140 



THE OSPREY. 



condition and did not live long. Mr. Rutledge 

 informs me, however, that this species is kepi 

 in some places as a song-bird, so that certain 

 natives must understand how to treat it. 



FAMILY DICR'ID.K. 



A few examples of Dicceum cruentatum are 

 occasionally on sale, but these birds, though 

 they will eat bananas greedily, are not easy to 

 keep. This is a great pity, as they are not only 

 very pretty, but quite the tamest and most fear- 

 less of any small bird I know. 



FAMILY PITTIli.i:. 



A few specimens of Pitta brachyura- -hand- 

 reared birds- occasionally come into Mr. Rut- 

 ledge's hands, but this species is certainly not 

 common in cages. Although not a songster, it 

 makes a very nice pet, owing to its tameness 

 and amusing gestures. 



FAMILY' PICID.-K. 



The only Woodpecker caged here, and that 

 but rarely, is the common Brachypternus aiiran- 

 tius, hand-reared specimens of which get very 

 tame and thrive well in confinement. From the 

 readiness with which they partake of plantains, 

 I fancy that the species must be naturally more 

 or less of a fruit-eater. The outer hind toe 

 (third toe) is certainly reversible in this species 

 — and, indeed in some other Woodpeckers that 

 1 have noticed — for it often points literally for- 

 wards when the bird is moving about in a cage. 

 Nestling's of this species have a warty pad on 

 the hough, and shuffle about on it without the 

 aid of the toes. 



FAMILY' CAPITONID.fi. 



I have more than once seen a statement in 

 print that Barbets do not thrive well in captivity; 

 but this is quite a mistake, at all events as re- 

 gards most Indian forms. The first Barbet I 

 ever saw alive was an example of Cyanops 

 asiatica, which lived for at least six years in 

 the London Zoological Society's Parrot-house. 

 This species is the easiest of all to keep, both 

 hand-reared and wild-caught birds being- ex- 

 posed for sale in the Tiretta Bazaar, where 

 some may practically always be found. Several 

 individuals may safely be placed together in 

 one cage, which is not the case with other 

 Barbets, and a great many must reach Europe; 

 indeed, the bird is only kept for export, and is 

 certainly not ttnfrequentl v on sale in England. 

 A few specimens of Megalcema marshallorum 

 and of Thereiceryx zeylonicus are occasionally 

 seen here, and M. virens sometimes arrives from 

 China. The Coppersmith {Xantholezma hcema- 

 tocephala) is often brought in to the dealers, but 

 never lives long, as they will feed it on "satOO," 

 a diet which kills it in a very few days. Yet 

 on bread-and-milk and fruit, or the latter only, 

 it lives well. 



FAMILY' CUCULID^E. 



The male Koel (Eudynamis konorata) is a very 

 popular pet with natives, and is always on sale 



here. Many examples are reared from the nest- 

 ling stage by hand. The young birds that I 

 have observed d» 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 others 

 are black sparsely spotted with butt'. The young 

 females are much like the adults of that sex, 

 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 I have met with com- 

 monly 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 g 1 condition as the Koel, which seems to 



do very well as a cage-bird. The Crow-Pheas- 

 ant {Cenlropus sinensis) is often brought in, not 

 as a pet, but on account of some fancied medici- 

 nal virtue. I have noticed two types of young 

 Crow-Pheasants, which never 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 bill 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 sure 

 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 nest- 

 ling which is in perfectly bright adult plumage, 

 whereas the y r oung birds of the second type 

 mentioned above resemble those of C. chloro- 

 rhynchus as figured in Captain V. Eegge's 'Birds 

 of Ceylon.' or maybe even duller and darker. 

 All the young birds that I have seen have grey 

 eyes arrd black bills, flesh-coloured at the base- 

 in the case of the barred specimens. 



PSITTACI. 



The Parrots are of course very important in 

 the present connection, though many of them 

 are not cage-birds in the literal sense, for they 

 are quite as often chained, as mentioned above; 

 this is thecaseeven with Parrakeets and Lories. 

 Many foreign species are imported, and some 

 very rare forms occasionally occur; but, not 

 being specially interested in the group I have 

 not kept any record of these, and must confine 

 myself to the more usual importations. But I 

 would strongly advise any member of the 

 B. ( I- U. who likes rare Parrots, or wants speci- 

 mens of them, not to neglect examining the 

 Calcutta dealers' stock, if he ever has the oppor- 

 tunity of so doing. 



( To be Continued.) 



