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 



