EiflE

> i

FOR THE PEOPLE

FOK EDVCATION

FOR SCIENCE

LIBRARY

OF

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM

OF

NATURAL HISTORY

ORNITHOLOGICAL
& OTHER ODDITIES

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

FANCY PHEASANTS.
FANCY WATERFOWL.

THE

INDIAN

HOW TO KNOW
DUCKS.

HOW TO KNOW THE INDIAN
WADERS.

THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA

GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS
OF INDIA, &c. &c.

hempkich's gu] i (p. 2 ;6)

From the first specimens received at the Zoo

right //'. P.

I \r VNRSE B \\ 1 VMS (p. 186)

A contrast to their ancestors the Red li:

ORNITHOLOGICAL

& OTHER ODDITIES

BY FRANK FINN, B.A., F.Z.S.
LATE DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT OF
THE INDIAN MUSEUM, CALCUTTA
WITH FIFTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS
REPRODUCED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK : JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMVII

u

. */rhJ£ <&*&-. td>

Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson 6* Co.
At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh

TO

Dr. P. CHALMERS MITCHELL, F.R.S.

SECRETARY TO THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
OF LONDON

IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF
MUCH KINDNESS

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK

PREFATORY NOTE

It has always been my belief that " the man in
the street " has more interest in natural history,
as in other intellectual matters, than eclectics
would credit him with ; and hence I venture to
offer to the public this series of chapters on
various topics connected with animal — especially
bird — life, which I have had reason to suppose
would prove interesting to the general reader.

At the same time I have embodied therein the
outcome of long observation, so that natural-
ists themselves may perhaps find somewhat to
interest them in the volume, at any rate if
they agree with me that the life-history of an
animal is at least as worthy a subject for serious
scientific study as its structure, whether internal
or external.

My thanks are due to the editors of Country

Life, The County Gentleman, The Daily Exfi?'ess,

Animal Life, The Countryside, Cage Birds, The

vii

Prefatory Note

Field, The Saturday Review, The Spectator, and
The Animal World, for their kindness in allow-
ing me to reproduce in book-form various articles
which originally appeared in their columns.

FRANK FINN.

London, 1907.

CONTENTS

The Study of Sexual Selection

The Courting of Birds

Hybrid Birds

Love among the Birds

Some Indian Cuckoos

The Toilet of Birds

The Sense of Smell in Birds

Mimicry in Birds

The Goldfinch Abroad

Birds in the Moult .

The Raven of the Pampas

Foreign Cage-Birds at Home

Cock Robin's Counterfeits

Birds that Talk and Mimic

"Osprey" Farming

Some London Birds .

Some Exotic Owls

A Calcutta Bird Colony .

How Birds Fight

An Honest Cuckoo .

Feathered Stowaways

Night-Jars at Home and Abroad

Foreign Birds at Large in England

Pace
I

7

i3
23
33
4i
48

54
70

77
84
92
102
no
117
123
130

139
146

*54
161
167
173

Contents

Indian Game-Birds and Wildfowl

Japanese Aviculture

The King of the Tits

The Congregation of Birds

The Domestic Life of the Dabchick

Blushing Birds ....

Birds for London Aviaries

The Scavengers at Dhappa

The Birds of an Eastern Voyage

Some East African Pets .

A Plea for Prodigies

The Zoology of Herodotus

The Treatment of Animals in India

Park Animals for London

Monkeys I have met .

INDEX

PAGE
I78

186

194

199

206

217

223

229

2 34
241
249

255
262
270
276

289

ILLUSTRATIONS

Japanese Bantams. A contrast to their

ANCESTORS THE RED JUNGLE-FOWL . . Frontispiece

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Hh.mprich's Gull. From the first specimens

received at the zoo ,,

From a photograph by Lewis Medland.

Mandarin Drake. Showing plumage when

IN REPOSE To face p. 8

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Mandarin Drake. Difference in plumage

under emotion „ 8

From a photograph by W. P. Dando,

Male Hybrid between Amherst and Golden
Pheasants. These hybrids are quite
fertile inter se or with the parents . „ 1 6

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Sand-Grouse. The long wings of these
birds at once distinguish them from

TRUE GROUSE „ l6

From a photograph by Lewis Medland.

Green Peacock. Showing the spear-shaped

crest and scale-like feathering . . ,,28

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

"Japan" Peahen. The male of this variety
is like the common peacock, but with
black wings ,,28

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

xi

Illustrations

The Skylark's Courtship. Although he
usually sings on the wing, the skylark

GOES COURTING ON FOOT .... To face p. 30

From a drawing,

Bhimraj or Racket-tailed Drongo. Showing
the two long "racket" feathers in the

TAIL „ 34

From a photograph by Lewis Medland.

Female Koel. The male of this common

indian cuckoo is raven-black ... „ 34

From a photograph by Lewis Medland.

Shikra Hawk. The upper side of the tail

is marked as in the hawk-cuckoo . . „ 36

From a drawing, by permission of Messrs.
Hutchinson 6f Co.

Brain-fever Bird. The exact correspon-
dence OF this mimic with its model IS

NOTABLE EVEN IN BLACK AND WHITE . ,,36

From a drawing, by permission of Messrs.
Hutchinson & Co.

Bouru Friar - bird. The model of the

mimicking bouru oriole .... ,,54

From a drawing, by permission of Messrs.
Hutchinson & Co.

Bouru Oriole. This mimicking species
should be compared with the more
normal black-headed one .... ,,54

From a drawing, by permission of Messrs.
Hutchinson &■ Co.

King-Crow. A common object on the tele-
graph WIRES IN INDIA ,,59

From a drawing, by permission of Messrs.
Hutchinson & Co.

Indian Drongo-Cuckoo. The tail in this
mimic is not so well forked as in the

MODEL »56

From a drawing, by permission of Messrs.
Hutchinson & Co.

Illustrations

Southern Skua. Showing the eagle-like
plumage ok this predatory antarctic

GULL To face p. 62

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Indian Crimson Tragopan. These tragopans

are often miscalled " argus " pheasants „ 62

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Indian Black-headed Oriole. This p.eauti-
ful bird is one of the commonest species

IN INDIA „ 66

From a drawing, by permission of Messrs.
Hutchinson &> Co.

Brazilian Troupial. A common south Ameri-
can BIRD, COLOURED MUCH LIKE THE INDIAN
BLACK-HEADED ORIOLE „ 66

From a drawing, by permission of Messrs.
Hutchinson fr* Co.

Winking Owl. As a matter of fact, this

species winks very little .... „ 80

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

A Moulting Penguin. Penguins of this (the

SOUTH AFRICAN) SPECIES HAVE BRED AT THE

ZOO „ So

From a photograph by W. S. Ber ridge.

Caracaras. Normal form and pale variety „ 86

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Rooks Courting. Our rooks appear not to
interfere in each other's matrimonial
affairs as indian crows do „ 88

From a drawing by Miss W. Austen.

Piping Crow. Though called magpie in
australia, this is obviously a very
different bird „ i06

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

xiii

Illustrations

New Zealand Robin. South island species ;

THE RARE NORTH ISLAND BIRD IS DARKER. To face p. Io6
From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Hill-Mynah. This is the species best known

as a talker „ 114

From a photograph by W. S. Bcrridge.

House-Mynah. This mynah is a familiar

bird even on the roads in india . . „ 114

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

American Bittern. This species is plainer

and browner than ours . . . . „ il8

From a photograph ly W. P. Dando.

Large Egret. Bearing its train of " osprey "

plumes „ 118

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Herring-Gulls. Two males are here paying
addresses to one female, showing two
different attitudes ,,128

From a drawing by Miss IV. Austen.

Milky Eagle-Owl. This species has dark
eyes, unlike the amber-eyed eagle-owl
of europe „ 130

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Pel's Fish-Owl. One of the few bare-
legged owls ,,130

From a photograph by IV. P. Dando.

Australian Barn-Owl in attitude of De-
fiance. The painted snipe assumes the
same attitude when much alarmed . ,,134

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Chaja or Crested Screamer and Young.
The wing-spurs are not visible when
the wings are closed, as here . „ 134

From a photograph by W. S. Berridge.

xiv

Illustrations

Tin I'.ird Colony at the Calcutta Zoo.

ISLAM' SUPPORTING CLUMP OF PANDANUS . To face p. 140
//.»: <: photograph.

The Bird Colony at the Calcutta Zoo. One
end of the larger island tenanted by
the birds, showing tree killed by their
droppings ,,140

From a photograph.

The Bird Colony at the Calcutta Zoo. Two
views of the larger island ; the herons
are visible as white dots . . . . ,,144

From a photograph.

MOREPORK. "A WOODEN EXPRESSION" . . ,,172

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

MOREPORK. "AN OPEN COUNTENANCE" . . ,,172

From a photograph by IV. S. Berridge.

Red Jungle-Fowl. The colour is just like

that of "black-red" tame fowls . . ,,178

From a photograph by IV. P. Dando.

Grey Jungle-Fowl. In the hen of this
bird the breast - feathers are white
with black edges ,,178

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Courtship of Robin. It is only when
breeding that even the two sexes of
the robin associate „ 200

From a drawing.

Indian Pigmy Goose. Sent to the zoo for

the first time by the author ... „ 236

From a photograph by Lewis Medland.

Cock Monaul. The intense lustre of the
plumage is appreciable even in a photo-
graph „ 236

From a photograph by IV. P. Dando.

XV b

Illustrations

Sacred Ibis

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Glossy Ibis. "Qualia demens /egyptus
coluit"

From a photograph by W. S. Berridge,

Serval. This cat has the legs long as
well as the ears

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Japanese Monkeys. Father, mother, and
their child born in england .

From a photograph by \V. S, Berridge.

Orang-utan. "An individual in easy cir-
cumstances"

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Orang-utan. "To bejor not to be, that is
the question"

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Orang-utan. "Attention" ....

From a photograph by W . P. Dando.

Orang-utan. "Disputation" .

From a photograph by IV. P. Dando.

Orang-utan. "Am I a man and a brother?"

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

Orang-utan. "Objurgation" ....

From a photograph by W. P. Dando.

To face p. 256

256

246

246

280
282
282
284
284

ORNITHOLOGICAL
& OTHER ODDITIES

ORNITHOLOGICAL
& OTHER ODDITIES

THE STUDY OF SEXUAL
SELECTION

One of the most interesting portions of Darwin's
great work is that which deals with the question
of sexual selection in animals, for there is some-
thing peculiarly fascinating in a theory which
credits the lower orders of creation with the
power of individual attachment and the love
of beauty on which we human beings pride
ourselves. But, of late years especially, there
have been many objections to the theory, and
it can hardly be said to have a very firm hold
on the minds of naturalists, especially of those
who make a special study of wild life.

Personally, I am strongly inclined to believe
that sexual selection will ultimately be justified
as a theory, although I admit there are many
difficulties to be overcome. I am speaking
with particular reference to birds, which class

A

Ornithological and Other Oddities

of animals has always been a most important
one in the present connection, and always finds
so many observers that evidence in its case is
particularly easy to obtain.

One cannot observe or read about the habits
of birds very much without finding out that,
whatever may be the value of beauty, strength
counts for a great deal. Male birds constantly
fight for their mates, and the beaten individual,
if not killed, is at any rate kept at a distance
by his successful rival, so that, if he be really
more beautiful, his beauty is not necessarily of
much service to him. I was particularly im-
pressed by this about a couple of years ago,
when I frequently watched the semi-domesti-
cated mallards in Regent's Park in the pairing
season. These birds varied a good deal in
colour ; in some the rich chocolate breast was
wanting, and others had even a slate-coloured
head instead of the normal brilliant green. Yet
I found these ''off-coloured" birds could succeed
in getting and keeping mates when correctly-
dressed drakes pined in lonely bachelorhood ;
one grey-breasted bird had even been able to
indulge in bigamy. That strength ruled here
was obvious from the way in which the wedded
birds drove away their unmated rivals, a pro-
ceeding in which their wives most thoroughly
sympathised, as their gestures plainly showed.

The Study of Sexual Selection

Evidently beauty does not count for much
with the park duck, and the same seems to
be the case with the fowl. As a boy, I often
used to visit a yard wherein was a very varied
assortment of fowls. Among these was one
very handsome cock, of the typical black and
red colouring of the wild bird, and very fully
"furnished" in the matter of hackle and sickle
feathers. Yet the hens held him in no great
account, while the master of the yard, a big
black bird, with much Spanish blood, provided
with a huge pair of spurs, was so admired
that he was always attended by some little
bantam hens, although they might have had
diminutive husbands of their own class.

It must be remembered, however, that these
ducks and fowls had an unnaturally wide choice.
In nature varieties are rare, and the competing
suitors are likely to be all very much alike ;
this makes matters very difficult for the observer,
who may easily pass over small differences which
are plain enough to the eyes of the hen birds.

This being so, experiment offers a better
mode of solving the problem than ordinary
observation, and is not difficult to carry out,
provided a proper choice of subjects be made.
What one needs is birds which are not domesti-
cated, but display naturally sufficient difference
in the plumage of the males to be readily

3

Ornithological and Other Oddities

appreciated by a human observer. Such are
not difficult to procure, and in order to test
feminine preference all one has to do is to
confine them in such a way that, while the
males cannot get at each other to fight, the
hen may be able to declare her preference by
associating with the suitor she favours. In the
case of large birds, the trio might be confined
in an enclosure, the two males each with a
wing clipped, and separated by a fence, while
the hen could be allowed power of flight, so
as to visit either compartment.

With small birds a three-compartment cage,
with wire divisions, is all that is needed, and
in such a cage I tried, some years ago, some
experiments with avadavats (Sporczgintkus aman-
dava). In these little finches, as many of my
readers know, the male in breeding plumage
is red with white spots, and the hen brown.
The red varies in intensity even in full-plumaged
birds, and I submitted to the hen first of all
two male birds, one of a coppery and the other
of a rich scarlet tint. In no long time she
had made her choice of the latter bird ; the
other, I am sorry to say, very soon died ; and,
as he had appeared perfectly healthy, I fear
grief was accountable for his end — a warning
to future experimenters to remove the rejected
suitor as early as possible. In the present

4

The Study of Sexual Selection

case I took away the favoured bird, and put
in the side compartments he and his rival had
occupied two other cocks, which differed in a
similar way, though not to the same extent.
Again the hen kept at the side of the rich
red specimen, so, deeming I knew her views
about the correct colour for an avadavat, I took
her away too, and tried a second hen with these
two males. This was an unusually big bird, and
a very independent one, for she would not make
up her mind at all ; and ultimately I released
all three without having gained any result.

Subsequently I made another experiment with
linnets. In this case all three were allowed to
fly in a big aviary - cage together, a method
which, as may be gathered from what I have
said above, I do not recommend. In this
case, however, the handsomest cock, which
showed much richer red on the breast, had a
crippled foot, and proved, as I had expected,
to be in fear of the other ; nevertheless the
hen mated with him. It must be said, in
justice to the duller bird, that he did not press
the advantage his soundness gave him, but
with a less gentle bird than the linnet this
would probably have happened.

In cases where there is no obvious natural
difference, one might be made by staining some
portion of one bird's plumage, or clipping its

5

Ornithological and Other Oddities

ornamental feathering ; but most people will
not care to disfigure their birds, and it is
usually possible to find enough difference occur-
ring naturally in birds kept in confinement and
known individually.

I ought to say that the idea of experimenting
in this way was the late Professor Moseley's,
but I am, I believe, the only person who has
actually made any experiments, and I think
that, few though these were, they do show
that the method is a workable one. The
positive results do not amount to very much ;
but if further experiments should confirm them,
we should at least know that some hen birds
like a handsome mate better than a dull-coloured
one.

Whether the right of the strongest ever fails
to be upheld is a matter more for outdoor
observation, and we must in any case re-
member that a wild hen bird's inclinations
cannot be forced.

THE COURTING OF BIRDS

Few subjects in ornithology are more interesting
than the actions of birds during courtship, and
much remains to be learnt about their meaning,
for the explanation of Darwin, that these ex-
traordinary antics of the male birds, and the
beauties thereby displayed, are destined to
please the hens, is far from being universally
accepted. Many writers seem to find a diffi-
culty in imagining that the female sex among
birds is sufficiently endowed mentally to possess
the requisite aesthetic sense, and, indeed, evi-
dence that female birds do consistently prefer
the more beautiful males, or even that they are
pleased by the display of the latter, is not very
abundant. At the same time, it is within the
power of every one to observe that they can,
and do, exercise choice ; as to what determines
that choice information can only be gained by
experiment, and now and then by a fortunate
observation.

That male birds which possess some special
piece of ornament sedulously display the same
before the female is without doubt ; but then
they also "show off" when angry, and the hens

7

Ornithological and Other Oddities

may assume similar positions. Take, for ex-
ample, the gorgeous males of the gold and
Amherst pheasants (Chrysolophus pictus and C.
amhersticB). Here the male's most especial de-
coration is his moveable ruff, and this is ex-
panded and brought round to the side on which
he happens to find the hen. She will probably
run round to the other side, when her lord
promptly twists round his ruff, so that she
cannot escape from the sight of it. At the
time of display these ruffed pheasants also slant
themselves over like the common pheasant, and
this they also do when wishing to fight, the hens
as well as the cocks, although the former have
no ruff to display.

Another specially adorned bird is the Mandarin
drake (/Ex galericulata), whose extravagant de-
corations and extraordinary contrasts of colour
seem almost incredible in a natural species. He
differs from all other ducks, even his near ally
the Summer or Carolina duck (s£x sfionsa), in
the chestnut hackles on his neck and the similarly
coloured fan-feather in the wings. Accordingly,
when showing off, he curves his neck back like
a fantail pigeon, and by slightly opening and
inclining his wings brings his fans into an up-
right position, at the same time lifting his bushy
crest as high as it will go. In this case, again,
the plainly coloured female often assumes much

//". /'. Damf,

M \N DARIN DRAKE
Showing plumage w hen in i

./'. p. n.ni,/^

M WI'AKIN UK \KK

1 >iffercm e in plumage undi i emotion

The Courting of Birds

the same attitude, although she has no hackle or
fans to give her an excuse.

The ruff {Pavoncella pugnax) makes the best
possible use of his upper and breast plumes by
expanding them to the utmost and bending down
his head till his bill almost touches the ground ;
this is an exaggeration of his fighting position, in
which the head is merely lowered ; and his little
consort, the reeve, who is as pugnacious in her
way as he is, shows her belligerent feelings in
the same way, in spite of her lack of feathery
embellishment.

No bird is more celebrated for its display than
the peacock, but it is not generally known that
this ostentatious disposition is not confined to
the adult male in full pride of plumage, but also
occurs under other circumstances. The young
peacock will show off in the orthodox position
long before he has a vestige of the train, and
the display may be given even by the hen.
Most remarkable of all, I have seen a pea-
chick not larger than a fowl throw itself into
full show position when startled by a cat pass-
ing near it. So with the turkey ; every one
knows the bristling feathers, erected fan-like
tail, and drooping wings of this most bumptious
of birds ; but any emotion, angry as well as
amorous, will throw him into this position, and
his ordinarily meek spouse will assume it when

9

Ornithological and Other Oddities

she is bent on aggression. Moreover, Audubon
found that old turkey-hens in the wild state would
respond to the gobbler's advances by displaying
themselves in imitation of him. Yet the hen
turkey cannot compare in brilliancy of plumage
with the cock, although she bears a general
resemblance to him. Facts like these may be
explained in two ways : Either the character-
istic display-attitude has been acquired by the
male in order to display his beauty, and after-
wards utilised for the expression of other than
amorous emotions (being also transferred to the
female by inheritance, just as the inordinate
pugnacity of fighting cocks has been, as breeders
of the old English Game and Indian Aseel know
to their cost), or this so-called display is really
the means the species possesses of showing its
emotions generally, and has merely been taken
advantage of by sexual selection, if such a pro-
cess exists.

This latter view is rendered probable by the
fact that sometimes two nearly-allied species will
display in the same way, although not equally
decorated. Thus, the rearing up and bending
down of the head, so frequently practised by the
mallard and his domestic descendants, seems
admirably adapted for showing off the plushy
green head, white collar, and deep bay breast
of the drake ; but when we find the same

IO

The Courting of Birds

display made by the plainly-coloured male of the
Indian spotted-billed duck (Anas poecilorhyncha),
which has no such beauties to show, we seem to
be taken back to a period in the history of these
ducks when both had nothing to show off, but
yet had this characteristic way of expressing their
emotions.

An analogous case is found in the vibrating
of the tail in certain snakes. In the case of the
rattlesnakes, this action of course sounds the
rattle, but an analogous quivering of the tail is
found in the allied vipers of the genus Trime-
resurus, which have nothing in the shape of a
rattle. Here a previously-existing gesture has
come in very conveniently for the utilisation of
a new organ.

I must admit that in this case one would
expect the Carolina drake to show off like his
ally the Mandarin ; but then these two lovely
ducks, although undoubtedly allied, are not such
near relatives as the mallard and spotted-bill, or
the gold and Amherst pheasants, so that it is
quite possible for them to have had different
methods of displaying long before the drakes
acquired their peculiar decorations. The species
certainly inhabit widely different countries, the
one belonging to Eastern Asia and the other
to North America, and they are notoriously un-
willing to interbreed, although ducks, as a rule,

Ornithological and Other Oddities

are peculiarly prone to hybridism, especially in
captivity.

Whatever the cause of the display, it is diffi-
cult nowadays to see how it affects the female.
Generally, she seems to be supremely indifferent
to it, and one may often see the extravagant
demonstrations of Philip Sparrow cut short by
a vigorous dig from the bill of his prosaic and
shrewish spouse. In the case of the sparrow,
however, and of the other birds I have men-
tioned, whose habits have been observed in
more or less complete domestication, it is quite
possible that the male, having no difficulty in
finding food, has too much time on his hands,
and shows off till the display becomes weari-
some by repetition ; with birds which live more
busy lives in the wilds it would, no doubt, come
as a pleasing surprise.

As I have intimated, however, careful ex-
periment is needed ; until females of their re-
spective species are introduced to couples of
males, one of which has had his characteristic
adornments more or less shorn, and rejection of
the disfigured suitors is noted, we are not justi-
fied in saying positively that the raison cCitre
of these decorations is the attraction of a wife,
though h priori reasoning certainly leads to this
conclusion.

12

HYBRID BIRDS

The lover of birds may congratulate himself on
the fact that his favourite class of animals has
supplied more information to the student of the
fascinating and difficult problems of hybridism
than any other, birds being themselves more
prone to hybridism than other creatures, and
having been studied by so many observers both
in the wild state and in confinement.

Wild hybrids are indeed rare, but they are of
much more frequent occurrence than is generally
supposed. They are most numerous among the
species of the grouse family ; the cross between
the blackcock (Lyrurzis tetrix) and the caper-
cailzie ( Tetrao urogallus) occurs every year, and
has even received a special name (Rakkelhane)
from Scandinavian sportsmen. Many instances
of crosses between the blackcock and red
grouse (Lagopus scoticus) have also been re-
corded ; but, curiously enough, the latter bird
and the ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus), although so
much more nearly related, appear never to inter-
breed. Various other grouse crosses have
occurred, but for variety of hybrids the grouse
must give place to the ducks. In this family at

»3

Ornithological and Other Oddities

least two dozen distinct crosses have been ob-
served, some of them several times, such as those
between the mallard (Anas boscas) and pintail
(Dafila acuta), and between the smew (Mergtis
albellus) and golden-eye {Clangula glaucion).
Wild hybrids between the small birds are much
rarer, but several cases of the interbreeding of
the linnet and the goldfinch with the greenfinch
are known. Generally speaking there is, however,
little wild hybridism outside the game-birds and
waterfowl, with the exception of a special class of
cases now to be noticed.

This is when two species differing practically
only in colour, as opposed to those I have men-
tioned above, where the form and size are also
distinct, come into contact locally. In cases like
these a great deal of interbreeding takes place,
and, the hybrids breeding back to the parent
stocks, the locality of meeting is populated by a
collection of intermediates. This occurs where
the carrion crow (Corvus corone) meets the
hooded crow {Corvus comix) ; where the Euro-
pean and Himalayan goldfinches (Carduelis car-
duelis and C. caniceps) encounter each other ; and
where the blue rollers of India and Burma
(Coracias indicus and C. affinis) come into con-
tact, to say nothing of many other cases.

It is a question, however, whether this can be
called true hybridism, since it may reasonably be

14

Hybrid Birds

argued that species which have got no further in
separation than a different plumage are not as yet
fully distinct, but rather comparable to the colour-
varieties in our domesticated birds. That the
intermediate birds represent the ancestors of the
two forms does not seem at all probable, because
the evidence is in favour of colour-varieties
appearing suddenly, and not by gradations
from an intermediate type. Thus, there are
two forms of the common peacock, the typical
(Pavo cristatus) and the black-winged (Pavo
nigripennis), but there has never been an inter-
mediate ancestor to these, for we know for a fact
that the black-winged form, like the albino one,
arises quite suddenly from the ordinary bird. It
may also be remarked that the free interbreeding
of forms or species separated only by colour is a
fatal blow to the common theory that colour-
differences are "recognition-marks" by which
birds of a feather are enabled to flock together.

The fertility of undoubted hybrids — between
species where other points combine with colour
to make a distinction admitted by every one — is
still very widely disbelieved. And there is some
reason for the disbelief, since it appears to be the
case that the commonest bird-hybrids, the "mules"
between various British finches and the canary,
are usually barren, though they will pair, lay, and
sit in the most exemplary way, a hen " mule "

'5

Ornithological and Other Oddities

being a notoriously good nurse for young canaries.
Another common hybrid, that between the fowl
and pheasant, is also well known to be sterile, as
likewise are those between very distinct genera
of pheasants. Nevertheless, fertile hybrids have
been so often recorded in some cases that there
is no possible doubt about them. A good typical
instance is that of the hybrid between the gold
pheasant and Lady Amherst's pheasant (Chryso-
lophus pictus and C. Amherstioe). The details of
plumage in these birds are quite different, apart
from the very different coloration of gold and scar-
let in the one and dark-green and white in the
other. The Amherst has a much larger tail, but
a smaller crest, which grows only from the back
of the head ; his ruff is also fuller, and the feathers
composing it are rounded instead of squared at the
tips. The hens also, though much alike at the
first glance, can easily be told apart, the Amherst
hen being bigger with a smaller head, and having
a bare livid patch round the eye and lead-
coloured legs, while the gold pheasant hen has
dull yellow legs and the face feathered over.

Now the hybrids between these two very dis-
tinct birds are fertile every way, either between
themselves or with the parent stocks. Indeed,
when Amherst hens were scarce, which was the
case for some time after the introduction of the

species, it was a common practice to pair Am-

j6

SAND GR( lUSE (p. 180)
I u 1114- ol these birds ai oni e distinguish them fr im ti ue gr iuse

HYBRID BETWEEN AMHERS1 AND GOLDEN PHEASANTS (p. 16)
1 rids .uc <jmi<.- fertile either inter tt or with the parents

Hybrid Birds

herst cocks with golden hens, and breed the
hybrid hens with the Amherst again, till the
strain became practically pure Amherst. The
hybrid cock is a more beautiful bird than either
pure species, combining the scarlet of the golden
pheasant with the larger amount of deep green
of the Amherst, and possessing a crest as full as
that of the golden pheasant, but of a flaming
orange, the red of the Amherst pheasant's crest
and the yellow of the golden bird's being per-
fectly blended. He often has the pure white
ruff of the Amherst, but sometimes it is only of
a pale gold.

On the other hand, the hybrid between the
golden and common pheasants seems unfertile,
the species being much more remote ; nor can
it fairly compare in beauty with either parent,
although a handsome bird. At first sight its
origin does not seem at all obvious, as the
colours and markings of both parents have dis-
appeared. The general hue is a rich golden
auburn or chestnut, the tail being buff and the
neck glossed with purple. The characteristic
ruff of the golden pheasant almost disappears
in the hybrid, as does also the hackle in fowl-
and-pheasant hybrids.

There is in the Natural History Museum a
most remarkable double hybrid pheasant, the
offspring of a hybrid between Reeves' pheasant

17 8

Ornithological and Other Oddities

(Phasianus reevesi) and the common pheasant
(P. colchicus) crossed again with the silver
pheasant {Gennceus nycthemerus), the latter
species belonging to a quite distinct group of
pheasants called the Kaleeges, while the Reeves'
and common are not by any means remarkably
closely allied. This curiously-bred bird is very
handsome, being white above, pencilled with
black and brown, and a sort of plum-pudding
mixture of black and brown beneath.

The most distant crosses on record occur
amongst these gallinaceous birds. Hybrids be-
tween the peacock and guinea-fowl, caper-
cailzie and pheasant, and red grouse and
bantam fowl have been recorded, while even
one of the guans is crossed in Mexico with the
domestic fowl, and used as a fighting bird. The
guans are always admitted to belong to a distinct
family of the game-birds, having a large hind-toe
like a pigeon, and spending a large part of their
time in trees. Several species, with their allies
the curassows, are often to be seen at the Zoo-
logical Gardens, but this Chacalacca or Mexican
guan {Ortalis vetula), above alluded to, is not
on view there at the time of writing.

A good deal of fuss has been made over the

not uncommon cross between the Egyptian goose

(Chenalopex cegyptiaca) and the ruddy sheldrake

{Casarca rutila) as being a very remote one.

18

Hybrid Birds

But this is not really the case ; the Egyptian
goose is merely a large sheldrake, and is called
a goose by the same right as a big buzzard is
often promoted to the rank of an eagle. This
hybrid, of which I have seen at least four speci-
mens, is, however, very remarkable in its one-
sided character. In all specimens I have seen,
the ruddy sheldrake has proved strongly pre-
potent ; indeed, were it not for its pink legs,
slightly greater size and taller figure, and dull
colour, the hybrid could scarcely be distinguished
from a pure bird of that species, the very marked
characteristics of the Egyptian goose disappear-
ing almost completely except in the legs. The
male hybrid's voice is a husky chatter as in the
male Egyptian goose, whose influence is here
apparently dominant, since the male ruddy shel-
drake has as strong a voice as the female. One
formerly at the Zoo used to have a mate of the
same cross, but her eggs were always unfertile.
This was also the case, as I am told by the
bird-keeper at St. James's Park, with those of
an Egyptian goose which was mated to a similar
male hybrid recently. This hybrid and a brother
were bred on the St. James's Park lake not
long ago.

Although this particular hybrid would appear
to be sterile, the duck family has afforded several
undoubted cases of fertile hybrids. That be-

19

Ornithological and Other Oddities

tween the pintail (Dafila acuta) and the domestic
duck, the descendant of the mallard, may be
especially cited. In one instance ducklings were
obtained from a pair of these hybrids, and more
than once the hybrid has bred again with the
pure pintail, the last instance being one recorded
by Mr. J. F. B. Sharpe in the " Feathered
World." In this case the hybrid duck laid eight
eggs, all of which were fertile, and hatched seven
ducklings, one egg having been cracked. She
proved a particularly careful and intelligent
mother, thus recalling the good repute of the
mule canary as a nurse.

The fact that the pintail and mallard can
produce a fertile cross shows that there is some
other cause besides mutual sterility which keeps
species distinct in the wild state, for, as I said
above, the pintail-mallard hybrid is one of the
best-known wild-bred hybrids, and yet the two
species remain distinct on the whole.

Double hybrid ducks have occurred, as well
as pheasants. M. G. Rogeron, of Angers, has
bred many most remarkable ones from a hybrid
between mallard and gad wall {Chaulelasmus
streperus) mated to a pochard (Nyroca ferina\
and more recently Mr. J. L. Bonhote has suc-
ceeded in raising ducks in which the blood of
the pintail, mallard, and Indian spot-billed duck
(Anas poecilorhyncha) was combined.

Hybrid Birds

Turning now to some other groups, we find
a fertile hybrid among the parrakeets in the
so-called red- mantled parrakeet (Platycercus
erythropeplus), which has produced young in
confinement, and was shown in a recent
volume of the Avicultural Magazine to be
merely a hybrid between the Rosella (I'laty-
cercus eximius) and Pennant's parrakeet {Platy-
eercus elegans). These two parrakeets are very
distinct, Pennant's being a bigger bird than the
rosella, and coloured red, purple-blue and black,
with a distinct immature plumage of uniform
olive-green, while the rosella's colour is very
largely yellow in addition to the other hues, and
it assumes almost perfect adult plumage from
the nest.

Considering what free breeders are the various
species of doves and pigeons, it might have been
expected that much light would have been shed
on this subject by that group ; but this appears
not to be the case. Wild hybrids among these
birds are almost unknown, and even in domes-
tication very remote crosses seem not to have
occurred. The two domestic species, however,
the common pigeon and the collared turtle-
dove ( Turtur risorius) not unfrequently produce
hybrids ; but these appear to be usually quite
sterile, although ready enough to mate. Out
of three of these I have seen, two exactly

Ornithological and Other Oddities

resembled common mongrel pigeons in colour,
though showing in their shape their relation-
ship to the dove. The third, however, was of
a creamy-dun shade.

The different species of turtle-doves, though
distinct enough in themselves, might reasonably
be expected to produce fertile hybrids, and ac-
cordingly we find Mr. J. T. Newman has suc-
ceeded in getting several, including double
hybrids.

Lastly, it has been recently proved by Mr. P.
St. M. Podmore that the female wood-pigeon
will produce a fertile hybrid with the domestic
pigeon, the hybrid cock producing young with
the domestic hen, although the cock wood-pigeon
will not do so. This singular discrepancy shows
how difficult it is to say positively whether any
hybrid is or is not fertile, and indicates the
importance of extended experiments in this most
promising field.

LOVE AMONG THE BIRDS

In no aspect are birds so charming and entertain-
ing as in their love affairs, for no creatures are so
full of tender sentiment, and none display the
said sentiment so gracefully, whether the display
be a musical or spectacular one. Their affections
also are often deep and lasting, though it is not
always the species most credited with constancy
which really display it the most.

The dove family, for instance, have always
been taken as patterns of conjugal affection, and
certainly they make fuss enough about it. The
" livelier iris gleams upon the burnished dove "
as, with swollen throat and sweeping tail, he
parades round his mate, rolling out his love-song ;
but pigeon-fanciers find that if the two are sepa-
rated for a winter they rarely recognise each
other next year, which argues that the pigeon's
attachment to his mate is not so strong as his
known love for home. At the same time, it must
be admitted that if the pair are let alone, they are
ikely to remain mated till death parts them,
though cases of infidelity occur now and then in
individuals.

The pigeon's more graceful relative, the turtle-

23

Ornithological and Other Oddities

dove, has a less impetuous, but more graceful
courtship. When bowing to the hen, he does
not spread his tail or strut about round her,
merely following humbly in her wake ; but he
has a very pretty aerial display, which makes up
for his want of activity when perched. He
towers up a dozen yards into the air, and then,
with raised and outspread tail, comes gently
gliding down again, showing off his beautiful
though sober plumage to the greatest advantage.
So rooted is this instinct in the tribe that I have
seen the domestic cream-coloured turtle-dove per-
form this pretty feat when let out, although his
aviary-bred ancestors could not have done it for
who knows how many generations.

From doves to ducks is a great jump in the
eyes of most people ; even Chaucer takes occa-
sion to contrast the two as examples of coarse
indifference and refined tenderness ; but there are
ducks and ducks, and the quaint little Mandarin
drake of China can put to shame any turtle-dove
as a devoted lover. Ostentatious he is, indeed,
as Mr. Dando's photograph shows ; and he has
attitudes more extravagant than this, as he will
raise his crest yet higher and curve his neck back
till it almost touches his raised wing-fans. Then,
to see him dip his bill in the water and turn to
put it behind his wing, as if to smarten it up with
a final touch, one would think him the most con-

24

Love Among the Birds

summate of bird dandies. But he is tender and
true with it all ; his mate is the sweetest little
Quaker that ever won a drake's heart, and the
two are seldom far apart. Often they may be
seen tickling each other's heads in a very un-
duck-like manner, and it is a question which loves
the other most. One day I saw a drake of this
species in St. James's Park with a duck on each
side. When approached, one of the ladies took
wing and skimmed down the lake ; the drake also
sprang into the air twice, but his true mate was
pinioned and could not follow him, so he stayed
by her side. The other duck had, of course,
been pathetically enough seeking consolation for
her loneliness by associating with the married
couple, at the risk of an assault from the drake as
well as his mate, for Mandarin ducks hold very
strongly that two are company and three none.
Indeed, the drake carries the idea to the point
of brutality, for if penned up in a basket and
despatched to a poultry show with the wrong
duck, he is liable to kill her in his vexation at
such close company with a stranger.

On her part, the Mandarin duck is more
affectionate than most female birds, which, to
tell the truth, are usually heartless to a degree.
One kept many years ago in an aviary in China
had her mate stolen, and, refusing the consolation
tendered by another drake, moped and neglected

25

Ornithological and Other Oddities

her food and toilet till the lost one was restored.
The sequel was curious and tragic ; for the re-
turned husband fell upon his would-be supplanter
and mortally injured him. I have not the least
doubt that the duck incited him to this ; for the
Mandarin duck is as bad as an ancient Icelandic
lady for stirring up fights, and one can soon
understand her gesture-language of pointing and
beckoning as well as her devoted husband does.
Very funny it is to see him, urged by such signs,
rush out at another luckless Mandarin, who, as
he hurries away with plumage pressed closely
down, looks quite a different bird from the
swelling victor returning in his pride to his
admiring consort.

Few of the ducks are so loving as this, and
none so quaint in their expressions of emotion ;
but the Mandarin's only near relative, the Caro-
lina or Summer duck of North America, is even
stronger in his affections, as he will call his wife
to a dainty, like the barndoor cock, and has been
known even to die of grief at her sudden decease.
Speaking of the familiar rooster's generosity to
his hens, reminds one that that gentleman is
certainly in most ways an excellent husband.
He rules a harem, it is true, but there is usually
a favourite of whom he is really fond, and he is
generous to all and brave in their defence, while

most chivalrous in his abstention from striking

26

Love Among the Birds

them, even under the severe provocation of the
attacks of a feather-eater.

Most of the pheasant family, to which he
belongs, are less admirable in character ; they
fight hard for their mates with each other, but
they are rough wooers, and if their display does
not meet with what they consider proper atten-
tion, the coy fair one is likely to be scalped, if not
murdered outright. They certainly take enough
trouble to make themselves admirable in the eyes
of their somewhat irritating companions, the
prevailing idea among them being to endeavour
to show both sides at once by slanting their
bodies over and expanding their tails sideways.
To this the common pheasant adds the expansion
of his scarlet velvet mask, and the exhibition of
his horn-like ear-tufts, while the gold pheasant
spreads his jet-and-amber cape into a gorgeous
fan, turning it from side to side, according as the
demure little coquette he is pursuing dodges him.
If he can get her still for a moment, out go fan
and tail at once, with a long-drawn hiss, as if he
said: " Sh — sh ! just stop and look at this!"
But he is only a mass of gilded vanity after all,
so taken up with himself that he does not much
care to whom he shows off. A few years ago
I used to watch full-plumaged gold pheasants in
the Canal Bank Aviary at the Zoo which were

showing off, in spite of snow and frost, to each

27

Ornithological and Other Oddities

other and some young cocks of the year whom
they evidently mistook for hens ; while one
wasted his gold and scarlet splendour in vain
attempts to impress a pied jackdaw, the cheekiest
bird in that aviary, and one who is no respecter
of persons, however well-dressed. This determi-
nation to swagger at any price has always been
supposed to be the especial prerogative of the
peacock, and certainly Sir Petitpas does seem to
have an eye to an audience for his dance, as his
fellow-countrymen in India call the display.

" Praise the proud peacock, he expands his train ;
Keep silence, and he pulls it in again,"

said Ovid, twenty centuries ago, and a lady told
me recently that if you clapped your hands to the
Battersea Park peacock he distinctly appreciated
it, and besides, liked to accumulate a few specta-
tors before he began to show. At Battersea I
once witnessed a funny episode myself. The
peacock was executing the usual step-dance
before a small but appreciative audience, when
the peahen, either getting jealous or feeling
that imitation was the sincerest flattery, started
displaying on her own account — almost the only
occasion on which I have seen the hen do so,
though the ridiculous exhibition of the hobble-
dehoy peacock, as yet untrained in a double

sense — is not at all an uncommon sight.

28

GREEN I 'I. V< i » K
Showing the »pi en si and si ale like feathering

//". /'. Dan ■

"JAPAN " II MIKN
The male <>f this variety is hi..- tl>._- imon Peacoi k. but » ith black wings

Love Among the Birds

More experimental evidence is needed before
we can be certain that the peahen — or any other
hen bird — is really impressed, or influenced in
her choice, by her lord's sometimes rather
grotesque antics. But that peahens are full of
sentiment, and capable of falling in love, admits
of no doubt. Only recently, a common peahen
(of the grizzly-white "Japan" variety) at the
Zoo lost her heart to the green Burmese peacock
next door, and quite neglected her proper mate,
as handsome a specimen of her own race as one
could wish to see. The Japanese, who know
both species, evidently regard the green peacock,
with his scaly plumage, and long lance-shaped
crest, as the most beautiful, as this one only
appears in their art work ; but it is curious to
find that a peahen of alien race may share this
view. It must be remembered that in a state
of nature the two species do not meet, as one is
western and the other eastern.

