141 



fact — for, instead of appreciating the labours of the medical 

 men who have recently applied the results of their bacterio- 

 logical investigations to the subject of bird food, they set 

 themselves in violent and prejudiced opposition to their con- 

 clusions, 



"And, half a league behind, pursue 



"The accomplished Fact with flouts and flings." 



THE MAIvABAR GREEN BULBUL. 



It is extraordinary to notice, in the bird market, how 

 certain birds appear (sometimes in numbers) and then are 

 uot seen again for a long interval. Green Bulbuls are an 

 instance: I believe some were imported in 1897, and I did 

 not come across any more until June 1901. I saw a few at 

 intervals in 1901, but have not seen any for sale since. This 

 seems strange, as there is a constant importation of birds from 

 India. 



The prices of the first two that came over in 1901 were 

 originally rather too high for me, but a gentleman, well known 

 in the bird world, having purchased one, (leaving the other 

 as he said it was weak in the chest and not likely to last long), 

 I at once made an offer for this remaining bird, which under 

 the circumstances was accepted. The healthy one on arriving 

 home was put into a large aviar}', and died in a fortnight. 

 Mine had to be content with a cage, and he is alive and 

 healthy now. His chest trouble got well after the adminis- 

 tration of S3-rup of squills, which he could be persuaded to 

 take off the end of a feather, without any handling — for he 

 never was at all wild, as newly imported birds usually are* — 

 and he soon gained strength and lost his cough. These 

 Bulbuls are among the most interesting birds to keep — 

 they take so much interest, and show so much confidence, in 

 one. The only bad point about mine is that he cannot be 

 induced to bathe, in fact he is the dirtiest bird I have ever come 

 across — keep his cage as clean as possible and scrape his perches 

 regularly, he still manages to get his feet clogged with dirt 

 and he has to have a compulsory footbath. It is no trouble to 

 catch him— if it can be called catching, as I simply have to pick 

 him off the perch — and the moment I open the door of his cage 



* Is not the tanieness of this and other Indian species accounted for by 

 the fact that caged examples are always hand-reared ? — Ed. 



