1. His Name Is Peppercorn (Mélènge)
2. The One Where I Prove The Conspiracy Against Me

His name is Peppercorn (Mélènge) — the "Mélènge" part is silent. He is a male Spice finch, although until about three days ago I thought he was a hen, since I'd never heard and seen him sing. No diagram of his song yet, though I may get one some day. It's long, it has several parts to it, and a few of those are nearly silent and unpronounceable. He has quite a bit of feather damage, in the same pattern as Szechwan (Pepper) — naked around the neck, and at the back of the head. In fact, I've seen the two of them together, aggressively preening each other's heads, no doubt so that they look more alike. And they do like alike, almost exactly alike, except for Szechwan (Pepper)'s pink leg band.

Which, I should mention, fell off this morning.

Here's half the band, clearly not on Szechwan (Pepper)'s left leg. Clearly. Not. When I first introduced him I mentioned that he chewed on it a lot. At the time I wasn't worried about him losing it. But frankly, that was before I realized that without it, he looks almost EXACTLY like Peppercorn (Mélènge). That was before I caught all the males singing indiscriminately to other males, so I'd think they were females. That was before Cinnamon dramatically changed his song for a few weeks so I'd think he was another bird altogether. That was before Peppercorn (Mélènge) revealed he only sings his Hunka Hunka Burning Love song once every three months, so I'd think he was a hen. And that was before all the new Finsters started lining up in a row and whispering "the truth is in here" in perfect unison. Well.

I'll get over it. Szechwan (Pepper) is the partly naked bird that sings, and Peppercorn (Mélènge) is the partly naked bird that doesn't. See? That's easy.

Now, I know that the "Mélènge" part in Peppercorn (Mélènge)'s name is questionable, but first of all, it's silent. Plus, there's a certain logic to having the two partly naked male Spice finches named in a similar manner, especially now that they look almost exactly alike. Because, if you'll recall, Szechwan (Pepper)'s pink leg band FELL OFF this morning. And considering how the two of them are banding together (no pun intended) (really), it's unlikely that anyone will beat him up over it. What can I say? I like names with two words, and the bother of typing out every time I write about him.