But one of the most remarkable phenomena
about bird-love is this arising of curious attach-
ments between distinct, if allied, species, when
man brings them together. Geese, which over-
flow with tender feeling, are peculiarly liable to
form unlooked-for attachments ; and one between
a Canadian goose and a Bernacle gander has
been chronicled by no less an observer than

Charles Waterton. Such devotion to a foreigner

29

Ornithological and Other Oddities

is apt to be particularly strong, and M. Gabriel
Rogeron, whose delightful book, " Les Canards,"
should be in the hands of every one who is
interested in the half-human heart that beats
under a bird's feathers, gives a most amusing
instance of this — the case of a Garganey teal
drake, who was consumed with admiration for
Mandarin ducks ; " for his heart," says M.
Rogeron, " was large enough to embrace them
all." He would have nothing to say to his own
species, and his own mate in return very properly
scouted him. An attempt was made to wean
him from this unfortunate infatuation by sending
him away to live among a mixed collection of
other birds, from which his charmers were absent.
But it was of no use ; after more than a year's
absence from its objects his hopeless passion was
as strong as ever, and his owner was forced re-
luctantly to banish him for ever.

Romance in most people's minds attaches itself
more to the little song-birds than to the bigger
species I have been mentioning ; but though the
same emotions appear in them, they are usually
less marked and less striking in their expression,
even allowing for the difference in size. More-
over, the females of small birds, especially those
of temperate climates, are often particularly
nasty-tempered little things. Most people have
seen poor Philip Sparrow's well-meant attempts

3°

Love Among the Birds

to look like a peacock, or at least a turkey, cut
short by a vicious dig from his unamiable
helpmeet ; possibly she thinks dancing alone,
undiversified by the music and refreshment pro-
vided by more refined birds, is a monotonous
way of expressing devotion. " Beau goldfinch,"
as one would expect, is a better lover ; not only
has he a pretty note, but he displays his varied
plumage effectively, while avoiding vulgar osten-
tation, giving a kaleidoscopic effect by swaying
from side to side, till the gold of his wings fairly
flashes. The hen goldfinch is, I think, a kinder
mate than the hen sparrow ; at any rate, one I
had used to feed a peevish and sickly male com-
panion, feeding a male bird at all being an almost
unheard-of performance for a hen. The poor
fellow's temper was probably due to a disordered
liver, contracted before I got him, for both were
Siberian goldfinches, and another Siberian cock
I kept, a healthy bird, was most chivalrously
forbearing to a little English hen, which used to
drive him about. The Siberian croldfinch seems
generally quieter in nature than the English race
of the species — at any rate, it resents confinement
less, like most birds imported from abroad.

The goldfinch, as every one knows, is often
paired by fanciers with a hen canary, but does not
seem to feel much affection for her, for which one
can hardly blame him, as the mesalliance is not of

3i

Ornithological and Other Oddities

his choosing ; yet, in a similar case, the linnet
shows more tenderness of heart, for he will not
usually bear transference from one hen canary
to another, often pining to death when this is
attempted. This is, indeed, in keeping with
the linnet's gentle nature, for it is one of the
most sociable of our finches. The truth soon
impresses itself on any one who studies the inner
life of birds, that species, like nations, have their
own particular moral nature, subject similarly to
individual exceptions ; and nothing brings this
out more strongly than observations on birds
when under the influence of love.

32

SOME INDIAN CUCKOOS

With us in Britain the cuckoo, though he does
not neglect to make his presence felt, is a bird
apart, strange and abnormal in appearance, note,
and habits ; but in warm countries cuckoos are
numerous and familiar birds, and form a con-
spicuous feature in the bird world. At any rate,
this is very much the case in India, where some
of the commonest and most obtrusive birds are
cuckoos, which do not allow themselves to be
ignored by the most casual observer, being
obvious to the ear if not always to the eye.

The best known of all is that splendid fellow
the koel, or black cuckoo [Eudynamts konorata),
whose full, jovial, crescendo notes compel atten-
tion wherever he is found, and that is all over
the plains of India. The male and female of
this bird are so unlike that they hardly seem
to be referable to the same species, the former
being glossy blue-black, and the latter speckled,
and somewhat the larger of the two. Both have
ruby eyes, and bills of the delicate green of jade,
and, being very elegantly formed birds, and as
large as jays, are a distinct addition to the land-
scape as they skim from tree to tree with a

33 c

Ornithological and Other Oddities

steady level flight. Unlike most cuckoos, the
koel is frugivorous ; but this does not prevent
her choosing crows, of all birds, as the foster-
parents of her young. Of the two common
Indian crows, the big black country crow (Corvus
macrorhynchus) and the smaller grey-headed town
or house crow {Corvus splendens), she mostly
favours the latter, as its laying season coincides
better with her own.

These crows know perfectly well that they
have an account against koels, and hunt them
vindictively on any possible occasion, an animosity
which the cuckoos appear to turn to some practical
account. They cannot frighten the crows away
from their nests, so that another plan has to be
adopted ; while the crows are hunting off the
male bird, the female slips in and deposits her
egg in safety. The egg once laid, the crows
appear to accept the situation ; it is very like
their own clutch, except for its rather smaller
size, and crows are supposed not to be good at
arithmetic, so that an addition to the number may
not puzzle them. It must, however, ultimately
dawn upon them that the little egg has produced
a very curious kind of crow ; but they get re-
conciled to it, for they continue to feed it even
when it has become full-fledged and left the nest,
as I have myself seen.

The nestling has been stated to be black at

34

i km \i e koi i (p. 33)

The male .it" this common Ind m i uckoo is raven-bla< U

if hi
BHIMR \l OR K \' Kl. I - I AILED DR< »NGO (p. H;

Showing ihe two I feathers in the tail

Some Indian Cuckoos

first, and afterwards to become spotted, the males
ultimately turning black again. But about Cal-
cutta, at all events, this was not the case ; I never
saw a female nestling which was not spotted,
however young, while the young males never had
more than a few spots. I had an opportunity
of examining a good many, as the koel is a
favourite cage-bird with natives, and was con-
sequently often to be seen in the bazaars in
various stages of immaturity during the spring
months.

Koels, unlike most cuckoos, thrive very well
in captivity. They are fed on satoo (pea meal),
made up into a paste with water, and kept in
wicker cages, usually not any too large. The
demand for them as pets arises from the admira-
tion the natives feel for their note, and the male
bird's beautiful glossy plumage is an additional
charm. Indeed, the koel serves the native poet
in several ways. The locks of beauty are com-
pared to his plumage, while his note is the symbol
of mellifluous speech, and he is also famed, like
our cuckoo, as the harbinger of spring. Un-
fortunately, the Indian spring is a little too
pronounced for European tastes, and as the
joyous bird keeps up his " kuk-kuk-ko-eel, ko-
eel, ko-eel " or his liquid " ho-ee-o " by night
as well as by day, he is not unduly beloved
by Anglo-Indians. When it is hard to sleep

35

Ornithological and Other Oddities

by reason of the heat in any case, even the
nightingale might be voted a nuisance. The
koel really is a delightful bird, however, if one
does not get too much of him, and it is unjust
to mix him up with the brain-fever bird, as
is not unfrequently done.

The brain-fever bird is known in the books
as the hawk-cuckoo (Hierococcyx varius). It
is not so common as the koel, nor so frequently
seen. Indeed, it is probably often passed un-
identified even if perceived, as its plumage and
flight exactly resemble those of the commonest
Indian sparrow-hawk, the shikra (A slur badius).
Our cuckoo is fairly like a hawk, but the re-
semblance is not to be compared with that
exhibited in the Indian bird, which mimics its
model not only in the grey and barred adult
plumage, but in the brown and streaked nestling
livery. The hawk-like plumage of the old bird
is effectual in scaring away the babbling-thrushes,
in whose nests the hawk-cuckoo deposits her
eggs, and these eggs are unspotted blue, like
those of the babblers themselves. So far, so
good ; but it seems that in some cases babblers,
which are very clannish birds, will stand up to
the real hawk ; and in any case it is hardly
likely they would be conciliated by seeing the
hawk-like plumage of their foster-nestlings, which
they rear nevertheless. Thus it seems that all

36

- ! 1 1 l-v K \ HAWK

The upper side of the tail is marked as in the Hawk-cuckoo
By permission

--■V .-

BRAIN-FEVER BIRD

nee of this mimic with its model is notable even in bl
By permission of Messrs. Hutchinsi

Some Indian Cuckoos

this elaborate "mimicry" is pointless after all,
and a mere coincidence, such as one often finds
in the coloration of animals. The scientific
interest of this bird, however, is as nothing to
that excited by the noise it makes, which
generates a thirst for its blood in the average
Anglo-Indian mind. Imagine a bird trying to
whistle the words, "Brain-fever! brain-fever!
brain-fever ! " over and over again, till it has
reached the highest pitch its voice can compass,
and then after a short rest beginning again, and
you get some idea of the infliction — " When the
'eat would make your bloomin' eyebrows crawl,"
as Mr. Kipling's Tommy says. The natives,
however, admire the note, and frequently attempt
to keep the minstrel caged, but with indifferent
success as a rule. My friend Mr. E. W. Harper,
however, sent one to the London Zoo some years
back. But it did not survive long, and never
regaled visitors with its melody.

This species of hawk-cuckoo is confined to
the plains and comparatively low elevations in
the hills ; but there is also a true hill-species
{Hierococcyx sparverioides), which is a bigger
bird, and resembles a different hawk, the besra
(Accipiter virgatus). It has a similar note to
the low-country bird, but its nesting habits are
different and very interesting, as, while in the
Himalayas victimising some of the hill-babblers,

37

Ornithological and Other Oddities

in the Nilgiris it appears to build its own nest,
a simple structure of sticks ; so that here, ap-
parently, we have a species in the very act of
locally degenerating into parasitism, while it
remains a respectable bird in other parts of its
range. Its eggs are white with a few spots.

The unfortunate babbler tribe are utilised in
the plains of India by another cuckoo as well
as the brain-fever bird, and this case tends still
further to complicate the mimicry question, for,
though the eggs are, as in the former case, plain
blue, like those of the dupes, the cuckoo itself
has no resemblance to a hawk — at any rate, not
to any Indian hawk. Indeed, there seems not
to be any hawk which, like this cuckoo, is black
above and white below, with a pointed crest,
and about as big as a missel-thrush, so that there
is no mimicry here. The curious thing is that
the crows do not like this cuckoo, and hunt it
about as they do the koel, though it does them
no harm. They probably object to cuckoos on
principle, as they do to owls. This is a noisy
bird, but I cannot remember anything about its
note. I once brought up two young ones, which
were less distinctly coloured than the adults ;
they were very quiet, and decidedly stupid,
taking a long while to learn to feed, like most
young cuckoos. This species is the Coccystes
jacobinus.

38

Some Indian Cuckoos

With the plaintive cuckoo (Cacomantis pas-
serinus) I have no personal acquaintance, although
it is widely spread in India. It is a smallish
species, not exceeding a blackbird in size, slate-
colour when adult, and barred when young. Its
call does not seem to be at all remarkable, being
rendered by " whe-whew, whe-wheew ! " and I
never heard of any one considering it annoying.
But it differs from the birds I have been dis-
cussing above in being far less limited in its
choice of foster-parents, and in this respect
resembles our wild birds ; for its eggs have been
found in the nests of a small grass-warbler
(Prima inornatd), a small babbler (Pyctorhis
sinensis), a shrike (Lanius erythronotus), and a
bulbul (Molpastes bengalensis). These lay very
different eggs, but the only colour for the plain-
tive cuckoo's eggs appears to be pale blue with
reddish and purple spots, which would certainly
not be a good match for any of them except
the warbler's.

I may conclude as I have begun, with a
reference to our own familiar cuckoo. This I
only actually saw once in India, when a bird-
catcher brought a fine adult specimen to me
in the winter, but I have heard its ever-welcome
note at Darjeeling in the spring, for it is as
common in the Indian hills as in Europe.
Curiously enough, though its eggs have been

39

Ornithological and Other Oddities

found in the Himalayas in the nests of Indian
birds, these have been always of European types,
if not identical with European species — robins,
chats, and titlarks — while it mostly leaves the
Oriental babblers and bulbuls alone. It is this
preference for the more widely ranging groups
of small birds, which populate Europe as well
as the temperate elevations of the great Indian
mountain-chain, that has probably given Cuculus
canorus its power to extend its range into a
region where its kindred are, as a rule, unknown,
for it is significant that the only other truly
European cuckoo, the large crested species
{Coccystes glandarius), is also a dependent on
a widely ranging group, in this case the crow
tribe. That the koel has not been able to
follow these westward also is no doubt attribut-
able to its fruit-eating habits. Fifty years of
Europe may be better than a cycle of Cathay
for mankind, but such a period would be quite
long enough for the extinction of any large fruit-
eating bird, if we may judge from the absence
of such in our part of the world.

4°

THE TOILET OF BIRDS

Not the least remarkable of the peculiarities
which mark out the birds as the most refined
class of living things is the attention they pay
to their toilet. They are the only creatures
which bathe for cleanliness' sake ; beasts may lick
themselves, or wallow luxuriously for pleasure —
in mud as readily as in water, or often more so
— but deliberate washing in water is purely a bird
custom. It is true that some groups content
themselves with a "dry polish," rolling in sand
or dust, such as larks and the whole pheasant
family, but this indulgence is sought as eagerly
as the bath, and no doubt is an excellent sub-
stitute. Very few birds both dust and wash,
among them being Philip Sparrow, who is quite
au fait with every indulgence which can make
bird life enjoyable, with the exception of song —
probably too refined a form of amusement for his
sensual tastes.

But in addition to external sources of personal
beautification, birds have on their own persons
toilet requisites of a very interesting kind,
although it is given to comparatively few to
enjoy all of these at once. There is, in the

41

Ornithological and Other Oddities

first place, the pomatum-pot formed by the oil-
gland, almost the only skin-gland, by the way,
which birds possess. This is a heart-shaped
mass situated on the upper surface of the root
of the tail, and ending in a small pimple, often
tufted with feathers, and exuding a buttery secre-
tion with which the bird anoints its plumage.
As might be expected, it is particularly well
developed in water-fowl, and every one must
have seen the duck assiduously oiling its hair
by rubbing its head on the root of its tail.
But it is unusually copious in secretion in some
land birds also ; the great concave-casqued horn-
bill (Dichoceros bicornis) owes the yellow colour
on its neck and some of the wing-feathers to
the very free supply it has of this natural
brilliantine, which it assiduously applies every
day when making its toilet. This staining
power of the secretion is quite exceptional, as
is also any odour attaching to it ; but in the
Muscovy drake it sometimes, at all events, is
perfumed with musk, and in the sitting female
and nestlings of the hoopoe it is credited with
exhaling the horrible smell which gives this
pretty bird its evil name in French and German
proverbs.

The most curious fact about the oil-gland is
that many birds get on perfectly well without

one. Among these are the Amazon parrots and

42

The Toilet of Birds

most cockatoos, the Argus pheasants, and all the
giant flightless birds ; while the curious " rump-
less " breed of fowls also lacks it, and yet these
birds look as sleek as ordinary poultry. It is
absent, or poorly developed, also in pigeons and
nightjars.

Nature has been even more sparing in her
distribution of another appurtenance of the bird's
toilet table — the powder puff, whence the delicate
powder which forms a bloom on the plumage of
some species is derived. This powder emanates
from certain peculiar feathers which disintegrate
or rot as they grow, thus producing the powder.
They may be scattered about the body, as in
Amazon and grey parrots and cockatoos, or
collected into large patches in definite regions,
as on the breast and back of the herons, where
they are very conspicuous when the feathers are
parted so as to show them. Something of the
kind must also exist in many other birds, where
it does not seem to have been noticed, as in the
pigeons, which are very powdery birds, as any
one who has handled them much will testify.
But books on birds usually mention these
" powder-downs " as restricted to few groups,
or to a few isolated members of large families ;
thus, among our hawks, the harriers have
powder-patches, but no others. Powder appears
to some extent to replace pomade in birds, for

43

Ornithological and Other Oddities

it will be noted that among the above birds
are several in which the oil-gland is absent or
inefficient, and none of the water-fowl have
powdery plumage, so that the function of this
mealy covering may be to throw off wet. It
is certainly obvious that pigeons do not get
wet so easily as most land birds, and in the
pretty little cockatiel, a member of the cockatoo
group, I have noticed that the plumage throws
off water quite as well as a duck's, although
this bird does not enter that element even to
bathe, much preferring a shower-bath in the
rain. Indeed, most of the parrot tribe seem to
enjoy a shower, as also do pigeons.

But the greatest luxury of all would appear
to be the comb, which is given here and there
to the most incongruous birds in a way there
is no accounting for. It is situated on the inner
edge of the claw of the third toe — the first
being, I should remark, the hind toe — and it
is with this third toe that birds always scratch
themselves, for some occult reason. For the
third toe is not the nearest to the bird's head,
nor is it the longest in every case, although
usually so ; while in birds like parrots, which
have only two toes in front, it cannot be the
middle one, as it is in most cases. This ser-
rated claw is found in herons and cormorants,
in nightjars and grebes, and in a few more

44

The Toilet or Birds

isolated cases. In the nightjars it is most perfect,
and it has been suggested that in their case it
is a moustache-comb ; but that explanation breaks
down, because some of this family, such as the
American nighthawk {Chordeiles popetue), have
no moustache to comb, unlike our bird with its
long, straggling bristles round the mouth. Nor are
the herons bristly-mouthed, and yet their comb
is a very good one, coming next to that of the
nightjars. The barn owl and its kin, also, are
exceptional among the owls in possessing this
curious implement, and in their case there seems
no possible reason why they alone of their family
should be thus gifted. But in these owls the
comb is still in a state of evolution, for in two
specimens of the Andamanese barn owl (Strix
deroepstorfii), which I examined, I found it was
not developed, and Mr. F. E. Beddard, the
prosector to the Zoological Society, and Dr.
Bowdler Sharpe of the British Museum, also
found it absent in the curious bay owl (PJiotodilus
badius) of India, each examining one specimen ;
the species is now known to normally possess
the serrated claw, so it is variable in this point.

When once the structure exists, it is obviously
of more use for scratching, since the teeth will
serve to catch the vermin with which all birds
are more or less infested, and this may explain
its large size in the nightjars, whose tiny beak

45

Ornithological and Other Oddities

is not at all well adapted for ridding their
persons of such unwelcome guests. Thus in the
groups where it occurs, no doubt natural selec-
tion has tended to preserve it ; at the same
time, the case furnishes an excellent illustration
of the fact, too often overlooked by zoologists,
that no structure, however much needed, can
be developed by selection until some strong
innate tendency to produce it has appeared.
Just as few birds, as I have already said, enjoy
the pleasure of both sand and water baths, so
few can claim to possess all the toilet appur-
tenances I have mentioned. The birds which
have the best powder-puffs, the great Australian
frog-mouthed nightjars or moreporks (Podargus),
have no pomade or comb at their disposal ; and
the Argus pheasant, which of all birds gives
up most for personal adornment, and spends
most of his time in a cleared space in the
jungle, which he keeps neat and trim as his
boudoir, has to perform his toilet without oil,
powder, or comb. Yet all three are bestowed
on the herons, some of the laziest of birds,
which are no more energetic in their toilet than
in anything else, being also singularly devoid
of ornaments peculiar to the male sex.

It seems, therefore, that this partially-spread
toilet-table is altogether a mystery ; but, after

all, we know very little as yet of the intimate

46

The Toilet of Birds

habits of birds as opposed to the broad general
outlines of their life. It took me a long time
to find out the universality of scratching with
the third toe among birds, and I expect it will
be longer yet before I, or any one else, will
succeed in getting a step further and explaining
some of the inconsistencies of Nature I have
touched on in this article.

47

THE SENSE OF SMELL IN BIRDS

Some time ago, Dr. A. Hill, writing in Nature,

asked for information about the powers of scent

if any, possessed by birds. His own experiments

with a pair of turkeys pointed to an extreme

obtuseness in this respect in these birds, and no

information appears to have been forthcoming

from other observers. As a matter of fact, there

appears to be very little direct evidence that

birds have any power of scent at all, and it seems

to be worth while to collect together a few facts

bearing on the subject, as a nucleus to which

other nature-students will doubtless contribute.

My own personal experience, save for one

instance, would have led me to conclude that

birds have no sense of smell ; and that after

a long series of experiments designed to test

the truth of the current theories about the

"warning" coloration of distasteful animals and the

"mimicry" of these by more palatable creatures.

I have found in most cases that a bird did not

know whether any given insect was unpalatable

on the first presentation of that particular kind,

until it had tasted it, and sometimes not until the

theoretically ill-reputed morsel had actually been

48

The Sense of Smell in Birds

swallowed and digested, when a second proffer of
it would be declined.

A pied hornbill which I kept, however, showed
a keenly discriminating taste in butterflies — my
usual material for experiments when I lived in
India — and expressed the same by wiping the
objectionable kinds on the front of my shirt as
he sat on my wrist, and then finally rejecting
them. Now, this he must have done indepen-
dently of the sense of taste, because he only picked
up objects he was testing with the tip of his bill,
and in hornbills the end of the beak for some
distance is as dry and horny inside as it is out-
side, and the very short tongue is situated far
back. I conclude, therefore, that the bird formed
his judgments on the edibility of butterflies by
scent, this penetrating by the posterior nares at
the back of the mouth ; and I may mention that
he rejected cigar-ends in just the same way, after
a preliminary pinch with the tip of the bill.

Monsieur G. Rogeron, in his work on ducks,
incidentally gives a particularly interesting in-
stance of what certainly appears to be acute
scent in a bird. The creature in question, a
much-petted jackdaw, was very fond both of salt
and of sugar, but, while using the former with dis-
cretion, as might have been expected, he would
recklessly cram his bill with the latter substance.
Attempts were often made to play a practical

49 d

Ornithological and Other Oddities

joke on him by substituting fine salt for powdered
sugar without his knowledge, but he never failed
to distinguish the two before tasting, which argued
in him a power of scent far superior to our own
at any rate.

The duck tribe themselves have always been
credited with a keen sense of smell by decoymen,
whose practical experience ought to go for some-
thing ; they certainly advocate burning a sod of
peat when the wind blows towards the fowl, to
avoid the carriage of the human scent in their
direction. And St. John, in that delightful book,
" Natural History and Sport in Moray," says that
he has constantly seen wildfowl swim towards him
as he lay in ambush, without the slightest suspicion
until they came directly to windward, when they
would rise in as much alarm as if he had stood up
in full view. He had had a similar experience
with geese on many occasions, and he gives in
another passage a case in which ducks were ap-
parently guided to their food by scent. In a
year when potato disease was prevalent, he had
had a heap of the half-rotten tubers put partly
underground, and then covered over with a good
thickness of earth, as being too bad even for
the pigs. Nevertheless, some domesticated wild
ducks had scented them out, and dug into the
heap in all directions, leaving their corn for this
very foul fare. Unless the ducks had simply

5°

The Sense of Smell in Birds

fossicked in the earth and found the rotten
potatoes by accidental contact, this certainly
argues a real scenting power, and at any rate,
the experiment would be easy to repeat with any
food to which ducks are partial. It may be men-
tioned that this observation led him to notice
that the truly wild ducks were so attracted by
the rotten potatoes in the fields that they could be
found there even in the middle of the day ; this
certainly indicates a cheap food for stock ducks,
although not at all a desirable one for birds which
are destined to an early appearance at table.

St. John, like field observers in general, did
not believe that carrion feeders were guided
to their food by scent, and in connection with
this, Darwin's experiment with condors is worthy
of notice. When at Valparaiso, he found a
number of these birds kept tethered in a garden,
and only fed once a week by their unfeeling
owners, so that they must have been in a chroni-
cally famished state. Wrapping a piece of meat
up in paper, he walked to and fro with it within
three yards of them, but they took no notice, and
when he threw it down within a yard of one old
male, the bird only paid it momentary attention,
till it was pushed so near him with a stick that
he touched it with his beak, when he furiously
tore off the paper, to the great excitement of the
other birds.

5i

Ornithological and Other Oddities

Anatomical investigation shows that the kiwis
(Afiteryx) of New Zealand possess a particularly
well-developed organ of scent, and Sir Walter
Buller, in his "Birds of New Zealand," says of
the North Island species (Apteryx bulleri), that,
when hunting for food, it keeps up a continual
sniffing sound as the bill is darted forward and
travels over the surface of the ground, giving
the impression that scent is employed more than
sight in the search for food. The sense of touch,
however, appears also to be called into play, as
the bird will always first touch an object with its
bill, whether feeding or searching, even if it may
not be audibly sniffing ; and will pick up a worm
or piece of meat as readily out of a vessel of
water as off the ground, always first touching it
with the bill. As, however, the nostrils in these
birds, and in these only, are situated at the end
of the bill, and as the sniffing sound proceeding
from them is only heard when they are feeding
or seeking food, the conclusion that in this bird
at any rate scent is very important, seems irre-
sistible. Another flightless bird, the emu, seems
also to be gifted with keen scent, for Mr. C. W.
Ginn, who has spent part of his life in Australia,
tells me that it is able in some way to detect ap-
proaching human beings before they can possibly
come in sight, as, for instance, when a rise in the
ground intervenes. As Dr. Hill says in the

52

The Sense of Smell in Birds

letter above quoted, information about these
flightless birds, which live the life of mammals, is
particularly desirable, for one might reasonably
expect in them a greater development of the
power of scent than in ordinary flying birds, in
whose lives it seems as a general rule to play no
very noticeable part.

53

MIMICRY IN BIRDS

Every student of the theory of natural selection
is familiar with the wonderful cases in which
some defenceless insect closely copies in its
appearance a quite unrelated form, which for
some reason or other — objectionable taste or
exceptional means of defence — appears to be
more immune from attack than the majority ;
but the cases of this "mimicry," as it is called,
among birds are not so well known, and it is
worth while here to review them in order to
be able to gain an idea as to how these remark-
able resemblances came about, in the case of
birds at all events.

The best-known instance of mimicry in birds,
and the one most usually quoted, is the resem-
blance between certain orioles and friar-birds
in the islands of the Australian region. Friar-
birds are large honey-suckers, forming the genus
Tropidorhynchus of ornithologists. They are not
attractive in appearance, being of a dull snuffy-
brown colour, with some bare blackish skin about
the eyes. They are, however, unusually well
able to look after themselves. Being as big as
blackbirds, with sharp, curved beaks, and very

54

BOURU FRIAR-BIRD

; he in i in i ■ king B mru < >ri< ile
' <i .'- Co.

in IURU ORIOl I.
I his mimicking species should be compared with the more normal Black-headed i

Mimicry in Birds

strong" feet and claws, and having besides a
clannish disposition, they are inclined to band
together and defend themselves against hawks
and crows — are not, in short, the sort of quarry
with which the average bird of prey cares to have
to do. The orioles, on the other hand, are soli-
tary birds with small weak feet, and bills which,
though stout enough in their way, are not such
efficient weapons as the nicely-curved and sharp-
pointed bill of the friar-birds.

Now in certain islands where both friar-birds
and orioles occur, it is noticeable that the local
orioles, although belonging to a family which is
usually brilliant in colour, at any rate when adult,
are of just the same quakerish shade as the honey-
suckers living with them. More than that, where
the friar-bird shows a bald black patch round the
eye, there the oriole will have a patch of dark
feathers to match it ; the friar-bird's ruff or cowl
of reversed feathers will be copied by a light
patch on the oriole's neck, and the high-ridged
bill of one friar-bird is imitated by its correspond-
ing oriole having a similar Roman nose. The
sum total of these remarkable resemblances is
that the birds are so well matched that naturalists
getting hold of their skins easily mistake the
orioles for honey-suckers. I know I did myself
when I first saw one of these "mimicking" orioles
in a drawer full of oriole skins, thinking that some

55

Ornithological and Other Oddities

one who did not know his business had been
confusing the collection I was inspecting ; and
many years ago a mimetic oriole {Oriolus bouru-
ensis) was actually described in a scientific
publication as one of the friar-birds. It is
accordingly presumed that hawks make the same
mistake about the living birds, and let off the
orioles when they meet them, for fear of getting
a whole brotherhood of friars about their unlucky
heads.

Another case, even more striking than this,
because the birds concerned in it are not so
nearly akin — both friar-birds and orioles being
Passerines — is that of the drongo and its mimic,
the fork-tailed cuckoo. The drongo (Dicrurus
ater) is familiar to all residents in the East as the
king-crow ; he is a black bird about the size of
a starling, with short legs and a conspicuously
forked tail, who spends most of his time sitting
on telegraph wires or dead boughs and dashing
out at passing insects. Such time as he
has to spare he bestows on hustling out of his
vicinity various predatory birds, especially crows
and kites, for, being remarkably nimble in the
air and very sharp of bill and claw, he can make
himself respected by species of very much larger
size.

Now in the Indian region, where the drongo
is one of the very commonest birds, there also

56

KING-CR< i\\
A i ommon objei t on the telegraph-wires in India

INDIAN DR( >NG< H U< K( H I

The tail in ilii> mimic i- ■■• >t so well forked as in thi
/.'i pen

Mimicry in Birds

occurs a small black cuckoo with a forked tail
(Sumiciclus lugubris), which at first sight is so
like the king-crow that it may easily be taken
for it, the pair-toed feet of a cuckoo not being
a point which is likely to be noticed unless the
bird is actually in hand or very near. As drongos
have been seen feeding the young of this cuckoo,
it presumably lays its eggs in their nests, which
would be an excessively risky proceeding for a
bird which they could easily recognise as not one
of themselves. As it is, the cuckoo gets found
out#at times, for some drongos have actually been
seen to peck one of these birds to death.

In spite of this, however, it is probably of
general benefit to this extra-fraudulent cuckoo
to wear the livery of the " Kotwal " (superin-
tendent of police), as the drongo is called in the
Deccan ; for at any rate the criminal classes are
likely to treat him with more respect in the police
uniform than if they could see he was only a poor
vagabond cuckoo with the usual weak bill and
feet of his family.

The parasitic cuckoos have, indeed, a general
tendency to look like something else — generally
a hawk, as is well known to be the case with
our own familiar species. But an equally
familiar Indian cuckoo carries the hawk-like
appearance much further. This is the bird
well known, and thoroughly disliked, as the

57

Ornithological and Other Oddities

brain-fever bird {Hierococcyx varius) ; its note
resembling the word " brain-fever," repeated
time after time in a continually higher key.

Now the brain-fever bird is the most wonderful
feather-copy imaginable of the Indian sparrow-
hawk or shikra (Astur badius). All the mark-
ings of the hawk are reproduced in the cuckoo,
which is also of about the same size, and of
similar proportions in the matter of tail and wing ;
and both hawk and cuckoo having a first plumage
quite different from the one they assume when
adult, the resemblance extends to that Joo.
Moreover, their flight is so much the same that
unless one is near enough to see the beak, or
can watch the bird settle and note the difference
between the horizontal pose of the cuckoo and
the erect bearing of the hawk, it is impossible
to tell them apart on a casual view.

The hawk - cuckoo is parasitic upon the
babblers, and it has been observed that when
it appears these birds absent themselves as
speedily as possible, so that it has every chance
of depositing its egg, which is blue like theirs,
in security. Moreover, like the drongo-cuckoo,
it no doubt profits in a general way by resemb-
ling a bird much stronger than itself.

Dr. A. R. Wallace draws attention to the fact
that one of the large ground-cuckoos of the East
{Carpococcyx radiatus) bears a resemblance to a

58

Mimicry in Birds

pheasant, and suggests that this similarity is
useful to the bird. But the resemblance is not
very close, and as this cuckoo is not parasitic and
has a very strong bill of its own, there seems
to be no reason why it should not be able to
maintain itself without a disguise.

Another set of small Eastern cuckoos have
barred brown plumage, at any rate when young,
which is much like that of young shrikes, and
there are a cuckoo (Penthoceryx sonnerati) and
a shrike (Lanius tigrinus) which always keep
their zebra plumage. As shrikes are fierce little
birds and uncommonly hard biters, and also
wary and intelligent, the cuckoos may profit by
wearing their livery.

In Madagascar we find shrikes copied by
other Passerine birds, much as the orioles
resemble the friar-birds. The shrike Xenopiros-
tris pollcni is exactly copied by the harmless
Bulbul Tylas eduardi, and it is particularly
noteworthy that both birds vary in the same
way, the breast of each being indifferently white
or buff.

Having considered the cases in which a weaker
bird copies a stronger one, we may turn to the
"aggressive" mimicry of harmless birds by birds
of prey which would be given a wide berth if
their real character were known.

The oldest known case of this kind is that

59

Ornithological and Other Oddities

in which a harmless insect-eating hawk (Har-
pagus diodon), inhabiting the neighbourhood of
Rio de Janeiro, is copied in that particular district
by a sparrow-hawk (Accipiter pileatus), which
there has a reddish-brown wing-lining like its
model's, but elsewhere a white one. This is a
good instance, and there are several equally-
striking ones. In Celebes one of the fierce
hawk- eagles {Spizdettis lanceolatus) exactly re-
sembles in both young and adult plumages the
harmless honey-buzzard (Perms celebensis) of
the same country.

In India a small but fierce eagle (Hieraetus
pennatus) much resembles in size and colour
the lazy carrion - feeding pariah kite (Milvus
govinda), though it has not the forked tail of
that bird.

Moreover, all round the world in warm
climates are found the hawks of the genus
Elanus, which, in their delicate grey plumage,
long narrow wings, and lazy flight, most re-
markably resemble gulls and terns. Mr. W.
H. Hudson, in his delightful book, " The
Naturalist in La Plata," mentions the resem-
blance of the Elanus to a gull, and says that
the birds seem less afraid of it than of other
hawks. And in India the species of Elanus
found there (£. cceruleus) is called by the natives

"Jungle Tern"; I have seen it myself, and

60

Mimicry in Birds

taken it for a tern at first sight, so similar is
the colour to that water-bird's, and so different
the slow swing of the pinions from the sharp
decisive stroke one associates with the flight of
most hawks.

As every falconer knows that half the battle
is to get the hawk near enough to the quarry
to prevent the latter having a long start, it seems
very obvious that these deceptive birds of prey
profit by their resemblance to more or less
innocent species just as much as, in another
way, appear to do the birds mentioned above
as resembling creatures less liable to attack than
the majority of birds.

As to the method by which these remarkable
likenesses have been produced, I cannot agree
with the theory current with regard to the simi-
lar cases in insects, that the resemblance of the
mimic to its model was only slight at first, and
was gradually perfected by the escape from
destruction of those specimens which exhibited
it in the greatest degree, until, by the continual
preservation of such and their descendants, the
resemblance was, so to speak, bred into the
mimicking species. This seems to me to require
too many mistakes on the part of the other
creatures concerned, and I much prefer Darwin's
view, that mimicry must have commenced between

forms pretty much alike to start with, so that

61

Ornithological and Other Oddities

natural selection was only needed for the finish-
ing touches. Thus it may be doubted whether,
in the case of birds, the resemblances, though
probably useful enough now, were not altogether
accidental to start with, for there are just as
many startling resemblances where no theory
of mimicry will suffice ; the birds do not even
live in the same country in many cases.

Thus, as Sir Walter Buller and Mr. F. E.
Beddard have pointed out, the one in his work
on the " Birds of New Zealand," and the other
in "Animal Coloration," the large cuckoo of
New Zealand {Urodynamis taitensis) is indeed
very like a hawk, but the species it most re-
sembles is not a New Zealand one, but Cooper's
hawk of North America (Acciftiter cooperi) !
And it may be added that our own cuckoo
more resembles some of the tropical hawks of
the genus Baza than any British hawk. Several
kinds of Baza have the plain grey breast of
the cuckoo, and they are even called " cuckoo-
falcons " from their resemblance to that bird,
while the English sparrow-hawk is barred on
the breast ; the barring on the cuckoo not reach-
ing up so high, which renders its likeness to
that hawk decidedly imperfect.

The great skuas (Megalestris) show a singular

resemblance to birds of prey in their dark-brown

plumage streaked with tawny on the neck, which

62

Copyright

■ ll I HERN SKUA (p. 62)
Showing the eagh M plumage of this predatory Antarctic gull

;/•. p. n«,t<io

1 1 iften miscalled " Argus pheasants

Mimicry in Birds

recalls that of many eagles, while the white
patch at the base of the primary quills reproduces
the similar marking in buzzards. Yet these are
fierce predaceous creatures themselves, so that
the resemblance is pointless ; besides which, two
of the four known species live where they them-
selves are the only birds of prey.

The remarkable plumage of the male American
red-winged troupials {Agel&its) is well copied
by the male of a shrike {Campephaga phcenicea),
which has the same black body-colour and scarlet
epaulettes, but, as it lives in Africa, cannot profit
by the resemblance. It is true that several
African weaver-finches show the same style
of coloration, but if the shrike (not one of the
more predatory forms) mimics these, what do the
American troupials mimic ?

Many of this same troupial family {Icteridce)
bear a great resemblance to orioles, having the
black-and-yellow pied plumage which charac-
terises most of those birds ; indeed, they are
commonly called orioles in America. Orioles,
however, they are not, but close allies of the
starlings and weavers, and none of them occur
in the Old World, nor any orioles in America.

One of the American finches, the red-eyed
bunting or towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) bears
a close resemblance to the Indian robin-like
bird known as the shama (Cittocincla macrtira),

63

Ornithological and Other Oddities

both birds having long tails and short wings,
black upper plumage and chestnut flanks ; while
in the hens of both the black upper-parts are
replaced by brown. The resemblance is quite
near enough for mimicry, yet under the circum-
stances it can be of no avail, even if there were
any reason why one of these species should
imitate the other.

Several other less striking instances of this
false mimicry could be given ; thus, the American
oven-bird (Furnarius rufus), made so familiar
to us by Mr. Hudson's works, exactly resembles
our nightingale in plumage, although a bigger
bird and rather differently shaped ; while our
magpie is well copied in colour by two much
smaller birds, the dhyal or magpie-robin of India
{Copsycfais saularis) and the magpie -tanager
{Cissopis leveriana) of South America. More-
over, the beautiful starling of the Andamans
{Sturnia andamanensis) so resembles a gull in
the arrangement of its colours, — white body,
grey back, black quills, and yellow bill and feet
— that if only it were bigger, and if gulls were
common in the seas around its home, it might be
set down as a mimic too !

Our common domestic birds show by their

casual variations the great changes in appearance,

by variation alone, which might produce under

favourable circumstances a serviceable mimetic

64

Mimicry in Birds

resemblance ; thus the common fowl often ex-
hibits a variety in which the body is white and
the primary quills and tail black, a coloration very
characteristic of many large and powerful birds.

Applying this to the stock case of the orioles,
we may compare the hypothetical ancestor of
these birds with the known canary. This bird
is normally, in its wild state (and often in domes-
tication), of a streaky olive-green, somewhat like
the young of many orioles; it frequently produces
a cinnamon form, and (very rarely) a brown one,
which may be compared to the mimicking orioles,
and every one knows its yellow and pied varia-
tions, one of which, the nearly-extinct " London
Fancy " breed, has dark quills and tail, and so
very closely approaches the golden oriole's plan
of coloration.

Now there is one oriole, the Australian Oriolus
viridis, which is throughout life green and
streaky, and may be taken as representing the
ancestor ; and this shows not the slightest re-
semblance to the common Australian friar-bird
(Tropidorhynchus corniculatus), which has the
usual snuffy-brown of his relatives, and a head
altogether bald and black ; in fact he is the
typical friar.

He is evidently a hopeless model for the green
oriole, although as warlike, and therefore as de-
sirable in that capacity, as the insular members

65 E

Ornithological and Other Oddities

of his family ; but even if a brown variation
occurred in Australian orioles they would have
nothing to pass off as the friar's bald black head.
Possibly, too, the brown variation has never
occurred, so the orioles have to get along on
their own merits. The mimicking species in the
islands farther west have evidently been more
fortunate, as the friar-birds there not being- bald-
headed, their garb was more easily counterfeited.

Farther west again the range of the friar-birds
ceases, and here the orioles blaze out in black
and gold, and even black and scarlet ; nature
not having bred them to a dingy model, the
natural tendency of a green coloration to sport
into yellow, and of brown to produce red (as
shown in the brown Kaka parrot [Nestor rneridio-
nalis) of New Zealand), has had free play. It
is noticeable that these richly-coloured orioles
have longer wings than the dull mimetic forms,
so that increased power of flight has evidently
proved an ample means of protection where
there was no chance of shuffling. Indeed, in
Yarkand, golden orioles (Oriolus kundoo) have
been seen to drive off a big jungle-crow as
boldly as the friar-birds which their shabby
relatives copy.

