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 



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