262 Sir E. H. Schomburgk on the Birds of Siam. 



tain seasons of the year the two long shaft-feathers are dropped, 

 or that the female does not possess any, 



31. CopsYCHus SAULARis (Linn.). (Nock king-ken.) 



At certain periods of the year this splendid singer, which by 

 some has been considered as rich in tone as our Nightingale, 

 raises his voice early in the morning. It is but seldom that he 

 is heard in the evening. The King-ken is a handsome bird ; 

 crown, nape, and chin black, with a purplish hue ; the feathers 

 of the mantle are of the same colour as far as the tail-coverts. 

 The middle tail-feathers are of a deep black; the lower of a 

 pure white, of which colour are likewise the feathers of the ab- 

 domen. This is the bird which here in Bangkok delights us so 

 much by his song. Swift he is in his movements; it seems as 

 if it were not his wish to exert his singing powers for any 

 length of time in the same spot. Now he perches on a tree, 

 now he sits on the roof of a house, pouring forth his melodious 

 song. I have recently heard his song after sunset, though pre- 

 viously I thought he sang only in the morning. I have never 

 seen the bird in a cage. 



32. CoPSYCHUS MACRURUS. 



We met with another species of the King-ken at Xiengmai, 

 resembling the former, but the feathers of the abdomen are of 

 an Indian red; and of the same colour are the tail-coverts, with 

 white feathers underneath ; the tail, moreover, being much 

 longer than in the King-ken. I have been told that his singing 

 powers are as great as those of his Bangkok congener. It is in 

 appearance the prettier bird of the two. 



33. EsTRELDA AMANDAVA (Linn.). (Nock Tsi Yumboo.) 

 This is a little bird, of which many are brought to Bangkok 



for sale. There are sometimes from ten to twenty in a rudely 

 constructed cage. They frequent the rice-fields and pastures, 

 and go in flocks. They are easily caught by a decoy bird, and 

 fetch, when brought to Bangkok, from one fuong to a soling 

 each (from 4^?. to 8f/.) ; but individual birds that are handsomely 

 marked produce sometimes one tical (2s. Qd.) each. They do 

 not live long in a cage ; one by one they die, and, where there 

 were perhaps twenty, in a few weeks none are left. I have not 