As a further instance of the essentially fortuitous

character of these resemblances, attention may be

profitably directed to the particularly beautiful one

66

INDIAN BLACK-HEADED ORIOLE
This beautiful bird is one of the < pei ies in India

BRAZI1 IAN
l ROUP1 \l
\ iraon South-
Ami r ii .111 liir
Inured much liko the
Indian Black-headed

le.
Ryptrmt

lint hiHSCH

Mimicry in Birds

of the brain-fever bird to the shikra. We can
see why it pays this cuckoo to look like the hawk,
but there is a very curious little point which makes
the fortuitousness of the "mimicry" almost certain.
Many hawks have a little tubercle just inside the
nostril, and this is reproduced in the brain-fever
bird. But setting aside the improbability of a
terrified bird stopping to notice whether the
object of its fear had tubercles in the nostrils
or not — in which case, too, it could not fail to see
the different beak — it so happens that the shikra
itself does not possess this little nasal prominence!
Thus the possession thereof by the cuckoo is
a mere chance coincidence, and if this be the
case with such a small detail, why may not the
resemblance of plumage and form be so likewise ?
As a matter of fact, the cuckoos as a family are
very prone to show resemblances to birds of prey.
For instance, a common Indian non - parasitic
ground-cuckoo (Centropus sinensis), whose want
of resemblance to a hawk when adult may be
judged from its popular name of "crow-pheasant,"
is usually, when young, barred across with black
and white and black and brown, and with its
strong curved bill and bright eyes distinctly re-
calls a young bird of prey. Here, then, we have
the requisites for a case of mimicry. Not all
young crow-pheasants have the barred plumage ;

some are black with brown wings, — simply duller

67

Ornithological and Other Oddities

editions of their parents — and if it were advan-
tageous for this strong and plucky bird to
resemble a bird of prey, no doubt these pre-
cociously-plumaged youngsters would be killed
off and only the barred ones survive, until the
barred young plumage was the only one found.
As this is not the case, we may assume no
mimicry is necessary.

It should, however, be observed that there is
no gradation between the two forms, and so, if
the barred plumage became of mimetic value, it
would have done so without the gradual evolution
of a more and more marked resemblance insisted
on by entomological theorists on this fascinating
subject, but by the natural utilisation of a re-
semblance already existing; for a barred plumage
in young cuckoos is so very common that we may
fairly take it in the crow-pheasant as the normal
one, and the self-coloured young birds as more
recent offshoots, since there is a strong tendency
in birds for the young to drop their immature
plumage and assume at once that of the adult
when this can be done with safety.

That, although a merely general resemblance

is enough to make an impression, details would

need to be added in some cases, is shown by the

fact that where it is a matter of life or death to

birds to know one similar species from another,

they can distinguish them even where there is a

68

Mimicry in Birds

considerable initial resemblance. Thus, the small
kite-like eagle mentioned early in this article is
distinguished at any rate by the house-crows
and grey babblers (Argya malcolmi) of India.
This bird would possibly succeed as an imitation
of the kite if it had the forked tail of that bird,
and then might expect to deceive some species,
though crows and babblers would probably, from
their social and raptor-hating instincts, give warn-
ing against the unusually vicious kite they would
deem themselves to have discovered.

But all birds are not equally intelligent, as I
found when experimenting with their tastes in
regard to " warningly-coloured " butterflies and
their mimics, and no doubt many a species, both
in birds and insects, has had its fraudulent career
as a mimic nipped in the bud by having to do
with enemies or prey which were too observant to
be long taken in by anything except an absolutely
perfect imitation.

69

THE GOLDFINCH ABROAD

It is encouraging to those who love the gold-
finch to know that this most charming of the
finches has been acclimatised abroad, in countries
inhabited by English-speaking people, with most
gratifying success. To those who have followed
the progress of acclimatisation, it is well known
that goldfinches were among the species which
throve best when many English birds of different
kinds were liberated in New Zealand a quarter
of a century ago ; and they are now so abundant
there that a bird-catcher can go out and catch
fifteen dozen in a morning. It is noteworthy
that no complaint has been lodged against the
goldfinch in New Zealand, while the sparrow,
yellowhammer, and greenfinch are there deemed
such nuisances that they were recently proscribed
by name in the Legislature of the colony. In
Tasmania, also, it appears that the goldfinch is
doing well, being, according to Mr. F. M. Littler
of Launceston, in that island, the next best-known
imported bird after the sparrow. The goldfinch
has been in Tasmania for about twenty years,
and is numerous in Hobart and the surrounding

country, going at times in flocks of forty and

70

The Goldfinch Abroad

fifty. Although not so numerous in the north of
the island as in the south, it is increasing rapidly
round Launceston and the suburbs, even breed-
ing in gardens when undisturbed. It is reported
as a very beneficial bird, owing to its habit of
feeding on scale insects and other pests of trees ;
the goldfinch being, like finches generally, in-
sectivorous to some extent, though its main
utility has always been supposed to lie in the
destruction of the seeds of thistles and other
weeds of the composite order of plants. This
case, therefore, is particularly interesting as
showing how a species may be unexpectedly
beneficial when introduced into a new country.
Since Mr. Littler wrote, the abundance of the
goldfinch in Tasmania has been testified to by
Mr. Dudley le Souef, the Director of the Mel-
bourne Zoological Gardens, who also says that
the bird is exceedingly plentiful in the southern
parts of Victoria, especially in gardens round
Melbourne and Geelong ; indeed, it even nests
in suburban streets in the latter city, frequenting
the roadside elms and other trees for this purpose.
In North America the goldfinch has been in-
troduced with much success. Mr. H. Nehrling,
writing in 1896, stated that the bird had then
been successfully naturalised a number of years
ago, and bade fair to become quite plentiful in
and near New York, Hoboken, Boston, Cam-

71

Ornithological and Other Oddities

bridge, and Worcester in Massachusetts ; also
in parts of New Jersey, and about Portland and
other localities in Oregon, especially in the last-
named, while he thought its naturalisation pro-
bable in St. Louis and Cincinnati. The birds
had been introduced in small numbers at all the
places mentioned, and they must still be doing
well, for Mr. R. Ridgway gives this imported
species a place in his systematic work on the
birds of North and Middle America ; mentioning,
in addition to its United States habitats, the
occurrence of specimens in Toronto and Ontario,
and the fact of its naturalisation in Cuba.

In the West Indies the goldfinch has another
footing beside that island, its introduction in this
case being accidental. Mr. D. W. Prentiss,
writing about the same time as Mr. Nehrling,
mentioned that a number of these birds escaped
from a vessel in St. George's in Bermuda in
1893, and had multiplied rapidly, so as to be
quite common about Walsingham and Pointer's
Vale ; he had seen a flock containing more than
two dozen. This accidental occurrence of the
goldfinch is a case, apparently, of bird-history
repeating itself, for long ago canaries got natu-
ralised in Elba by escaping from a ship, although
they were ultimately all caught up after they had
become established.

Last of all, the goldfinch has turned up in a

72

The Goldfinch Abroad

wild state in South Africa ; in this case also,
apparently, by accident. It seems that Mr.
Barton, a soldier of the Suffolk Regiment, when
returning from the late war, brought with him
two goldfinches which he had caught himself
when in the Transvaal, on the hills at Heidel-
berg. He found them common halfway up these
hills, and evidently breeding, since one of his
birds was in immature plumage — what our bird-
fanciers call a "grey-pate" — when captured.
Mr. Barton had also caught in the same locality
some canaries, which Mr. E. A. Butler, who
communicated these facts to the Zoologist,
could not distinguish from ordinary variegated
domestic birds. This looks rather like an
accident to somebody's aviary, or perhaps the
owner of one, foreseeing the political disturb-
ances, had given his birds their liberty lest they
might lack proper attention. The editor of the
Zoologist, Mr. W. L. Distant, states that in four
years in the Transvaal he had never heard of
goldfinches in the wild state, and that a friend of
his in Pretoria found them difficult to keep for
any length of time even in an aviary ; so that
this introduction is the more remarkable. It is
to be hoped, in any case, that the goldfinches
will thrive as well in this part of the Southern
Hemisphere as they have further to the east in
Australasia.

73

Ornithological and Other Oddities

I am somewhat surprised at this difficulty in
keeping goldfinches in Pretoria, for these birds
thrive well in captivity in India, even in a cage,
and they are not unfrequently imported, being
obtainable in Bombay as cheaply as in England
at times. These birds come, I believe, from
Malta, but from whatever locality he reaches
India, the goldfinch exhibits remarkable indiffer-
ence to the heat when he gets there. I have
never seen the captive goldfinch panting, even
when the native birds were in many cases going
about the gardens with their mouths agape. The
crow and the sparrow in Calcutta most eloquently
testify their feelings in this way, and even the
coppersmith-barbet, an unblessed harbinger of
the hot weather, has at times to confess himself
overcome by the warmth he is supposed to
enjoy.

This tolerance of heat, however, combined
with an indifference to cold which is well known
— so many goldfinches wintering in England — is
no doubt one of the causes which have favoured
the artificial spread of our "proud-tailor"; and
his species must be a successful one in the
struggle for existence, as in many countries where
it naturally occurs it is very common. Of course,
the scarcity of goldfinches in Britain is chiefly
due to the operations of the bird-catcher, and it
would be well if the bird could be perpetually

74

The Goldfinch Abroad

protected here. Any one who wants goldfinches
should buy the large and beautiful birds imported
freely from Siberia in the winter, and now costing
in many cases little more than home-caught birds,
though far superior in beauty. Moreover, as it
has been repeatedly proved that goldfinches will
breed in captivity, a tame strain could probably
be raised with little trouble if a dearth of captured
birds gave a stimulus to " the fancy " in this
regard.

We should not, however, be too severe on the
captors and gaolers of goldfinches, since it is
through them that the extension of this delightful
bird's habitat has come about ; and, so long as
English goldfinches are caught and sold, it would
be worth while to spread them further yet. The
Argentine, with its great thistle-beds, would seem
an ideal field of emigration to which many a
worthy goldfinch, hard pressed by high farming
and weedless fields, might be assisted, his family's
history as emigrants being ample guarantee that
he would not abuse the privilege. The goldfinch,
as I have heard remarked more than once, always
looks like a gentleman, and he evidently behaves
accordingly, not repaying a fresh start in the
world with base ingratitude, like that ruffianly
hooligan, the sparrow. "Philip Sparrow" has
had far more assistance in emigration than " King
Harry Redcap," but New Zealand, Tasmania,

75

Ornithological and Other Oddities

Australia, the States, and Bermuda all cry out
upon him as altogether unprofitable ; which
teaches the lesson that it is not acclimatisation
which is to be visited with the condemnation it
usually meets with nowadays, but the injudicious
selection of species which has too often been
made. For no better test case could be found
than the history of the foreign careers of the
expatriated sparrow and goldfinch, although, as
usual, we hear more of the ill done than the
good.

76

BIRDS IN THE MOULT

The periodical loss and renewal of their feather-
ing, indispensable as it is for the beauty of
birds and the effectiveness of their wings, is
undoubtedly for most of them an infliction with
which they would probably be glad to dispense
were that possible. During the time they are
shedding their plumage they are evidently
weak and depressed ; the songsters are generally
silent, and some of the brighter-hued and highly-
decorated species seem almost to feel their
shabby condition. The golden pheasant loses
his activity with his ruff and tail, and the man-
darin drake, although nature gives him a new,
if sober, coat of feathers at once, loses not only
his pride, but also his love for his mate, as if
he were afraid to look her in the face when
not in full dress. The physical strain caused
by the moult also renders birds liable to succumb
to the influence of bad weather, such as cold or
wet ; and, of course, their more or less impaired
flight is always a source of danger. It is on
the moulting lark that the merlin is let fly by
falconers with the greatest hope of success.
Under the circumstances, then, it is not sur-

77

Ornithological and Other Oddities

prising that a quick moult is desirable, as bird-
fanciers have long ago found out ; and hence
there is a widespread tendency in birds to moult
as fast as possible, whenever their safety allows
of it. It is obvious, however, that birds which
are much on the wing cannot moult in too
wholesale a manner ; such usually, therefore,
shed their quills in pairs only, which means a
rather protracted moulting season. In other
cases, as where much ornamental plumage is
worn, this may all be thrown off at once, as in
the case of the golden pheasant and mandarin
duck already mentioned, and equally conspicu-
ously in the peacock. I have even heard of a
case in which one of the last-mentioned birds
was seen to help on his moult by plucking out
his own train -feathers.

Even the wing-quills may all be discarded
together, and flight dispensed with for a time ;
but this is obviously only possible in certain
exceptional cases, usually among water- and
marsh-birds, which are under less apprehension
of danger from quadruped foes than inhabitants
of the dry land. Thus we find a complete moult
of all the quills in rails, grebes, and cranes, in
some species at all events ; while the state of
flightlessness to which the duck and goose family
are reduced by this means has long been com-
mon knowledge, owing to the pernicious custom,

78

Birds in the Moult

obtaining at different times and places, of hunt-
ing the unfortunate birds at this period of their
helplessness. According to my observations)
the quills undergo this wholesale shedding in
small as well as in large species, in the tiny
cotton-teal or pigmy goose of India {Nettopus
coromandelianus) as well as in the powerful
swan ; so that defence cannot be relied upon in
all cases. One member of this family, however,
the curious magpie goose of Australia (Ansera-
nas me/ano/eucus), moults its quills gradually like
most birds ; and as the half-webbed feet and
well-developed hind toe of this bird, together
with the very slight development of the charac-
teristic straining apparatus in the beak, point
to its being an ancestral form — a living link
between the ducks and their unknown land-bird
ancestor — it is probable that the wholesale moult
is a late development. In connection with this
it is interesting to note that ducks under un-
favourable conditions of life — as when in very
close confinement, and with clipped wings — will
revert to the gradual method of shedding their
quills ; a clipped quill is always apt to cause
trouble to a bird. The most wholesale moult,
and that involving the greatest discomfort, occurs
among the penguins. These curious birds, be-
fore moulting, become ravenous, and feed up
well, but then fast until they are in full plum-

79

Ornithological and Other Oddities

age again, moping on shore in hungry misery.

Their body feathers come off very freely, and

the scaly-looking plumage of their flippers — it

seems almost using a misnomer to call them

wings — sloughs off in patches like the skin of

a reptile. The female hornbill, also, immured

for the breeding season in a hole in a tree, in

some cases, at all events, takes the opportunity

of changing her dress, and loses her quills and

tail, thus breaking the general rule that birds

do not moult till they have finished breeding ;

she can afford to do so, as her mate has to do

the catering for her as well as for her young

during her imprisonment.

One would expect that the great running birds,

which cannot fly in any case, would undergo a

wholesale moult of the wing feathers, but, as far

as can be observed, this is not the case ; so that

in some cases, at all events, the opportunity of

dispensing with a number of large feathers at

once has not been taken advantage of by nature.

The flightless rails of New Zealand, the wekas

(Ocydromus), do, however, moult in this way,

and so does our landrail ; and this, again, makes

us wonder why such a moult does not occur in

the game-birds, which usually depend so much

more on their legs than on their wings. One

would think that the partridge could do without

flying for a few weeks as well as its neighbour

80

Birds in the Moult

the corncrake, living as they do under such
similar conditions.

One very remarkable phenomenon which fre-
quently attends the moult is the change of colour
which then takes place. I do not allude to the
regular alteration in appearance, such as the
whitening of the ptarmigans and the numerous
striking changes exhibited by such birds as
the golden plover, which have distinct summer
dresses, but to individual aberrations such as
are not unfrequently seen in captive birds.
Thus a valued albinistic, or otherwise abnor-
mally coloured, specimen not unfrequently re-
gains its normal colouring on moulting, much
to the disgust of its possessor, as I have seen
in India with white examples of the house-
mynah {Acridotheres tristis). Dark varieties
are also liable to revert in this way, there
being a case on record of a black bullfinch
which did so.

Among our familiar fowls it is interesting to
note that the civilised rooster has, in most cases,
lost a peculiar moult to which his ancestor, the
red jungle-fowl of India, is subject. This bird,
which exactly resembles the "black-breasted
red " breeds of tame fowls in colour, loses the
long orange-red hackles of his neck after breed-
ing, and assumes for some time a covering of

short black feathers on that part, which are

8 1 f

Ornithological and Other Oddities

at length replaced in their turn by hackles
again. So rare is this change in the tame
fowl that I have only seen it once, and then
in a highly-modified breed, the Langshan ; one
would certainly have expected to find it in the
little-changed common fowls of India, inhabiting
the same country as their progenitor. It is true
I saw this Langshan in India, but he had been
imported from China.

Although, however, Chanticleer under the pro-
tection of man sees no need to go into undress,
the case is otherwise with the drake, which still
continues to undergo his double moult, losing
all his glory of green-plush head and curled
tail feathers when he sheds his quills, and then
bearing till the autumn the sober dress of his
partner, or at least a close approximation to it.
This change, as is well known, befalls most
males of the anatine family when they wear a
much more conspicuous dress than their con-
sorts ; it obviously makes for protection, and it
is rather significant that the most striking ex-
ceptions to it occur in South America and
Australia, the rosy-billed duck (Metofiiana pepo-
saca) and upland goose of the former continent
being examples among familiar fancy water-fowl.
But these zoological regions are believed to be

the scene of a less rigorous struggle for existence

82

Birds in the Moult

than others, judging from the more archaic
nature of their fauna ; and thus it is, perhaps,
that a moulting drake can there afford to wear
a livery which in more strenuous competition
would prove his ruin.

83

THE RAVEN OF THE PAMPAS

Sir Ralph the Raven has a wide domain. From
Greenland to Mexico, and from Iceland to North-
West India, he is to be found, black and black-
guardly everywhere ; and in those parts of the
world where he is not present in person, he
seems to have deputed his power to some mem-
ber of his family — such as the jungle-crow in
the Far East, and the white-eyed crow in Aus-
tralia. But there is one great continent where
neither raven nor crow, large or small, has a
footing, and that is South America. Jays there
are, wherever there is forest or woodland to
give their slinking, pilfering ways a chance ; but
the true crows, black and bold freebooters of
the open country, are nowhere found.

Now, as South America presents an admirable
variety of climates and situations, to say nothing
of business opportunities in the way of carrion
and small weak forms of animal life, it would
seem that the only obstacle to corvine immigra-
tion there has been what scientists call the
organic barrier ; in other words, previous settlers
have "jumped the claim," vast as it is.

For ordinary hawks — falcon, harrier, and buz-
84

The Raven of the Pampas

zard — the crows care little. The black tribe are
not good eating ; they are strong on the wing,
hard fighters when brought down, and they are
too strong in esprit de corps to be attacked with
impunity. I used to know a peregrine falcon
in Calcutta who had, when he first took up his
residence in the cold weather — falsely so called
— to put up with a lot of vulgar abuse from the
local crows ; but he never offered to cut one
down, an event I used to sincerely hope for.
But there is a clan of hawks in South America
— the sub-family Polyborince of ornithologists —
which have far too lar^e a dash of the crow in
their own composition to be lightly dealt with
by the black brigade. And chief of these, taking
the place of the raven in the North, is the cara-
cara, or carancho (Po/ydortis brasiliensis), which
ranges from the Southern States of the Union
to beyond the Straits of Magellan. It is a fine
handsome bird, equalling, or exceeding, its cor-
vine rival in size, and standing high on its legs.
Its handsomely barred plumage of black-brown
and cream-colour sets off its proportions, and its
large strong bill is of a delicate French grey,
contrasting well with the bare face, which, as
mentioned in the chapter on " Blushing Birds,"
is pink or yellow, according to circumstances.
The young birds in their first plumage are less
striking, being of a dull brown colour, with

§5

Ornithological and Other Oddities

complexions of a livid mauve ; but the carriage
is always noticeable, as the bird moves easily
and gracefully on the ground, instead of hobbling
awkwardly as hawks usually do.

For the caracara is, in respect of his feet and
their use, only half a hawk. Compared with
the long toes and exquisitely tapered talons of
the falcons or goshawks, his somewhat fowl-like
feet seem decidedly ineffective weapons, and his
method of employing them is in correspondence
with this structure. When taking anything off
the ground, he does not seize it with his feet
like the hawk tribe generally, but picks it up
with his bill like a crow or a gull, though he
will afterwards drop it and catch it in his
talons without interrupting his flight. Mr. W.
H. Hudson, the well-known chronicler of the
lives of the Pampas birds, has even seen a live
rat treated in this way, risky as the method
might seem ; and when, in the Calcutta Zoo-
logical Garden, I offered a rat to a bird there,
he, after clawing at it ineffectively, picked it up
by the tail with his bill in the most amateurish
way. When attacking a bird in the air, how-
ever, it uses its claws like other hawks, and
Mr. Hudson has seen such active species as
the domestic pigeon, the spur- winged South
American lapwing, and the white egret captured

by it. In the last case, four birds, two adult

86

II . /'. Dantlo

CARA< VRAS
Normal form and pal<

The Raven of the Pampas

and two young, united in the chase, for it is
one of the peculiarities of the caracara that, like
the crow tribe, it appreciates the advantages of
co-operation, being more sociable than the nobler
hawks. Its general disposition, according to the
various good observers who have recorded its
ways, is certainly remarkably like that of the
corvine birds. Like them, it is essentially a
waiter on opportunity, a persecutor of the weak
and the wounded, and an unfailing attendant at
the obsequies of any beast which may perish in
its vicinity.

Like our hooded crow, it is ever ready to
devour the sportsman's game if he leaves it in
its reach, and its attacks on young lambs and
weakly sheep bring on it the same retribution
which falls on the crow and raven elsewhere.
Don Felix d'Azara's words about it, " All
methods of subsistence are known to this bird ;
it pries into, understands, and takes advantage
of everything," are just such as might be applied
to any crow which is sufficiently well known ;
and it is particularly interesting to find a recent
naturalist, Mr. E. Gibson, mentioning that the
carancho has little fear of man when not in pos-
session of a gun, making bold, under these
circumstances, to attack a lamb quite close to
the shepherd. On one occasion Mr. Gibson
was collecting egrets' eggs, and found that a

87

Ornithological and Other Oddities

carancho actually followed him about, attacking
the eggs as the birds were driven off their nests,
and refusing to be driven off itself until hit by
the butt-end of a knife flung at it by the exas-
perated oologist. This intelligent and irritating
grasp of the situation exactly recalls the behaviour
of the house-crow of India, which is positively
insolent as long as one is unarmed, but knows
and fears a gun ; and a similar wisdom in our
rooks at home has given rise to the saying that
they can smell powder.

Of course, with a character of this kind, it is a
foregone conclusion that the caracara should be
a determined enemy to young birds. Mr. Hudson
gives a pathetic instance wherein a rhea — the
South American ostrich — having left the young
it was brooding to charge a passing horseman,
found on its return the little things being
mercilessly slaughtered by these carrion-hawks,
which had been waiting all along for some such
opportunity. This continual watchfulness is ex-
emplified by the caracara's well-known habit of
settling near when it observes a man sleeping
on the Pampas, in the charitable hope that he
will never wake up again ! And the same gloomy
anticipation occurs with the raven, which it is
said to be possible to decoy within shot-range
by lying down and feigning death.

In voice the caracara is not at all crow-like,

The Raven of the Pampas

though his humbler relative in the Falklands,
there called the jack-rook, has a distinct caw,
which, with its black plumage, has no doubt
gained it its colloquial name — by naturalists it
is known as Forster's milvago. The caracara's
note is a harsh double croak, sometimes pro-
longed into a cackle, during the utterance of
which the vocalist turns his head back till the
crown touches his back. I have seen the
specimen at Calcutta already alluded to let off
his exuberant spirits in this way when his foot
was grabbed by a worthy old eagle next door
whom he was tormenting, and in this case I took
the note for a laugh of defiant glee. The bird
is also noisy when attacking, at any rate at times,
so that although his language is different, his free-
dom in its use is more suoro-estive of the voluble
crows than the silent and dignified hawks.

Every observer seems to feel some pleasure
when a bird of the crow or caracara type gets
worsted in one of his predatory adventures, and
Mr. Gibson relates two such cases in which Don
Carancho distinctly came off second best. In
one, a half-grown nestling of the Maguari stork,
which had been tethered, was attacked by half-
a-dozen caracaras, and was found bravely keeping
them all at bay, and now and then getting home
a thrust with his powerful bill. On the other

occasion the hawk was seen to be following a

89

Ornithological and Other Oddities

skunk, which meandered along with its tail erect
and in its usual happy consciousness of pesti-
ferousness. The pursuing bird, although it was
following closely on foot, evidently had its doubts
as to what would be the result of its meditated
attack, but at last opened the fight by the
decidedly unskilful method of grasping the
skunk's tail. The assaulted beast, of course,
at once opened fire with its scent-glands, and as
its discharge is as objectionable to most animals
as to man, the unhappy caracara had excellent
reason to remember skunks for the future.

In managing its domestic affairs the caracara
shows the foresight and tenacity which might be
expected of it. It remains constant to the same
locality for many years, using a tree as a nesting-
place if one is available. But as it is most in its
element on the open Pampas, it often has to
forego this elevated situation, and then is wise
enough to build on a small islet if one is avail-
able, though, of course, such a convenience is not
always to be had, and the open ground has to re-
ceive the bulky collection of sticks, bones, and rub-
bish which does duty for a nest. The birds, though
they will keep about when the nest is robbed,
will hardly ever actually attack, in this strikingly
recalling the raven, which also will usually face
any foe but man under similar circumstances.

One final point of correspondence between

90

The Raven of the Pampas

these two remarkable birds deserves notice.
The raven, as every one knows, is not always
absolutely constant to his sable plumage, like so
many black birds, and in the Faroe Islands a
pied variety used to be constantly present in
small numbers, though now apparently extinct.

The caracara is also subject to albinism, a form
in which the usual brownish-black is replaced by
pale grey being sometimes met with. There
is one such bird at present in the Zoological
Gardens, and others have been exhibited there.
Now Mr. Durnford, working in Patagonia, found
pale-coloured caracaras unusually common there,
although he did not observe such specimens in
Buenos Ayres. Thus it would seem that in both
cases the abnormally pale plumage tends to be
locally limited.

As both raven and caracara bear captivity well
— one of the specimens of the latter at the Zoo-
logical Gardens having lived there for twenty
years — and will live in the same aviary, it ought
to be possible for any Zoological Gardens to
furnish the entertaining spectacle of these two
amusing and unscrupulous birds playing off their
respective intelligences against each other. And
now that our London institution is extending the
system of large aviaries, it may not be too much
to hope for that the experiment may yet be made
in Regent's Park.

9'

FOREIGN CAGE-BIRDS AT HOME

Many keepers of the beautiful foreign cage-birds
now so freely imported have doubtless wished to
learn something of their life and habits in a wild
state — a wish not so very easy to gratify, since
writers of books on birds intended for the general
public have a marvellous knack of avoiding such
species in making their selection of those to be
written about. It may therefore not be deemed
out of place if I give a few notes on some birds,
more or less familiar in our cages and aviaries,
which I have had the pleasure of meeting per-
sonally in their natural surroundings.

The opportunity of doing this first occurred to
me fourteen years ago, when I was in East Africa
for a few weeks, part of the time being spent in
Zanzibar, and part in Mombasa — then a very
much less important place than it has since
become.

What at once struck me in Zanzibar was the
abundance of our good friend, the Java sparrow,
which was to be seen commonly all about the
town. Here, as in several other Eastern coun-
tries, he was only a colonist, having been turned

loose about thirty years before my time. The

92

Foreign Cage-Birds at Home

locality evidently suited the birds, though what
they fed upon I never found out, as they did not
come down into the streets as our sparrow does ;
possibly they went out into the country for their
meals, for the Java sparrow has a strong swift
flight, and travels much faster on the wing in the
open than one would be apt to suppose from
observing his somewhat heavy make and move-
ments in a cage.

As an ornament to the buildings about which
he breeds in cracks and crevices, the Java sparrow
is a great success, and his sweet liquid chirp is
much more pleasant to the ear than the harsh
notes of the real " spadger." So pleased was I
at the sight of him in the capacity of citizen, that
when, years afterwards, I went to live in Calcutta,
I tried to introduce him there.

But nearly all the birds I turned out always
went off at once, and though an odd one, pro-
bably not so strong on the wing, or a casual
"escape," might be seen about the place for long
periods at times, the birds persistently refused to
colonise. As all the building-sites are well taken
up by the house sparrow, it is very possible that
their attempts to do so would have ended in
failures. Once, however, I saw four birds
together, in lovely condition, on a bamboo bush,
so some may have stayed about away from the
houses ; and as I have heard of them in the

93

Ornithological and Other Oddities

Calcutta suburbs, it is possible they may be
becoming established, as they have been for
many years in the Madras district. Speaking
of the Java sparrow, I may mention that a
gentleman I once met, who knew the bird well
and had been in Java, told me that he had only
seen three there, so that it would seem not to
be much in evidence in its native country.

Outside the town in Zanzibar might be seen
weavers and mannikins, but I was not in a posi-
tion to identify the species, though I once noticed
a specimen of one of the orange and black kinds
of "bishops" among some reeds. When I got
to Mombasa I found only three Java sparrows,
which some one had turned out, but I have
since heard the species has much increased. But
there was another cage-bird much in evidence at
the more outlying bungalows at Mombasa which
it gave me much pleasure to see at large. This
was the cordon-bleu (Estrelda phcenicotis), that
dainty little fawn and sky-blue waxbill so much
admired by all fanciers of tiny finches. These
little things were not so very abundant, but
caught the eye at once, as they hopped about in
pairs on the ground, much after the fashion of our
hedge-sparrow ; no doubt, like that bird, they
were feeding on small insects and seeds.

A beautiful weaver, of which the male was
yellow with an orange head {Hyphantornis

94

Foreign Cage-Birds at Home

bojeri), was the commonest bird in Mombasa,
though the dull greenish females and young
were naturally more numerous than the full-
plumaged cocks. This, however, was not then
in the trade, and I do not know that it has been
imported since, so I merely introduce it here to
show how one may miss a good thing. Seeing
these beautiful and showy seed-eating birds all
about the place, I naturally thought they would
be in the possession of many dealers at home,
and so I did not trouble to keep any, although a
fledgling once actually flew into the bungalow
where I was staying. But when I got home I
found to my great surprise that not only was the
bird, as I implied above, not to be had of the
dealers, but was so little known even to pro-
fessional scientists, that they had not got the
female in the British Museum collection. Moral
— don't despise the common birds of a country
unless you know all about them. I did not see
these weavers feeding on the ground, but often
observed them on low vegetation ; their nests
were to be seen hung on the fronds of palm-trees
even among the native huts, several together, as
is the general custom of the weaver group. These
nests were rounded in shape, with an entrance
hole, but no tubular passage thereto as in some
of the nests built by birds of this family.

The half-collared turtle dove (Turtur semitor-

95

Ornithological and Other Oddities

quatus) was common on the mainland opposite
Mombasa Island, but I did not notice anything
particularly interesting in its habits. It is a large
dove, much resembling the familiar domestic
species, but darker in colour, with a fine pinkish
tinge on the neck and breast. The late General
Matthews, who most kindly interested himself in
my pursuits, gave me a large number of these
birds in Zanzibar, some of which I presented on
his behalf to the London Zoo, while others I gave
to St. James's Park. These latter, about a dozen
in number, were confined in one of the compart-
ments in an aviary on the island back of the
keeper's house, which is used for the occasional
accommodation of birds. Here they were kept
till in perfect condition, when they were liberated.
They stayed about for some months, and then
disappeared, and, what is indeed curious, none
were ever shot and reported as " rare occur-
rences." During their captivity, one of them
produced two curious hybrids with a white-and-
black cock domestic pigeon ; these were blue in
colour, with no distinct markings, but a pale band
at the end of the tail, in which colour-points they
resembled the dove parent. I doubt if any one
could have divined their origin at first sight.

To return to the foreign cage-birds in their
own haunts. I did not see much more in this

way in Africa, so that it was not until I took up

96

Foreign Cage-Birds at Home

a post in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, in 1894,
that I gained much more experience. In the
first place, I was rather surprised not to see the
familiar cagfe-birds of India about the gardens.
I did not land in Bombay, or I should have found
the ring-parrakeet a very common bird even in
city trees, as I did later on. In Calcutta this
parrakeet is, indeed, no rarity, but it is not very
noticeable except in the winter months, and then
is not abundant. It is, however, one of the com-
monest birds in India generally, and in journeys
by rail I often saw it perched on the telegraph
wires. In the beautiful district of Dehra Dun, I
used also to see the lovely little plum-headed
parrakeet, with its swift flight and musical call,
while I now and then viewed the large "rock
parrot," which bears much the same relationship
to the ring-neck as the missel-thrush does to the
song-thrush. The flight of parrots is very sur-
prising to any one viewing it for the first time.
It is very swift, and the wings are pointed down-
wards and moved quickly, the bird also rolling
from side to side frequently — it is, in fact, the
flight of a shore-haunting wader rather than that
of a land bird. Few creatures are so active and
joyous as wild parrots, and I always feel quite as
much sympathy for a caged parrot as I do for
the much-pitied skylark, which after all is a
thorough groundling when he is not singing.

97 c

Ornithological and Other Oddities

Although the bulbuls are not very common as
cage-birds, they are yet well known to avicul-
turists ; and I found two of them among the most
widely-spread and characteristic birds in India.
They especially frequent gardens, and their
graceful movements and sweet liquid notes make
them most pleasant neighbours. In Calcutta the
two common species were the Bengal bulbul,
with its rich dark plumage and scarlet under-
tail-coverts — replaced in some places by allied
species of rather lighter colour ; and the jaunty
peak-crested red-whiskered bulbul, whose pure
white breast makes him quite as noticeable as
the other species, although this is larger. The
big dark bird was much the commoner in Cal-
cutta, but during the last year I was there (1902),
I certainly saw many more of the red-whiskered
species. The bulbuls keep chiefly to trees and
bushes, seldom visiting the ground ; they feed
mainly on berries, eating them even when green,
but the young are fed on insects.

The dhyal, with his magpie suit of black and

white, I had seen at a show at home, and soon

found that in India he took the place of our

robin at home, being like that bird, widely

spread, but not numerous, and much attached

to the neighbourhood of man. These pretty

birds were particularly common on Ross Island,

in the Andamans, where, in the morning, the air

98

Foreign Cage-Birds at Home

was full of their songs. I did not notice their
music much in Calcutta, where, if the birds
had been far commoner, the cawing crows and
squealing kites would have silenced them ; but
of course they sang at times. The shama,
though a common captive in India, is, when
wild, a shy woodland bird, like our nightingale,
and I never met with it in that state.

The most familiar to home bird-lovers of all
Indian "soft-bills" is, however, the liothrix or
Pekin robin, and when I first visited his haunts
in the Himalayas — it was at Darjeeling — it was
not long before I heard the pretty five-noted call
which betrayed his presence. Judging from the
frequency of the sound, the birds were very
common, but they are much more likely to be
heard than seen, being of a retiring nature,
much like our hedge-sparrow ; while their colour,
gay as it looks in a cage, is well adapted for
concealment. Every now and then, however,
one of the pretty birds would show itself in a
tree, or flit to a roadside fence, so that the beauty
of its coral bill and orange-streaked wings could
be well observed ; but, on the whole, the species
cannot be called a conspicuous one, even where
it is numerous.

Finches, with the exception of the common
house-sparrow, are not very noticeable members
of bird society in India. Once only did I see

99

Ornithological and Other Oddities

the avadavat in the wild state, when I saw two
cock birds in some long grass, far away from any
habitation. Yet, in the Tiretta Bazaar, the bird-
market of Calcutta, may constantly be seen scores
of the little red, white-dotted fellows and their
brown mates, for numbers are captured for sale.
So with the other little finches. I once observed
a few of the little drab Indian silver-bills coming
down to drink at a singularly filthy little pond,
and I seem to recollect once coming across
the black-headed mannikin. With the spangle-
breasted nutmeg-bird, or spice-bird, I met more
frequently. Some nested in the grounds of the
Forest School at Dehra Dun, in which district I
met with the other finches I have mentioned.
In travelling by rail, also, one frequently sees
trees ornamented with the curious hanging nests
of the Indian weaver-birds, conspicuous from a
great distance.

The starlings, unlike the finches, are very
much in evidence in India. But here again, the
species best known at home, the heavy black
yellow-wattled hill-mynah, so renowned as a
talker, is not a bird one is likely to come across
casually ; I only once saw it, and that was in the
Andaman Islands, where I recognised a pair on
the wing. The mynah of India, par excellence,
is the always charming house-mynah, a brown
bird with yellow bill, face and feet, and black-

IOO

Foreign Cage-Birds at Home

and-white wings, which is not much imported.
This is as much a follower of man as the sparrow,
but a very much nicer bird, always well-behaved
and interesting, without being too obtrusively
tame. Of late years he has pushed his way
up into the Himalayas, into quite a temperate
climate, and he makes an excellent colonist when
introduced abroad. On the whole, he may be
taken as the most typical Indian bird, although
popular ideas give that place to the green parra-
keet, which, however, as I pointed out before, is
not so much in evidence everywhere.

IOl

COCK ROBIN'S COUNTERFEITS

Like many another well-known character, "Joly
Robyn " has had his impersonators ; guiltless,
however, of conscious fraud, for the false posi-
tion that they occupy is not of their own seek-
ing, but is the outcome of the fact that wherever
it has established itself, the Anglo-Saxon race
has tried to find in some exotic bird a repre-
sentative of the little friend at home. Some of
these, indeed, seem poor enough substitutes at
best, for even the well-known red breast, which
gives the home bird his true title, as dis-
tinguished from his better known nickname,
is not always to be found in his foreign locum
tenens.

Perhaps the best known of all these outlandish
robins is one of those least appropriately so
called, namely, the handsome thrush which bears
the name of robin in the United States. This
fine bird is very like our fieldfare, but has a
plain orange breast instead of the speckled
tawny one of our winter visitant from the
north. He is a typical thrush in all his ways,
as voracious a consumer of fruit as the English
blackbird, and, being migratory, does not figure

Cock Robin's Counterfeits

as an enlivener of winter as he ought to do.
As a matter of fact, however, the real European
robin is a much greater traveller than is usually
supposed, for many of his species leave for the
south in the autumn, to be replaced by immi-
grants from further north.

The Yankee favourite is a fine songster,
though his melody is, naturally, of quite a dif-
ferent type from our bird's, and more closely
resembles that of the blackbird. He is like
both that bird and the true robin in haunting
the vicinity of human habitations, where he is
often much annoyed by that very undesirable
introduction, the house-sparrow, which is even
impudent enough to filch from him the worms
he has obtained.

Every one who loves birds and poetry must
know Longfellow's lines in " The Birds of
Killingworth,"

"The robin and the bluebird, piping loud,
Filled all the blossoming orchards with their glee,"

and the bluebird therein mentioned is another

member of the thrush tribe, but one far more

nearly related to the genuine robin than the

larger species I have been discussing. That

both the European robin and the American

bluebird are really only small thrushes is proved

by the fact that in their first or nestling plumage

they are spotted like the young of the larger

103

Ornithological and Other Oddities

and more typical thrushes, as well as by many
of their habits. The bluebird, however, has
longer wings and shorter legs than our robin
or thrush, and in accordance with this difference
of structure is more addicted to feeding on flying
insects. In other respects, however, he is mar-
vellously like the former, having the same large
dark eye and intelligent expression ; he is also
equally tame and ready to build about houses,
although now too often ousted by the sparrow
from the boxes put up for his accommodation.
For, although he is an early migrant to the
Northern States, arriving before the snow is
off the ground, it is frequently his lot to find
his domicile already in the possession of the
ugly, worthless finch, which has stayed all the
winter, and, secure in the proverbial " nine
points " of the law, is ready to meet all comers.
In spite of his form, size, and familiarity, and
of the redness of his breast, the beautiful azure
of his upper plumage appears to have struck
the early immigrants to the States more than
any other point about the bluebird, and thus
allowed his larger and less attractive rival to gain
the old familiar name. But the English dealers,
who used not infrequently to import the blue-
bird, always knew it as the blue robin ; and it is
gratifying to know that it will breed in captivity ;

indeed, I have seen a young bird of this species

104

Cock Robin's Counterfeits

which had been reared in the London Zoo.
This readiness to accommodate itself to cir-
cumstances gives reason to hope that the blue-
bird could be successfully introduced to other
countries, such as New Zealand, where native
insectivorous birds are few, and pretty, harmless
exotics a desideratum.

It is true that in New Zealand there are two
species of robin already ; though, as neither has
a red breast, or, indeed, any bright colour
about its plumage, it must be only their familiar
habits and obvious relationship to the English
bird that have given them the name. But these
birds are hardly likely to take the home robin's
place ; indeed, the North Island species is now
almost extinct, sharing the sad lot that has
fallen on so many of the inhabitants of that
beautiful land ; and the Maories see in its fate
the prognostication of their own, saying that
even as the " Pitoitoi " has disappeared from
the woods, so will their race die out before the
white man.

Australia has robins too, very nearly related
to the genuine article, and much more beautiful
in plumage ; that is to say, as far as the male
birds go, for the hen's plumage is always plain,
unlike that of our robin's mate, who is practically
indistinguishable from her husband. The most
familiar of these Southern robins is gorgeous in

'°5

Ornithological and Other Oddities

a black coat and scarlet vest, while in another
these hues are replaced by grey and pink, and
a third sports a waistcoat of canary yellow.
Besides these there is a pied species, and a plain
brown one, so that with such an embarras de
richesses in the matter of robins at the Antipodes,
it is no wonder that we do not hear of any one
holding the special place in the hearts of our
colonists that the original bird does with us ;
the specially attractive bird personality in Aus-
tralia seeming to be the comical, if rather vulgar,
laughing jackass, that great land kingfisher which
is such a mighty hunter of snakes.

In India robins are again to the fore. Most
conspicuous is the pretty magpie-robin, or dhyal
as it is called by the natives, whose English
name sufficiently expresses its appearance, al-
though the hen is not so magpie-like as the
cock, the black parts of his plumage being iron-
grey in hers. The dhyal is in size and habits
intermediate between the English robin and
blackbird, but is guiltless of raids on the fruit
garden, and, being a very pretty songster, is
altogether a most desirable bird. He is some-
times imported at home as a cage-bird, and so
may now and then be seen at a great bird
show ; indeed, the Zoo, and one lucky amateur,
have even bred dhyals in aviaries in England.

