like the house sparrow; its
plumage is, however, altogether lighter.
The male takes these colours, in the house, at the second moulting, but
the streaks are darker, the feathers of the upper part of the body being
blackish, with broad borders of reddish grey; the streak above the eyes
is of a pale sulphur. When wild, the males, immediately after pairing,
which is in January, lose their red feathers, and become like the
females, but have them again in July, about the time of the second
breeding season. They are pretty whilst moulting, when the head and body
are speckled, the tail and neck still remaining red.
OBSERVATIONS.--These birds, which are very numerous in all the
colonies at the Cape of Good Hope, do as much mischief there to the
flowers and ears of corn, as the sparrows do in Europe. When retiring
by thousands in the evening, from the fields to the reeds, they make
such a noise with their chirping as may be heard to a great distance.
Their call is like the sparrows' "_dib, dib_," and their song as weak
as that of the siskin; the nest is skilfully constructed with small
twigs interwoven with cotton, and has but one opening, with two
compartments, one above the other, the upper for the male and the
lower for the female; the eggs are green.
These birds, when kept in a cage, are fed on canary seed. The male
and female never like to be separated; there is no instance, however,
of their breeding in these climates.