A Seeker after Bird Marts. 169 



(Sturnopastor contra), but being quite new to my eye, and the 

 owner praising them so much, I thought them something beyond 

 mortal ken. Native bird-sellers think very highly of these 

 birds, and train them to a wonderful state of intelligence and 

 tameness. I found them rather delicate and bad travellers, 

 but clever. 



These were all at the " Fine Art and Animal Emporium " 

 at Agra, the account of which would fill volumes, and the 

 advertisement of which was absolutely unique, but, although 

 it?, promoters guaranteed to provide Giraffes, Lions, etc., I 

 cannot recall any symptoms of " Fine Art " about it. I was 

 guided to it from a slum street in Agra, and went through 

 such an alarming laybrinth of tiny alleys and precipitous stairs, 

 up and down, that I feel sure the cages must have been moved 

 in and out through the windows, which, I think, were in the 

 rcof ! ! As I was creeping through the narrow door, a terrific 

 looking, enormous dog nearly knocked me down, and made the 

 stifling air vibrate with its furious barking. He was a Thibetan 

 Mastiff, bred in the monastries of their remote hills, as his 

 owner remarked, when full grown " will grow as an ass, as 

 liis father was," or in other words, as big as a donkey. 



Colombo was my easiest hunting ground for a long time. 

 " Leo," the owner of that bird shop, had such a variety and 

 such nice things — lovely Red P>uit-eating Parrots, the most 

 gentle and pathetic of fowls, of which he would only sell pairs, 

 as single ones pined immediately. Alas ! I could not make 

 them thrive, even in our damp, hot climate; perhaps they need 

 ? dry climate really. 



Cages of delightful young Painted Barbets greeteu you, 

 clamouring for a feed, their absurd beaks agape, stiff Httle 

 whiskers bristling with excitement, and probably several of 

 them with the strange sort of Bagpipes of Skin, peculiar to 

 their necks, inflated to produce their extraordinary and horribly 

 noisy cry ; one never notices that the neck has anything unusual 

 about it until they begin their call by inflating it. I was very 

 fond of these absurd and prettily coloured little Barbets 

 iXantholacma-hacmatoccphala). " Leo " recommended them 

 to buyers, as having " a very pretty whistle." Heavens ! what 

 appalling taste ! We used to buy, by the dozen, miserable tiny 

 Avadavatish birds, from the hundreds huddled together, where 