But he is not often to be obtained, being

106

PIPING CROW (p. I 15)
Though called magpie in Australia, this is obviously a very diffen 1

NEW ZE \I \M> R( IBIN (p. 1 15)
South Island species; the rare North Island bird i- darker

Cock Robin's Counterfeits

seldom kept in captivity in his own country,
like the true robin in England, although I am
not aware that any prejudice exists against his
incarceration there. The other true robins in
India are not so widely distributed or con-
spicuous, and so call for no special remark ; but
the Himalayas hold a bird which bears the name
of robin, and is better known to bird-keepers at
home than any other of those I have mentioned,
though not, properly speaking, a near relative of
the real robin at all. This is the very sweet
little bird known as the Pekin robin — though,
albeit his range extends to China, it does not
reach Pekin — or, more scientifically, as the red-
billed or yellow-bellied liothrix. I do not know
of any small bird more attractive than this pretty
creature, with his coral-red bill, yellow throat,
shading into orange on the breast, black mous-
taches, and steel-glossed forked tail. Nor are
these his only points of beauty, for his quill
feathers are most beautifully bordered with
orange, producing an effect quite unique among
birds, and his whole plumage is most exquisitely
sleek and smooth, while his large black eye
appropriately sets off the whole, and in its mild
expression does not belie his disposition. For
liothrix really belongs to the good-natured and
sociable group of babblers, and, in spite of his

very robin-like appearance, has nothing of the

107

Ornithological and Other Oddities

robin's churlishness of disposition, but is ready to
be hail-fellow-well-met with his own species or
any other. This any one may easily observe who
cares to go to the comparatively small expense
of buying one of these birds, which are now more
frequently imported than any other " soft-billed "
species, being often obtainable for less shillings
than they formerly cost pounds. Placed in an
aviary with other birds, the Pekin robin will take
an interest in everybody and hurt nobody, will
tickle the head of any bird willing to permit the
kindly attention, and devour sop, seed, fruit, or
insects with a catholicity of taste which does
much to explain his abundance and wide range
in the wild state. Insects, of course, stand first
in his bill of fare, and he is very quick and
adroit in securing them, using his foot, as tits
do, to help in securing a prize too big to be
successfully broken up by the bill alone. It is
a curious fact that this simple trick seems never
to be learnt by some birds ; none of the thrushes
or starlings know it, while tits and babblers
have it at their toes' ends, so to speak. The
liothrix is not a free breeder in captivity, al-
though so easily tamed ; but the species has,
nevertheless, been bred on several occasions.
In a wild state it is a shy, skulking bird, much
like our hedge-sparrow in general habits, and I

have seldom heard from the male in his native

1 08

Cock Robin's Counterfeits

haunts the pretty song which he will constantly
repeat in confinement, especially if unmated.
Taken altogether, this bird presents more at-
tractive points than many far better known and
more widely praised, and is an excellent ex-
ample of beauty blushing unseen, for he is
rather wasted on Himalayan brakes. I can
only hope that when people have got over the
horror of acclimatisation with which too suc-
cessful experiments with sparrows and rabbits
have filled them, this pretty bird will be in-
vited to dwell in any country where his hardy
constitution and omnivorous habits will allow
him to live — not as a captive merely, but as a
woodland bird. The Devonshire hills would
suit him admirably, and he might fill in that
most lovely of English counties the place of the
missing nightingale, while in the United States
and our Australasian colonies there must be
many districts where he would thrive.

ioy

BIRDS THAT TALK AND MIMIC

As one of the judges at the Daily Express parrot
competition,1 I had an opportunity of noting, not
by any means for the first time, the extraordinary
public interest in talking birds, and also the
capriciousness of the familiar grey parrots, which,
although known to be the best talkers, require
patience in those who want to hear them speak
in company.

Other parrots of less repute are often less shy,
and sometimes speak as well, though undoubtedly
intellectual ability is far more general among the
grey birds.

I remember, many years ago, seeing at a bird
show at Oxford a specimen of the common green
ring-necked parrakeet of India, which continually
talked during the exhibition.

Its voice was high and thin ; but its request,
" Waiter, bring Polly pint of beer, quick ! quick !
quick ! " was unmistakeable in its clearness. This

1 The birds in this competition were supposed to say " Your food
will cost you more " (in allusion of course to " Protection" and the
little loaf). One of the birds, a brown-throated conure {Conurus
ceruginosus) would repeat sentences after its master, but not the
catch-phrase, actually laughing instead ! The winner was a grey
parrot.

no

Birds that Talk and Mimic

bird was a hen, and sex often seems not to in-
fluence the talking capacity of a parrot.

A hen red-and-yellow macaw in the Calcutta
Zoological Gardens, which had been received
by exchange from the London Zoo, used to say,
"Come on, Cocky!" with absolute perfection of
intonation, while her mate never said a word.

In India also I heard of a specimen of the
native green parrakeet which must have been
an extraordinary talker. Its owner — a soldier
— said that the bird (which, by the way, he
did not want to sell) spoke English, Hindustani,
and Japanese, and picked up fresh expressions
so readily that he was "afraid to swear at the
servants before it."

The Indian parrakeets were those first known
to the ancients, and the bird which belonged to
Corinna, the beloved of Ovid, has been immor-
talised by the poet. It was, he said, more bril-
liant green than emeralds, with saffron bill, and
its last words were, "Corinna, farewell!"

Another Roman parrot was, like our fiscal
friends, educated in politics, and is made to
remark : —

" For other names your teachings may avail,
I taught myself to utter, ' Caesar, hail ! ' '

It is a far cry indeed from ancient Rome to

modern New Zealand, but from the latter country

in

Ornithological and Other Oddities

comes an anecdote of a political bird whose
utterance was very much to the point. This was
not a parrot, but a tui, or parson-bird.

The tui is a large honeysucker about as big as
a missel-thrush, with lovely bronze-black plumage,
set off by a pair of white neck-tufts, recalling a
parson's bands. It is a clever mocker, and learns
to speak.

This particular bird belonged to an old chief,
Nepia Taratoa, whom, together with many other
natives, Sir Walter Buller was once addressing
on some matter of grave political import. The
naturalist politician, who tells the story against
himself, had only just finished his speech when,
before his master could reply, the tui called out
from his cage overhead, "Tito" (false!), with
unmistakeable emphasis.

It was too much for the audience, and Nepia
Taratoa himself, overcome with the rest, laugh-
ingly remarked that Sir Walter's arguments were
sound enough, but that the bird was very clever,
and still unconvinced !

The parson-bird is a convincing proof of the
fact that birds do not talk with their tongues, for,
being a honeysucker, the tui has a long, extensible
tongue, with a fringed tip, as unlike the human
tongue as possible.

As a matter of fact, a bird's voice is formed in
the syrinx, which is quite low down in the wind-

112

Birds that Talk and Mimic

pipe, and therefore cannot have anything at all
to do with its tongue in any case.

Of other talking birds not of the parrot family
the most celebrated is the Indian hill-mynah, a
large, thick-set starling, glossy black, with orange
bill. In India, its native home, it is often kept as
a pet, and when it talks really well "is a perfect
wonder to listen to.

The best I ever heard — in fact, the best talking
bird of any kind I have met — belonged to a
friend in Calcutta, and spoke in an absolutely
human way, with a deep, throaty voice. He
required some coaxing before he would display
his talents, and the method employed was to get
a native servant — a very good fellow, but of some-
what bibulous tastes — to talk to him.

So this worthy would squat down, and repeat
— for he spoke English well — the mynah's own
phrases to the bird. But the mynah would
not say, "Who are you?" " I'm off to London,"
or any other of his set phrases; instead, he would,
after a while, come out with " Not a drop to save
my soul ! " which sentence, when once started, he
would continue to repeat at intervals with painful
distinctness and apparent satisfaction.

The owner of this bird once had another, which

spoke equally well — but far less respectably. He

had bought it as a talker, but in ignorance of the

extent of its knowledge or the depth of its corrup-

113 H

Ornithological and Other Oddities

tion, and when a lady came in to buy a talking
mynah, it was brought out for her inspection, and
encouraged to make some observation. If I were
to repeat what that wicked mynah said it would
surprise the British matron.

The mynah found a home, for the next person
who wante'd one — who happened to be a legal
practitioner — no sooner heard the bird's some-
what unduly racy vocabulary than he exclaimed,
" That's the bird for me ! " and carried it off in
triumph.

The house-mynah of India, which is a neat
brown bird with yellow legs, and habits much like
our own starling, is not so often heard of as a
talker, but I knew one very good one in Calcutta,
which was particularly free and friendly in con-
versation.

As soon as one went up to the cage it would
commence to bow in regular starling fashion, and
to say, " Mynah, mynah, pretty mynah ! Call
the dog! Jack, Jack, Jack!" all very much in
one breath, and in a decidedly high key.

Indeed, of all talking birds, this half-domestic
creature is about the best for a pet ; it is very
easy to keep, cannot bite like a parrot, and gets
so tame that it can be allowed to go about the
house, and even outside, with undipped wings.

Another good talker, which can be allowed

liberty with less risk than the mynah, owing to

114

H1LI.-MYNAH
This is the spei ies ln-^i known as a talkt

H' tUSE-MYN \ll
1 hi-. Mynah is a familiar t>i' I l in India

Birds that Talk and Mimic

its greater size and strength, is the piping crow,
the " magpie " of Australia, which is always on
view at the crows' cages at the Zoo.

This handsome pied bird has a beautiful whistle
as his natural note, and in captivity he learns to
pipe tunes and to speak with great readiness, and
is very ready to show off his accomplishments in
either direction.

One I knew in Calcutta used to say, "Who are
you ? " to every one who entered his master's
yard, and another at the Zoo some years ago used
to be always whistling a tune. He did rather
too much of this, as a matter of fact, for he only
knew a line and a half, and used to keep on
repeating this ad nauseam.

The late Mr. A. D. Bartlett told me he at first
had the bird near his quarters, but had to send
him down to the aviaries, for, as he said, " he
used to start at daybreak and keep up that tune
over and over again, and I used to lie in bed
and sweat, waiting for him to begin ! "

The last talker I allude to belonged to a species
which, like the parson-bird, is little known away
from its home. This is the bird called in books
the greater racket-tailed drongo, and, in its native
Indian home, the bhimraj.

This bird belongs to the shrike tribe, and is
glossy-black, with two long feathers in its tail,
wiry with tasselled tips.

115

Ornithological and Other Oddities

It is a most wonderful mocker, and can imitate
any animal. I have heard one sing exactly like
a canary, which performance, as the bhimraj is
nearly as big as a magpie, sounded ridiculous
enough.

Another yelped exactly like a puppy, and kept
up the imitation years after it had had no oppor-
tunity of practising, as the puppy's life was short.
This same individual could also whistle one verse
of " Tit- willow " perfectly.

With all these accomplishments, the bhimraj
very rarely talks ; but I heard of a perfect talker
from an eminent scientific friend in India. He
had called on a planter when up-country, and
found he was not in.

Sitting down in the verandah, he was hailed
with the remark, " Have a peg, old man ? " but as
no one appeared who could have offered this
refreshment, he looked about and convinced him-
self that the hospitable invitation came from a pet
bhimraj. He afterwards found that this was not
the limit of the bird's capabilities, and that one
favourite remark was, " How about my bonus ? "

116

"OSPREY" FARMING

The sinful cruelty practised in obtaining the
beautiful aigrettes known to milliners as " osprey "
plumes has evoked any amount of reprobation in
the press and elsewhere ; but they are still sold
and worn, and the assertions made that the birds
from which they are obtained are kept in " farms "
have been proved to be incorrect. Yet there is
no reason why "osprey" farming should not be
made a lucrative and legitimate pursuit if people
went the right way about it.

In the first place, it must be remembered that
the filmy white plumes do not come off the bird
properly known as the osprey. This is a large
brown-and-white fishing hawk, persecuted, indeed,
to the death by the collector of " British speci-
mens," but not in the cause of fashion, since it
has no remarkable plumage to excite cupidity.

The plumes sold under this name are the

trousseau of several species of white herons —

a wedding garment worn by both bride and

groom, and they were originally called by the

French name "esprit." Mispronunciation, and

the knowledge that there is a bird called osprey,

have given us the present title. Of course, the

117

Ornithological and Other Oddities

objection to their use is the fact that the birds
are killed in the breeding season, the young
being left to starve ; but by keeping the birds
in captivity all this could be avoided, as they
could be caught and shorn much more easily
than ostriches or even sheep.

There are several species of egrets, as these
white plume-bearing herons are called, but one
seems more suitable than any of the others for
artificial culture. This is the biggest of all, the
large egret (Herodias alba), a bird found practi-
cally all over the world, for although some orni-
thologists divide it into two or three species, the
differences are not of any practical importance.
It is about as tall as our common heron, but
even more long and slender in shape, and its
breeding plumage is in the form of one thick
bunch of very long plumes growing from its
back.

This species, being able to live in both hot

and temperate climates, would thrive either here

or in our Colonies, and being of a size to protect

itself against any ordinary vermin, has obvious

advantages as a domestic bird. It is, moreover,

very long-lived. When I was in Calcutta there

was in the Zoological Gardens there a bird of

this species, which had previously been for some

years in the old menagerie of the Viceroy at

Barrackpore. It had been transferred to the

118

" Osprey v Farming

Calcutta Zoo in 1879, and lived more than
twenty years after that.

" Hannibal Chollop," as I used to call the
bird, since his motto appeared to be "two feet
in a circular direction is all that I require," had
been rather a bloodthirsty individual before I
knew him, and had accounted for several other
birds in his time ; but he improved with age,
and his last years were guiltless of blood. He
bore a splendid bunch of plumes every year,
and, considering his longevity, might have set
up a lady in aigrettes for her whole life. Indeed,
it was acquaintance with him that gave me the
idea that an egret farm would be a paying con-
cern even if the birds did not breed.

This large egret is found as near us as southern
and south-eastern Europe, and could probably be
had through the dealers who import Hungarian
partridges in such large numbers. As the demand
is so limited the birds would be expensive to buy,
probably as much as ^5 a head ; but if they
became a more regular article of trade they
would no doubt come cheaper, for birds seldom
kept are always dear.

Young birds should be procured to start with,

as old ones would probably bear captivity with a

very bad grace, like the common heron, which is

apt to refuse food when captured adult. Four

may be found in a nest, and they might be

119

Ornithological and Other Oddities

expected to bear marketable plumes in the year
after capture.

The best way to keep them would be to clip
the long quills of one wing, and turn them out
in an enclosure surrounded by a six-foot fence
of the coarsest netting until they got tame, when
they could be allowed to wander about any avail-
able fields, care being taken at first that they
did not stray. They would do no harm to any
sort of crop, as they are purely animal feeders ;
in fact, they would be of use in destroying
vermin, as, like our own heron, they do not
confine themselves to fish. The vicinity of a
stream would of course be desirable ; but in
the absence of such accommodation a large
shallow tub, kept full of clean water, would be
sufficient for them to bathe in.

They would probably need no shelter from
the weather ; but rough ladders should be placed
against convenient trees for them to go up to
roost, or in the absence of such arboreal con-
veniences an open shed with perches underneath
would serve as a dormitory. In such a place,
too, earth could be put underneath to absorb the
droppings, which would be as valuable manure
as guano.

With a free range they would, as I intimated
above, pick up a good deal of their own food,
but if they had to be fed entirely by artificial

I20

" Osprey ' Farming

means the expense would not be great. Years
ago I found the comparatively bulky common
heron was satisfied with one meal of two herrings
per day, and the extremely genteel egret is not
likely to have so large an appetite. Nor is it
necessary to give such luxuries as herrings ;
any refuse — raw meat, horseflesh, lights, or fish
— if fresh, will serve as food, and sprats, when
cheap, would be a much appreciated item of
diet.

People would not be likely to steal birds like
this, with dagger-like bills nearly six inches long
and the instinct of aiming at the eyes of an
aggressor ; indeed, when required for the yearly
clipping they would need to be secured in large
landing-nets and their heads kept " in chancery "
during the operation.

It is these considerations that lead me to think
that the birds could be kept at a profit even if
they never bred, since they are so long-lived.
But in all probability they would breed, and
as, like herons in general, they bring up their
young in a nest and feed them themselves,
they would be no more difficult to rear than
pigeons ; less so, in fact, as rats would be
more likely to be fed to the youngsters than
to feed on them.

Once they were got to breed, some selection
could be attempted in order to produce birds

Ornithological and Other Oddities

with the most abundant plumes, the most ac-
commodating appetites, and the best tempers
and constitutions ; in fact, the species could be
thoroughly domesticated, and of course there
would be a profit on selling birds for stock.

122

SOME LONDON BIRDS

Whatever we may have lost of bird-life in
London, the fact remains that, owing to the
immigration of several interesting species in
recent years, the metropolis can now show a
very creditable selection of wild birds. And
these have this particular advantage from the
point of view of the bird-lover, that, more than
any other representatives of their respective
species in England, they give us the oppor-
tunity of observing them as they naturally are.
This is not the paradox it seems, for the whole
matter is summed up in the one point, that
the cockney bird is tame, regards man as a
friend, and takes him into his confidence, and
thus acts up to his true character, without
having an eye to the constant possibility of
the need for hurried flight, like his country
relative. Take the London wood-pigeon, for
instance. Not long ago I saw a statement by
an excellent observer, that the wood-pigeon, as
opposed to the quarrelsome domestic pigeon,
was a singularly peaceable bird ; and no doubt
it seems so, so far as it can be observed in
the country. Yet in London a very common

Ornithological and Other Oddities

sight in the parks in spring is two wood-pigeons
squaring up to each other nobly in the pathway
to settle some affair of honour, with the public
as sympathising seconds. It is no doubt sad
that the birds should thus wash their dirty
linen in public, and lower themselves in our
estimation ; but their choice of arena and con-
fidence in the lookers-on are altogether charming.
Comparing the wood-pigeon with the domestic
pigeon reminds one of how the two species
have to a slight extent interchanged habits.
Sometimes the wood - pigeon will build on a
house, and now and then feed in the street,
while I once saw a pair picking about in, of
all places, the tiny goods-yard of Baker Street
Station. On the other hand, the tame pigeons
have taken to the trees in Hyde Park, a
very rare habit in the domestic bird ; indeed,
I have never seen it elsewhere except in a
few places where trees were exceedingly close
to a dovecot. The smallest and daintiest of
our pigeons, the turtle-dove, made its appear-
ance in our parks in 1904, for the first time,
so far as I am aware. A single bird haunted
the back premises of the south-west end of the
Zoological Gardens for some time, and I was
told it had a mate ; indeed, I myself once saw
two or three pairs on the wing at one time

there. The single bird was wild, but could

124

Some London Birds

be approached near enough to make quite sure
that it was the true wild turtle-dove, and not
the cream-coloured domestic one, of which a
few specimens have long been living and breed-
ing in St. James's Park, though the public do
not often see them. It is a pity that a larger
stock of this pretty creature is not kept up ;
but, at all events, it is gratifying to find that
our native bird is giving the parks a trial.

Scarcely less conspicuous than the wood-
pigeon as a park denizen is the moorhen. In
spite of an eminent ornithologist's statement
that this bird seems unable to overcome the
inherent stealthiness of the rails — which, in the
country, is more or less true — the moorhen has
become very much domesticated with us in
town, and parades the turf with the assurance
of a pet bantam. I have even seen one take
food from a boy's hand, and all the pretty
domestic economy of the moorhen family may
be made out by a careful watcher. One may
see how the young birds, bred early in the
season, care for the tiny puffs of black down
which are their little brothers and sisters, even
before they are quite fledged themselves, and
the prudent way in which an old moorhen,
securing a big bit of bread, will feed a half-
grown chick with bits broken off it, and ulti-
mately leave it to negotiate the delicacy for

I25

Ornithological and Other Oddities

itself. It says a great deal for the discretion
of the moorhen that it is able to maintain
itself in the cat-infested London area, for, as
any one may see in the summer, it is quite
incapable of flight in the moulting season, since
all the quills come out at once, as is the case
with ducks and some other marsh-loving birds.

The dabchick attracts little attention in the
parks as compared with the moorhen, but it
exists there under less favourable conditions.
Being chiefly an animal feeder, it does not
benefit by the liberal dole of bread bestowed
by the public ; and, not being at all at home
out of the water, it cannot seek its living ashore,
and so has to migrate in winter to avoid the
risk of being frozen out. In other respects,
this merry, plucky little diver prospers well
enough and adapts himself to circumstances.
Years ago, Riley, the late bird-keeper at St.
James's Park, showed me a nest of the dab-
chick, for which newspaper had been employed,
instead of the natural material of water-weeds,
wet paper being just nice and soft enough to
suit a dabchick's ideas of what was correct in
upholstery. And, although not a beggar, the
dabchick has cultivated very friendly relations
with man. The " didapper peering through
the wave, which, being looked at, ducks as

quickly in," seems not now to exist in the

126

Some London Birds

parks. His modern representative boldly returns
one's gaze. Indeed, one autumn I saw a dab-
chick — a bird of the year, as was evident from
his still downy head — swim boldly under the
bridge at St. James's Park, unmoved by the
presence of spectators, who hailed it as " a
dear little duck."

The crowning joy of the London bird-lover
has, of course, been the accession of the black-
headed gulls in winter, though whether the
birds already in possession of the park waters
were equally pleased with their advent is another
matter. However, these beautiful, noisy birds
are the greatest of popular favourites while
they stay, even where there is competition,
and on the river they enjoy almost undivided
patronage ; I say almost, for during the last
two or three years the big herring-gulls have
got wind of the good living in London, and
come up to practise piracy on their smaller
relatives. Herein is the Nemesis of the latter
for robbing the anciently-established park ducks ;
but from the nature-lover's point of view the
big gulls are the best acquisition of all, their
wide sweep of wing and slow stately flight
giving a touch of wildness to the scene which
the little black - headed species cannot rival.
There have been for some time a few herring-
gulls, bred from the pinioned birds in the parks,

127

Ornithological and Other Oddities

which had full power of flight, and these may
have carried the news. I saw one of these
true London gulls some time ago capture an
unfortunate sparrow, which, after well soaking,
it proceeded to swallow whole, and then un-
successfully attempted to catch another, craftily
going about with lowered head. But the success
of the first attempt shows that " Philip Sparrow "
has a lot to learn about ornithology, for he cer-
tainly does not seem to be aware of the difference
between a gull and a duck.

" Philip " himself is more interesting in town
than in the country, if only by reason of his
more marked tendency to sport a motley coat.
A pied bird was living near me for some time,
but at last disappeared. The last time I saw
him he was paying vigorous court to a hen
sparrow, his expanded wings and tail showing
off their white quills very strikingly. Whether
the lady approved of this abnormal display I
do not know — his sudden disappearance would
seem to imply that she did not, and that he
had consequently committed suicide or emi-
grated ! But there are always some pied birds
about, and such are always interesting, if only
because they can be individually observed.

The thrush tribe seem to do remarkably well
in London ; the song-thrush and blackbird can
hardly be commoner anywhere, and are delight-
fully tame and full of song. The thrush sings

128

Some London Birds

even in a hard frost ; and as to tameness, I
have seen one in Battersea Park alight within
two or three yards of a party of children, while
on a crowded Bank Holiday at the Zoological
Gardens last year a blackbird fearlessly sat and
sang on a low tree not a dozen yards from
the path. The small birds in these gardens
are in the lap of luxury ; on one occasion a
blackbird might have been seen picking a meal
from a bone in a cage wherein the South African
hawk-eagle looked down on him in harmless
majesty, and there are plenty of enclosures where
intrusion is less risky and equally profitable. The
missel-thrush certainly bred either in or near the
Zoological Gardens in 1904, for I saw the fledged
young Hying about there, and a few specimens
of this most gallant and showy of our song-
birds have been about Regent's Park for three
years at least. In 1904 a single redwing was
to be seen near them, and early in 1906 I
often saw a flock. No less a visitor than the
green woodpecker appeared in 1904 in St.
James's Park, and, though I was not fortunate
enough to see this bird, I did see a kingfisher
and a grey wagtail there. The kingfisher cer-
tainly ought to establish itself in the parks sooner
or later ; all the circumstances are favourable —
clear shallow water, with plenty of overhanging
trees, abundance of small fish, and islands in

which it could safely breed.

129 1

SOME EXOTIC OWLS

"An owl is an owl all the world over," said the
late Charles Waterton ; and certainly the illustra-
tions accompanying this chapter are convincing
proof of the correctness of his statement. They
nevertheless show at the same time that there is a
great deal of diversity underlying the similarity,
and it is very possibly this difference of feature — if
one may be allowed the expression — which makes
people visiting the Zoological Gardens linger
longer before the owls than before the hawks
and eagles. Take, for example, the two most
popular of all, Pel's fish-owl {Scotopelia pelt) and
the milky eagle-owl (Biibo lacteus), which used to
be chummed together in one of the large apart-
ments of the owls' residence on the north side of
the gardens. The milky one is the largest owl
in the gardens, and the most dignified ; the sober
mottled grey of her plumage, and the majestic
calm of her countenance, give her a truly episcopal
appearance, and make it difficult to believe that in
her native home in South Africa she is addicted
to robbing hen-roosts — one would as soon suspect
the Pope of picking pockets ! But all these eagle-
owls are veritable terrors of the night, and at

130

Some Exotic Owls

their doors alone of all the family's can be laid
the charge of doing more harm than good. And
it is doubtful whether this can be sustained in all
cases, as they probably destroy much vermin as
well as game. Our best Indian field-ornithologist,
Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker, once told me that he had
started a Nepal eagle-owl (Bubo nepalensis) off
the carcase of a tree-civet, which the bird had
killed, circumstantial evidence beino- at hand in
the shape of deep talon-marks in the victim's
neck. These tree-civets are vermin of the worst
kind, and better climbers even than cats, so that
in this case, at all events, the owl was doing
something to pay for his keep.

The milky eagle-owl'? companion is a bird of
quite another stamp. Pel's fish-owl has about
him something of comic disreputability. His
countenance is not dignified. His plumage of
cinnamon, barred with black, has an undeniably
" loud " effect among the sober habiliments
common in the owl tribe, and his naked feet
somehow look rather outrt in an owl, although
it is easy to see that a fishing owl is better off
without stockings. In manner he is vulgar and
forward, and the contrast between him and his
companion, when they were first introduced to
each other, was delightful to notice. The Bishop
— as I feel tempted to call the big African owl —
had lived in the den for a long time, but she did

13'

Ornithological and Other Oddities

not feel called upon to resent intrusion. Piscator,
however, was not content with being left alone ;
he proceeded to insult his reverend companion.
With erected wings he stepped along the perch
to where his companion sat with her usual air of
serene contemplation, and let off in her face a few
yells which for dreary unpleasantness might bear
away the palm from any of Grimalkin's perform-
ances. These insolences were received by his
companion with absolute calm, and not until the
unmannerly fisher thrust his nose almost into her
face did she, without any show of temper, peck
him gently but firmly on it. Subsequent attempts
on Piscator's part had not any better success, so
he resigned himself to sitting at the opposite end
of the perch. This frigid state of affairs lasted
some time, but latterly the fish-owl was oftener
seen nearer the other ; he had ceased to insult, and
possibly wished to scrape acquaintance, but the
milky one still remained impassive. She was not
the owl to give away her heart lightly.

Meanwhile Piscator extracted a certain amount
of amusement out of the public by giving vent to
an occasional howl, just when they had ceased
looking at him, and making them wonder who was
responsible for it. Possibly he wanted to get the
Bishop credited with caterwauling ; but, if so, he
must have been disappointed, as, even if he re-
frained from repeating the offence himself, he

132

Some Exotic Owls

was obviously the more suspicious character as
far as appearances went.

Another humorous owl at the Zoo is the wink-
ing owl (Ninox connivens), which, as the photo-
graph shows, was obviously doing his best, when
confronted with the camera, to show that he does
not deserve his name. He is an Australian bird,
and is given to loquacity, though a gruff barking
note like "buck-buck" is the extent of his con-
versation. He represents a group which differs
from other owls in not having the peculiar ruff
round the face which is so often found in these
birds, but no one would mistake him for a hawk
for all that. One of the most noticeable, and at
the same time most inexplicable, differences be-
tween owls and hawks is that the former sit with
only two toes in front of the perch, the outer
front one being turned back as in a parrot, though
not so definitely and permanently as in that bird ;
and what with this and the round face, with the
forwardly directed eyes and full feathering, the
predatory birds of day and night are so distinct
that the most hawk-like owl and most owl-like
hawk need never be mistaken.

At the opposite extreme of owlishness to the
winking owl, we have the barn-owl, a specimen
of the Australian race of which (Strix flammed
dclicatula) is shown in an attitude of defence.
The barn-owls have the ruff and the "facial disk"

i33

Ornithological and Other Oddities

of stiff hairy feathers better developed than any
others, and many people must have noticed the
curious heart-shaped appearance of their faces
when they are asleep. They have, perhaps, the
most beautiful plumage of all owls ; but in the
common barn-owl, which is found almost all over
the world, it is very variable, as is the size of the
bird. In the English barn-owl, Strix Jlammea
of our familiar bird books, the prevailing tone of
the upper plumage is buff, and the under-parts
are pure snowy white. On the Continent a buff-
breasted form with a greyer back is the common
one, and the Australian bird, which is bigger than
ours, is white below and very grey above, with
the beautiful markings of the plumage peculiarly
distinct, as the photograph well shows. In the
Zoo at present one can see the two forms side by
side, together with a peculiarly small and dark
variety from the Galapagos Islands (Strix flammed
punctatissima). The little black-and-white mark-
ings on the upper plumage of these barn-owls are
just like drawings of candle-flames, whence, no
doubt, the name flammea.

It is satisfactory to know that the barn-owl is
being introduced into New Zealand, one of the
few countries where it is not naturally found.
The native owls seem to be becoming very
scarce, and this species, being the most useful
of all, as it feeds almost exclusively on rats and

i34

AUSTRALIAN BARN-OW1 I\ \i l I l U I DEFIANCE (p. 134)

issumes ilie same position when mui li al

11: S. A
1 II VTA OR CRESTED SCRI wil 1: VND VOIJNG (p
I he wing-spurs ;nc n< it visible » hen the « ings - here

Some Exotic Owls

mice, is certainly well suited to take their place,
for New Zealand is overrun with rats.

Striking as are the variations in the plumage of
the barn-owls, they are excelled by that which is
shown in the rare Ural owl {Syrnium uralense), of
which specimens are now in the Gardens. One
of these is the normal colour, a pretty variegated
grey ; but the others are little niggers, being of a
peculiar uniform sooty colour which gives them
a most impish appearance. It would be very
interesting to know if the different colours of owls
go along with different dispositions. This is cer-
tainly the case with some animals, for it is well
known that the black variety of the leopard is a
much more savage beast than the ordinary spotted
kind, and the same is said to be the case with the
black jaguar.

The Scops owls are quite little creatures, but
they bear feathery " horns " like the great eagle-
owls. The use of the horns in the little Scops is
undoubtedly to increase the resemblance to a dead
and broken stump of a bough which his stiff atti-
tude and beautifully freckled grey plumage give
him, for they are kept erect so as to look like bits
of the broken wood. But in this case it is not so
easy to see how a chestnut variety, which often
occurs, gets on, unless attitude counts for more
than colour in this protective position.

The most familiar of all owls, in all countries

*35

Ornithological and Other Oddities

where they are found, are the little hornless
species of which the bird of Minerva {Athene
noctzca) is the type. This little bird, called the
"Little Owl" by English naturalists — although
there are species only half its size — was so common
in ancient Athens that " to take owls to Athens"
was the classical equivalent for "carrying coals to
Newcastle." It is a useful little vermin-destroyer,
and is fortunately quite common in some parts of
England, where it has been introduced, for its
natural occurrence in our islands is very doubtful.
The little Indian owls {Athene drama) differ from
the European bird chiefly in being barred on the
breast, instead of longitudinally striped ; but their
habits seem to be much the same. They are
very domestic creatures, living in suitable crevices
about buildings, and coming out with noisy cack-
ling when the crows will let them. In Calcutta,
where the crow is monarch of all he surveys, these
owlets have to stay indoors till dusk. I have seen
a crow, on his way to bed, stop to hunt an early
owlet into a tree, evidently as a matter of prin-
ciple. The crows number the big eagle-owls
among their few enemies — a great point in the
said owls' favour, by the way — and evidently
think it just as well to suppress all owls, possibly
thinking the little ones may grow bigger. Up
country, where crows are comparatively scarce,

I have seen the little owlet regularly coming out

136

Some Exotic Owls

in broad daylight, in the afternoon in fact ; and
I have seen him at ten o'clock in the morning,
though I must admit that on that occasion he
was being mobbed and hustled by the " seven
sisters." These ladies, a species of babbling-
thrush which always goes about in small parties,
keep a very strict watch on suspicious characters,
but I do not suppose the plucky little owlet cares
very much for their persecution.

The hatred of crows and hawks is a more
serious matter, and I am inclined to think that
to the persecution of such birds the retiring
habits of owls are very largely due, since they
are rather too much for even the larger species.
An owl can certainly see all right in the daytime,
nor, though his works are evil in the sight of the
bird community, does he hate the light, for the
owls in the Zoological Gardens may often be
seen in the morning sitting in the front of their
cages and fairly revelling in the full glare of the
sun.

Conspicuous in his indifference to daylight is
the true bird of Athens, and I am sure any one
who watches this funny little bird will agree
with me that it should be imported into Eng-
land to a still further extent. In our London
parks it would find a congenial home and be
of use in thinning the sparrows, and an owl
which would come out by day and show itself

i37

Ornithological and Other Oddities

to the public would do so much to remove the
popular prejudice against its most useful family,
that even the warmest advocate of " England for
English birds " might stretch a point in favour of
this exotic at all events.

138

A CALCUTTA BIRD COLONY

During the years in which I resided in Calcutta,
one of the greatest attractions in the Zoological
Gardens there was the colony of wild fish-eating
birds of various kinds which inhabited the islands
in an ornamental lake. One of these was a mere
spot of land, just sufficient to support a clump of
pandanus or " screw-pine," but the other was of
fair size, and comparable to those in St. James's
Park or Regent's Park ; and, like them, supported
a good growth of trees. This was at first in-
habited only by the common pond-heron or paddy
bird (Ardeola grayi), a pied heron about equalling
a pigeon in size, and one of the commonest birds
in India, This bird is found wherever there are
trees and water, and I knew of a colony in a
town garden in Calcutta which had to be broken
up as a nuisance. The presence of these birds in
the Zoo, which is in the suburbs of Calcutta, was
therefore not surprising ; but the subsequent
colonisation by other species, as related by my
friend Rai Ram Brahma Sanyal Bahadur, the
Superintendent of the Gardens, was rather re-
markable. He tells the story in the Proceedings
of the Asiatic Society, and from this account it

*39

Ornithological and Other Oddities

appears that paddy-birds were the only inhabi-
tants of the island till the winter of 1892, when
a few of a very different species, the night-heron
{Nycticorax griseus) put in an appearance. This
curious thick-set heron is not rare in India —
indeed, it has a very wide distribution over the
world, occurring even as a straggler in England
— but it seems to be local. In all the years
during which I watched the Calcutta market,
although herons of other species were often
brought in, I only once found the night-heron,
and then the proprietor of the specimen asked me
what it was, not knowing its name even in his
own language. This makes the invasion of the
Calcutta Zoo island the more remarkable ; how-
ever, it continued, for in 1893 a large number
appeared about November, and spent three or
four days in hovering round the place before they
determined to settle. Although few, if any, bred
in the next spring, they returned in the winter of
1895 in greatly increased numbers, and crowded
out the unfortunate paddy-birds until they them-
selves thought fit to leave next spring ; but this
time they did not all go, a great many remaining
to breed. As I had come out to India in the
winter of 1894, I also was able to observe the
progress of events, which was now complicated
by the arrival of some cormorants. These

belonged to the small jet-black species so com-

140

THE IJIRU-COLONY AT THE CALCUTl \ ZOO

-ii[, parting clump of Pandanus

I Hi BIRD-( "I ONY \l l in. I VLCUTTA ZOO
Uneend of the larger island tenanted by the birds, showing iree killed by their droppings

A Calcutta Bird Colon

y

mon in the East (Pkalocrocorax javanicus), a
more gracefully-formed bird than most of its
tribe, and only about as large as a jackdaw.
These birds rapidly increased in numbers, and
conquered a portion of the island for themselves.
Henceforth cormorants and herons lived together,
if not in amity, at least with mutual toleration,
and both parties bred in close proximity, building
their stick nests on the boughs of the trees. The
cormorants might often be seen away from the
island, perched in the garden trees and tearing
twigs from them after the manner of our rooks,
while the herons for their part would often alight
on the water to pick up a floating stick.

Except when they had eggs or young to attend
to, the cormorants and herons were not actually
much together in the island, as the former used
to be away all day, while, when they came in to
roost, the herons, being nocturnal, were going out
to prosecute their own business under cover of
darkness. At night one could frequently hear
their quacking croak as they passed overhead,
and they must have travelled far and wide for
food, as before there was much cormorant com-
petition their number was estimated at between
1300 and 1500. But the most interesting visitors
of all arrived with the cormorants in 1896, in the
shape of darters, or as they are called in India,

snake birds (Plotus melanogaster). Every habi-

141

Ornithological and Other Oddities

tue of our Zoo has probably seen the darter there
at his meals, and wondered at his marvellous
dexterity in harpooning his prey. It may there-
fore be imagined how interesting it proved to see
these extraordinary birds flying about the tree-
tops, and looking, with their long necks and tails
and broad wings, like some eccentric survivals
from a bygone age. When Mr. Sanyal wrote
his account in 1897, the darters had gone away
again, and he could merely express the hope
that they would return. This they did, to the
great delight of all who were interested in the
bird colony, and bred regularly year after year,;
they never became very numerous, however, and
always left after the breeding season.

Interesting as was this assemblage of birds,
it was not altogether without its disadvantages.
The night-herons had not been very long in
possession before the trees on the large island on
which they had settled became very much fouled,
while the undergrowth was killed ; and with the
advent of the cormorants many of them spread
to the pandanus island, to the great detriment
thereof, and ultimately to the trees in the garden
itself. At last the matter became so serious that
the Committee of Management had to take it in
hand, and, very regretfully, to give the birds, or,
at any rate, some of them, notice to quit. Ac-
cordingly, tin cans, with sticks affixed, were hung

142

A Calcutta Bird Colony

up in the trees to scare them off by rattling- in the
wind ; but these failed of their effect, and at last
it was determined that some, at any rate, of the
birds would have to be shot. Accordingly, a
well-known Calcutta sportsman kindly undertook
the task, and, after several dozens of the herons
had been killed, they at last evacuated the place
to a great extent. Of the cormorants not one fell
a victim, for at the first firing these wary birds
took wing and went out of shot, and were careful
not to expose themselves subsequently. Of
course, these operations were carried on when
the darters were away, as it was not desired to
discourage the presence of these valuable and
ornamental birds. Their immunity, of course,
involved the presence of some of their former
associates in the breeding season, and when I
left Calcutta in the winter of 1902, there was
abundant reason for again giving the herons and
cormorants a hint not to abuse their privileges ;
but it had been practically shown that their num-
bers could be kept down to a working average,
and I have since heard that this interesting colony
is still allowed to continue. The attachment of
the birds to their nests was well shown when at
one time the breeding herons and cormorants
were raided by a pair of one of the Indian sea-
eagles ; when one of these dreaded birds alighted
none of the former would take wing, though there

143

Ornithological and Other Oddities

would be a perfect roar of terror caused by the
united cries of so many anxious parents. It was
a great pity, in view of the tendency of the birds
to increase unduly, that one of the eagles was
shot for these depredations, as their influence
would no doubt have been very salutary had they
been allowed to work their will on the young
birds. In the winter the old herons were often
much worried, when resting during the day, by a
pair of marsh-harriers, and the scene was a very
beautiful and interesting one, the black crests and
grey plumage of the herons, as they flapped
squawking from bough to bough, contrasting
beautifully with the chocolate bodies and yellow
caps of their graceful tormentors, and the whole
set off by the background of clear blue Bengal sky.
As might be expected, the harriers never
seemed to strike any of them, but their move-
ments were evidently regarded with suspicion.
As the breeding season came on, it was interest-
ing to note the change of the herons' legs from
waxy-yellow to bright salmon-colour, and later to
observe the brown, white-spotted plumage of the
young, so different from that of the parents.
The cormorants also showed many points of
interest. They liked taking a drink before
going up to roost on their return home, and
used to fly down to the water and take a gulp
without alighting, a most extraordinary feat for

a bird of the kind. It was evidently an anxious

144

I ill. BIRD-COLONS \ l rHE CALCUTTA 7.00
l\v.> \ iews <>f the larger island : the herons are % isible as white ilois

A Calcutta Bird Colon

y

business, for the head would be lowered and the
bill opened well before the surface was reached,
and sometimes the bird would miscalculate his
distance, and so stop his course that he had to
settle for his drink and have the trouble of rising
again. At one time, for some reason I could
never discover, all the cormorants took to settling
for this final potation, but they afterwards resumed
their old custom of drinking while flying. I used
to wonder why the darters, with their long necks
and much more buoyant flight, did not adopt the
same custom ; but I never saw them do so. I
did, however, not unfrequently see them walking
on the ground to collect sticks, though they often
pulled twigs off the trees, and I observed that
their gait was much more horizontal than that of
cormorants, the tail being kept well up from the
ground. When flying the darters also only
extended the fore part of the neck, the hinder
portion being doubled back ; and when in the
water the name snake-bird was seen to be most
appropriate, as only the long, snaky neck ap-
pears above the surface. One never gets tired
of watching birds like these ; and though darters
are perhaps hardly a possibility here, there is
no reason why we should not have a colony of
the common heron and cormorant in our London
parks, which would be quite as interesting as the
Calcutta one, and more imposing, from the greater
size of the birds.

