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voluntarily, and when he was startled and accidentally 

 alighted on one he seemed awkward and ill at ease. 



The hot dry weather in mid-September tempted 

 me to let him go into the open air for a few days, and 

 in the aviary his behaviour was just the same as when 

 he was caged. He appeared to thoroughly enjoy him- 

 self, and delighted to run among the coarse grass all 

 •day long, uttering a series of little shrill barks and 

 whines: a song of which he seems to be very proud. 

 He never rose into the air except upon a sudden 

 alarm, when he would fly straight up for two or three 

 feet, and then immediately return to the grass. 



When he had been out a week I discovered that 

 at night he did not even seek the shelter of the long 

 grass, but slept in the open on a slight rise in the 

 ground. Fearing that in his sparsely-feathered con- 

 dition a heavy fall of rain might, even during the hot 

 weather, prove injurious, I caught and re-caged him. 

 His capture was an easy matter, owing to his weak 

 flight and his strict avoidance of all bushes and trees. 



A glimpse of his chestnut breast is seldom to be 

 obtained, as it seems to be his constant care to keep 

 it out of sight. Even when he runs along his body 

 almost touches the floor, and when he sees anything 

 unusual he erects his tail into an almost perpendicular 

 position, and presses his breast to the ground. He is 

 rather wild in the cage and knocks himself about 

 considerably. 



His favourite food is millet in the spray, but he 

 will eat white millet and a little canary seed : the 

 spiders, mealworms, and insects which I have from 

 time to time placed at his disposal have, so far as I can 

 see, remained untouched. Although a bath is always 



