Long-tailed finch length. It has a prominent roundish black bib on its throat and upper chest and a long pointed black tail. It has pinkish brown upperparts with paler plumage below its bib over the lower breast and abdomen. It has a grey head, a white ear-patch, and black lores. It has black patches on its upper flanks and its rump and undertail coverts are white. The beak colour of the adult long-tailed finch varies from red through orange to yellow. The subspecies with red beaks is sometimes called Heck's grass finch "Poephila acuticauda hecki", and the nominate subspecies with orange or
Purple Rain protest nonviolent action". "What about the purple people?" a reader asked the Cape Times' Teleletters. "Not only has the government messed up with the tricameral system, now their police have created another problem. They, the government, have made 'provision' for the so-called coloureds and Indians -- how are they going to accommodate the 'purple people? Perhaps the next time they use their water cannon, they would like to consult with their voters as to which colour is fashionable." "Who's going to pay for the city's day of purple spray?" asked Don Holliday of the Cape Argus. "As the controversy continues over