145 k

HOW BIRDS FIGHT

Judging from the sentiments one sometimes
finds expressed by people who are inclined to
"slop over" when writing of birds, one might
imagine that they lead an idyllic existence of
peace ; but, as a matter of fact, they are as
pugnacious, not to say vicious, as grosser animals,
and in no class of land vertebrates do we find
structures developed for the sole purpose of
fighting more frequently than in the feathered
one.

It is true that some of the most quarrelsome
birds have no special armature, in particular
the ruff and the robin, and the latter often
manages to kill his adversary ; though in the
case of the former death is only likely to end
a fight when the birds are in captivity, and
closely confined at that, so that the weaker can
be fairly worried to death, or starved by being
driven from the food.

The robin, and passerine birds generally, from

crows downwards, fight with bill and feet, the

latter being used, with remarkable skill in many

cases, to hold off the adversary, or to keep him

in chancery while the bill is brought into play.

146

How Birds Fight

Birds of this group never, as far as I have
observed, use their wings in fighting, and they
never have special weapons ; yet their fights
are very fierce, and often fatal, the bill being
employed with great effect on the adversary's
head.

Many stout-billed finches, such as the weavers
and the Java sparrow, have, in common with the
parrots, the cruel trick of biting their adversary's
feet, the feet being in birds peculiarly sensitive,
although one would not think it from looking
at these horny, wizened members. It is a
curious fact that parrots, when fighting, con-
stantly try to ward off the enemy with one foot,
a very senseless manoeuvre, since they thus only
expose their toes to injury needlessly. In the
only fatal fight between the large parrots I
knew of personally, between a blue and a red
macaw, in the Calcutta Zoological Gardens,
red fairly cracked blue's skull with his great
bill. It is curious, by the way, that parrots
and other biting birds do not aim, like many
beasts, at the throat — the upper part of the head
seems almost invariably to be the point of a
bird's attack. The birds of prey fight exclu-
sively, so far as I have seen, with their talons ;
in Calcutta it was a common thing to see two
kites whirling earthwards with their claws
clenched, the bird first attacked having turned

M7

Ornithological and Other Oddities

on his back in the air to grapple his enemy
as he stooped upon him.

In the pigeon and duck families the wings
are the chief weapons, but the bill is commonly
brought into play to get a hold and in the
preliminary fencing. Pigeons have no special
weapons ; but in several members of the duck
family these are present, notably in the spur-
winged goose, a bird which is really rather a
duck than a goose, and, indeed, looks not unlike
a Muscovy duck on stilts. The spur in this
bird is situated on the bend of the wing, and
can deal a very severe blow ; an old ruffian of
this species, formerly in the London Zoo, once
laid up a gardener for a fortnight with a blow
on the knee, the man having unknowingly
entered his enclosure without a broom to keep
him off.

In the plovers and their allies, wing-spurs are
unusually common, although none of the British
species possess them. The spur-winged plovers
appear to use their spurs when on the wing, and
to strike with one wing only ; but in the case of
the jacanas, or lily-trotters, those curious long-
toed birds which spend their lives on the matted
vegetation of tropical waters, the mode of attack
seems to be different. At any rate, this was
the case with the beautiful pheasant-tailed jacana,

or water-pheasant {Hydrophasianus chirurgus),

148

How Birds Fight

several of which I kept and studied in Calcutta.
These vicious little wretches — they are only
about as big in body as a turtle-dove — had
a way of seizing each other with the bill, and
then pummelling the victim with both armed
pinions at once, in a way which must have been
very unpleasant.

The other species of Indian jacana, the bronze-
winged (Metopidius indicus), has a most peculiar
and vindictive weapon. It is not spurred, but
has the radius, or inner bone of that middle
segment of the wing which corresponds to our
forearm, broadened out into a knife-like blade,
which ought to deliver a most telling blow, but
one, as might be supposed, which would hurt
the deliverer as much as the recipient, since the
bone is covered with skin as usual ; but birds
do not seem to feel much when fighting, and
the wing is in any case less sensitive than the
foot, judging from the equanimity with which
birds bear the operation of pinioning ; I have
seen a duck begin to feed as soon as released
after it.

Double wing-spurs are found only in the
screamers, those large South American water-
fowl of which the best-known species, the chaja,
or crested screamer, is generally on view at the
Zoo, and has bred there, the first recorded

instance of its reproduction in captivity. The

149

Ornithological and Other Oddities

happy parents did their best to bully and intimi-
date the other inhabitants of the great aviary,
to say nothing of their keepers, but owing to
their clumsiness they did little harm. When,
however, the chaja does get a blow home it
can make it tell, and a half-grown bird has been
known to beat off a dog.

It must be mentioned that these wing-spurs
have nothing to do with the claws sometimes
present on the wings of birds ; these last are
situated at the ends of the fingers, and seem
to be of no use, except in the young of the
hoatzin {Opisthocomus koazin), which climbs with
its wings as well as its feet, being practically
a quadruped in its nestling stage. The spurs
of the wings are annually shed in some cases,
as in the " water - pheasant," which has mere
horny pimples in winter.

The better known leg-spurs, however, are
always permanent ; in structure they resemble
the horns of cattle, consisting of a bony core
clad in a sheath of horn ; and, just as such
horns are confined to the members of the bovine
family, oxen, sheep, and antelopes, so are leg-
spurs only found in the family of pheasants,
and not in all of those, being absent in most
of the partridges and quails, which belong to
the same natural group. The finest spurs, in
fact the most beautiful and effective weapons

ISO

How Birds Fight

borne by any bird, belong to the red jungle-
cock {Callus gal '/us) of Eastern Asia, the ancestor
of our domestic poultry. This gallant little
fellow, although he strikes most people as being
a mere bantam, is the match of anything of his
weight in feathers.

The kaleege pheasants [Gennaeus) are more
than a match for the pheasants of our coverts,
and these for any ordinary domestic fowl ; yet
a jungle-cock has been seen to defeat a cock
kaleege after an obstinate fight — a conflict com-
pelled by honour alone, as the white-ant hill,
about the possession of which it took place,
would have furnished a meal for both com-
batants.

The spurs in some of the pheasant family are
doubled or even quadrupled, as shown in the
cock blood pheasant [Ithagenes cruentus) of the
Himalayan pine-forests, a wonderful bird with
long soft plumage coloured soft grey, apple-
green, and carmine. Such many-spurred birds
often have a different number of spurs on the
two legs, as is, indeed, the case with this
species.

In allies of the spur-winged birds we often
find an incipient spur in the form of a knob,
as in the sheldrakes, some of the most pug-
nacious ducks ; and rudimentary knob-like spurs
on the leg are not uncommon in the pheasant

*5«

Ornithological and Other Oddities

family, as in the case of the French partridge
and the vulturine guinea-fowl (A cry I Hum vul-
turinum), which has several.

The common domestic guinea-fowl appears to
use the blunt horn on its head as a weapon ;
at any rate a lady once told me she had seen
one defeat an ordinary rooster by running under
him and butting, a mean mode of attack which
was altogether too much for poor chanticleer.
Indeed, he is not usually a match for this spur-
less bird.

Those birds with armed legs fight by springing
and striking forward, and a similar method of
attack is found in the great flightless birds,
though these, being unable to fly, usually have
to rely on one foot only. Thus the ostrich
delivers tremendous kicks, so powerful that one
has been known to pierce corrugated zinc ; but
if his opponent is another ostrich the blow is
usually received on the horny breast-pad, and
so does little harm.

The cassowaries possess a special weapon in
the shape of the formidably developed claw of
the inner toe ; they are active leapers, and,
though amusingly playful when young, become
nearly always dangerously vicious when full
grown. A wounded wild bird has been known
to force his human adversary to take to a tree
for safety on more than one occasion.

152

How Birds Fight

Enlarged inner claws are also found in the
cranes and the Muscovy duck, and their use is
likely to be involuntarily discovered by any one
who incautiously handles the latter bird under
the impression that ducks are harmless things.
In these cases, however, the fighting-claw is
curved or hooked, and its special adaptation for
warfare is only evident by its unusual size.
Many birds of prey have enlarged inner claws,
but this is merely part of the adaptation of their
feet for predatory purposes, whereas, in the cases
I have noted above, the big claw comes under
the head of special weapons for attack or defence,
such as the spurs above described.

'53

AN HONEST CUCKOO

With regard to form and habits, the large family
of cuckoos may be divided into two sections —
the tree cuckoos, of which our own bird is an
example, with long wings and short legs, and
the bush or ground cuckoos, with short wings and
well-developed, powerful legs.

All of the tree cuckoos inhabiting the old world
are parasitic, but those of the new world are not
— at any rate normally ; while the bush cuckoos
of both worlds are all respectable members of
bird-society as far as the education of their young
is concerned, building their own nests and caring
for their e^gs and brood themselves.

One of this section of the cuckoo family (Cen-
tropus sinensis) is among the most familiar birds
of India, where it is known as the crow-pheasant,
a most appropriate name, as the bird is in form
and habits a curious combination of these two
very dissimilar birds, having a powerful bill and
predatory tastes, contradicted by the short round
wings, long tail, and running habits of the game
bird.

The plumage of the old bird, however, is very
unlike that of the average pheasant, and more

*54

An Honest Cuckoo

approaches the crow's, being of a glossy blue-
black relieved by bright chestnut wings, a tout
ensemble which makes the bird very conspicuous
in its slow heavy flight.

Both sexes wear the same plumage, set off by
fiery-red eyes, but the young differ in a curious
way. Some of them are simply dull editions of
the parents, the colours being duller and the
brown wings sullied with black, while others are
regularly barred with brown and black above
and white and black below, and on the tail.

Both types have grey eyes. The barred ones,
of course, are much the most pheasant-like, but
they also suggest a hawk to some extent, and
the resemblance is noted by other birds. At any
rate, when on one occasion I bought a fledgling
of the barred variety in the Calcutta Market, and
showed it to a number of guinea-fowls in a coop,
they shrieked with terror at it, while, when I
got it home and put it on the balustrade of the
verandah it created excitement among our local
crows, which, however, did not venture to seri-
ously attack it, as it boldly faced them.

It is interesting to see that the hawk-like ap-
pearance which is commonly supposed to be of
some use to the weak parasitic true cuckoos is
also found in these strong semi-predatory birds
and also that any general resemblance to a hawk
is good enough to produce an effect on other birds.

i55

Ornithological and Other Oddities

This young bird, like all of the barred variety
I have had anything to do with, was very tame.
I did not keep it long, but gave it to my friend
Mr. D. Ezra, in whose possession it developed the
affectionate habits of a lap-dog. Although the
species is not, so far as I am aware, a nocturnal
bird in its wild state, this tame bird would always
make itself at home with its master in the evening,
coming up to him when let out of its cage in
the room, and sitting down on the couch by his
side.

One I had had before was so tame, that when
full-fledged I allowed it complete liberty in the
Indian Museum grounds, where it picked up its
own food — consisting mostly, as far as I could
see, of refuse boiled rice, and of young toads —
and yet remained so familiar that it would come
up to me to have its head scratched. If, how-
ever, I took it up and held it, it would struggle
furiously, drawing blood with its sharp bill.

In the end I missed it one day, and ultimately
found it in a cage in the Bird Bazaar, where, I
was told, it had been brought by " a Christian
boy " ! It bowed its head to be scratched as
usual, and I ransomed it for fourpence and gave
it to the Calcutta Zoo. Here it lived for some
time and attained its full plumage, though the
eyes simply became yellow, not red.

It was always very tame and even affectionate

156

An Honest Cuckoo

with me, and if it had had a mate would cer-
tainly, I think, have bred ; but I was never sure
of the sex.

Jerdon was of the opinion that these barred
young birds were the females, and those more
closely resembling the adult the males ; but I am
inclined to doubt this. In the first place, when
two or three nestlings, evidently representing
broods, were brought into the market together,
they would all be of one or the other type, never
mixed ; and it seems curious that the broods
should be always of one sex, though a more ex-
tended experience than mine might have proved
that the two types occur together. Moreover,
the unbarred young, when reared, were more
different from the barred ones than a mere sex-
difference would seem to warrant ; they were
much less tame in disposition, inclined to hop in
their gait as well as to walk, and had shorter legs
and longer tails. Lastly, we had a skin of a
nestling in the Indian Museum which had the
full adult plumage, thus presenting a still further
variation in the same direction.

I must thus leave to Anglo- Indian naturalists
the task of working out the meaning of these
curious variations of one of the commonest birds
in India ; it can only be done, I think, by rearing
several and keeping them till they have moulted
into adult plumage.

i57

Ornithological and Other Oddities

They are good birds to have about a place in
the tropics, as they destroy snakes and other
vermin. My pet bird mentioned above, which
could hardly have seen a live snake in its life
before, immediately attacked one I offered it when
it was confined in the Zoo aviary, instinctively
attacking the neck of the reptile in the first
place.

I noticed, by the way, that when loose in the
Museum grounds it keenly hunted a lizard, and
took care to get its head " in chancery " in the
same way, so that this would seem to be its
usual method of attack — obviously one which
does not give much chance of retaliation even to
a poisonous victim.

The most curious thing about the snake
episode, however, was that after mortally wound-
ing the unfortunate reptile, the bird altered its
demeanour for the time, and would not let me
handle it as usual, as if the latent ferocity of its
nature had been aroused. A very marked cor-
vine trait in this bird is its habit of holding prey
down with its foot, and, speaking of this member,
it is worth while to note its curious structure.

The toes are placed two before and two be-
hind as in ordinary cuckoos, but the inner or
true hind toe is provided with a long, nearly
straight claw like that on the hind toe of a

lark.

158

An Honest Cuckoo

The eggs are white with a chalky surface, and
as three are usually laid, the parents must have a
great deal to do to satisfy the brood, for the young
are as ravenous as our young cuckoo, continually
calling for food with a curious choking, gulping
note repeated three times. The note of the old
birds is a sort of hoot.

This bird is often proscribed in India as an
enemy to game, but even if it does destroy chicks
it ought to be spared in view of its great utility.
Every one in the East ought to have a warm
corner in his heart for a snake-killing creature,
and as rats are also part of the bird's prey —
at any rate it has been known to kill them in
captivity — it may be fairly held to pay for any
damage it does, since snakes and rats are no
better neighbours to young game birds than any
big bird of predatory tastes. Moreover, the in-
sectivorous habits of the species render its pre-
servation of importance, for in the East, at all
events, one must always strain a point in favour
of an insect-eating bird, considering the appal-
ling variety and prolificacy of insect life in those
regions.

The most interesting point about the crow-
pheasant, in my opinion, is the curious way in
which it represents the magpie. This bird,
though found in the Indian hills, is absent in
the plains, and the tree-pie (Dendrocitta rtifa),

r59

Ornithological and Other Oddities

which is very common there, is, as its name
implies, a purely arboreal bird.

Hence there is a vacancy for a bird which will
run about and be pettily predatory on the ground
and among the underwood, and the place has
been filled by a cuckoo, of all birds.

160

FEATHERED STOWAWAYS

Two or three years ago a specimen of the
American bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus\ which
had been captured on board a ship in the
Atlantic, 500 miles from Philadelphia, was
received at the Zoo.

This is not the first time that birds captured
very far from land have found a home in
Regent's Park. But the present instance is
peculiarly interesting, in that it amply justifies
a surmise of one our most judicial ornithologists.

The American bittern, paradoxical as the fact

may appear, was first known as an English

bird. As long ago as 1804 there was killed

in Dorsetshire a bittern which was recognised

by the great ornithologist, Colonel Montagu, as

of a different species from our European bird

{Botaurus stellar is). It was smaller and more

slender, more finely mottled over most of its

plumage, but had the quills plain drab instead

of the usual cinnamon with black bands. Of

course it was duly named, but not so very

lon£ afterwards it was found that this kind of

bittern was the ordinary species in America,

where the common bittern does not occur.

161 L

Ornithological and Other Oddities

Ever since then American bitterns have been
in the habit of casually looking in upon us
from time to time, and in a most flattering
way they have refused to visit any other part
of Europe but the British dominions. More-
over, their visits are so timed as always to
take place between October and February.

Now, as this period agrees with the time
of the American bittern's migrations, and our
islands are the first land the birds are likely
to reach in an Atlantic passage, it has occurred
to our great authority on British birds, Mr.
Howard Saunders, to suggest the theory of
assisted passages across the Atlantic for these
immigrants. There is so much trade between
the States and ourselves that a weary bird
would have little difficulty in finding a ship,
and once aboard it would merely have to
possess its soul in patience till the time came
to go ashore.

The number of birds adrift at sea, however,
impresses every one who has gone on many
voyages in waters more favourable than the
Atlantic, in seasons when the migrations are
in full swing. The voyage to India and back is
one which is certain to produce some episode in
the way of bird passengers, often of great interest.

During several experiences of this passage

I have met with birds which one certainly

162

Feathered Stowaways

would not have expected to see over salt
water, and have observed one or two most
interesting stowaways. Of the out-of-the-way
birds I may particularly mention the night-jar.
Of course, every one knows this bird goes south
in autumn, but, as it is a creature of the night,
one naturally expects it to travel at that time,
especially as so large a proportion of the birds
of day are addicted to "moonlight flitting"
when on trek.

Thus a night-jar at sea is a very surprising
sight, and at no time does one get a better
view of this beautifully-mottled moth-hunter
than when he flies round a ship in broad
daylight, almost brushing it with his wings.
His visit, however, is usually literally a flying
one, and I have never known a night-jar stay
any time on board, or let itself be caught
there, though showing at the time remarkably
little fear of man.

But one or two cases of bird passengers with
which a closer acquaintance has been possible
have occurred to me at different times, accom-
panied by circumstances of unusual interest.

In my first voyage abroad — more than twelve

years ago — I was surprised and pleased by

the appearance on board of a grey shrike, very

similar to our winter visitor at home, though

not quite identical.

163

Ornithological and Other Oddities

This bird joined us in the Red Sea two
days after we had left Suez, and so tamed by
exhaustion was he that, having at the time no
suitable cage, I let him roost all night on one
of the brass fittings of my cabin port-hole.
Next day he took a cockroach from my fingers,
and did not draw the line at one only of this
high-flavoured delicacy. So I had no difficulty
about his food, and was able on the following
day to exhibit him to our sympathetic skipper
seated on my finger, and devouring his orthop-
terous repast as happily as if on his native
bush.

He at this time seemed still weak on the
wing, but by the time we had got to Aden
he had quite recovered, and felt able to try
his luck again, for the day after leaving that
port he squeezed through the bars of the cage
which the carpenter had constructed for him,
and flew out of the saloon skylight, disdaining
the cockroach I proffered to lure him back.

For a little while he stayed in the rigging
to shake out his plumage and consider his
route, and then headed for land, which I
sincerely hope he reached, though it was about
sixty miles off. He had, at all events, scored
his passage down the Red Sea.

The second stowaway I have to record was

the last I have met, and the most remarkable.

164

Feathered Stowaways

As the P. and O. steamer Japan left Colombo
harbour on her homeward voyage in December,
a crow, which, perched in the rigging, was
hungrily watching the cook cutting up some
meat, was carried out to sea, and apparently
did not think it worth while to make any effort
to return.

He was not a very prosperous-looking crow,
for his face was bare of feathers on one side,
and possibly he thought that a sea voyage
might be of benefit to his constitution. Be
that as it may, he stayed on board, and was
regularly fed ; at night he roosted aloft in the
rigging.

This was well while the weather was calm,
but a day or two before we got in to Suez
it began to blow very hard one night, and in
the morning the poor crow was found worn out
by his efforts to hold on in the teeth of the
wind. With characteristic prudence, he deter-
mined the next night to roost under the awning,
but the ship's cats showed such a desire to
make his closer acquaintance that his friends
on board decided that he would be safer caught
and caged.

He bore his imprisonment with good grace

and appetite, like my old friend the shrike, but

his adventures had a sad ending. The weather

was terribly cold when we reached England in

165

Ornithological and Other Oddities

January, and the poor crow, although he lived
to be delivered at the Zoological Gardens, died
before he had the opportunity of recounting his
adventures and experiences to his fellow crows
in the Society's aviaries.

At any rate, he could claim to have made a
record as a stowaway that has seldom been
equalled, especially by a bird which eschews
migration and foreign adventure to such an
extent as does the town-loving Indian crow.

166

NIGHT-JARS AT HOME AND
ABROAD

Just as the owls take up the butchering business
where the hawks leave it off, so, when the shades
of night fall upon the world, do the night-jars
enter upon the pursuit of the insects which the
insect-eating birds of day then leave to work their
wicked will.

Our familiar British species {Caprimulgus
europczus), so beloved of Gilbert White, is an
excellent example of the typical night-jars, and
is found in many countries, from Norway to
South Africa, and from Ireland to the Punjab,
the northern countries being, of course, its home
only in summer. Although I have watched him
in his haunts at home, and listened to his loud
mysterious purring, and the strange cracking
sound, which, like the common pigeon, he pro-
duces by clapping his wings, I have nowhere had
such good views of the night-jar as on voyages
to and from the East, when these happened to
fall in the passage seasons of the birds. The
night-jar at sea is most remarkably tame, and

seems very curious, for he will skim along the

167

Ornithological and Other Oddities

side of the ship so closely as almost to brush it
with his wings, affording one an excellent oppor-
tunity of examining the exquisite markings of
his pencilled and stippled plumage of grey, buff,
black, and brown ; while, on one occasion, I even
saw the bird fly under the awning and poise for
an instant on an unconscious passenger's head !
I have seen another species also approach a ship
at sea, and I do not understand why these birds
of night should thus be on the wing in open
day, unless in their journeys they abandon their
darkling habits.

A late arrival with us — for he must wait till the
larger insects, his special prey, begin to fly — the
night-jar does not breed till summer is fully come,
but then he needs so little domestic preparation.
No nest at all is built, but the two beautiful eggs,
tinted-white with marblings of brown or faded
mauve, are laid on the ground, where the wonder-
ful protective colouring of the brooding bird is
their safeguard while the parent sits, and their
own extraordinary resemblance to pebbles is
supposed to avail them in her absence.

The night-jar's newly-hatched little ones, two

pinches of mottled fluff, harmonise better with

the same surroundings, and when, after three

weeks, their plumage has well covered them, they

begin to present the kind of " find the policeman"

puzzle so commonly exhibited by photographs of

1 68

Night-Jars at Home and Abroad

protectively-coloured birds. In such cases the
point to look for is the eye. I remember picking
an almost invisible woodcock out of a very perfect
photograph in this way ; but the woodcock is a
proverbial fool, and the wiser night-jar keeps its
eyes nearly shut even at the early age when it
still wears a downy coat.

Some of these birds at the later age evidently
believed in the Virgilian adage, " niniium ne crede
eolori" for they actually allowed themselves to
be shifted on to a bare piece of ground to give
the camera a better chance of displaying their
beauties. And young night-jars are not by any
means helpless, for they can run even in the
downy stage, although they are fed by the
parents, very much after the fashion of pigeons,
except that the young take the old one's beak
in their mouths, as has been made out by that
untiring observer of our wild creatures, Mr.
Edmund Selous.

Night-jars much resembling our own are found

almost everywhere, but the family, as might be

inferred from the habits of its members, is mainly

a tropical one, and comparatively few are found

in temperate regions, these being, of course,

migratory, like our bird. Like the cuckoos,

another tropical family with colonists in the

colder parts of the world, they are remarkable

for the variety of the notes of the different

169

Ornithological and Other Oddities

species, as well as for the extraordinary nature
of these calls.

Everybody has heard of the North American
"whip-poor-will" (Caprimulgus vociferus) and
" chuck-will's-widow " (Caprimulgus carolinensis),
though why these birds have such truculent
views about William and his relict has not been
explained. In India the commonest night-jar
(Caprimulgus asiaticus) is often called the ice-
bird, for its note exactly recalls the sound of a
stone sent skimming over ice, most incongruous
in the stuffy tropic night. As the imaginary
stone does not always bounce the same number
of times, people sometimes wile away the time
by betting on the repetitions.

Perhaps the most extraordinary foreign night-
jar, however, is one of the largest of them all, the
urutau of Brazil (Nyctibius jamaiceusis), a bird
which looks nearly as big as a crow, with a
perfectly preposterous mouth and shanks exhibit-
ing the irreducible minimum of shortness. There
is a story current in Brazil that the urutau is a
sort of living sundial, always turning its head to
the sun as it wears away the tedious hours of
daylight, sitting at the end of a stump. Dr. Emil
Goeldi, of the Para Museum, has, however,
disposed of this story, not by scoffing at it,
after the manner of the cheaper sort of scientist,

but, by tethering a tame urutau out in the sun,

170

Night-Jars at Home and Abroad

when he found that all it did was to turn its head
aside more and more as the sunlight incommoded
it, resuming its position as the day waned ; the
figures in his paper in the Ibis show the bird
with a comically disgusted expression on its face
at the moment of maximum aversion to the "eye
of Heaven."

In addition to the typical night-jars, there is in
the south-eastern parts of the old world a family
of allied birds, forming, to some extent, a link
between the night-jars and the owls, the frog-
mouths, well known in Australia as " moreporks,"
corrupted into " mopehawks " and "mopokes."
The best-known species of these are much larger
and stouter birds than night-jars, with shorter
wings, and very strong, though short, bills.
They are not so active on the wing as night-
jars, and usually sit across a branch like ordinary
birds, not along it as night-jars usually do ; they
have the outer front toe turned back at right
angles to the middle one, and do not possess
the comb-like claw on the latter so usual in
the typical night-jars. Moreover, the moreporks
build a nest in trees with twigs, like pigeons ;
their eggs are white, and their young are clothed
in pure white down. They do well in captivity,
though they will not usually pick up food, but
expect it to be held to their bills. There

have been several specimens of the common

171

Ornithological and Other Oddities

Australian species [Podargus cuvieri) at the
Zoological Gardens, which, for variety of facial
expression, are equal to any of the owls. In
one of the illustrations the bird wears an aver-
age expression, if I may use the term ; but in
the other the mobility of his countenance has
full justice done to it, apparent peevish disgust
in the one contrasting with genial satisfaction in
the other. As a matter of fact, in the former
he is trying to look like a stump, while in the
latter he has let his features relax, perhaps in
the anticipation of dinner.

172

FOREIGN BIRDS AT LARGE IN
ENGLAND

With the approach of winter those feathered
aliens which by escape or liberation have found
themselves at large in our English woods and
fields have their first serious problem to face,
especially if they happen, as is so often the case,
to hail from countries where snow and frost are
unknown. The remarkable ease with which
birds from warm climates will bear our climate
without the assistance of artificial heat has long
been a source of wonder and satisfaction to avi-
culturists ; but circumstances are rather different
when the exile finds itself with no roof over its
head and no table constantly spread for it, though
increased exercise probably compensates for these
drawbacks. There can be no doubt, considering
the vast numbers of foreign birds now sold at a
low rate, and the excellent condition in which
they arrive — bearing captivity so much better
than our English birds — that many out of these
by some accident regain their liberty, to say
nothing of purposed enlargements, and what
becomes of them is certainly a puzzle.

i73

Ornithological and Other Oddities

To take a few concrete instances. The Pekin
robin (Liotkrix luteus) is imported in the early-
year by the hundred, and is a bird remarkably
likely to win his way to freedom. If any bird
could be, like Sir Boyle Roche's proverbial one,
in two places at the same time, it is the liothrix ;
he slips out of a cage or aviary door with con-
summate ease, while, though looking- stout as a
bullfinch, he can squeeze through the drinking
hole of a canary cage, if this is rather larger than
usual. Once out, he can take care of himself
better than any English bird I have ever seen ;
in hopping he is a very " Spring-heeled Jack,"
and his flight, if short, is remarkably sharp, while
he takes good care not to expose himself in the
open. These peculiarities, added to the fact that
he is hardy and omnivorous, make it not at all
surprising that a specimen turned up in Norfolk
one November, quite healthy and perfect, though
with the richness of its colours dulled. Since
then, several escapes have come to my personal
knowledge ; the breakage of an aviary in a storm
liberated three of these birds in Surrey, and one
got away into a London square. We may thus
conclude that every year a good few of such a
species as this make the experiment of adapting
themselves to English conditions. Besides, in 1 905
I turned out more than three dozen in the London
parks ; yet none were seen after a few months.

i74

Foreign Birds at Large in England

The most numerous foreign cage- bird of all,
next to the canary and collared dove, is probably
the budgerigar, or grass-parrakeet of Australia
{Melopsittacns undzilatus), so familiar as the
" fortune-telling bird " of our street sibyls. Thou-
sands of these are imported annually, and, as they
are easier to breed in an aviary than canaries,
so many are thus raised that the stock could be
easily kept up by this means alone. Not long
ago a gentleman determined to try to acclimatise
these beautiful and lively little birds in his park,
and turned out some scores of pairs. These bred
in the open, but ultimately all, old and young,
took their departure, never to return. Isolated
instances of budgerigars being seen at large are,
of course, common. A pair once lived for years
in a London square, and a bird-dealer told me
recently that he knew of one which haunted a
particular locality for a whole summer.

A few years back I myself liberated in St.
James's Park a dozen specimens of that loveliest
of starlings, the rosy pastor [Pastor roseus) ; but,
with the exception of one which fell a victim to a
stone, and another, probably of this lot, observed
about a fortnight later twelve miles from London,
they all disappeared before long. Yet it is very
unlikely that they died, for the species is a par-
ticularly hardy one, eating anything, from grass
to flies, and often reaching our shores unaided,

i75

Ornithological and Other Oddities

when it associates with starlings till some one
shoots it.

The game-birds stand a better chance of sur-
vival than most imported aliens, being carefully
looked after by sportsmen ; but the attempts
made many years ago to introduce the American
quail or bob- white {Ortyx virginianus) ended
in failure — a great pity, as this is an excellent
little sporting bird.

In considering the causes which lead to the
failure of imported birds to establish themselves,
I think we may dismiss the competition of our
own species. It is true that the resistance of the
previous occupants is one of the most serious
obstacles to birds attempting to colonise a new
locality, as was long ago pointed out by Darwin ;
but none of the species already mentioned would
be likely to succumb to this.

The Pekin robin, though no fighter, is so
active and cunning that he has nothing" to fear
from our small birds. A pair in the aviary of an
amateur of my acquaintance were so smart that
they would snatch food from the bill of a missel-
thrush kept with them. The budgerigar, like
most parrots, is more than a match for any bird
its own size, and the dandified little Mandarin
and Carolina drakes would not fear the com-
petition of the mallard in the least ; while as to

the rosy pastor, it is, as I have said, readily

176

Foreign Birds at Large in England

received into the society of the good-natured and
sociable starlings. As to birds of prey, they are
so rare in England that they need not be con-
sidered in this connection. Almost any bird
likely to be imported has had to run the gauntlet
of falcons and sparrow-hawks in its own country,
since the distribution of these types of raptores is
practically world-wide.

What effect our climate may have on the birds
is very hard to tell, but it seems unlikely to be
the cause of death through cold to species which
can endure it in captivity ; while with regard to
the food supply, if such delicate little birds as the
Dartford warbler and bearded reedling can find a
sufficiency without leaving us, it seems curious
that tougher ones cannot do so. It is quite
possible that some birds are drawn away and lost
in the stream of migration, and this is probably
what happened to my rosy pastors, and possibly
the Pekin robins also.

That mighty hunter " Ass-with-a-gun " is un-
doubtedly a deadly enemy to introduced birds, if
large and conspicuous, as escaped cranes and
pelicans find, but it seems to me that in the case
of such birds as I have mentioned, the migratory
instinct comes into play ; almost the only birds
one can depend on acclimatising here are the
pheasant family, which are incapable of distant
flight.

177 m

INDIAN GAME-BIRDS AND
WILDFOWL

There is no part of the British Empire in which
bird-life is so varied and abundant as in India,
and this is especially the case with those groups
which interest others than professed naturalists.
In respect of her list of game, shore, and water
birds our Indian Empire can indeed challenge
the rivalry of the world. The two species of
peafowl alone — to take the game-birds first —
would put any country's list of these in the front
rank. We are apt, because the peacock is so
well known in domestication, to forget what a
wonderful bird he is — to fail to realise that he
represents Nature's final effort in the direction
of animal decoration, one eyed plume from his
train being a perfect design and colour-scheme
in itself. And, as if the ordinary peacock were
not enough, we are presented, eastward of India
proper, with another variation of the type in the
form of the Burmese peacock, with its neck of
scaly green-bronze and long slender crest ; the
ultimate development of the peafowl idea, inas-
much as the hen, except that she bears no train,

178

//". /'. Ihlii.to

RED JUNG! E-FOWL

The colour is just like that ot "black-red" tame fowls

i If. /■

[GRE1 li NG1 E-FOWL
tii ol this bird I ithers ai e w bite with blai I

Indian Game-Birds and Wildfowl

is as beautiful as the cock, and so has progressed
further along the path to perfection than the
sombre mate of the more familiar bird. Along
with the peafowls we find the jungle-fowls, the
red species, the ancestor of that old companion
of man, gallant chanticleer, plumaged gules and
sable, and most savagely spurred, as befits the
gallant knight he is ; and the grey bird of the
south of India, with his gold-bedropped hackle
so beloved of salmon-fly makers, to say nothing
of the orange-red and purple wild cock of Ceylon.
Above the plains and foot-hills which form the
territory of these range the Kaleege pheasants,
near relatives of the exquisite silver pheasant of
our aviaries, and, alas ! just as useless for sport.
Above them some birds have their being which
recall in make and habits our pheasants at home ;
the triple-crested koklass, swift in flight and ex-
cellent in flavour, and the dull-plumaged but
long-tailed cheer, a denizen of bushy-ledged pre-
cipices, down which he parachutes madly when
disturbed by the sportsman.

Other noble game of the deciduous jungles of
the hills are the strange tragopans, the com-
monest one horned and gorgeted azure, with the
guinea-fowl's pearl-markings of plumage on a
ground of richest crimson ; and the grandest of
all, the Monaul or Impeyan pheasant, with

plumage of a humming-bird's radiance on a body

179

Ornithological and Other Oddities

as big as a fowl's, and a cry which is a strangely
mellow rendering of the peewit's. Above them
in the conifer zone lives the blood-pheasant,
flavouring himself horribly on an aromatic diet
of pine and juniper, and, where the forest dis-
appears and leaves a stretch of grass running
upwards to the eternal snows, the great ram-
chukor or snow-cock, a partridge as big as a
small goose, grazes on the turf or scratches for
bulbs, with one wary eye on the soaring eagle,
whose frequent attempts to capture him sitting
give interest to a life at these stupendous heights.
And he is not the only high-level dweller, for
where the scanty moss and lichens half hide the
rocks of the snow-line, a beautifully-pencilled
bird, the ptarmigan-like snow-partridge, picks
up a scanty living and waxes fat and savoury
in an arctic environment.

There are no true grouse on these Himalayan
heights, these grouse-like pheasants and par-
tridges taking their place, just as trout-like carp
take the place of real trout in the mountain
streams ; but on the plains the curious sand-
grouse live and in some cases breed, hatching
their eggs on the arid soil under a sun so fierce
that the said eggs literally begin to cook if
the bird is scared off them for any time. Of
quails and partridges there is no need to speak ;

India has its full share of them, and the natives

1 80

Indian Gamc-Birds and Wildfowl

are still as fond of making pets and gladiators of
quails as were the Greeks of old.

Bustards there are, too — the great Indian bus-
tard, exceeding two yards in expanse and two stone
in weight ; the desert-haunting houbara, a favourite
quarry with falconers, and the delicious lloricans,
the smaller kind, or likh, adorned with long ear-
plumes such as are only found elsewhere among
certain birds of paradise. With such a large and
varied list India ought to be the best country in
the world for small-game shooting ; that it is not
so is to be attributed to the fact that there is
no properly organised and sufficient preservation,
and that the country fairly swarms with ground
vermin, from the leopard and jackal to the mon-
goose and cobra, so that it is a wonder how any
game-bird survives at all.

Happily, however, the subject of game preser-
vation is now being taken in hand more seriously,
and one most destructive class of human poachers,
the plume-hunters, who used to destroy monauls
and tragopans by the thousand for the sake of
their skins, have been effectually dealt with by
Lord Curzon's admirable enactment prohibiting
the export of such goods from the country.
Legislative interference, however, is still much
needed to protect the water-fowl, which, from
the biggest ducks to the smallest sandpipers,

are yearly captured by hundreds by various

181

Ornithological and Other Oddities

poaching methods, and sent alive to the markets
to die slowly of hunger and thirst, for the native
never troubles to attend to their wants so long
as he can keep them alive without attention for
a few days.

All through the winter this cruelty goes on, and
has gone on for years, though my friend Mr. W.
S. Burke, the editor of the leading Indian sporting
paper, has constantly protested against it. The
sight of it always mars the pleasure of a visit to
this bazaar, otherwise a most interesting place, by
reason of the number of different species of the
stilted and web-footed tribes which throng in
millions to India in winter, when, as Seebohm
picturesquely puts it, the Ice-angel has closed the
gates of their paradise on the Siberian tundras.
At this time India is perhaps the only country
where birds, valued elsewhere for food and sport,
may amount to a pest ; the Indian ryot knows as
well as the Roman farmer in Virgil's day "what
harm is wrought by greedy goose and Strymon's
cranes," and the garganey teal, comparatively
scarce and scattered in the west, comes in dense
multitudes, which break down acres of rice in
a night.

Also come better-known quarry of the English

wild - fowler, mallard and wigeon, pintail and

pochard, to meet on the jheels the resident Indian

water-fowl, the noisy, quarrelsome, whistling tree-

182

Indian Game-Birds and Wildfowl

ducks, the lovely little cotton-teal, smaller than a
pigeon, and clad gorgeously in snow-white and
bronze-green, and the strange pink-headed duck,
with a body of glossy sepia, set off by a gaunt
head of glowing pink, with ruby eyes. Then
there is the interest of the invasion of India by
various estrays — the wild race of the mute swan,
the beautiful falcated teal of China, and of late
years even the king of the ducks — the Mandarin
duck of the same country — till recently only known
in India as a captive bird, imported to stock the
aviaries of wealthy natives.

As to the waders, their name is legion ; the
common snipe is in myriads, and his relative, the
pintailed species, equally common ; the jack is
found, and more rarely the woodcock, with others
of which home sportsmen never make the ac-
quaintance. Most notable of these is the so-called
painted snipe, really a gaudy sandpiper, with
butterfly wings eyed with buff on a ground of
pencilled grey. This is a resident, with most
peculiar habits. The hen is the more beautiful
bird, and in all probability, as is usual in such
cases, leaves the sitting to the male ; both sexes
also have the idea that they can terrify an enemy
by the display of their spotted wings, accom-
panied by cat-like hissing. Another common
wader is the strange and lovely pheasant-tailed
jacana or water-pheasant, to my mind the most

183

Ornithological and Other Oddities

beautiful of all small water-fowl. From the
pheasant tribe it borrows a long tapering tail
and a patch of pure gold on its neck, the rest of
its plumage being black and white ; in carriage it
has all the grace of the crane in a body no bigger
than a turtle-dove's, and the enormously long
green toes which support it on the tank-weeds
are not noticeable in its natural surroundings.
This is a resident bird, but in winter it entirely
alters its appearance, losing its long tail and most
of the black and gold in its plumage, and thus
incidentally disproving a recent theory to the
effect that only animals in a country with a
hard winter change their colour according to
the seasons. Godwits and curlews, sandpipers
and stints, are in numbers beyond telling, with
quantities of waders of the non-sporting types,
herons, bitterns, and storks, from the gigantic
bald-headed adjutant, formerly a street scavenger
in Calcutta, to the "paddy-bird," a quaint dwarf
heron found wherever there is a plash of water,
and changing mysteriously from an incon-
spicuous brown object in repose to a snowy-
white creature when it takes wing, which it
only does when it catches your eye.

Beside all this host of land game-birds and
fresh-water fowl, the sea-birds of India make a
singularly poor show. There are no auks or

divers, and very few petrels, while even the

184

Indian Game-Birds and Wildfowl

cormorants, which are numerous enough, prefer
the fresh water, where they meet the darter or
snake-bird, so well known to visitors to the Zoo.
Tropic birds and brown and white gannets haunt
the seas, but do not breed on Indian coasts, and
even gulls, as a rule, are scarce. It is true that
a good many kinds haunt the north-western
coasts, but along the shores of the Bay of
Bengal the brown-headed gull, a near ally of our
familiar friend in London at the present time, is
the only really abundant species.

Terns, however, are common enough, and
many kinds are found, from the great Caspian
tern to tiny dwarfs hardly bigger than swifts,
the most fairy-like of all aquatic birds. Terns
are also common all over the inland waters, and
are likely to be the first Indian birds the visitor
sees, as they follow the ship through the Sunder-
bund channels, plunging in the sacred but muddy
stream of the Ganges, where it is stirred up by
the screw. This group of sea-fowl, however, are
found everywhere, and one of the main charac-
teristics of the Eastern seascape is the singular
absence of other sea-birds, a very great contrast
to the teeming and varied bird-life of the land.

