242 



them forward, till, when excited, it touches the front 

 of his beak. Their colour is a soft prune, with lovely 

 grey and black wings. 



They make a noise like a window being shut, 

 squeaky ; atid another noise like a very noisy chatter- 

 ing. Mr. Page is kindly going to add to these notes, 

 some information ?'<? wild life and habitat. 



They eat seed, soft food and fruit, mealworms 

 from my hand, wasps, flies, and any insects. I hope 

 next spring to get them out and see if they will breed. 



I think they will become very tame, but I have 

 only had them a short time. 



By W. T. Page, F.Z.S. 



Jerdon in his " Birds of India," only describes 

 two species, capistrata and picacoides, but states that 

 two other species are on record, viz., gracilis from 

 Assam, which is rather common on the Khasi hills, 

 and melanoleuca from Tenasserim. 



Adult male : Its principal colour is deep chestnut- 

 red (Mrs. Vernon terms it soft prune, a description 

 equally correct), paler on the nape or under surface; 

 middle of back, greyish-brown ; larger wing feathers, 

 slaty-grey ; base of wing-coverts, white, forming a 

 somewhat conspicuous wing bar ; tail, ruddy-black, 

 with the basal half black and tipped with grey, the 

 central tail feathers are greyish-rufous; a broad band 

 of black crosses the tail feathers about an inch from 

 the base ; beak, black and longish ; legs and feet, pale 

 ruddy brown. Total length 9J inches, tail 5 inches 

 (Description from rough notes made at the Zoo). 



Adult female : Similar, but while I have not han- 

 dled the species, yet from comparison of the birds in 



