So)uc Rccciif Addiilons 143 



A Xaked-throated Bell Bird also awaits transfer He 

 lias only been here a few weeks, but is in wonderful condition 

 already, and gobbles up enormous (|uantities of banana. 

 Within a week of arriving he started to call, a noise exactly 

 like the striking of a hammer on an anvil. He can be plainly 

 heard at houses a quarter of a mile from this garden, and 

 people in the village have even reproached the blacksmith for 

 s;d)bath lireaking by working at his anvil ! Other new birds 

 irclude two cock ( liant W'hydahs. one of them now in colour — 

 hens are apparently unobtainable a Black-throated Hangnest, 

 very handsome, an Indian Mynah, (ireen filossy Starling, and 

 a Bengal Pitta. This is a charming, long-legged, almost tail- 

 less bird, the size of a ThrnsH. green and buff with i>atches of 

 kingfisher blue on his back and wings. Pie is quite tame, 

 taking mealworms out (^f our hands, and looks lovely squatting 

 down on the grass with his wings spread out to the sun. With 

 qualms of conscience from the exchequer's point of view we 

 must mention a pair of Superb Fruit Pigeons (f^tilof'its 

 siif^crbits) recently privately imported from Australia ; very tame, 

 and the cock a glorious bird — green with a purple head, chestnut 

 collar and a blue-grey breast broadly barred with black. 



A pair of Plumed Ground Doves (Lopho[^haps plninifcra) 

 are also among the nicest birds bought this year. They are 

 very affectionate and sit jammed up close together, looking 

 like a pair of brown boots put out to be cleaned. I have 

 frequently seen them mating and feeding one another, and hope 

 they will not try to breed during the winter, as so many 

 Australian birds have a tiresome habit of doing'. A Long-tailed 

 Roller from S. Africa — a lovely creature of mauve and blue 

 like a great flying opal — is still caged, and being fed up after 

 it*^ recent voyage. It is a pity that small waders come so 

 seldom into the dealers' hands. Can any member help me to 

 obtain Dunlins or any other small sorts which are content with 

 rice and insectile food, and do not demand smelly raw fish, and 

 will also live peaceably with the birds mentioned above? Our 

 pair of Blue Tanagers have built a neat nest of g-rass and hair 

 in a Hartz canary cage in the shed of No. 2 aviary, and the hen 

 sits on it a good deal, but I fear it is now too late in the season 

 for any breeding- luck with them. When the transfer of birds 

 to this new aviary is complete— most of them bachelors— it is 



