438 Mr. F. Finn on the 



feed it on '' satoo/^ a diet which kills it in a very few 

 days. Yet on bread-and-milk and frnit, or the latter only, 

 it lives well. 



Family C u c u l i d .e. 



The male Koel {Endi/naniis honor at a) is a very popular 

 pet with natives, and is always on sale here. Many examples 

 are reared from the nestling stage by hand. The young 

 birds that I have observed do not seem to bear out the 

 theory that both sexes are at first entirely black, and that the 

 female assumes her proper livery later. Some young males 

 are quite black, and otliers are black sparsely spotted with 

 buff. The young females are much like the adults of that 

 seXj but have the upper half of the head and the nape black. 

 In all young birds the bill is black, not green, as in the old. 



The only other Cuckoo 1 have met with commonly in 

 cages is the " Popiya," or Brain-fever-bird {Hierococcyx 

 varius), the note of which is as much esteemed by natives 

 as it is disliked by Europeans. It does not keep its plumage 

 in such good condition as the Koel, which seems to do 

 very well as a cage-bird. The Crow -Pheasant {Centropus 

 sinensis) is often brought in, not as a pet, but on account of 

 some fancied medicinal virtue. I have noticed two types of 

 young Crow-Pheasants, which nevei' seem to occur in one 

 brood, at least they are not sent in together. One is a large 

 barred bird, usually taken as the typical young of the species, 

 which is very easy to tame. The other is smaller, especially 

 as regards the Ijill and feet, and shows no trace of bars, but 

 is a dull edition of the adult. When full-fledged it is wilder 

 than the first, has a longer tail, and is inclined to hop as 

 well as walk. It also moults much later. This is as much 

 as I have yet been able to make out from studying the 

 live birds, and I am not sui'c whether these uniformly- 

 coloured young are merely the males, as Jerdon says, or a 

 distinct race, or even species. Against the latter view, and 

 tending to prove the existence of much variation, may be 

 instanced the fact that we have in the Indian Museum the 

 skin of a nestling which is in jjerfecth/ bright adult plumage, 