185

JAPANESE AVICULTURE

The successes of Japanese horticulture, in the
forms of wonderful effects in landscape garden-
ing in a small space, trees of immemorial age
dwarfed to a size suitable for window-boxes, and
glorious chrysanthemums, are known to every
one ; but the equal success of this wonderful
people in the culture of birds is not by any
means so familiar to the world at large. The
best-known results of their pains bestowed in
this direction are two breeds of fowls, the
Japanese bantams and the celebrated long-
tailed fowls. The Japanese bantams have been
known in England for a long time, and are not
at all uncommon ; as the photograph shows,
their most striking peculiarities are extremely
short legs and, in the cocks at all events, very
large combs. They are usually black or white,
or a mixture of the two colours, white with a
black tail being very commonly seen. This
coloration, however, does not represent a
triumph of breeders in the localisation of colour,
as has been stated, for black-tailed white fowls
represent a very common and spontaneous varia-
tion, frequently seen wherever fowls are allowed

186

Japanese Aviculture

to breed promiscuously. Thus this particular
marking is a very easy one to breed. The
short legs of the Japanese bantam are found in
two large European breeds, the Dumpies — now
apparently very scarce — and the French Courtes
Pattes. I have seen abnormally short-legged
specimens occurring among the Malay fowls,
which are the usual breed in Zanzibar, though
the Malay usually has very long legs ; so that
these Dachshund-like breeds of fowls have pro-
bably been obtained by breeding from chance
short-legged "sports."

With regard to the large combs of the
Japanese bantams, it is noteworthy that their
possession does not inconvenience the birds in
any way, as these are as lively, brisk, and plucky
as bantams in general ; whereas, in large breeds
with similar proportionately large combs, such
as the Minorca, this headgear often proves such
an annoyance to the bird that he is unable to
live happily till it is cut off. The Japanese
make great pets of these bantams, and evidently
admire them much, judging from the frequency
with which they depict them in their art work ;
the specimens shown in the photograph are of
the very best Japanese blood. They must be
widely appreciated outside Japan, for I found
them not uncommon in Calcutta, where they

were imported from the further East direct.

1S7

Ornithological and Other Oddities

The much more remarkable long-tailed breed
has also been long known outside Japan, but
it is not commonly kept, owing no doubt to the
attention required to keep the cocks in good
feather. Fowls the length of whose tails runs
into yards cannot be allowed to run loose unless
the said tails are tied up, or they soon find them-
selves tethered to surrounding objects by these
extravagant appendages. In general appear-
ance this breed closely resembles the old English
fighting game, although some specimens have
small lumpy combs instead of " single " ones.
As in game, also, the colour is very variable,
and different names are employed by Japanese
fanciers to designate the various colours, just as
game-breeders talk of "piles," " duckwings," and
so forth. Of the two cocks of the breed shown
in the case of domestic birds in the entrance hall
at the Natural History Museum at South Ken-
sington, one is of the black-breasted red type,
the wild jungle-fowl colour, and the other a
"duckwing," in which shades of yellow or white
replace the red. Mr. J. T. Cunningham has paid
special attention to these birds, with a view to
discovering the method by which the extreme
elongation of the tail-coverts, centre tail-feathers,
and long hackles of the lower part of the back
is produced. His experiments, published in the
Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1903,

Japanese Aviculture

lead him to the conclusion that stroking and
pulling the growing feathers, the method said
to be employed in Japan, has a distinct effect
in producing a longer period of growth than
would normally be the case. But it is very
doubtful whether this alone would produce the
very lengthened plumage, and a certain innate
tendency to extravagant growth of feather, in-
creased by selection, may be safely inferred,
as without artificial manipulation the length of
feather attained is still comparatively very
great.

No specimen kept in Europe has, however,
ever grown such tail - feathers as have been
produced in Japan, where, according to the
Japanese, a length of 23 feet has been attained,
though even 12 feet is a rarity. Even the
saddle-hackles, growing from the back, have
reached a length of 4 feet. It seems that in
some cases the long tail-feathers are not moulted,
but go on growing continuously for some years,
at all events.

The proper way of managing the cocks is to
keep them on a high perch in a dark narrow
cage, taking them down every two or three days
for a little exercise, with a man acting as train-
bearer to keep the tail from injury ; and it says a
great deal for the constitution of these fowls that

they are vigorous and high-couraged, for such

189

Ornithological and Other Oddities

treatment would soon kill an ordinary rooster,
fowls being, as a rule, very intolerant of actual
caging in a very small space, although they may
thrive in confined " runs," with proper attention.

The hens of the breed are very ordinary in
appearance, except that the tail-feathers and tail-
coverts are rather longer than usual, recalling
those of a short-tailed bantam cock rather than
a hen. The hen in the British Museum and two
of Mr. Cunningham's birds are much like dark
Dorking hens in colour, dark grey on the back,
and fawn on the breast, but Mr. Cunningham also
has one coloured much like a jungle-fowl hen, of
what fanciers call a "partridge" colour in game-
fowls. His male birds are " duckwings."

No doubt the best birds never leave Japan, so
that it is not wonderful that in Europe the tails
of the cocks do not grow to more than a yard
or two, particularly as no special treatment is
attempted by most people, the credit of trying
this belonging exclusively to Mr. Cunningham.

In addition to their poultry, two other domestic
birds of the Japanese are well known in Europe,
and deserve attention. These are little cage-
birds of the weaver-finch group ; one is the Java
sparrow {Munia oryzivora), the wild type of
which, conspicuous in any aviary by its beauti-
fully sleek grey plumage, black-and-white head,

and exquisite rose-pink bill, is nowadays so freely

190

Japanese Aviculture

imported that specimens can often be procured
in London at ninepence each. The Japanese
have domesticated this bird, and bred from it a
white variety, which is an exquisitely beautiful
creature, the close snow-white plumage admirably
setting off the intense rose of the bill and the
paler pink of the feet and eyelids. These white
birds, of course, breed freely in aviaries ; they
are rather larger than the grey wild ones, and
more vicious in disposition, being given to toe-
biting and tail-plucking. Another point in which
they differ from the wild birds is the superior
song of the cocks, though their melody is nothing
very much to boast of. In Japan they are said to
be kept in white cages, though it is difficult to
believe that this has influenced the production of
the colour, since white varieties are often easily
raised by ordinary selection when once the varia-
tion has been obtained.

The other domestic Japanese finch is the
Bengalee {Uroloncha acuticaudd), a little creature
about the size of our coletit. The natural colour
of this bird, as it occurs wild in India and China,
is a dark brown ; but the domestic specimens are
almost always more or less pied with white, and
sometimes white all over, while some are cin-
namon, and many pied cinnamon - and - white.
Indeed, almost all those imported recently have

been of the last-named colour. They are funny,

191

Ornithological and Other Oddities

harmless little things, with an insignificant little
song, and always remind me somehow of domestic
mice. I found both the Bengalee and the white
Java sparrow common in the shops of Calcutta
bird-dealers, and in both cases it was easier there
to procure specimens of a perfectly pure white,
not marred by " foul " feathers, than it is in
England.

The gold and silver pheasants, so familiar in
our aviaries, are said to be bred freely in Japan
in captivity, and exported to China for sale, as
are also the above-mentioned finches. The
Japanese also have the two species of peacock,
the green or Javanese {Pavo muticus), which is
the only one appearing in their art, for which
its scaly-looking plumage and quaint long crest
peculiarly adapt it, and the black-winged form of
the common peacock {Pavo ?i7gripennis), which
is often known as the Japan pea-fowl. In the
male of this bird the wings are black, with a
gloss of purple and green, not speckled, as in
the common variety of the species ; and the
hen is white, with a grizzled back, so that it
has all the appearance of a distinct species,
though known to arise as a "sport" from the
ordinary kind.

Particularly well known in Japanese art is the

beautiful Manchurian crane {Grus japonensis),

which appears to be kept as a captive in Japan,

192

Japanese Avieulture

and sometimes to have bred there. It is cer-
tainly the readiest of all cranes to breed in
captivity, and has done so both in the London
Zoological Gardens and with the great Dutch
aviculturist Mynheer F. Blaauw of S' Graveland.
So identified is this bird with Japanese designing
that a friend whom I was showing- round the
Calcutta Zoological Gardens some years ago
remarked when he saw one there, " Why, is
that a real bird ? I thought it only existed in
Japanese art ! "

The lovely little Pekin robin (Liothrix luteus),
however, though often sold here as the "Japa-
nese nightingale," is a Chinese, not a Japanese,
bird, and seldom breeds in captivity. I have no
doubt that the Japanese do keep it, for they are
particularly skilful in managing "soft-billed"
birds, and this one, combining beauty of song
and plumage with unusual intelligence, can hardly
have escaped the attention of a nation who show
as much good taste and judgment in selecting
birds and plants for cultivation as they do in so
many other matters.

»93

THE KING OF THE TITS

"Among the blind the one-eyed is king," says
the French proverb ; and among our tits, whose
very name, etymologists tell us, is a record of
their smallness, the great tit (Parus major) passes
for a big bird. Yet he is really less in size than
a sparrow, and it is his striking dress, black
hood, white shirt-collar, French-grey coat, and
yellow waistcoat, which makes him such a striking
member of the small-bird fraternity, especially as
his consort wears the same clothes.

Fortunately, unlike so many of our more
beautifully-coloured birds, he is very common,
not only in the country, but in towns wherever
trees may be found ; even in London he may be
seen at times, and I have noted him as late as
midsummer, so that he probably breeds there.
He is better suited for town life than almost
any of our small birds, being most omnivorous
in appetite, and active and plucky enough to be
in comparatively little danger from the sparrow,
though that bird's power of combination makes
him irresistible to such species as his strong bill
and bulldog courage are not sufficient to over-
come in single combat.

194

The King of the Tits

The oxeye, as the great tit is as often called,
except in books, is a bit of a ruffian himself, and,
being possessed of claws like steel springs, and
an uncommonly hard beak, which he uses with
much effect as a pick, can and does commit atro-
cities in the way of avicide in captivity, as many
a fancier can bear testimony. A century ago,
Bechstein observed that he had known one of
these birds attack and kill a quail — a bird twice
its own size, and no mean fighter to boot — and
more recently Dr. A. G. Butler has related how
he kept nine great tits in two large cages, where
they eliminated each other till only one was left
in each. Want of room compelled him to try
these together, but their ferocity was not ap-
peased, and the very next morning a few frag-
ments were all that were left of one. The
concentrated cannibal which remained lived to
moult twice ; but, curiously enough, it lost its
beauty of plumage, becoming very pale, and in
particular assuming a dirty cream-coloured breast
instead of a yellow one. Lest this should be
rashly attributed to retributive justice, it may be
mentioned, that Mr. J. G. Keulemans describes
a very similar result in captive oxeyes which have
been allowed to indulge in milk. Of this many
insectivorous birds are very fond in captivity,
although it is such an unnatural food ; and its
effect on the great tit is to discharge the yellow

i95

Ornithological and Other Oddities

colour from the plumage, turning the yellow-green
of the back to a dull grey, and bleaching the
breast to white. In this state the bird somewhat
resembles the Indian grey tit (Parus minor), and
thus the change is interesting, as showing on how
little specific difference sometimes depends — in
this case little more than the presence or absence
of a fugitive yellow pigment.

Unfortunately for the character of the oxeye,
it has to be admitted that the often-brought plea
of " changed circumstances of captivity " will not
acquit him ; for he is known to murder other small
birds, and even bats, when at liberty, and to fight
with his own kind until blood is drawn freely.

I do not, of course, recommend any one to
cage a familiar bird like this, except temporarily,
for the purpose of some particular observation ;
for, although the bird bears captivity well, when
once he has convinced himself that he cannot
get out, it is far more pleasant for all parties to
cultivate the oxeye's acquaintance in the open.
This can readily be done in winter, when a half-
picked bone or a head of sunflower hung out
will speedily attract any individuals that may be
in the vicinity. And in a favourable locality
the birds will show themselves quite willing to
continue the acquaintance thus begun, even in
summer. This has been well demonstrated by

Mr. Granvile Sharp in his charming little book,

196

The King of the Tits

"Birds in a Garden." He found that old birds
of this species were glad of help when bringing
up a brood, finding, when the grown young were
still clamouring for food, that a piece of nut would
stop their mouths for some time ; since, though
lazily expecting food to be put into their bills,
they knew quite enough to hold a big piece down
with their feet and chip at it with their bills in
orthodox tit fashion. It is, indeed, very char-
acteristic of the tits to swallow their food in small
morsels, in a manner very unlike the greedy haste
with which most insectivorous birds bolt it in
large pieces. Herein, as well as in their habit of
holding things under their feet, they much re-
semble their relatives, the crows ; for every one
must have noticed the mincing, finicking way in
which birds of the crow tribe feed when they have
time, though they will pouch big pieces for future
discussion when pressed at the moment.

The great tit is, indeed, a jay in miniature, and
as some foreign jays are not much bigger than
blackbirds, and the splendid black and yellow
Sultan-tit of the Himalayas [Parus sultanetts) is
nearly as large as a thrush, even the size does not
make much distinction between the two groups.
Most tits, however, differ very markedly from
most crows in their habit of building in holes ;
and the great tit in particular is most accom-
modating in his ideas of what constitutes a suit-

197

Ornithological and Other Oddities

able cavity. The bird which built year after year
in a used letter-box at Rowfant is familiar to every
habitue of the bird gallery at the South Kensing-
ton Museum ; and I was once shown at Swanley
Horticultural College a great tit brooding peace-
fully in an old pump, and quite unmoved when
the top was taken off to allow of the view. I
have also known of a brood located in an old iron
pipe, some feet down. One would think that
tobogganing down on the brood and scrambling
up again every time attention had to be paid
them would be a game hardly worth the candle ;
but to an acrobatic nature like the oxeye's such
things seem trifling. One good point about this
cheerful acceptance of unfurnished lodgings on
the bird's part is that it is quite easy to induce
him to colonise one's garden, a firmly fixed water-
tight box, with an inch-wide hole in the front,
being all that is required. A brood reared about
the premises will get delightfully tame. Mr.
Sharp's young friends would freely enter his room
in search of food, thus almost emulating a captive
bird of this species I have been told of, which,
allowed the liberty of the kitchen, used to help
itself to whatever it fancied on the table, and
retire to rest in a jug on the dresser. But it is
as a subject for aviculture in the open that the
oxeye especially shines, and I can strongly advise
any one of my readers who does not as yet know

him well to cultivate his acquaintance.

198

THE CONGREGATION OF BIRDS

Nothing in the winter life of birds is more
striking than their gregarious habits in that
season ; those which were sociable already, like
the starlings, become more so, and those which
in summer prefer to keep their nearest neigh-
bours at a good deal more than arm's length,
like the lapwings, have laid aside their differ-
ences for the time being, and feed and move
in company. Of course there remain a few
irreconcileables — the robin, the friend of man
and the enemy of pretty nearly every one else ;
the blackbird, well named by the Romans merula,
"the little solitary"; the hermit woodpecker,
and so forth ; but, on the whole, winter is for
the birds a time for social relaxation. And
this is the case not only in cold climates where
winter means biting chills and long periods of
semi-starvation, but also in those more favoured
lands where earth and water do not become
alike impenetrable to hungry bills, and where
vegetable and insect life do not stagnate for
well-nigh half the year. The migrating wild-
fowl which cross the Himalayas to winter in

India are just as gregarious on Eastern jheels

199

Ornithological and Other Oddities

as on our freezing estuaries ; and the whistling-
teal or tree-ducks flock there like their northern
visitors, though they are born and bred in the
country, which to the latter is merely an agree-
able winter resort.

The winter assemblages of our titmice and
gold-crests find their parallels among the birds
of warm climates. Bates, in his admirable
"Naturalist on the Amazons," describes mixed
flocks of various birds, usually insectivorous,
which suddenly fill the forest with life and
then pass on, hunting as they go. So also in
India the various bush-hunting birds occasion-
ally form mixed flocks, which traverse the jungle
in company, the short-winged species hunting
among the vegetation and on the ground, while
those which take their food on the wing wait
to snap up the insects which escape the ground-
lings. A more remarkable association has been
observed in Africa, where a party of storks
was once observed hunting grasshoppers, and
each bearing as a rider a "large copper-coloured
flycatcher," which bird darted from his stork's
back to pursue any insect his steed had missed.
The flycatcher in question was probably one
of the beautiful red African bee-eaters, for in
India the little green bee-eater is commonly mis-
called in this way, and no doubt the same would
be the case with his large red African relative.

The Congregation of Birds

In the case of assemblages of winter birds
in temperate climates, the flycatching species
cannot take a hand in the game, inasmuch as
there are no flies to catch, and the birds them-
selves have all gone south ; but the motive for
feathered assemblages, of either the same or
different species, is no doubt identical in all
climates. As Bates pointed out with regard
to the Amazonian birds, they are much safer
in numbers, since a hundred heads are better
than one where a look-out has to be kept.
And enemies being so much more numerous
in the tropics, it is not surprising to find that
birds are far more sociable there than in our
own latitudes. The Eastern babblers represent
the thrushes of our woods in general habits,
but they are markedly more sociable, being
almost always in large or small flocks, which
are reluctant to break up even in the breeding
season. A party of white-crested jay-thrushes
was once observed to be having a dance in
full view of a sitting bird, who was doubtless
cheered by the entertainment ; and every one
who has kept foreign finches must have noticed
how, from the Java sparrow to the avadavat,
they are far more attached to each other than
our own finches ; even two odd males, or a
pair of different species, will strike up a friend-
ship and cuddle and preen one another. The

Ornithological and Other Oddities

weavers form apparent exceptions, but even
these, although so pugnacious, take care to
form their hanging homes within easy quarrel-
ling distance, and the flocks continue united all
the year.

They are, it must be admitted, rather excep-
tional in this, for breeding colonies of land birds
are rare everywhere ; but about the winter
sociability of many Eastern species no doubt
is admissible. Another advantage birds are
supposed to gain from winter sociability is in-
creased ability to find food. The lucky tomtit
who discovers a cache of spiders' eggs sounds
the dinner bell, and the whole flock comes to
join him at the feast. It is, however, question-
able whether the bird itself regards this as an
advantage, and the real benefit he derives is
doubtless the comparative immunity from sur-
prise when at table, rather than any profit in
the "share and share alike" principle. For
tits are selfish little birds, and are not averse
even to cannibalism in captivity ; so that it is
reasonable to suppose their actions in a state
of nature are not unduly altruistic. Similarly
the Roman poet remarked —

" If the crow could hold his tongue while he ate,
He'd have much more dinner and less debate,"

the action of the crow — at any rate, the Indian
species — of cawing and waving his wings over

The Congregation of Birds

some dainty being an obvious invitation which

is likely to be abused by the unscrupulous

guests. But there are kites to be reckoned

with, as the crow knows, and it is better, no

doubt, from his point of view, to lose part of

one's dinner to a friend than the whole to an

enemy.

The value which birds set on a good watch

is well illustrated by their fondness for the

company of species which can be relied on to

give them the alarm. Colonel Hawker recom-

mends the encouragement of coots to any one

who desires wildfowl on his piece of water,

because duck always affect the company of

these birds, for a very obvious reason. Sir

Mallard, after a "night out," naturally returns

in the morning with a conviction that his head

is best under his wing, and is only too glad

to be able to rely on the watchfulness of the

coot, who has been respectably asleep all night,

and is going about his daily business with all

his senses on the alert. I can quite confirm

the Colonel's opinion as to the popularity of

coots from my own experience. I kept at

different times several of these birds on the

museum tank in Calcutta, and always found

that they agreed excellently with the ducks,

and were looked upon with a decidedly friendly

eye even by the cheeky little dabchicks. The

203

Ornithological and Other Oddities

coot is, indeed, an excellent character, being
courageous enough when it comes to resisting
aggression, but not addicted to aggressive
manoeuvres for his own part.

This brings us to the root of the whole matter
of congregations of birds. A bird must possess
some instinct for society to be sociable at all, and
this is probably always present in most species
in a greater or less degree, being temporarily
overpowered in the breeding season by sexual
jealousy and territorial pride. Thus we find
that the inveterately unsociable species, like the
robin and blackbird, are generally non-migratory
and particularly localised in their individual
haunts. They are successful in the battle of
life, and can afford to be churlish even over
their winter quarters. But with less-favoured
species, when the nesting is over and they must
roam far afield for food, there is nothing but the
said food to quarrel over, and the small bicker-
ings over this are soon forgotten. I have seen
the common Indian babblers in captivity fighting
apparently to the death for a live cockroach and
forgetting their animosity a moment after, and no
doubt other birds are equally ready to forgive and
forget. Moreover, birds do not breed till they are
in high condition owing to plenty of food, when,
of course, they are apt to be a little "above

themselves," and tyrannical and exclusive in

204

The Congregation of Birds

consequence. Thus it is that in aviculture one
may find several birds live peaceably in rather
close quarters in a cage, and discover, when
these are allowed a wider range, which, of
course, means better condition, that they be-
come murderously quarrelsome. The hunger
season is nature's cage to tame the proud
stomachs of her feathered children, and they
are humble in their want, for even in the
tropics, if there is practically no starvation,
there are months when the living is by no
means high. This is what makes association
possible, with all its advantages of defence ;
but the disposition of the individual species or
natural group must be taken into account, for
some will always be free - lances in spite of
climate or consequence ; the dhyal of India is
just as bent on keeping the garden to himself
as his near relative the robin in England.
The dhyal also, in Burmah at any rate, shows
a similar strong tendency to draw near to
man. After all, the strain of constant watch-
fulness is probably too much at times for even
the most independent bird, and he is glad to
feel the protection of the unfeathered biped
presence which he sees inspire all other animals
with fear.

205

THE DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE
DABCHICK

Even in Shakespeare's time the " didapper,

peering through the wave," was not considered

a bird whose acquaintance was easy of cultivation,

and in spite of the tameness of these birds on

the London park waters, one cannot always

observe them even there. Consequently I feel

that I have been unusually fortunate, during

my life in India, in being for more than one

season the spectator of the whole domestic life

of a pair of these birds under quite remarkably

favourable circumstances. I should premise that

to all intents and purposes the Indian dabchick

is the same as our bird in England, for although

a distinguishable species, the points of difference

it exhibits are not great, being merely smaller

size, and a white patch on each wing formed

by the secondary quills, which are of this colour ;

this marking not being visible in repose.

I arrived at such an excellent understanding

with the dabchick couple in this way. In the

grounds in which the Indian Museum stands

there is a large tank of unusually clear water,

206

The Domestic Life of the Dabchick

measuring about 60 yards by 80 yards, and
very deep in most parts. Hereon I frequently
placed ducks and other water-fowl procured from
the market, which was not far distant. I tried
dabchicks among others, but for a long time
none of them stayed, but apparently flew off
under cover of darkness.

At last, however, a pair made their home upon
the pond, nesting in the autumn of 1900, and
continuing to breed during the following two
years, at all events ; indeed, I hope they are
there still. These birds were so exceedingly
tame, and nested in such open situations and
so near the bank, that it was quite possible to
observe all their habits without the slightest
difficulty. And the outcome of these observa-
tions of mine was to give me a very high
opinion of the dabchick's character both for
sense and spirit — in fact, I have never met
with a bird so constantly interesting ; and
although the old birds are more quaint than
pretty, there are few members of the bird
world more charming than the tiny young-
The little things when floating look only about
as big as walnuts, and have not the chubby
appearance of young ducks, but show already
an approximation to the outlines of their parents,
their proportions being emphasised by their

short plushy down, streaked black - and - buff

207

Ornithological and Other Oddities

above and silver - white below, and set off by
the little rose-pink bill and a red patch on the
crown. This colouring is not in any way pro-
tective, unlike that of young game-birds, but
the young grebes are so well looked after by
their parents that such devices seem hardly
necessary in their case. One is tempted to
suppose that, just as male birds are believed
to have developed beauty in response to the
aesthetic tastes of their mates, so some chicks
may have been rendered beautiful to enhance
their parents' affection for them. Theorising
apart, however, these dabchicks were most
remarkably good parents.

Their offspring, of which four was the largest
and two the smallest number which I observed,
are at first disinclined to take to the water,
although they can swim at once. They are
also not active on land, or, rather, on the
squashy pad of a nest, which is all the land
they know, for except on one occasion, to be
mentioned hereafter, I never saw a young bird
come ashore. For the first week they cannot
stand, but crawl on all fours, using the wings
as forelegs, and looking like a great beetle.
In this way they would leave the nest on
sight of me, although the old birds cared little
or nothing for my presence. Then, the parent

being at hand, the little creature would swim

208

The Domestic Life of the Dabchick

to it, and burrow in its long silky flank-plumage
under the wing, where it would rest contentedly
on the back of the old one. I found that for
about the first week they spent most of their
time in this position, the pretty little heads
appearing just at the parent's shoulders as she
swam about with her burden. I say "she," for
the hen appeared to do most of the carrying ;
but it is difficult to make out the sexes of
dabchicks, the plumage being the same in both,
and the size differing so little that it is hard
to be certain whether one is looking at the
male or the female if they are not together.
In the case of these little friends of mine, I
made out the bigger bird to be the hen, and,
as I have said, it certainly seemed to be the
nurse, while the other did the hunting. The
game provided, for about the first fortnight at
least, was fresh-water shrimps and dragon-flies,
fish being apparently deemed too indigestible
for nursery diet. The good sense of the parents
was often shown in these feeding operations.

Once I saw the catering parent come up to the
nurse and give a large red dragon-fly to one of
the two babies which were being carried pick-a-
back. The little thing tried to swallow this large
mouthful, but could not manage it, whereupon
the old bird turned her head round and took

it away. What she did with it I do not recall ;

209 o

Ornithological and Other Oddities

but on another occasion, with another brood, I
saw a fish offered to all of them in succession.
None of them could negotiate it, so paterfamilias
wisely ate it himself. He was quite capable of
looking after the children, for I have seen the
hen leave them with him for a time, when the
way in which they chattered before the transfer
was made sounded as if they were able to discuss
the matter. A proof of the male's intelligent care
in the matter of food also occurred on another
occasion, when one young bird was lying on the
nest, the other two being brooded there by the
hen. He swam round the nest to get to the
outside bird, and gave it a shrimp, which it found
awkward to manage. Thereupon he took the
crustacean and worried it well, then giving it
back to the little one, which was now able to
dispose of it.

This use of the nest as a resting-place was very
noticeable. As far as I could see, it was " made
up " and added to every day while the brood was
using it ; and one day I saw one of the downy
chicks, the eldest of the brood — though little
more than a fortnight old — actually putting some
material on the nest on its own account, before
the old bird began to do it. The nest, which
eventually sinks, was becoming very sodden, so
the little bird evidently thought it ought to lend
a hand in the repairs. The action strikingly

2IO

The Domestic Life of the Dabchick

reminded one of a little child trying to help its
mother with household work.

On the nest the young not only rest at times
in the day, but are brooded at night ; I was once
able to watch them going to bed. One young
one, at all events, got on to the nest first and
waited, and when the old bird came on too, it
crept under its wing, being brooded on the back
as when on the water ; so that the dampness of
the nest is no drawback to the tender little ones.
By the time it subsides they are able to paddle
their own canoes by day, and sleep on the water
as the old birds do. This same independent
paddling is not very much to the youthful dab-
chick's taste ; when it is first forced upon him he
takes advantage of every opportunity to try to
board the old bird whenever it heaves to for
pluming itself. But the old dabchicks have a
fine notion of discipline, and a chick which
bothers too much is admonished by a sharp
peck. This is especially the case where food
is concerned. Dabchicks do not appear to give
it indiscriminately to whichever infant squalls
loudest, as most birds do, but will drive off an
older chick to give it to a younger and less
independent one.

On one occasion one of the present pair over-
did this policy, with very sad results. There were
two in the brood, and, as seems to be the custom

211

Ornithological and Other Oddities

of these birds, the parents had divided the young
between them at first, and then one had left the
pond altogether for a time. The chicks were
both hunting on the surface for themselves, but
while the smaller one was fed by the old bird, the
larger's appeal for food was refused. The poor
little thing did its best, but it did not seem to
understand diving for food, and ultimately per-
sisted in coming ashore and lying down in
despair. I took it indoors and fed it, but it
died next day, and the absolute absence of fat on
the little body pointed too clearly to starvation as
the cause of death ; it was feathered nearly all
over, but the quills were still growing in the
wings.

As soon as ever the wing-quills grew, the
young used to disappear, except the Benjamin
of the brood, which was allowed to remain for
months, in one case even until it attained full
breeding plumage, and its parents had hatched
another family. The final departure seemed to
be always made by night, as I never saw more
than very short flights taken by day, even when
the young bird was being hunted by an indignant
parent.

One very remarkable weakness in the dabchick
appears to be its inability to deal with floods. It
certainly cannot foresee them, and even continued
heavy rain does not induce it to raise its nest as

The Domestic Life of the Dabchick

some birds will do, although, as I have shown
above, it quite understands raising the nest when
used as a nursery. I saw this pair lose two nests
of eggs in this way ; a dabchick's nest is fairly
soppy at the best of times, but when it gets
absolutely water-logged, the case seems to be
hopeless. Moreover, the first and largest brood
of young they had was hatched just before a
tlood, and these all disappeared ; whether they
were devoured by fish, or whether sufficient food
could not be found in the thick muddy water, I
could not decide. But, after all, mistakes like
these make birds all the more interesting ; if
they acted by infallible instincts, as used to be
supposed, they would not be much better than
amusing automata.

As to the details of the dabchicks' hatching
arrangements, I have not much to say about them.
I found they always left the first egg uncovered,
though when more had been added they were
very particular about keeping them well hidden.
The covering up was done with the bill, not the
feet ; and I often saw the nest deserted by both
birds for most of the day, the eggs, well concealed
under their blanket of wet weed, being left to the
power of the sun. Their procedure in this matter
was not uniform with every nest, nor did they
always select the same site, the nest being some-
times in a small clump of bulrushes, and sometimes

213

Ornithological and Other Oddities

on the low-growing kalmi, or water-convolvulus.
It was always, however, as I have said, so near the
shore, that observation was absolutely easy ; and
I am convinced that the birds knew me person-
ally, for the sitting one would not usually mind
my approach alone so much as when any one else
was with me ; indeed, I think the birds recipro-
cated by their confidence the friendship I felt
for them. And nothing but the word friendship
expresses the feeling one has after a very little
acquaintance with a bird of the dabchick's in-
teresting habits and sturdy character.

As I have never heard of any one else making
a pet of a dabchick, a few notes on one of these
amusing little birds which I kept in that capacity
myself may be of some interest to bird-lovers.
It was in December, 1895, tnat I made this
individual's acquaintance, he having been offered
to me by a native dealer in the Calcutta Provision
Bazaar as a "teal"! He was then quite young,
having only down on his head and no quills in
his wings, though his body-plumage was grown.
I put him in a cage, and he became remarkably
tame, for, before he had been in my possession a
week, he wanted to follow me about, and was
most restless and fidgety when he could not get
to me. It was most curious to see him waddle
across the floor and lie down like a little dog by

my feet. Of course I often let him out for a

214

The Domestic Life of the Dabchick

swim, either in an earthen vessel or a masonry-
tank, and when enjoying himself in the water he
showed that he discriminated at any rate between
natives and white men, for he would dive at once
when a black man approached, while I could lift
him out of the water on my hand as if he were
a child's toy duck. I never tested him to see
whether he knew me individually, but I think
this was probable.

When a photograph of the bird, unfortun-
ately too dim for reproduction here, was taken,
I had to keep my hand near it, as it refused to
stand still otherwise ; and, even if this were
due to its natural fear of the kites which were
wheeling overhead, it says something for the
intelligence of the little creature that it looked
to me for protection. The mention of its stand-
ing reminds me of the fallacy of the statement
sometimes to be met with in bird-books, that
grebes are unable to stand up like other birds.
I have constantly found them able thus to stand,
and also to walk about.

I am glad to say that I have not to record
the " untimely end " so often deplored in the case
of pets, especially small ones ; for soon after the
bird's wings were fledged, I turned it out on the
above-mentioned pond in the Indian Museum
grounds, where it stayed in complete liberty,
though losing its remarkable tameness in a day

215

Ornithological and Other Oddities

or two. Anions the other water-fowl I had on
this pond, it selected a coot as its friend, though
this bird did not appear to reciprocate the feeling.
As the dabchick had introduced itself by swim-
ming up and pecking the coot behind, this is,
perhaps, hardly to be wondered at ; but this piece
of impudence was not repeated, though the ducks
were often attacked below water, especially any
new ones I put on. After a time, however, even
they were unmolested, as the dabchick grew older
and less given to juvenile mischief. In the spring
after I got this bird, I procured an adult one as a
companion, and as, after a month's absence, I found
I could not distinguish them, I do not know what
was my little favourite's subsequent career. One
of the two soon disappeared, but the other re-
mained on this pond for at least a year ; and I
have little doubt that he at all events came back
at last, and was one of the pair whose doings I
have chronicled above, for I never saw any other
dabchicks appear there spontaneously.

216

BLUSHING BIRDS

Every one who has kept and studied many kinds
of birds must have noticed how very human they
often are in their feelings and the manifestation
thereof. Generally, however, birds have to de-
pend on the sign-language of wings and tail for
expressing their emotions, their features not being
of the most mobile kind ; and thus the significance
of their gestures may be lost unless one is well
acquainted with them. There are, however, a
few species which approach us in that their faces
change colour under the influence of the feeling
of the moment — in other words, they blush. And
these, as will be seen in the sequel, are always
birds of character, presenting marked peculiarities
in their habits. Just so, among ourselves, it is
only the higher white races who can blush, for
a dark brown skin is not adapted to the change
of colour generally associated with that pheno-
menon. The blush, among the manifestations
of human emotions, is usually associated with
the maiden's tremulous acceptance of the avowal
of reciprocated love ; but it is as well to re-
member that it also tinges the countenance of

her austere male parent, if he do not regard the

217

Ornithological and Other Oddities

proffered affection of her suitor with equal satis-
faction. And so it is not surprising to find that
the bird, "a sweet gushing child of Nature,"
works in the blush to express hatred and a
number of other promiscuous feelings as well
as conjugal affection. This is well seen in the
most inveterate blusher among the birds, the
common turkey-cock. Whether he be melted
to tenderness by the sight of an attractive
member of the opposite sex of his species, in-
censed by a rival, or stimulated to aggressive
manoeuvres by the sight of some creature which
appears weak enough to be bullied with safety,
the result is very much the same. His livid blue
complexion changes to a lively scarlet, the fleshy
horn on his forehead droops down below his beak
in horrid flabbiness, and his dewlap and its pen-
dant beads enlarge magnificently. Sir Bubbly-jock
can, indeed, thus claim to have the most expres-
sive countenance found on any living creature,
not even excepting his owner and consumer.
For which of us, however irate or affectionate
in mood, can enrich his expression by extending
his nose down to his chest, or assuming a series
of double chins ? In fact, the plastic features
of the farmyard bully are even more remarkable
than his change of colour, though even in this
respect he stands far ahead of everything else

in feathers. Nature seems to look with a some-

218

Blushing Birds

what unkindly eye on these revealings of the
turkey's soul, for the wild bird, which lives under
her strict discipline, has a much smaller and less
richly-beaded dewlap than the tame one.

So far as I am aware, the power of changing
complexion has always been supposed to be con-
fined to the turkey among birds of the game and
poultry kind, but I have recently found it to be
shared by another bird, no distant relative of the
common barndoor fowl. Our gallant roosters,
which are always proverbially ruddy, are descended
from the Indian and Burmese red jungle-cock,
a game little bird resembling a "black-breasted
red " bantam, except in its larger size and less
bumptious carriage — a wild bird which may have
to bolt for his life at any moment cannot afford
to swagger much. Now there are several other
species of jungle-fowl in the East, and one of
these, the green jungle-cock of Java and some other
islands, almost rivals the turkey in his changeable
countenance. His pretty comb, which, with its
delicate shading of puce and sea-blue, looks like
the petal of an orchid, is always the same, but his
wattle — for he has only one — will expand like the
turkey's, and when at full stretch shows a yellow
patch where it joins the throat, as well as the
sunset tints which it shares with the comb ; and
at the same time the face, which is often only

flesh-coloured, blushes as red as any tame chanti-

219

Ornithological and Other Oddities

deer's. I found, when I had a bird of this kind
under observation, that at first he would always
blush and let down his wattle when he was shown
a looking-glass, in a most ridiculously human
way. As with the turkey, any sort of emotion
appeared to bring on the blush and expansion
of dewlap in this bird, but his speaking counte-
nance was wasted on a common bantam hen
assigned him as a companion, for she never
seemed to appreciate his devotion as she might
have done. His dignified attitude of courtship,
however, enabled me to see that the absurd
pirouettings of the barnyard rooster before his
chosen mate are simply a slurring over of the
more stately and pheasant-like slanted posturings
of the wild bird, whose mates probably exact
more ceremony and attention from their partner.
It is rather a far cry ornithologically from the
poultry kind to their hereditary foes, the birds of
prey, but here also we find this human peculiarity
of countenance, strangely out of place as it may
seem. There is probably no worse rascal in
feathers than the caracara hawk or carancho
of South America {Polyborus brasiliensis\ who
exhibits the combined villainy of crow and kite,
with a few touches of his own. Yet this bird's
bare face, as may be seen at the Zoological
Gardens, will change from pale yellow to bright
pink and back again. What the emotion may be

Blushing Birds

that causes the change I cannot say ; it may be
an uneasy conscience, for the cause of the change
of colour does not seem so obvious in this species
as in the more simple-minded birds of the galli-
naceous tribe.

To show what sort of mind the caracara actually
has, I may mention that a bird of this species kept
in the Calcutta Zoological Gardens, next door to
a very greedy imperial eagle, would habitually
take any extra tit-bit he received quite close to
the partition, and eat it there in obvious enjoy-
ment of the baffled gluttony of his neighbour,
although he ran considerable personal risk in
so doing. Indeed, he was ultimately moved
farther on, and placed next door to a peaceful
turkey-buzzard, lest his incurable malice should
bring him to grief at the claws of outraged
aquiline majesty.

Most people would look to the parrots for
examples of the nearest possible approach to
humanity amongst the birds, and it is interesting
to find that among these also the phenomenon of
blushing occurs. One species which exhibits it is
the extraordinary great black cockatoo (Aficro-
glossum aterrimuni) of New Guinea, a curious
being with a portentous head and beak, and a
puny body clad in plumage of a shabby black.
Its face, unlike that of any other cockatoo, is
quite bare and of a flesh-colour like human skin.

221

Ornithological and Other Oddities

But when the bird is excited, either by pleasure
or anger, it flushes red ; at any rate this has been
observed in a captive specimen. In addition
to this very human attribute, the great black
cockatoo shows what looks uncommonly like
reasoning power in its manner of obtaining its
favourite dainty. This is the kernel of the
extremely hard and smooth kanary-nut, which
the bird negotiates in this way : first it takes
the nut in its bill and files a notch in the shell
with its lower jaw ; then, transferring it to its
foot, it bites off a piece of leaf and lodges this in
an indentation of the huge upper bill. It then
again takes the nut into its mouth, where the bit
of leaf keeps it from slipping, while the edge of
the lower jaw is applied to the notch previously
cut with such force as fairly to split off a piece of
the shell, when the rest of the process is easy.

The well-known macaws, which mostly have
flesh-coloured or white bare faces, are also
capable of blushing, both in angry and pleasure-
able excitement, and it is quite possible that
many more birds possess the attribute if only
they have a countenance which makes it possible ;
for they must be barefaced in order to blush !

BIRDS FOR LONDON AVIARIES

Even the possessor of a town garden can derive
much entertainment from an aviary, which need
not cost much more to erect than a fowl-house,
while the occupants are not unduly expensive.

The ideal aviary bird is the pretty little
Australian budgerigar, or grass parrakeet, so
familiar as the "fortune-telling bird" of our
street prophetesses. The budgerigar is Mark
Tapley in green and yellow feathers ; he can be
cheerful in a little cage, with his quills plucked
to prevent him absconding when he is brought
out to deal destiny at a penny a head, and in
an aviary the thought of freedom never seems
to enter his mind.

Instead, given a cocoa-nut husk to nest in,
he sets about rearing a family, which feat he
accomplishes with such success, that if you put
three or four pairs of budgerigars in an aviary
in the spring you will find by autumn that there
will be so many surplus ones to sell that the
price of the original stock will be paid over and
over again.

It is necessary to start with several, for one

pair of budgerigars are so taken up with "con-

223

Ornithological and Other Oddities

nubial fondlings and affectionate reciprocities "
that they get fat and lazy and forget to go to
nest ; whereas the excitement of driving the
neighbours from their front door and continually
playing a game of "general post" so enlivens
them that they all start rearing offspring in
emulation of each other.

All one has to avoid is odd birds, for an
embittered budgerigar which finds itself with no
one to love it becomes a source of disastrous
discord in the little community. I regret to
say that in such a case the hens are the worst ;
and even when mated they are sometimes very-
spiteful.

Quotations of budgerigars show them often
as low as five-and-sixpence a pair, with a re-
duction on taking a quantity, so that the outlay
for stock would not be ruinous, though every
time of the year is not right for turning them
out of doors, so that they would have to be
kept in a cage till the spring, if bought in
winter.

