55 



Jays, Magpies, Rooks, an Australian Crow, Pied Crow 

 Shrike, and last but not least, a very cheerful specimen 

 of the White-backed Piping Crow. 



When the House is filled and the inmates have 

 grown accustomed to their new quarters, it will be 

 worth a journey to Regent's Park to see, I hope it 

 will be as successful as it deserves to be. 



[Ill health has pieveiiteil my visiting- the Gardens for eight weeks or 

 more; when last there cages and aviaries were practically completed, and 

 from what I saw then I am very pessimistic as to the result— the cag-es are 

 too small for permanent homes,— provide practically no seclusion for their 

 inmates, and owing- to their arrangement, the occupants of the lower tiers 

 will, I fear, get badly scared while the upper ones are being examined. It 

 certainly seemed to me, that too much had been sacrificed in providing for 

 mere numbers, and I certainly hope aviculturists will not copy them in this 

 respect. At the same time I hope the house (after modification I fear), will 

 prove a success, and that time will prove my fears to be largely groundless. 

 I must however say, that on the occasion of my visit I felt there was nothing 

 to admire at all but mahogan3' and varnish.— Ed.] 



Botes on the TOilD Xife of the 

 3nbabitant5 of our Hviarics. 



[Being compilations and quotations from the Field Notes of various 



Natinal History Journals, etc., of the countries to which the 



respective birds are indigenous.— Ed.] 



Thb: Great Hornbii^i, [Dichoceros bicornis). Not coninion 

 but found on the mountain ranges of Travancore. In captivity 

 it is fearless and can hold its own with most dogs. It will eat 

 rats readily. Having killed a rat the bird passes it across and 

 back between its mandibles, and when it is thus sufficiently 

 elongated and soft, it tosses it up and swallows it atone gulp. 

 The casque is not formed until nearly a year after the bird is 

 hatched. 



Breeds in the holes of large forest trees, at a height of from 

 30 — 50 feet, returning year after year to the same tree. It seems 

 pretty well ascertained that the female plasters herself up in 

 the nest when she begins to incubate, and remains there till 



