My Indian Consignment. 133 



of tln' joLUiicy liL' bueaiuf vi'i\y knowing-, and was on his 

 itack aIniDsl hcioro the tonya started yctliny bads, oii Ihe pci'eh 

 and iccdiiiy very suun alter tlic lunya stopped. 



Tliu bird in a wild state lias ratiicr an unyaiuly lliylit, 

 and is seen at Us best busily bustling about the branches 

 ()[ dowering trees or peering into the cre\-ices abounding 

 in tlie clumps of orchid bullts (I. fancy bulb is not the cor- 

 leet term) . My bird was caught in lan Erythrijna ( Coral Tree), 

 the gorgeous Howers oi which ai'c most popular witli Sunbirds 

 antl such like, and whose thorns ar emost unpopular with a 

 would-be t'att;liei'. A\e (my cheery planter Iriend and my- 

 seli) to a certain extent beat the thorns by fastening a 

 Hue ne' to a split bamboo Irame and hoisting the whole con- 

 ce.rn into a suitable place by a rope, throwing a stone at- 

 laciieu to a string over a suitable branch, hauling lip -md 

 steadying with guy-ropes at the lower corners. The Gur- 

 kha coolie simply slices off the thorns, but as these trees are 

 all thorns and very iiice trees, we stopped that. It is qiiite 

 easy to lix up a line net or nets in suitable positions up a 

 tree when one is in the tree, though one may have to be- 

 come i'airiy expert in balancing with one toe round a branch 

 to leave the hands fi'ee, but hoisting up a frame in a fiullable 

 place is really no joke. However it was worth it. 



My bird and his next-door neighbour, the Crow-Tit, 

 were quite the most popular birds on board ship; Beaky and 

 cstutty they were nick-named. Beaky took some time over his 

 mealworm. Stuffy having finished the head used to get very 

 impatient ior his I'ind; heads and rinds were his perk, and ihis 

 sometnnes put Beaky oft' his feed. The latter seemed not to 

 iwiderstand that Stuffy 's stunipy little beak, the curious fea- 

 ture hi a Crow Tit, could not possibly harm him through the 

 wire. His own long beak was often in one of his neighbour's 

 dishes. His bath, too, ^\'as watched with interest; it was 

 rather a fraudulent affair, as he would not get into the Avatei, 

 (the dish may have been unsuitable) but that didn't matter, 

 he did it all with much fuss with his beak, and enjoyed it 

 immensely, and what's more kept very clean. I believe he 

 could bathe in a thimble if it was deep enough. 



But his great act was making love. Huffing out all his 

 leathers and causing them to quiver, drumming slightly, with 



