Posted by Rock Jetty on January 01, 1970 at 00:00:00
The keeping of grassquits and other "good singing" species as caged birds is mostly a part of the Latin American culture. In most countries, like Cuba, the capturing and caging of wild birds is illegal but still happens often. The species of choice are Cuban Grassquit and Cuban Bullfinch to name a few. This practice has unfortunately been brought over to South Florida (Painted Bunting as an example), where some of these bird species were even smuggled in (don't know if this still happens). The more common Yellow-faced Grassquit is considered a "weak" singer by bird enthusiasts, and therefore not a species of choice for the illegal pet trade (again, as far as singing goes). That and strict laws against the smuggling of wild birds into the states are cases for the origin of any YFGRs that may show up (at least I'd like to think that). Also, it helps when females show up too. I'm not sure however, within the legal system, how popular of a species this is and how successfully bred it is. -RJ