The budgerigar, although a " love-bird," is
not quite an angel, and, like the hyena, has a
nasty trick of biting his enemy's feet in a fight.
He can be checkmated, however, by associating
him with the Java sparrow, that preternaturally
sleek bird whose quakerish plumage of lavender-
grey is at once set off and contradicted by a

224

Birds for London Aviaries

black velvet skull-cap, white collar, and a big
bulbous pink bill.

The Java sparrow is not an aggressive bird,
but he stands up for his rights, and any
bumptious budgerigar who attempts to hustle
him will feel the kiss of his rosy beak on his
own feet and be led to become a wiser and
better bird. Java sparrows set off budgerigars
beautifully ; they are not very free breeders,
but this does not matter, as they can often be
got for sixpence each by taking half-a-dozen,
being about the cheapest of foreign birds. It
is almost impossible to pick out pairs, as they
are more alike than the proverbial peas in a
pod, so it is best to take the half-dozen and
chance it. Budgerigars can easily be sexed, as
a rule, by looking at their noses ; the cock's is
cobalt-blue, and the hen's pale blue or brown.
When this distinction failed, a leading dealer,
now dead, used to sort his stock by letting
them all bite him, those which drew blood
being the hens !

The process of the building of a bird's nest

is always interesting, and the most wonderful

of all nests, those of the weaver-birds, can

always be seen in the making by any one who

will buy a few males of the African red-billed

weaver, which cost about half-a-crown each.

This is a little bird much like a small hen

225 p

Ornithological and Other Oddities

sparrow with a bright red bill, and decked in
the breeding season with a pink cap and breast
and a black mask. He is an enthusiastic
architect, and in France is always sold as
11 travailleur " — the worker. Even in a cage
he will weave any fibrous material in and out
of the wires till they are covered, and in an
aviary he will construct beautiful round nests
with the greatest enthusiasm, pausing occasion-
ally to swear at fellow-craftsmen who presume
to criticise his efforts or cast a larcenous eye
on his materials.

Hens of this bird are often scarce, but as it
is very unlikely to breed they are not of much
use. They always bear the sparrow plumage,
with a pale yellow bill instead of a blood-red
one.

Wherever small seed-eating birds are kept,
it is as well to have some larger kind which
will live on the floor of the aviary and pick
up the seed they spill as a change from its
food of larger corn. The best for this purpose
is the gold pheasant, as it bears captivity par-
ticularly well, while the male bird of the species
is the most brilliant creature in existence. In-
deed, it has been suggested that it was the
phcenix of the ancients ; and I can personally
testify, having seen most of the birds of para-
dise in skins and four species alive, that it is

226

Birds for London Aviaries

a finer bird than any of these ; while any visitor
to the Zoo can see how far inferior are even
the most gaudy parrots to its splendour. The
only drawback is that this beautiful plumage
does not appear till the bird is a year old.

The adult gold pheasant in his full splendour
of gold and scarlet is an expensive bird, and
even a yearling costs half-a-guinea. But gold
pheasants can be had for nothing, or even at
a profit, by buying a sitting of the eggs, which
cost about a shilling each, and confiding them
to a reliable hen. Then, as soon as the sexes
can be distinguished, those which are not wanted
can be sold off, and, with ordinary luck in the
hatching and rearing, the initial expense can
be more than covered. If breeding is not de-
sired, all the young cocks can be kept, and
will " grow in beauty side by side " and live
in peace. But if a single hen is left with them,
that aviary will exemplify natural selection and
survival of the fittest till its owner is left with
a fine collection of feathers suitable for salmon-
flies and perhaps one dilapidated bird ! Many
people will like, however, to breed from their
birds, and then the hens should be kept, and a
cock procured by exchange from some other
stock to avoid in-breeding. It will be noticed
that all the birds I have mentioned are foreigners,

but some of them, at all events, are British sub-

227

Ornithological and Other Oddities

jects, and in any case they are better for the
present purpose than our corresponding English
birds.

Britons never will be slaves, and British birds
do not usually bear captivity so well as foreign
ones, while their colours and habits are less
attractive ; so that bird-lovers who have once
kept foreigners usually prefer to see their
country's birds at liberty, an enjoyment for
which our parks give yearly increasing oppor-
tunities.

228

THE SCAVENGERS AT DHAPPA

The gaunt and under-sized bullocks and horses
that draw carts and cabs in Calcutta must, I think,
shock every one who sees them, as they did me.
Naturally their lives, though not by any means
merry, are short, and when their span of existence
is over they are carted off to Dhappa, on the out-
skirts of the city, to be boiled down for what
grease can be extracted from their pitifully flesh-
less carcases. It is, however, indeed an ill wind
that blows nobody good, and the bovine and
equine mortality is a source of livelihood to many
of the local vultures. In order to observe these
birds, I once went with two friends to the scene
of operations. The driver of the "gharry," or
cab, which we hired, seemed somewhat amused at
being told the destination we desired to reach; and
certainly, as we reached the trying-down place on
the shores of the Salt Lakes, the appalling smell
that greeted our noses gave some justification for
his wonder at such an expedition. However, to
any one ornithologically inclined, the sight was
worth the stench. The boiling-vat stood close
to the edge of a singularly filthy stream, and

on the further shores the vultures stood as thick

229

Ornithological and Other Oddities

as sea-fowl on a guano bed, while between the
vat and the water a hungry crowd awaited the
fragments of very well boiled beef as these were
tossed out from time to time. So thick were
they that when I startled them they could not all
get on the wing at once, and two or three incon-
tinently fell into the water, and had to scramble
out as best they could on the farther side. And
it needed quite a near approach to startle them,
for long immunity had rendered them nearly as
tame as poultry. They were all one species, the
Bengal vulture {Pseudogyps bengalensis), which,
in spite of the localisation implied in its name,
is the commonest kind all over India. It is a
very shabby-looking bird, almost as big as a hen
turkey, with dirty-black plumage, slightly relieved
by a ruff of white down. There is a white patch
on the back, and a white band along the under-
side of each wing, but these marks are not seen
when the wings are closed. The head and neck
are nearly naked, and, as the complexion of those
parts is singularly muddy, it does not improve the
general effect. At least half the birds present on
this occasion were young ones, and these were
dirty brown all over, not enlivened by any white
markings at all, so that they looked a shade more
dowdy even than their elders.

Going on, however, beyond the piles of bones

which lay back of the boiling-vat, we found out on

230

The Scavengers at Dhappa

the flats a few specimens of the next commonest
vulture in Bengal, the long-billed vulture (Gyps
tenuirostris). This is a very little bigger than the
Bengal vulture, and is of a very dirty dun colour —
all vulturine plumage looks dirty, somehow — and
so at first sight might almost be taken for an
unusually fair young individual of that species.
But it has not only a longer bill, but a longer and
thinner neck, and as these are devoid of even the
miserable growth of down which besprinkles the
nakedness of Bengalensis junior, its physiognomy
is peculiarly gaunt and greyhound-like, and it
looks the very image of famine.

Nevertheless, it appears that this miserable-
looking bird can afford to be dainty, for the
overseer of the boiling-works told us that the
reason why the long-billed vultures kept aloof
was, that they did not consider boiled beef,
whether of horse or ox, good enough for them,
but hung about till the scavengers' carts, which
would arrive later on with the general refuse,
should provide them with a more tasty meal
in the shape of dead dogs and rats, which could
be discussed in all their natural crudity and
flavour. The extreme length and nakedness of
the necks of these vultures was particularly in-
teresting in one way ; it enabled one to see
easily how a bird's neck is stowed when he is

on the wing, supposing he does not stretch it

231

Ornithological and Other Oddities

out like a duck or stork. On startling the
birds, their heads were seen to be drawn back
to the shoulders, while the neck fell below in
a regular loop, giving a most curious effect,
which is lost in species which have less length
of neck and more clothing for what they do
possess. Unfortunately, none of this kind of
vulture were easy to interview, for they were
much shyer than the rest.

A gang of "dhomes," or native scavengers,
were at work in front of the boiling-vat, skinning
and cutting up the carcases as they were brought
in, and the overseer already mentioned was kind
enough to put a freshly-skinned carcase of a horse
at the disposal of the birds, in order to give us a
chance of seeing them feed in a more natural way
than on boiled bits. One would have expected
the birds to rush on this more appetising repast
at once ; but they mistrusted so much generosity,
and we had to stand off a little before they would
fall to. Then the horse disappeared under a
crowd of birds, there was a sound of " rugging
and riving," and in a marvellously short time it
was a clean-picked skeleton, showing that they
really did appreciate cheval au naturel.

Overhead the kites were constantly wheeling
and circling, on the look-out for morsels suffi-
ciently small to be carried off for private

consumption, for Milvus govinda, like Private

232

The Scavengers at Dhappa

Ortheris, " 'ates a 'owling, clawin' mess," and
dines by himself if possible, the possibility
depending largely on whether his fellow-kites
have themselves dined recently or not. Of
other birds of prey we only saw a marsh-harrier
{Circus ceruginosus) just before we arrived at
the scene of vulturine banquets, and wondered
what he was doing in such company ; and a sea-
eagle of some sort, which made a splendid stoop
down to the surface of the foul water, and rose
with some awful garbage hanging from his talons,
so that his business, at any rate, was plain
enough, although he evidently had his notions
about regal privacy at meals. Altogether the
trip was well worth making, and I should advise
any "globe-trotter" who visits Calcutta not to
neglect Dhappa if he cares for birds — but let him
take a smelling-bottle !

233

THE BIRDS OF AN EASTERN
VOYAGE

The monotony of the long voyage to India is
rendered a good deal less oppressive if one
knows and takes an interest in the various
sea-fowl which from time to time present them-
selves to the view of the passenger on one of
our great liners, and the observation of these
suggests problems of no small interest. Take,
for instance, the distribution of the various
species of gulls. These birds are much alike
in their habits, and yet some of them are
strangely localised, while others have an
enormous range over both cold and warm
seas. The lesser black-backed gull of our
coasts may be met anywhere, from " the
channel's chops " to Aden, but the very
similar herring-gull is largely replaced in the
Mediterranean by the yellow-legged herring-
gull (Larus cachinnans) ; indeed, this is the
only herring-gull I have ever identified in this
sea in the course of several voyages out and
home.

It is a far more beautiful bird, with its
234

The Birds of an Eastern Voyage

bright yellow legs and orange eyelids, than our
somewhat anaemic - looking species. Authors
call it a "climatic race," but when it bred, as
it frequently did, in the gull-pond in our Zoo-
logical Gardens, the young birds, when adult,
were true to type, in spite of captivity under
an alien sky.

The fact is, "climatic race" is a very mis-
leading term ; birds from southern localities are
often richer in colour than their representatives
in colder lands, but sometimes the different types
may occur in the same locality. Thus, in the
case of the above - mentioned widely - ranging
lesser black-back, the colour of the black wings
may vary from a real black to quite a light
slate colour, and the extreme forms are found
both in the North Atlantic and the south of
the Red Sea. The explanation is probably
simple enough ; in certain forms a dark or
light coloration is correlated with constitutional
peculiarities which are suited to certain environ-
ment, and hence two species arise in different
parts of the bird's range, while in others this
is not the case, and the extremes can continue
to exist side by side, although a change in
the conditions might result in the disappearance
of one variety. Climate, of course, may be the
determining factor in some cases, but food and
the disposition — courage or intelligence — of the

235

Ornithological and Other Oddities

different colour-forms, may also enter into the
problem as to which is to survive, so that it
is begging the question to attribute the issue
to climate alone.

In the Red Sea one makes the acquaintance
of two very peculiar-looking gulls which are
always confined to hot climates. Both are about
the size of our common gull, so called — I
cannot recall having seen it on any Eastern
voyage — but they differ much in colour ; one,
the Larus leucophthalmusy which I have only
seen at the head of this sea, and then not
often, has dark slate-coloured wings and a jet-
black head with white eyelids, while the other,
Larus hemprichi, which is especially abundant
towards Aden, where it is very tame, has snuffy-
brown wings and a brown hood, set off by
yellow legs and bill, the latter with a red patch
near the tip. The young of both these species
are of a mottled brown, like so many young
gulls, and hence are not so striking in appear-
ance. The brown Hemprich's gull will not un-
frequently even settle on the ship ; at Aden it
is frequently to be seen standing on the iron
buoys in the harbour, under a sun which must
certainly make the metal too hot to be endured
by a human foot. Another brown sea-bird very
much in evidence in the Red Sea is the booby

(Sula leucogaster), a species of gannet. It is

236

IM'I W PIGMY '•'
Sent to i ■ / i

* rt- -

OTTOX- I I' VI (p. [83)

v.1 hor

rll>ht I! /'.

K Ml iNAUl (p. 179)
The intense lu-trc- of the plumage i- appre* iable even in .1 ph 11 -

The Birds of an Eastern Voyage

considerably smaller than our "solan goose,"
and a far less beautiful and interesting bird.
Its colour is simply brown, with the abdomen
white in adults, and the bill and feet brimstone
yellow ; it flies low, and appears never to make
the magnificent swoops so characteristic of our
bird. Indeed, although flying-fish, at any rate,
are very abundant, I never saw the booby catch
anything except when joining the other sea-
fowl in harrying an unfortunate shoal of fish
which was evidently in difficulties with enemies
below. At such times the scene is very lively,
gulls, boobies, and terns all uniting in making
the most of the opportunity at the expense of
the unfortunate fish. Terns, at any rate the
grey-and-white species, are not very easy to
identify, especially in strange seas, but there
is one which is always readily recognisable, and
very abundant in all warm waters. This is the
sooty tern {Sterna fuliginosa), a very strikingly-
coloured bird, black above and white below.
This is the bird known as the "Wide-awake,"
one of its leading breeding-haunts, "Wide-
awake Fair," on Ascension Island, being very
well known.

One of these birds once came on board a
ship I was on in the Indian Ocean. It was
thin, and so famished that it snatched and
swallowed raw meat when held in the hand, and

237

Ornithological and Other Oddities

it seemed almost unable to fly. I kept it for
a few days, when it died, having evidently
been brought, by privation or disease, too low
for recovery, as seems often to be the case
with sea-fowl thus accidentally captured.

On a voyage to the East one must not expect
to meet the most remarkable of all sea-fowl, the
albatrosses and frigate-birds, though one of the
former has been recorded in the North Atlantic,
and the latter have occurred in Indian seas.
But another very remarkable bird, the tropic-
bird, is pretty certain to meet the voyager in
the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and never
failed to excite my interest. The species was,
no doubt, the short-tailed tropic-bird (Phaetkon
indicus), but there is a great general resemblance
between the various species, and others may
occur besides this. The tropic-bird, as I have
seen him, is essentially a bird of mystery. You
may find him at any distance from land, even
in the Indian Ocean, where sea-birds are few,
but you will rarely see more than two together,
or even in a day. He flies high, with a con-
tinuous rapid beat of the wing, and his white
plumage, red bill, and long parrakeet-like tail
make him a striking object in the cloudless
blue. He seems merely to come to look at
the ship, and then resumes his course. I never

saw him swoop on any prey, and only two or

238

The Birds of an Eastern Voyage

three times on, or rising from, the water.
Ancient tradition, had the bird been a European
one, would have made it the abode of some
spirit on which was laid the curse of eternal
wandering, for there is something uncanny about
the ceaseless, yet hurried, flight and solitary
appearance of this beautiful creature. The
storm - petrel, on the other hand, has not in
any way a striking or romantic appearance as
one meets him in the Atlantic and Mediter-
ranean, where he is a pretty constant attendant
in the ship's wake. He is commonly thought
of as " noctem hieme?nqtie f evens" — a bird of
storm and darkness, pictured as skating with
uplifted wings up and down huge billows. As
a matter of fact, he is constantly abroad on a
glassy sea under a glaring sun, and looks so
exactly like the house-martin, with his dark
plumage enlivened by a white spot on the back,
that most people would at the first glance take
him for that bird, so similar is the coloration,
size, and style of flight. Of course, the petrel
is dark below, not white like the martin, but
the former always flies low, and the latter under
these circumstances also looks nearly all black.
I have never seen the storm-petrel run along
the water, and not often seen it settle. Of
other petrels, one is certain to see some one or
other of the species of shearwaters, and these

239

Ornithological and Other Oddities

in any sea and at any distance out. They take
no interest in the ship, but skim the waves on
their own mysterious business, with the down-
curved wings alternately flapped and held rigid,
and turning every now and then from side to
side. They are usually dark above and white
below, and it is curious how one loses them as
their back and wings are presented to the view
against the dark sea, and picks them out again
as a turn exposes their snowy breasts to sight.
Indeed, in spite of what one reads about the
protective nature of the white coloration in sea-
fowl, one soon perceives that their white plumage
really makes them strikingly conspicuous in any
ordinary sea, though among foam and breakers
they would no doubt harmonise better.

I have never, however, been able to discover
against what foes adult sea-fowl need protection ;
birds of prey do not hunt out at sea, and, indeed,
Darwin's view was that a conspicuous coloration
was of advantage to the birds as a means of
recognition in the waste of waters. The con-
elusion one is irresistibly led to as the result
of observing sea-birds in a long voyage is that
of Mr. E. K. Robinson, that the great trouble
of marine bird-life is a continually craving
stomach, and hence it is that the interest felt
in sea-birds by people on board ships is so

cordially reciprocated by the birds themselves.

240

SOME EAST AFRICAN PETS

" You must take care not to touch him when he
have his meal, sir, for he soon turn his temper
round." The speaker was Moya, a Zanzibari ;
the person spoken to was the present writer, and
the creature spoken of was a somewhat mangy
specimen of the banded mongoose, which I had
just purchased at Moya's recommendation, and
which formed my first introduction to African
pets. That is to say, as far as keeping them
myself went ; for I had not been long in Zanzibar
before seeing many evidences of a love for tame
animals among the population. Grey parrots
were everywhere, perched on pegs or confined
in cages deftly fashioned, apparently out of old
kerosene tins, by Indian tinsmiths, and outside
many a Swahili hut hung a wooden cage contain-
ing a species of turtle-dove ( Turtur damarensis),
which looked like a grey variety of the familiar
domestic bird at home. The chiriko, or native
canary, was also in favour, and now and then one
came across a monkey ; while the streets were
enlivened by picturesque-looking goats, bright-
coloured hairy sheep, raw-boned Malay fowls,

and ruffling, swaggering Muscovy ducks ; all

241 Q

Ornithological and Other Oddities

these animals being frequently attended by their
respective young. The yellow prick-eared pariah
dogs were merely tolerated scavengers, but I
presume grimalkin was on much the same footing
as at home, though more lanky, miserable-looking
specimens of the feline race I never saw. And
this brings me back to my muttons, or rather my
mongoose. After Moya's caution I carried her
rather gingerly upstairs, and secured her in an
empty room, close to the bedroom I occupied in
the Hotel Perrot ; the conversion of said bed-
room into a combination of menagerie and labora-
tory being most nobly endured by mine host.
Then I went out on some zoological excursion or
other, to find, on my return, my new acquisition
imprisoned in a safe in the kitchen, whither she
had penetrated on getting loose from her string,
and where, according to the cook, she had come
near killing the cat, an exceptionally hideous
specimen, with a mew calculated to wound the
sensibilities of any right-feeling mongoose. The
cook's lively imagination must, I fancy, have
misled him as to Jo's bloodthirstiness on this
occasion ; on a subsequent interview nothing
but bad language passed between her and
puss. In fact, for a mongoose she was very
mild, and when introduced to a chicken, seemed
far less inclined for a fight than was the fowl —

which was not perhaps to be wondered at, for the

242

Some East African Pets

Zanzibar poultry are fearful wildfowl indeed ; I
have even seen one carrying off a snake to
devour, and was told they frequently kill these
reptiles. But Jo showed no desire to attack
birds — a curious trait in a mongoose — though
she greedily pounced on lizards, and would even
tackle a crab, which was apt to prove too much
for her, her method of attack being to fling the
crustacean on the ground with her forepaws,
thinking thereby to break him as she did an
egg. I usually brought her down at meal
times to be fed, tying her up close to my chair,
as she had an inconvenient habit of climbing
up chairs and trouser legs when allowed her
liberty. With all her eccentricities, she was a
most amusing little pet, and had learnt to come
at call and follow me about, when she met with
an untimely end. When she had been in my
possession barely a week, I left Zanzibar for
Mombasa, and I was hospitably entertained
during the first part of my stay at that port
by Mr. F. Pordage, whose pink and green
bungalow on English Point was a perfect zoo-
logical garden. But, alas ! I had not been there
half-an-hour before poor Jo fell a victim to a
sudden assault on the part of two fox-terriers,
which attacked her as she was tied up on the
verandah. I was very much grieved at thus
losing her, for one soon becomes attached to

243

Ornithological and Other Oddities

these quaint little animals, which, though Moya's
caution with regard to them is quite necessary,
are nevertheless very amiable as a whole. A
great pet with everybody was the baboon
Jenny, who lived in a box on a pole. She
was an amiable animal, especially popular with
the blue-jackets, who never failed to pass the
time of day with her whenever they were on
shore at Mombasa ; nor was she without accom-
plishments, being able to drink from a bottle in
the most skilful manner. She usually treated
Tim, my host's dog, with contempt, either
seizing him by the hind legs and throwing him
over the compound fence, or retiring to her box,
where she sat in the most supreme indifference
to his frantic efforts to pull her down by the rope
attached to her waist. A great friend of Jenny's
was a pig, and it was most laughable to see her
seize it by the hind leg, rolling over and play-
fully biting it till she evoked a suppressed squeal
of remonstrance. When tired of play the two
creatures would lie down together on the sand,
the monkey's head pillowed on the pig's bristly
side.

On the death of Jo, I vowed that the next
animal I kept should be one capable of killing
a dog in self-defence, if necessary ; and by the
kindness of Mr. T. Remington, with whom I

stayed during my last fortnight at Mombasa, I

244

Some East African Pets

became possessor of a young serval, which, had
it lived to grow up, would have been formidable
enough to defy the most truculent tyke ; since
the serval is one of the largest of that section of
the /elides which are usually known as tiger-
cats, and branded with a reputation for fiendish
ferocity.

By letting him run about the bungalow and
sleep in my bedroom, however, and petting him
whenever he would let me, I managed in time to
get him as quiet and playful as a tame kitten.
His relations with the other pets of the bungalow
were at times strained ; towards the monkey he
maintained an armed neutrality, but he cast a
sinister eye on the parrot, and had on one occa-
sion a furious tussle with the mongoose. This
animal was smaller than my lamented pet, being
hardly bigger than a rat, and of a uniform pale
brown. It belonged to my friend, and was
very gentle, habitually sleeping nestled up on
his shoulder all night. But it was not without
spirit, and when the serval tackled it, it pinned
him by the hind leg with considerable determina-
tion ; in fact, for some five minutes after they
were separated, that cat's profanity was awful,
and he had to adopt a tripod style of locomotion
for some days. To this day I do not know
whether his leg was really not broken just above
the hock ; but his recovery was very rapid, and

245

Ornithological and Other Oddities

his tameness interested every one. I once saw
him perched on the side of Nell, our pariah dog,
as she lay lazily on the sunny verandah. Nell
was a good-natured beast; whatever faults pariahs
may have, they are not wanting in attachment —
at least, in this part of the world. A little petting
made our bungalow alarm — I do not know what
sort of guard she would have made — so fond of
me that she would follow anywhere, and when I
put out from the pier at Mombasa to go on board
the homeward-bound steamer, she swam out so
far uhat I had to take her in for fear of sharks ;
and it was not without difficulty that we got her
off the steamer to be conveyed to the shore. One
would have thought that she knew I was leaving
for good, though it is difficult to see how she could
have found out, unless she associated much pack-
ing and carrying with a permanent removal from
the bungalow to which she had been for some time
attached.

Mr. Remington had put on board the steamer
two older serval kittens for the Zoo, which had
just been sent him from Malindi. They were
undoubtedly fine specimens, but, being older and
unused to society, were none too amiable ; and
when mine was introduced to them at the time of
their first meal on board, there was a fearful-
sounding triple conflict, in which, however, no

real harm was done, the only result being that

246

SERVAL (p. 245)
This cat has ii>c legs long a~ well as ihi

I"i>/>1 right

I VPANESE MONKEYS (p. 280)
Father, mother, and their child born in I

IV. s. Bertitint

Some East African Pets

mine, though hardly more than half the size of
the other two, established himself on a footing of
perfect equality with them, and their subsequent
gambols were most amusing to see. The older
ones proved failures as pets ; when let out on
deck they would rush into out-of-the-way corners,
whence they were extracted with much difficulty
and some risk to one's fingers. Sheitani, my
animal, however, got more and more gentle ;
would follow me up and down the deck, and
climb into my lap when I was sitting down,
always ready for a game. He seemed more
peacefully disposed towards other animals as
well, for when I let loose my tame guinea-
fowls on deck near him, he made not the
slightest attempt to seize them, though such
birds must, one would think, be the serval's
natural prey. Neither were the birds them-
selves alarmed ; but they were not easily
frightened, for, though " born very wild," like
Artemus Ward's crows, these guinea-fowls are
easily tamed, and my specimens were absolutely
impudent, abusing the freedom of range which
they shared with Sheitani by getting into all
kinds of mischief and awkward places. At one
time I would find one amusing himself by pecking
the unfortunate fowls in the coop ; on another
occasion all three were sitting on a bulwark,

whence a chance gust or lurch of the ship would

247

Ornithological and Other Oddities

have sent them all into the sea, as their wings
were clipped.

However, they survived all chances of disaster,
and finally reached the Zoo. I wish I could say
as much for my poor cats ; but, alas ! they all died
of dysentery on the voyage, the last just as we
entered the Thames. I was told by people who
had tried, that these creatures are not always easy
to rear ; but I was very sorry to lose them, especi-
ally Sheitani, for I am not likely, I fear, to find a
more pleasant and amusing pet for many years to
come.

248

A PLEA FOR PRODIGIES

It has been the fate of several animals, which
are now among the most intimate acquaintances
of every budding zoologist, to be at some time
or other absolutely disbelieved in. The first
specimen of the duck-billed platypus which
greeted the eyes of naturalists was not inexcus-
ably set down as a manufactured article ; and
there have even been those who have doubted
the dodo, that grotesque fowl having at one
time almost "won its way to the fabulous," as
Thucydides puts it. Now there is a very ancient
and respectable family of fish which was lately
in this unfortunate position, at least as regards
one of its few representatives. Every visitor
to the Reptile House at the Zoo knows the
mudfish, or, if he does not, he ought to. This
gifted creature possesses both gills and lungs,
and specimens of him usually inhabit the tank
at the farther end of the house, labelled " African
Lepidosiren." There was supposed to be an
American Lepidosiren, but evidence of its exist-
ence was so extremely scanty that it had fallen
under the cold shadow of scientific doubt, when

one fine day fresh specimens from South America

249

Ornithological and Other Oddities

arrived. Some of these were exhibited at a
meeting of the Zoological Society, and thus the
American mudfish received a definite social status
as a credible creature ; just as, many years ago,
did the apteryx, faith in which was beginning
to wane, when a specimen was exhibited to
convince scientific Thomases.

The moral of these facts is obvious. A later
age has often been too ready to set down some
of the remarkable zoology of the classical writers
as the unadulterated product of an unlimited
gullibility. The most monstrous fables, how-
ever, are apt to contain a core of truth ; and
these casual reappearances of obsolescent animals
may well stimulate us in the search thereof.
Take the phoenix, for example. Even in
Tacitus's time information about this celebrated
bird was vague and conflicting to a degree,
though the historian seems to have had no
doubt but that it was something. One turned
up in the days of Tiberius, creating great excite-
ment among contemporary scientists. Some
people, however, said it wasn't genuine, a
phoenix not being due for several centuries to
come. These would have it that your true
phoenix only appeared at intervals of 1461
years, instead of 500, as the common report
went ; and that only three were on record,

which had flown into Heliopolis, the Egyptian

250

A Plea for Prodigies

City of the Sun, " with a multitude of companion
birds marvelling at the novelty of the appear-
ance." The distinguished stranger was, in fact,
being mobbed, as some rooks mobbed a golden
oriole some years ago ; and here one comes to
the core of truth in the legend. The dates, no
doubt, are untrustworthy ; but in all probability
some strange bird did now and then appear in
Egypt, and met with a not unnatural reception
among its fellows ; though, on the other hand,
the local ornithologists of the period were
so far superior to their modern representatives
as to study the bird, instead of slaying it and
having it stuffed, or rather mummified. The
pity is that their accounts of it were so variable
that its personality is hopelessly nebulous ; the
only point on which they agreed seemed to be
that it wasn't like anything else. But, for all
these difficulties, we may yet cherish a belief in
the phoenix, in view of the celebrated case of
Dinomys Branicki.

An inhabitant of Peru got up one morning,
a good many years back, to find an unknown
animal strolling about the backyard. The
visitor was not unlike a paca, an overgrown,
unseemly-looking rodent, which you may see
any day in the large rodents' house at the
Zoo. But it had a tail — which appendage is
denied to the paca — and was otherwise peculiar.

25i

Ornithological and Other Oddities

The bold Peruvian smote it with the sword, and
its remains were subsequently scientifically ex-
amined. But the curious part of the story is
that the animal was not only unknown to its
destroyer, but to everybody else in the district.
No one was personally acquainted with the
deceased, or could say whence and wherefore
he had come. Thus it is fortunate that he
fell into scientific hands, and had his obsequies
decently performed. For since then until a
year or two ago no other specimen turned up.
Dinomys Bi-anicki remained unique ; so much
so, that, although he has relationships with the
everyday guinea-pig and agouti, a special family
has been created for his reception.

If there is any story considered worthy to
rank as equally fabulous with that of the phoenix,
it is the generation of bees from dead carcases.
The schoolboy, painfully ploughing his way
through the Fourth Georgic, chuckles at the
recipe for producing a swarm therein detailed,
and concludes that Virgil did not know a bee
from a bluebottle. Wasps were produced,
according to classical authorities, from the car-
cases of horses ; but as none of them appear to
give detailed instructions for vespiculture, we
may presume those insects were then considered
as great a superfluity as they are at present.

Science, in the person of Baron Osten-Sacken,
252

A Plea for Prodigies

the great authority on flies, has come to the
rescue of this venerable myth. The ancients,
it seems, did mistake a fly for a bee ; but the
fly was not the harmful and scarcely necessary
bluebottle, but a very different species, the drone-
fly. This insect is extremely like a bee, and is
believed to find the resemblance serviceable as
a protection. The present writer in his school-
boy days has, he regrets to say, often made use
of it for a practical joke on the feminine members
of the household, and it may be mentioned, as
a caution to youths similarly inclined, that people
have been known to mistake the bee for the fly,
with unpleasant results to themselves. This fly,
the Baron informs us, deposits its eggs on car-
cases, and the maggots, developing in the putrid
mass, result in a brood which might easily be
mistaken for genuine bees. This explanation
of the old story receives further support from
the fact that there are nearly-allied flies which
resemble wasps, thus showing how these crea-
tures were supposed to originate from horse-
flesh.

After this we may well feel that some explana-
tion may be found for the wildest creations of
the unscientific imagination in days gone by.
Suppose Herodotus, who has so often been
scoffed at by commentators who knew far less
natural history than he did, had received rumours

253

Ornithological and Other Oddities

of Australia, and that country had never been
discovered! His artless accounts of deer-like
animals which jumped and carried their fawns
in pouches, of birds which hatched their eggs
in a heap of rubbish — the said eggs giving birth
to full-fledged young — and of the crowning im-
possibility of black swans, would have received
the severest stricture ; while as to the duckbill,
so intrinsically unlikely an animal might have
been passed over with a word of contempt by
classical critics. The discovery of Australia has
put these wonders on a scientific footing, but
who knows how many animals, as strange in
form as the kangaroo, and in habits as the
brush-turkey, have become extinct, to leave
their distorted likenesses in classical literature ?
When we realise this, we may begin to see that
the ancient was not so very much worse than
the modern traveller, who calls every bald-
headed bird a turkey, and lumps together a
heterogeneous assemblage of small carnivores
under the common and convenient name of
"cats."

254

THE ZOOLOGY OF HERODOTUS

He must be a man of dull appreciation who fails
to give a due meed of admiration to the historian
of Halicarnassus ; and yet this most charming
and genial of classical writers labours under
grave imputations of want of accuracy in several
particulars, to the extent that some have pleas-
antly called him "the Father of Lies." It is
not my intention here to endeavour to vindicate
his character as an historian, or to draw odious
comparisons between him and the presumably
veracious Thucydides, but briefly to pass in
review some of his zoological statements, which
have usually been held to indicate a preposterous
gullibility on his part.

We cannot, perhaps, commence better than
with his account of the crocodile ; and, consider-
ing this calmly, it cannot be said to be by any
means an absurd narration. The only glaring
inaccuracy in it is the statement that the reptile
cannot see under water ; the old belief that it
moved the upper, and not the under, jaw, is
countenanced by appearances, if not by anatomy.
But — mark the danger of a universal condemna-
tion— commentators have gone on to scoff at the

255

Ornithological and Other Oddities

story of the crocodile's bird-friend, the trockilus,
as " a pure myth " ; and even the existence of
the leeches, which the bird took from the reptile's
mouth, is characterised as "an absurd state-
ment," and "contrary to all reason." As a
matter of fact the crocodile's mouth is infested
by a peculiar parasitic leech, and recent evidence
leaves little doubt but that one or other of two
species of plover does actually render the service
credited to it by Herodotus, and one of these
has actually been observed to warn the crocodile
of danger.

From the trockilus the transition to the ibis
is easy, and here Herodotus's clear and careful
account is in striking contrast to the mistakes
of modern writers about these birds. An ibis
at the Cape, which is black with a bald red
head, is set down by the Boers as a "wild
turkey," and in Egypt the cattle-egret, a small
white heron, is pointed out by the dragoman,
and accepted by the flock of tourists he is
shepherding, as the true sacred ibis. It would
appear from Herodotus's account that his " black
ibis" — believed to be the "glossy ibis" of
modern ornithology — was the snake-destroyer,
though the white species is that which is found
embalmed, and has received the scientific name
of religiosa. Both kinds are usually to be seen

at the Zoological Gardens, and the glossy ibis

256

SACRED II:1n

GL( ISSY [BIS
' Qualia di mens A< gj plus i oluii

The Zoology of Herodotus

occasionally visits this country, to be, of course,
shot by unscientific "record" hunters.

The winged snakes which formed the prey of
this beneficent bird are, in the view of many, the
most outrageous of Herodotean impossibilities.
Now, no one would assert that real flying ser-
pents ever could or did exist, or that Herodotus
ever saw their bones, or that the puny ibis could
have been an efficient exterminator of such crea-
tures. But it must be recollected that an air-
traversing snake is not an utterly inconceivable
animal ; we have the flying lizard, which glides
through the air for some distance, supported by
the parachute formed by the skin connecting its
elongated ribs. A similar rib-supported expan-
sion of skin forms the "hood" of the cobra.
These things being so, a parachutic arboreal
serpent is not an impossible animal, although
there may be no evidence for its existence. It
is also possible that there was a belief about the
Egyptian cobra similar to that which now obtains
in some places about the Indian one ; this makes
the snake in its old age grow very short in the
body, the "hood" meanwhile expanding into
wings, wherewith the reptile flits about on a
mission of destruction. That Herodotus saw
some bones is no doubt correct enough ; that
he was wrong in his determination of them is

not wonderful, for in later ages the bones of

257 R

Ornithological and Other Oddities

mammoths were taken for those of human
giants.

The monstrous ants are, it is to be feared,
entirely indefensible. Physical limitations would
probably make any insects "somewhat larger
than foxes, but less than dogs," quite impossible.
The biggest known creatures formed on the
plate-armour plan of the arthropoids are, and
always have been, aquatic. Were it not for the
mechanical disadvantages under which the muscles
of insects work, Herodotus's ants might well have
existed, and been all that his informants pictured
them, as any one will admit who has studied ants
in the tropics, where, as has been well remarked,
the sluggard need not go to the ant, as that in-
dustrious insect will save him the trouble.

The Herodotean account of the hippopotamus
is, of course, extremely inaccurate ; no one needs
to be told that it has not the mane and tail of a
horse. But the Greeks must have seen in it
some resemblance to a horse, or they would not
have called it the river-horse ; and, indeed, the
comparison is not worse than that which made
the Teutons find a likeness to the horse in the
walrus. While on the subject of names, it is
interesting to note that Herodotus observes that
the crocodile was so named by the Greeks from
its resemblance to a lizard, just as a corruption

of a Portuguese name later gave us the word

258

The Zoology of Herodotus

" alligator " ; and it seems that on the island of
Myconos a species of lizard is still called croco-
dile in modern Greek.

The phoenix is supposed to be so hopelessly
fabulous that it is useless to speculate as to its
nature ; although there is something to be said
for the theory that identifies it with the golden
pheasant, the most brilliant of living things, and
a creature which, being easy to keep alive, may
have, albeit very rarely, been passed from hand
to hand all through the East sufficiently to keep
up the tradition. It is true that Herodotus com-
pares its form and size to the eagle's ; but, on
the other hand, a word he uses in describing the
plumage — golden-haired — is singularly appro-
priate to the golden pheasant, and to that only
among birds. And as shape impresses the un-
skilled observer much less than colour, between
the picture he saw and his remembrance of it
some distortion may well have occurred. It
must be remembered that the originals of sup-
posed mythical animals have a way of turning
up at times. When a frigate-bird was captured
in New Zealand, the Maoris who saw it were
agreed that the long-winged wanderer was the
true " hokioi," a bird supposed traditionally to
spend the whole day in the air. And when a
bird-of-paradise was first brought alive to Cal-
cutta the then reigning Amir took the trouble to

259

Ornithological and Other Oddities

send a man all the way from Kabul to Calcutta
to examine it, and was convinced that it was the
legendary "huma" of Eastern tradition.

The weird creatures which annoyed the
gatherers of cassia might well have been the
great fruit-bats of the East, probably bolder in
those days than they would dare to be now,
when they seem never to take the offensive on
being disturbed. The aquatic habitat assigned
to them and to the plant is wrong ; but the latter
is at any rate a reality, being identified with the
cinnamon laurel. And as to the supposed
ferocity of its bat-like guardians, it is not so
very long, comparatively speaking, that Linnaeus
credited the above-mentioned " flying -foxes,"
which certainly do "screech horribly," as Hero-
dotus makes them, with being blood-sucking
vampires, a menace to poultry-yards and sleep-
ing slaves. It was not till Darwin travelled in
Chile that the real vampire-bat was brought to
book and given a local habitation.

It is thus possible that some at least of our
author's wonderful travellers' tales have a founda-
tion in fact ; where his real delinquencies lie is
in accounts of more familiar animals. The
lioness, for instance, is not so desperately un-
prolific as only to produce one cub during her
lifetime, supposed to sterilise her by the action

of its sharp claws on the walls of the uterus.

260

The Zoology of Herodotus

The mistake he makes about the camel is also
a most preposterous one ; for, premising that he
will not describe this animal, as being already-
well known to the Greeks, he gravely remarks
of it, as a peculiarity which has escaped their
notice, that it has in its hind-legs four thigh-
bones and four knee-joints. After this remark
of his about a creature which was so familiar, it
is well for students to be cautious in disbelieving
entirely in any given animal he describes because
of monstrous impossibility of detail. And when
we remember that so generally respected an
observer as Gilbert White inclined towards the
preposterous notion that swallows hibernated
under water, whereas Herodotus knew of their
migration ; and that the sage of Selborne like-
wise committed himself to such absurdities as
the statement that coots, moorhens, and dab-
chicks flew in an erect position, and that ducks
and geese did not roost on trees because they
were web-footed, we should not be too severe
on the errors of a writer who was at any rate
the first European naturalist whose work is pre-
served, whatever may be thought of his merits
as a historian.

261

THE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS
IN INDIA

The lover of animal life needs to be but a very

short time in India to be both delighted and

pained at the common relations between man

and animals in that country, owing to the very

contradictory treatment meted out to the lower

creation by the natives. The black side of the

picture is all too obvious, and those who have

never been to the East can hardly realise the

state of abject misery in which some of the

domestic animals exist there. The greatest

sufferer is probably the bullock, the ordinary

beast of draught in India. He is habitually

either underfed or overworked — the result in

every case being that his bones are ready to

start through his skin ; while his neck is too

often cruelly galled by the yoke, and the

twisting of his tail, as a means of making him

increase his pace, is carried to such a reckless

extent that it is common to see animals with

tails kinked by dislocation of the joints, or

even diminished by half of their length by the

mortification of the over-twisted portion. At

262

The Treatment of Animals in India

any rate, this is the case in Calcutta, to which
my remarks here must be understood chiefly to
apply, though there is abundant reason for the
belief that such ill-treatment is general in the
country.

The buffalo, which takes the place in India
of the cart-horse in England, being used for slow
heavy work, seems to be better treated ; his
condition is not miserable like the bullock's, nor
is his tail twisted in driving him. The buffalo is
an animal of much strength of character, and
would probably become dangerous if over-driven
or tortured ; it is known that the wild animal is
peculiarly savage when wounded, and will in
such case deliberately attempt to revenge him-
self.

Sympathisers with the poor bullocks should,
however, remember that these meek creatures
have an aversion to Europeans, and are not to
be approached without care. I heard of a case
during my residence in India in which a yoked
beast suddenly and without provocation knocked
down a European standing near, and if it had
not been under the yoke would undoubtedly have
gored him. Such cases are no doubt exceptional,
but they are worth bearing in mind, as the ex-
treme quietness in the ordinary way of the Indian
cattle is apt to generate too great a confidence in

their gentle behaviour ; for as a whole they are

263

Ornithological and Other Oddities

certainly far milder-natured than European cattle,
which are descended from a different species.

