47 



The next cage contained a Yellow-eyed Babbler 

 froni China. It was looking ver}' healthy and was^ 

 most affectionate and tame, and if you put your 

 finger in the cage it would immediately come to you 

 and ruffle up its feathers to allow you to scratch its poll. 

 The other birds in the house consisted of two Japanese 

 Tits, which were looking far from well, and two 

 varieties of Woodpeckers, the White-headed Wood- 

 pecker and the Golden-backed Woodpecker. The 

 former is quite an old resident and still looks ver}' 

 well 



Any very rare specimen of bird brought to the 

 Zoo is generally put into the Insect House. I mention 

 this because many people leave that house out, and 

 mark it as uninteresting. The parrot house was, as 

 usual, noisy — but the noise in the afternoon is man}' 

 degrees worse than it is in the morning. The greater 

 number of birds in this house belong to the order of 

 Psittaci formes, and many of the specimens are very 

 good, including many rare Lorikeets and Parrakeets, 

 There was only one pair of Undulated Grass Parrakeets. 

 and their colour was of a yellow-green, probably it is 

 a variet}', but I have never seen tliem quite so light 

 before. None of the birds in this house ever seem to 

 breed, although mojt of them are in pairs. Just 

 recently two of the Ornamented Lorikeets laid eggs, 

 but the Society did not take the trouble to see whether 

 the}' were fertile or not. 



The finest bird in this house was undoubtedly 

 the Yellow-winged Sugar Bird, now looking at its 

 best, with its glossy black and Oxford blue colouring 

 and one patch of Cambridge blue on its head. The 

 under-surface of the wing is yellow. Its food consists 

 of fruit, rice, chopped up carrot, soaked bread, and an 

 occasional mealworm. 



Close to this bird were four or five cages contain- 

 ing Tanagers : none were looking very well, and the 



