183 Mr. Blyth's Commentary 



cies. The stuffed specimens of this genus usually seen in mu- 

 seums do not impart a correct idea of the appearance of the 

 living birds. The slender portion of the neck contracts into a 

 strong sigmoid curvature, the angles of the vertebrae showing 

 conspicuously, as in the Herons ; and the small gular pouch is 

 usually inflated. Ludicrous as is the figure of this bird in Pen- 

 nant's 'Indian Zoology/ it has evidently been copied from a 

 drawing taken from life, and considerably altered for the worse 

 by the copyist. The chief faults are, that the slender portion 

 of the neck should be much more so, showing the angles of the 

 vertebrae behind distinctly, and that there should be two con- 

 spicuous distinct angles in front, above where the neck thickens. 

 The angles of a Heron's (or especially an Egret's) neck will 

 illustrate what I mean. I kept one long in my aviary, which 

 was as familiar and intelligent as Cormorants are in like circum- 

 stances. Once I had a bird of this species brought to me in an 

 emaciated state — it having seized a common small siluroid fish 

 {Hypselohagrus tengard), which had erected its pectoral spines, 

 piercing the skin of the bird's neck on each side and there fasten- 

 ing, so that it could not be got rid of, and the bird was conse- 

 quently dying from inanition. 



A resident in Calcutta may make a fine collection of the wading 

 and swimming birds of Lower Bengal by attending diligently 

 at the Dhurrumtollah bazar during the cold season and for 

 some time afterwards. He must be there soon after daylight 

 to have the pick of them as they come in, not only from the 

 eager khansamars who purvey for their masters' tables, but 

 before the dealers injure them by plucking off the feathers from 

 one side of the breast in dead birds, or those from the rump of 

 living birds as is their atrocious custom. No matter how badly 

 the birds may be wounded, they are never killed till purchased 

 (indeed they are mostly kept to linger in their agony till wanted 

 by the cook), and, while living, have the longer primaries of the 

 two wings tied together into a tight knot round the legs, above the 

 tarsal joint, so tightly as generally to injure the legs {)ast recovery 

 when carefully untied and it is wished to keep the bird alive. 

 The knotted feathers cannot be loosened without difficulty and 

 some exercise of patience ; they should then be dipped in warm 