There is much in the London cab-horse's lot
that moves us to pity, but he is well off compared
with his fellow-toiler in Calcutta, and the contrast
strikes every one who first returns from India
on leave, as well as natives who visit England.
The Calcutta horses are under-sized, ill-shaped
creatures, half-starved, slow, and weak. Two
are commonly harnessed to one "ticca-gharry,"
a vehicle somewhat like our " growler," and the
only food one sees given to them is grass, a
supply of which is carried in a net under the
vehicle ; when this halts, the net is fixed on to
the pole, and the poor drudges have a meal.
The horses in Bombay are much superior animals,
and are probably better treated, but, generally
speaking, the ordinary working horse of India is
a poor, ill-used creature, as far as I saw. Need-
less to say, lameness and harness-sores receive
little commiseration. The ass is treated much in
the same way, or, if anything, probably rather
worse. The dog and cat appear to lead a life
very similar to that of the pigeons so common
in large towns everywhere ; they are ownerless,
and have to shift for themselves, but are not
ordinarily molested. I do not think the cats are
very miserable, as in a country like India there is

much small prey to be obtained at all times of the

264

The Treatment of Animals in India

year ; but the " pariah " dog often has a wretched
look, and doubtless suffers much from want, as he
has to share his food of carrion with kites, crows,
and jackals. Some attempt is made to keep
down these ownerless curs, and it is needed, as,
with the jackals, they keep hydrophobia alive.
If scavengers are needed — which they certainly
are at present — their work may well be left to
the birds above mentioned, which have not the
disadvantage of fostering this dreadful disease.

The goat, commonly to be seen about the
streets, is a cheerful creature, and I do not think
it has much to complain of; natives, as I shall
have occasion to mention later on, are not
wantonly cruel, and the goat is so accommo-
dating in its appetite that it is easily fed, and
appears in better condition than the cattle and
horses. Of sheep I can say nothing in par-
ticular, as they are not so much in evidence
as in England.

Poultry run about everywhere, and seem to

be seldom fed. Except those — a special breed

— used for cock-fighting, they are not treated

unkindly as a rule, and are very tame. When

needed for use, however, I fear they have to

suffer much, as in the Calcutta market, though

troughs were affixed to the- spacious coops used

for their temporary lodgment, these were never

kept full of water, for the want of which the

265

Ornithological and Other Oddities

ducks at all events seemed to be greatly dis-
tressed ; of course they were fed and watered,
but the supply was not kept up as it should
have been.

There was nothing in their treatment, however,
to compare with the shameful ill-usage of wild
birds in the same market. These poor creatures
— ducks, snipe, and other birds passed off as
such — were netted or snared, and then kept
starving and thirsty until sold, or killed as a
last resort. The ducks often had their legs
dislocated, and the longer-legged birds were
frequently too cramped to stand, it being the
practice of the catchers to tie the birds' legs
together at the hocks by means of the long flight
feathers of the wings. The legs were untied
when the birds came to market, but of course
the mischief was then done. The smaller birds,
such as snipe and sandpipers, were kept tied in
bunches as if they were so many onions, and
handled just as carelessly.

So thirsty were these poor things, that almost

any bird one bought in the bazaar would greedily

drink while held in the hand, to do which a wild

creature must be sadly reduced. Of course

attempts have been made from time to time to

bring about an alteration of this state of affairs,

but with little effect as yet, though I must admit

that before my time, judging from accounts by

266

The Treatment of Animals in India

earlier observers I have read, the birds were
treated even worse than at present. The most
practicable remedy would certainly be the pro-
hibition of the sale of living game, except quails,
which do well even in close captivity.

The disgraceful practice of sewing up the eyes
of birds to keep them quiet seems to be on the
decline — at any rate I saw few cases of it ; and
the large birds (storks, cranes, &c.) brought
down for sale to be kept alive were in my time
hooded with little cloth bonnets.

And now a word as to the brighter aspect of
the relations of man and animals. The indis-
position of the Indian native to wanton cruelty
has its effect in the remarkable tameness of the
various creatures. Even the too often ill-treated
domestic animals are as tame or tamer than in
England, while the confidence of the wild things,
and their abundance both in species and indi-
viduals, is a perfect revelation when one comes
out to the East. The crow, kite, and sparrow
are indeed rather too tame ; the thefts of the
former two are annoying at times, though they
have their amusing side ; and the habit of the
last of frequenting one's meal-table cannot be
regarded as one to be encouraged in a country
where infectious disease is so common. It is not
to be desired that a sparrow, which has just come

from a gutter outside a native hut where they

267

Ornithological and Other Oddities

have a case of cholera, should, within the next
five minutes, be gnawing at the loaf or prospect-
ing the sugar-basin in one's own quarters. But
to the familiarity of the pretty little striped
squirrels, and of the many charming birds which
adorn every Indian garden, there is no drawback.
Every garden bird in India is as tame as the robin
over here ; even the kingfisher, hunted to death
in Europe, will in India ply his calling fearlessly
before one's eyes, within a few yards, and you
may find him wherever there is a large pond.

No native boy throws stones at the wild
things ; and though a certain number of birds
are captured for caging, they are better kept,
as a rule, than in Europe, and, for some reason
or other, do not resent captivity so much, as any
one may see in those imported into this country.
Moreover, the catching for cages which goes on
is not considerable enough to affect the numbers
of birds to be seen at large. It is otherwise, I
believe, in those parts of India where birds are
caught for skins, and Lord Curzon's valuable
enactment against the export of feathers ought
to do much good in this direction. A statement
has been made that the birds caught were
destructive ones, but this is absolutely false.
Only one species commonly killed for its skin was
a pest, the common green ring-necked parrakeet

{Palceornis torquatus) ; and there is no justifica-

268

The Treatment of Animals in India

tion for encouraging the natives in a practice
which, when not encouraged by the demands
of our fashions, they would never adopt, what-
ever their faults in the treatment of animals
may be.

269

PARK ANIMALS FOR LONDON

Although the idea of a municipal Zoo has fallen
through, there is no reason why the free crea-
tures of our public parks, whether in London or
elsewhere, should not be artificially increased
in number and variety. The recent agitation
against the too prolific city pigeon suggests that
certain natural enemies of this bird, and also of
the sparrow, might well be invited to take up
their residence among us. In this way the
columbine and passerine population might be
kept down to a working average without the
shock to our humanity which would be caused
by organised and periodical slaughters of these
innocents which feed on the crumbs from our
table.

Of the hawk tribe, one naturally thinks of
the peregrine falcon — "the dove-killing hawk,
swiftest and strongest of flying things," as Homer
calls it — as the pigeon's natural enemy, and so,
indeed, it is. But if peregrines were turned loose
in London they would certainly not discriminate
between the emancipated pigeon of the streets
and the cherished homers and tumblers of private

fanciers ; so that we must look to a bird which

270

Park Animals for London

would leave adult pigeons alone, and confine his
attention to any squabs which he might find in
accessible places.

Hence we might well invite our ancient resi-
dent, the kite, back to his old haunts. Some four
centuries ago kites were so common in London
that they attracted the attention of foreign visi-
tors, and seem to have been as tame and impudent
as they are now in the East.

The British kite, however, though just as fine
a performer on the wing as the Indian and
Egyptian birds, is far handsomer, being larger in
size, and with a rich chestnut tint in his plumage
which is quite lacking from the snuffy feathering
of the Oriental species.

The British race of kites appears now to be
reduced to about three pairs, which are being
somewhat tardily and ineffectually protected by
our ornithologists ; but as the species is not rare
on the Continent, and is easy to rear and keep
at liberty, a few pairs could be installed in the
parks with no great trouble and at a very mode-
rate expense, and would before long provide for
themselves without difficulty.

Useful allies of the kites — and, in respect of
the sparrows, far more effectual — would be some
of the smaller birds of the crow tribe. The two
or three magpies we have already are great orna-
ments ; and as the magpie in Norway is a familiar

271

Ornithological and Other Oddities

town bird, there is no reason why this very
beautiful creature, which the game-preserver will
not allow to live in the country, should not be
allowed to delight our eyes in town, and harry
the nests with which Philip Sparrow decorates
the trees to his heart's content ; to say nothing of
appropriating the results of the town pigeon's
undue philoprogenitiveness.

The even more beautiful and equally perse-
cuted jay might also be tried, and would have
the same recommendations ; but as it is more of
a woodlander than the magpie, it might not be
so much inclined to venture among the houses.
However, considering the progress which the
wood-pigeon has made of late years in this direc-
tion, it is quite probable that the jay, a far more
intelligent bird, would be equally ready to profit
by man's friendship, and frequent buildings as
well as trees.

The jackdaw, of course, is a haunter of build-
ings already, but as he has not the beauty of the
magpie and jay, it would be hardly worth while
to try him unless these proved impracticable as
citizens ; his qualities in such a case would be
much the same as theirs, and he would be un-
doubtedly easier to establish.

In fact, the jackdaw might, like the pigeon,

become too numerous, as a bird which builds on

houses is harder to keep under control than one

272

Park Animals for London

which nests in trees, since a tree-nest can easily
be pulled or poked down or fired into.

The introduction of the chough, which with its
ebony plumage and vermilion legs and bill rivals
the magpie and jay in beauty, would be most
desirable. It is known that this bird can be
allowed liberty about a country house, but it is
unfortunately scarce and expensive. This is a
great pity ; the bird is beautiful in flight as well
as in colour, being altogether a sort of refined
edition of the jackdaw, and as it is a cliff-fre-
quenter, would probably readily accept buildings
as a substitute for its native rocks.

But until wealthy ornithologists begin to show
the same interest in watching the beauty and
interesting habits of rare birds that they do in
the acquisition of their skins and eggs, I fear we
shall have to wait for choughs in London.

The reason why I think that the London
sparrow, as well as the pigeon, needs the re-
straining influence of such enemies as I have
suggested is, that he is an irreclaimable hooligan,
and is on this account a worse enemy to all small
birds weaker than himself than are the actually
predaceous species.

But it is not only in the case of birds that the

London parks might advantageously increase their

animal population.

Every one who has been in India must have

273 s

Ornithological and Other Oddities

watched with pleasure the antics of the pretty
little striped squirrels, which are almost tame,
running about on verandahs, and sometimes even
entering the rooms. In some American parks
also the native grey squirrel has become practi-
cally domesticated, and begs nuts and biscuits
from the passers-by.

Now we have in our European red squirrel an
even prettier animal than either of these, and one
which could not fail to gain popularity were it
introduced as a park denizen ; while, as it is
known to rob birds' nests, it would also help to
keep the sparrow in his place.

Its own undue increase would be prevented
by the all too numerous cats, which are deadly
enemies to young squirrels.

The American grey kind might also be tried,
for it is a hardy animal, and would make a pretty
variety, to say nothing of the fact that it has
proved its adaptability to town life in its own
home. Moreover, it sometimes happens that a
foreign animal will withstand unnatural conditions
— such as those of our parks must always be to
some extent — better than a native species.

Few of our British water-fowl do so well in

London as the Australian black swan and the

Egyptian goose, coming although these do from

such utterly different climates.

There is nothing prettier in the shape of
274

Park Animals for London

mammals than the squirrels, but rabbits also are
very amusing and attractive, and although bounds
would necessarily have to be set to their ram-
blings, there are surely several places where a
good imitation of a natural rabbit warren — not a
mere small enclosure as in Hyde Park — could be
arranged, and probably a few hares would also
thrive.

We must continue to look to the more in-
offensive rodents if we want to diversify our
London parks with mammalian life other than
that of the scarcely harmless and often unneces-
sary cat.

275

MONKEYS I HAVE MET

Although their simulation of ourselves in
feature and some habits has never been an
appreciated form of flattery, " our poor relations "
have interest for most people, and I personally
welcome gladly the opportunities which a resi-
dence in tHe East has given me for enlarging
my acquaintance with monkeys. The common
monkey of India is, of course, the species known
in Hindustani as Bunder, and to naturalists as
Macacus rhesus, and it is also the most familiar
in England, since the organ-grinder's companion
and slave usually, at all events, belongs to this
species. About Calcutta, however, I never saw
this monkey in a truly wild state, but a few
specimens which had escaped were occasionally
to be seen, and I well remember seeing some
feeding in a way which considerably enlightened
me as to the powers for mischief among crops
which the tribe possess. The food in this case
was the blossoms of a flowering tree, and instead
of picking them in a reasonable way the little
wretches slid down the boughs and deliberately
broke off twigs a foot long or more, throwing

these away after picking off a few flowers. Up

276

Monkeys I Have Met

country I occasionally had glimpses of monkey
family life. Paterfamilias would be seen heading
the family party, and occasionally rising on his
hind legs to secure a better view ; his wives
followed dutifully behind with their children, and I
have seen a young monkey helping himself along
by a hold taken on his mother's tail. In spite of
the surly temper of the male monkey when adult,
his wives must regard him with real affection,
as was exemplified in a little episode at the
Calcutta Zoological Gardens, in which I, as a
member of the Committee of Management, took
part. We had in one of the cages a trio of
Bunders, the two females fat and well-liking, but
the male a most miserable specimen, gaunt and
consumptive-looking, and so discreditable to the
collection that I thought he ought to be put out
of his misery, and said so to one of the garden
officials with whom I was making a tour of in-
spection. Scarcely, however, were the words
out of my mouth before both female monkeys
sprang straight at my face, and nothing but
the intervening wire saved me from getting
bitten. Of course, they could not have under-
stood what I said, but I feel sure their sudden
attack was not an accident, and that in some
strange way they had divined that I was medi-
tating something against their companion. He,

I may mention, was taken away and liberated in

277

Ornithological and Other Oddities

the open, to give him a chance of recovery by-
liberty and natural feeding.

Speaking of the embonpoint of these devoted
wives, I may mention that I have noticed in
female monkeys of this species, and this alone,
this human tendency to portliness in advancing
age. I have seen another female rhesus in
Calcutta, which was very obese — a worthy
person whom I knew as a private pet for the
whole of my eight years' residence in India, and
she was elderly for a monkey when I got there.
She was a good old creature, and much ap-
preciated a kitten as a pet. I have never seen
a stout male monkey, and I once saw a male
rhesus in Calcutta which was known to be nearly
twenty years of age. He was a very large speci-
men, but his proportions were perfect, and he was
quite a monkey Adonis, being of the golden-
haired variety.

These golden-haired Bunders are, of course,

rare, and have quite a distinguished appearance.

Their faces and hands are as clear a flesh-colour

as a blonde human being's, and their fur is of

a golden-buff tint. They evidently represent

an approach to albinism, but their eyes are not

pink, and they seem strong healthy animals.

Two young specimens of the variety at the

London Zoo some time ago were full of fun and

frolic, and seemed, if anything, rather superior

278

Monkeys I Have Met

to the ordinary brown muddy - complexioned
representatives of the species. Yet there must
be some reason why these blonde monkeys do
not increase in the wild state. Perhaps the
colour is not hereditary, or, more possibly, there
is some inherent delicacy of constitution which
is adverse to them in the conditions of wild life.
It certainly seems to be the case that the blonde
type of humanity is less resistant to certain in-
fluences than the dark.

Young rhesus monkeys are captured in num-
bers for the European market by the simple
expedient of placing some food under a basket
propped up by a peg to which a string is at-
tached ; but, of course, old specimens are not
to be so easily made a prey of.

We had a female Bunder with her baby in the
Calcutta Zoo in my time, which were a con-
stant source of amusement ; but I have never
had such a good opportunity of studying monkey
maternity as has been afforded recently by the
birth of a young one in January 1906 at our
Zoo, the parents being of a species closely
allied to Macacus rhesus, the Japanese monkey
{Macacus speciosus). Young monkeys are not
infrequently born in captivity, but at the Zoo
they are usually secluded for a time in the
monkey-house. But this Japanese pair, being

hardy animals, have always lived outdoors, at

279

Ornithological and Other Oddities

first in one of the large hutches outside the
monkey-house, and latterly in one of the com-
partments of what formerly used to be the crows'
cages, near the Western Aviary.

The Japanese monkeys are thick-coated, rubi-
cund, comfortable - looking beings, with curious
short tails like a docked terrier's, but the baby,
which was about the size of a big rat at its birth,
looked very different, with its pale wizened face
and scanty coat, much darker than that of its
parents. For about a week it was an infant
in arms, but a most difficult one to nurse. For
a time it would cling quietly to its mother's fur,
encircled by one of her arms ; but before long
it was certain to begin squirming about, its con-
tortions ending in its being upside down and
grasping the shaggy eyebrows of its parent with
its hind legs, when the old lady would grab it by
the leg and re-arrange it, so to speak, only to
have the same trouble over again.

Soon it began to venture away from her,
crawling along the floor of the cage and even
feebly clambering up the netting. But it never
got far in these excursions, for it appeared to be
a fixed principle with mamma never to let it
out of sight or out of reach. If the baby got
round behind her, or was straying too far off —
especially if it was the object of attention to the
public or the monkeys in the adjoining compart-

ORANG-UTAN
An individual in easy circumstances"

Copyright

OKANG-Ul W
] i ■ ■ thai is the qu

Monkeys I Have Met

merits — out went her hand and the child was
unceremoniously hauled back by a hind leg or
by its ridiculous little tail, which was just long
enough to serve as a convenient handle. But
after a little cuddling it was sure to start ex-
ploring again, and I have never seen it chastised
for so doing, though a member of the same genus,
the long-tailed macaque (Macacus cynontolgus)
has been seen, in the wild state, smartly to correct
its offspring for being too venturesome.

This extreme caution in keeping the young
close at hand is no doubt necessary among wild
monkeys, for the little thing would be a highly
acceptable prey to carnivora, both furred and
feathered ; the latter are, I suspect, far the most
dangerous foes, for a fox or wild cat, which had
snapped up a young monkey, would still have
to get away with its prey from the infuriated
parents (as quick to spring and almost as for-
midable biters as the captor itself), whereas with
a bird the hapless infant would be whirled aloft
beyond reach of parental aid or retaliation. It is
in assisting to guard his child against supposed
danger that the male Japanese monkey has
shown the only sign of parental interest in his
offspring ; otherwise he has practically ignored
it, and has never dreamt of offering his mate
any of the delicacies freely supplied the couple

by the public — and no monkeys have ever en-

281

Ornithological and Other Oddities

joyed so large a share of popularity and its
profits.

After a week or so of the close supervision
above alluded to, the mother's extreme watchful-
ness began to relax, and the little Jap could run
and climb where it liked, though it was often
snatched up when anything occurred to upset
its decidedly fidgety mother. One day I simply
returned a grimace she had made at me for trying
to touch the baby with my finger, and the way in
which she then tucked it under her arm and
carried it well away from the bars was delight-
fully human. Soon after it was allowed to run at
large it began to try to eat, but I have never
seen the mother give it any of the food offered
her ; indeed, she took for herself food given to
it, and evidently young monkeys, like the youth-
ful Spartans of old, are expected to steal their
rations.

The bringing-up of our present subject has
been Spartan enough in some ways, for its mother
let it stay outside and play during any weather,
however cold and wet ; though I have seen her
help it inside when it wanted to come indoors,
first grabbing one little hand, as it came groping
up the step after an ineffectual attempt to climb,
and then taking a second hold of the hair of her
offspring's head. Her methods certainly gave

one some new ideas as to the possibilities of

282

Monkeys I Have Met

holding babies. Her attention to its toilet has
throughout been most assiduous, and the child
altogether seemed to want so much care that I
very much doubt if a wild monkey could succeed
in rearing twins, which are fortunately very rare
among them.

To proceed to monkeys of a higher grade. It
has never been my good fortune to see any of the
anthropoid apes wild, but I have had consider-
able acquaintance with some of them in the East
under more favourable conditions than are pos-
sible here. I am thinking especially of a speci-
men of the hoolock (Hylobates koolock), one of
the long-armed apes or gibbons, which was for
some years at liberty in the Calcutta Zoo in my
time. This beast was a black specimen (a male),
and looked very like a little man in a fur coat as
he ran along the ground, when he had to travel
across a space where it was impossible to swing
from tree to tree. It is a curious fact that these
gibbons, which are supposed to approach the
lower monkeys more nearly than other anthro-
poids, should have this peculiarly human gait, for
they always go on their hind legs on the rare
occasions when they visit the ground. Gibbons
are generally nice animals, and this one was for
a long time no exception. Of course, he found a
good deal of his food himself, but rations were

daily issued to him at the entrance - lodge, for

283

Ornithological and Other Oddities

which he duly called, and he also hung about
the refreshment-bar in hopes of donations from
visitors. He got his drink in quite a natural way,
by sliding down a bough overhanging a pond, and
dipping it up with his hand. In some indoor
monkey-houses two female gibbons were con-
fined, and he used to pay visits to both of them,
and exchange confidences through the bars. I
do not know if the worry of this double menage
affected his temper, but ultimately he became
vicious, and had to be permanently shut up. He
had undergone a short term of confinement some
time before for a rather peculiar offence. He was
wont to extend his rambles outside the gardens,
finding the telegraph-wires a very convenient
road, and he went on one occasion to Belvedere,
the Lieutenant - Governor's residence, and tore
down the British flag. However, confinement
apparently made him reconsider these seditious
ideas, and he never repeated the offence when
subsequently released.

An anthropoid frequently imported to Calcutta
was the orang-utan, and this animal has always
attracted my attention, as it is the most human in
some ways of all the great apes. Its figure cer-
tainly falls lamentably short of our ideas of beauty
— the gorilla is quite elegant by comparison — but
there is something almost painfully human about

the creature's face, and the variety of expressions

284

I H: VNG-I I W
" Am I a man and :i brother '.

OKANG-1 i w

_.ai. iii "

Monkeys I Have Met

it may assume is well shown by the photographs
illustrating this chapter. All but that in which
the animal is scratching its head were taken from
one specimen, "Peter," a former denizen of the
London Zoo, and he was not posed in any way.
The orang is well known to the natives of Bengal
as a showman's animal, and is called " bun manus "
(jungle man), just the signification of its Malay
name. And as Hanno the Carthaginian called the
gorillas he discovered hairy people, hundreds of
years ago, so the Indian native appears to doubt
whether the orang is not human ; at any rate, I
have been asked in the Calcutta Zoo by a native
whether an orang on view there was not a man.

As a testimony to the value of fresh air for
animals, I may mention that we did not succeed
in getting orangs to thrive in this garden until
an outdoor extension was added to their cage.
The strange wistful look of the orang's face is
borne out by its character. It is less merry and
monkeyish than the chimpanzee, and more emo-
tional and exacting ; disappointed, it will throw
itself on the ground and roll about crying, like
a spoilt child. It is also more sluggish than
its African relative, and hence more difficult to
keep in health, but I should not be surprised if
it turned out under careful training to be the
superior animal. Two varieties of the orang

used to be imported to Calcutta, one with a much

285

Ornithological and Other Oddities

more bare and dusky-coloured skin than the
other ; but as all the specimens I saw there were
immature, I was not able to determine what the
differences were in adults.

I have read somewhere a statement that the
anthropoid apes prefer our company to that of
their fellow-monkeys of lower degree, and I saw
it proved once in Calcutta. The late Mr. W.
Rutledge, for many years the leading animal
dealer there, and a mine of natural history in-
formation, had a young one in his yard, and, at
my request, opened its cage one day to let it
choose its society, when, quite disregarding the
other monkeys, it immediately came over to him
and climbed into his lap. A fair-sized female we
had at the Calcutta Zoo, also, was a most affec-
tionate creature. When I paid a visit to her,
she would always put her arm affectionately
round my neck, and, while being caressed and
played with, would drop any food offered by
other visitors. Another specimen of the same
sex showed the less amiable side of its character
by long refusing the donations of one member
of the society, because on one occasion he had
first given something to other monkeys in the
same house. But I think it was on my very
first introduction to the orang that the hidden
humanity of the creature most impressed me.

This was many years ago, when Mr. Abraham

286

Monkeys I Have Met

Bartlett was at the London Zoo, and he gave
me a private interview with a little orang which
had just arrived. The first thing the little imp
did was to climb on my knee, take off my hat,
and put it on its own head, after which it pro-
ceeded gravely to pinch one of the superinten-
dent's eyelids. In short, it examined us with a
scientific curiosity, which, in a lower animal, was
decidedly impressive. This little man of the
woods could not have chosen a more striking
way of claiming a kinship so often denied.

INDEX

(An asterisk denotes that an illustration is given)

Acclimatisation of goldfinch,

70-76 ; unsuccessful attempts,

174-177
Adjutant, 184
*American bittern, 161, 162

quail, 176

robin, 102, 103

Amherst pheasant, 8, 11, 16, 17

Apteryx, 52

Argus pheasant, 46

Athens, owls in, 136

Audubon, quoted, 10

Auks, absent from Indian seas,

184
Avadavat, experiments with, 4 ;

in India, 100
Aviaries, inmates for, 223-228
Aviculture, Japanese, 186-193 ;

in London, 223-228, 270-

273

B

Babblers, 36, 38, 39, 40, 201
Baboon, habits of tame, 244
Bantams, preferences of hens,

3 ; hybrid with grouse, 18 ;

* Japanese, 186, 187
Bee-eaters, riding on storks,

200
Bees, legend about generation

of, 252 253
Bengalee, 191, 192

Besra, 37

*Bhimraj, 115, 116
Bitterns, American and Euro-
pean, 161
Blackbird, its tameness in Lon-
don, 129; solitary habits,
199
Blackcock, hybrid with caper-
cailzie and red grouse, 13
Blood-pheasant, 180
Blue-bird, American, 103, 104
Blushing in birds, 217-222
Bob-white, 176
Bonhote, Mr. J. L., breeding of

duck hybrids by, 20
Booby, 236, 237
*Brain-fever bird, 36, 57, 58
Budgerigar, attempt to acclima-
tise, 175; in aviaries, 223,
224
Buffalo, 263
Bulbuls, 39, 40 ; Bengal and

red-whiskered, 98
Bullocks, ill-treated in India,

262
Bunder (rhesus monkey), 276-

279
Bustards, Indian, 181
Butterflies, offered to Hornbill,
49

289

Canary, mated

to
T

British

Index

finches, 15,31, 32; its varia-
tions, 65 ; African, 241

Capercailzie, hybrid with black-
cock, 13; with pheasant, 18

*Caracara, 85-91 ; blushing,
220 ; teasing eagle, 221

Carancho, see Caracara

Carolina duck, 8, 11 ; affection
for its mate, 26

Cassowary, as a fighter, 152

Cat, and mongoose, 242 ; in
India, 264 ; in London, 274

Cattle, Indian, their charac-
teristics, 263

Cheer pheasant, 179

Chough, introduction into Lon-
don suggested, 273

Chuck-wilPs-widow, 170

Cockatiel, waterproof plumage
of, 44

Cockatoo, great black, 221, 222

Condor, experimented with by
Darwin, 51

Coot, its company liked by other
birds, 203, 216

Coppersmith-barbet, 74

Cormorant, small Indian, habits
of, 141, 145 ; fresh-water birds
in India, 185

Corncrake, complete moult of,
80

*Cotton-teal, moult of, 79 ; ic
India, 183

Cranes, claws of, 153 ; as pests
in India, 182; Manchurian,
192

Crocodile, Herodotus' account,
255,256

Crows, jungle, 34, 84 ; white-
eyed, 84 ; not attacked by
hawks, 85

Crows, Indian house, 34, 69, 88,
165 ; sociable over food,
202

Crow-pheasant, 67, 68, 154-

157
Cuckoo, common, 33, 40 ; black
Indian, 33-36 ; hawk, 36, 37,
58, 67 ; pied crested, 38 ;
plaintive, 39 ; *fork-tailed, 57 ;
ground, 58,67, 154

D

DABCHICK, Indian, its habits,
206-216; in London, 126,
127

Darter, 141, 145, 185

Darwin, on sexual selection,
1, 7 ; experiment with con-
dor, 51 ; on mimicry, 61 ;
vampire-bat identified by,
260

Dhyal, 98, 106, 205

Dinomys, 251, 252

Divers, absent from Indian
seas, 184

Dogs, pariah, 246, 265

Donkeys, ill-treated in India,
264

Doves, hybrid, 21, 22, 96; in
London, 124, 125 ; as pets in
Zanzibar, 241

Drone-fly, 253

*Drongo,common,or king-crow,
56, 57 ; *racket - tailed or
bhimraj, 115, 116

Ducks, common, their mating,
2 ; courtship, 10 ; hybrid with
pintail, 20; mandarin, court-
ship, 8 ; habits, 24-26 ; oc-
currence in India, 183

290

Ind

ex

Carolina, 8, 26; Indian
spotted-billed, 11 ; whistling
tree, 182; pink-headed, 183;
Muscovy, oil-gland of, 42 ;
claws of, 153 ; kept in Zanzi-
bar, 241

Eagle, Indian sea, 143, 233 ;
Imperial, teased by caracara,
221

*Egret, large, captured by cara-
caras, 86 ; farming for '• os-
prey" plumes, 117, 122;
cattle-, mistaken for ibis,
256

Emu, 52

Experiments on sexual selection,
3-6; Dr. Hill's on scent in
turkeys, 48 ; M. Rogeron's
with jackdaw, 49, 50 ; Dar-
win's with condor, 51 ; in ac-
climatisation, 174-177

Falcon, peregrine, 85

Flying-foxes, 260

snakes, 257

fish, 237

Fowls, sexual selection in, 3 ;
variation in, 65 ; Japanese,
186-190; Dumpies and
Courtes Pattes, 187; Malay,
in Zanzibar, 187, 241 ; treat-
ment in India, 265

*Friar-birds, 54-56, 65, 66

Gadwall, hybrids with other
ducks, 20

Gannet, 236

( iarganey, affection of drake for
Mandarin ducks, 30 ; abund-
ance in India, 182

Geese, attachments between
different species of, 29 ; as
pests in India, 182 ; Egyp-
tian, hybridising with ruddy
sheldrake, 18, 19 ; magpie,
peculiarities of, 77 ; pigmy,

77

Gibbon, habits of tame, 283,
284

Goats, in India, 265

Goldfinch, courtship of, 31 ;
acclimatised abroad, 70-76

*Gold pheasant, hybrid with
Amherst, 17; with common
pheasant, 17 ; in courtship,
27, 28 ; moulting, 77 ; in
Japan, 192 ; management of,
226, 227 ; ? phcenix, 259

Gorilla, discovered by Hanno,
285

Grouse, frequency of hybrids
among, 13; red, hybrid with
blackcock, 13; with bantam
fowl, 18 ; sand-, 180

Guan, hybrid with fowl, 18

Guinea-fowl, method of fighting,
152; terrified by crow -
pheasant, 155 ; wild ones
tamed, 247

Gulls, in London, 127 ; scarce
in eastern seas, 185 ; black-
headed, 127 ; *herring, 127,
128, 234; yellow - legged
herring, 234, 235 ; brown-
headed, 185 ; lesser black-
backed, 234, 235 ; Hem-
prich's, 236

Index

H

Hanno, discoverer of gorillas,

285
Harrier, powder-downs in, 43 ;

marsh-, teasing night-herons,

144
*Hawk-cuckoo, 36, 37, 58, 67
Hawks, 55, 56
Herodotus as zoologist, 253-

261
Herons, serrated claw in, 44;

powder-downs in, 46 ; pond,

139, 184 ; night, 140, 144
* Herring-gull, common, 127,

128, 234 ; yellow-legged, 234,

235
Hoatzin, quadrupedal young of,

150
Hoolock, 283
Hoopoe, odour of, 42
Hornbill, concave-casqued, 42;

pied, discrimination of, 49 ;

moult of, 80
Horses, how treated in India,

264 ; supposed anciently to

generate wasps, 252
Hudson, Mr. W. H., quoted,

86
Hybrid birds, 13-22 ; wild, 13,

14 ; fertility and sterility of,

15, 16, 19-22 ; double, 17,22;

between remote species, 18 ;

in grouse, 13; ducks, 14,19,

20; parrakeets, 21 ; pigeons,

22

I

*Ibis, Herodotean account, 256'

257
*Impeyan pheasant, 179

J
Jacana, pheasant-tailed, 148,

183, 184 ; bronze-winged, 149
Jackals, in India, 265
Jackdaw, experiment with, 49,

50; for London, 272
Jack-rook, 89
*Japanese bantams, 186, 187 ;

long-tailed fowls, 188-190;

*pea-fowl, 192 ; *monkeys,

279-282
Java sparrow, in Zanzibar, 92 ;

in Calcutta, 93 ; in Java, 94 ;

domesticated in Japan, 190,

191 ; for London aviaries, 225
*Javan (or Burmese) peafowl,

178, 179, 192
Jay, 272
Jay-thrush, white-crested, 201

* Jungle-fowl, red, moult of, 81 ;

as a fighter, 151 ; common
in India, 179; *grey, 179;
Ceylon, 179 ; green, 219, 220

K

Kaleege, 151, 179

* King-crow, 56, 57
Kingfisher, in London, 129; in

India, 268 ; Australian laugh-
ing, 106

Kite, bullied by drongo, 56 ;
resemblance of eagle to, 60,
69 ; at Dhappa, 232 ; in India
generally, 265, 267

*Koel, or black cuckoo, 33-36

Koklass pheasant, 179

Landrail, moult of, 80
Lapwing, 199 ; South American,
86

592

Index

*Lark, hawked when moulting,

77
Leeches, in mouth of crocodile,

256
Lepidosiren, 249
Linnet, sexual selection in, 5 ;

mated to canary, 32
Liothrix, or Pekin robin, 99,

107-109, 174, 176, 177, 193

M

Macaque monkey, 2S1
Macaws, talking, in ; fighting,

147 ; blushing, 222
Magpie, 271, 272 ; *Australian,

II5.

Magpie-goose, 79; -robin, 64,

106 ; tanager, 64

*Mandarin duck, 8, 24-26, 183

Mannikins, 94, 100

Milvago, Forster's, 89

Mimicry, in appearance, 54-69;
vocal, 110-116

*Monaul, 179

Mongoose, banded, 241-244 ;
another species, 245

Monkey, rhesus, 276-279; '''Jap-
anese, 279-282 ; macaque, 281

*Morepork,mopehawk,mopoke,
46, 171, 172

Moseley, Professor, quoted, 6

Moult of birds, 77-83

Muscovy duck, 42, 153, 241

*Mynah, hill-, 100, 113-114;
*house-, 100, 101, 114

N

New Zealand, acclimatisation
of birds in, 70, 75, 134 ; *robin,
105

Nighthawk, 45

Night-jars, 167-172; common,
167-169; Indian, 170; Bra-
zilian, 170

*Night-herons, colony of, in
Calcutta, 140-144

O

*Orang-utan, 284-287

*Orioles,mimetic species, 54-56;
golden, 65, 66, 251 ; green,
65 ; *false or American, 63

Osprey, 117 ; " Osprey" plumes
not from this bird, 117

Oven-bird, 64

Owls, bay, 45 : * Pel's fish- and
*milky eagle-, 130-132 ;*barn-,
45, 133, 134; Ural, scops,
135 ; little, Indian little, 136-
138 ; *winking, 133

Paca, 251

Paddy-bird, 139, 140, 184

Painted snipe, 183

Pariah dogs, in Africa, 246 ; in

India, 265
Park animals, suggested, 270-

275
Parrakeets, hybrid, Rosella,

Pennant's, red-mantled, 21 ;

ring-, plum-headed, 97 ;

grass-, 175, 223
Parrots, 42, 44 ; flight of, 97 ;

rock-, 97; talking, no, in;

grey, 110,241
Parson-bird, 112
Partridge, common, 80; Indian,

180

J93

Index

Peafowl, hybrid with guinea-
fowl, 18; display of, 28;
moulting, 78; in India, 178;
*Japan, or black-winged, 29,
192 ; *green (Burmese and
Javanese), 29, 178, 192

Pekin robin, 99, 107-109, 174,
176, 177, 193

* Penguin, manner of moulting,

79,80

Petrels, rare in Indian seas,
184 ; storm-, 239

Pheasant, gold, display, 8, 27,
28 ; bred in Japan, 192 ;
moulting, yj ; Amherst, dis-
play, 8 ; hybrids, 16, 17, 18 ;
silver, 18, 192 ; Indian species,
179 ; Argus, 46

Phcenix, 250, 251, 259

Pig, friendly with baboon, 244

Pigeons, hybrid, 21, 22 ; com-
mon, display of, 23 ; in Lon-
don, 123, 124

*Pigmy goose, 77

* Piping-crow, 115
Pitoitoi, 105

Quails, 180, 267

R

Rails, 80

Rakkelhane, 13

Rattlesnake, 1 1

Raven, 84, 88, 90, 91

Redwing, in London, 129

Rhea, 88

Robin, 102 ; American, 102,

103 ; *New Zealand, 105 ;

Australian, 105, 106; Indian,

106, 107 ; Pekin, 99, 107-109,
174, 176, 177, 193
Rogeron, M. G., quoted, 20,

30, 49
*Rook, 88 ; jack-, name of a

carrion hawk, 89
Rosy-billed duck, 82
Ruddy sheldrake, 18, 19
Ruff, 9, 146

*Sandgrouse, 180

Sandpipers, 183, 184,266

*Screamer, 149, 150

*Serval, 245-248

Shama, 99

Shearwaters, 239, 240

Sheep, in India, 265

Sheldrake, ruddy, 18, 19

*Shikra, mimicked by hawk-
cuckoo, 36, 58

Shrikes, 59, 164

*Skuas, 62

Skunk, attacked by caracara,
90

Snake-bird, 141, 145, 185

Snipe in India, 183, 266

Sparrow, courtship of, 12, 30 ;
in London, 128,272 ; in India,
99, 267 ; Java, 92, 147, 190,
225

Spurs, wing-, 148-150; leg-,
150, 151

Spur-winged goose, 148 ; plo-
vers, 148

Squirrels, Indian, 268, 274 ;
grey, red, 274

Starling, 177, 199 ; Andaman,
64 ; Indian, 100

94

Index

Stowaways, birds as, 161-166
Storks, ridden on by bee-eaters,

200 ; in India, 184, 267
Swan, 79, 183 ; black, 274

Teal, *cotton-, falcated, 183

Tern, sooty, 237

Thrush, in London, 128, 129 ;

missel-, 129 ; jay-, 201
Tit, great, 194-198 ; sultan-, 197
Towhee, 63
*Tragopans, 179
Tree-ducks, 181
Tropic-bird, 238, 239
Tui, 112
Turkey, display of, 218

U

Upland Goose, 182
Urutau, 170, 171

V

Vampire-hat, identified by

Darwin, 260
Vipers, 1 1
Vultures, 229, 232

W

Wasps, supposed to originate
from dead horses, 252

Water-pheasant, 183, 184

Weaver-birds, 92, 93, 100, 225,
226

Weka, 82

Whip-poor-will, 170

White-crested jay-thrush, 201

Wideawake, 237

Woodcock, 169, 183

Woodpecker, 129

Wood-pigeon, hybrid with com-
mon pigeon, 22 ; in London,
123, 124,272

THE END

BOMBAY DUCKS

AN ACCOUNT OF SOME OF THE EVERY-
DAY BIRDS AND' BEASTS FOUND IN A
NATURALIST'S ELDORADO. BY DOUGLAS
DEWAR, F.Z.S., I.C.S.

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so well arranged and clearly worded, that it cannot fail to give
pleasure to every lover of nature, from the unscientific schoolboy
to the experienced ornithologist."

BIRDS BY LAND
AND SEA

THE RECORD OF A YEAR'S WORK
BY JOHN MACLAIR BORASTON

ILLUSTRATED BY PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN
DIRECT FROM NATURE BY THE AUTHOR

Demy 8vo. 16s. net.
PRESS OPINIONS

Globe. — " We have found Mr. Boraston's book bright, pleasant
entertainment. . . . Mr. Lane has printed and bound his work
most charmingly."

Literary World. — "It is a long time since we had in front of
us a book so broadly attractive ... a book that is but meagrely
described by being called a feast for lovers of ornithology. . . . We
particularly wish to call the attention of ornithologists, parents, and
schoolmasters to this charming book."

Morning Leader. — " Mr. Boraston's delightful book . . . the
manner in which the book is produced could hardly be improved
upon."

Athenaum. — " The illustrations, exceeding sixty in number, are,
in most instances, so exquisite that it is difficult to select any for
individual praise."

Nature. — " If it be said that this notice be purely commendatory,
and containing nothing in the way of criticism, the reply is that
we have found nothing to criticise or condemn. It is real nature
study."

Western Morning News. — "A really delightful volume of bird-
lore. . . . To lovers of ornithology this volume will be a permanent
fund of enjoyment, and to dabblers in the science it will prove of
no inconsiderable assistance."

Western Daily Press. — " As a record of close personal observa-
tion, pleasingly written and full of interest, it has seldom been
surpassed."

Birmingham Post.— " Possessing an attractive style, and thor-
oughly master of his subject, the author of this admirably printed
and illustrated book interests from the outset. . . . Mr. Boraston
may be congratulated upon having brought his readers appreciably
nearer to a knowledge of an extremely fascinating subject."

Liverpool Courier. — " This beautiful book of birds . . . has the
impress of the faithful lover of nature. The delicate, affectionate
intimacy of it is wholly delightful, and one gets the feeling that
the author has lived with the birds and studied their manners and
customs in their fireless homes with an exquisite sympathy."

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