Ill 



Bengal, also the Cashmere districts, and was found 

 breeding in holes in trees in Ceylon from July to 

 August, It is also seen flocking on open bushy 

 plains, bare fields and low scrub country, feeds on the 

 ground, and is difficult to approach. Some hold that 

 it associates wnth cattle, others say it does not. Seeds, 

 buds, and small fruits are eaten, and grasshoppers 

 and beetles are its favourite food. It sings whilst on 

 the wing as well as when perched, and flies strongly 

 and straight and swiftly, in closely packed flocks. It 

 has been known to feed on the seeds of the budding 

 pine in Cashmere. For further particulars the reader 

 would do well to look it up in Legge's " Birds of 

 Ceylon," where the species has a detailed chapter. 



^be Storv> of 36irt)-2)catb. 



By W. Gko. Creswei.1,, M.D., F.Z.vS., etc. 



(Continued from page q6). 



^nr^ROM the foregoing it will be plainly apparent 

 ri how unsafe it is to conclude that tuberculosis 

 I is present in birds or indeed in any animal 



^ simply on the evidence of white spots or nodules 



being found in or on any organ of the body. True it 

 is that tuberculosis in one stage of its progress causes 

 the existence of a white spot ; equally true is it that 

 a mare is a horse : but while nobody in the possession 

 of ordinary common sense would assert that a horse 

 is always a mare, it would seem that many people 

 find no difficulty whatever in maintaining the parallel 

 fallac}^ that every white spot they see is a tubercle in 

 the limited sense of its being produced by tuber- 

 culosis. Some people indeed will occasionally go 

 further than this, and in the most confident and light- 

 hearted manner will even diagnose tuberculosis in 

 animals the}' have never seen and belonging to a 



