36 Private Importation of Indian Birds, 1916. 



doing well. During the few weekfe it remained with me, it 

 agreed well with Mynahs. Orioles, etc., in the smallish out-door 

 aviary already referred to. The above popular name is not 

 the ^nost appropriate, that used by Jerdon is better, viz.: 

 Yellow-billed Whistling Thrush, which is certainly distinctive. 

 The species has been known to the London Zoo for man)- 

 years and to aviculturists generally, though but few have been 

 imported, and often these have gone begging ! It is not all 

 that have Ithe Accommodation for so large or vigorous a bird. 

 An adult in fine plumage is a sight to be long re- 

 membered especially if seen in an out-door aviary under the 

 play of light — the colour of the whole plumage is rich, very 

 dark blue, except the lores, and forehead, which are black; the 

 fore-crown is cobalt-blue, and the wings and tail arc over- 

 laid with the same hue; each feather of the body plumage 

 is tipped with white; bill yellow, with the base and culmen 

 of upper mandible blackish. Total length 1 3J inches of 

 which the tail measures 5|. 



Its home is the majestic Himalayas, up to 11,000 feet. 

 It frequents hill-streams and torrents, perching on rocks and 

 crags and feeding largely on snails. It breeds from April 

 to June, constructing a massive cup-shaped nest of roots and 

 moss in a crevice of a rock, or in the rooit df sotnie tree in 

 the river-bed, near or under a waterfall, 'and laying from three 

 to five eggs, which are pale grey or green, speckled with 

 pink and brown, and measure 1.42 by i inch. 



{To be "continued). 



♦ 



From Far and Near 



The following cuttings, sent by Rev. G. H. Raynor, are reprinted from 

 The Times tof January loth and 13th respectively, with our compli- 

 ments and thanks to the Editor.— Ed. 

 I A SECOND Yi:.\RS OBSERVATIONS. 



Letters from men I know, and from ot;hers I do not, have induced 

 mo to write a second article on "Birds at the Front," after another spring- 

 and summer of the war in tin- North of France, where I have met al! 

 my old bird friends of 19 15. a.il two or three fresh ones. 



I had hoped that liic hazards and hen harriers which wintered 

 in the Pas-de-Calais would stay to nest, but, though I saw some as latq 



