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since restarting an aviary in January, 1901, will not be 

 very interesting, but may serve to excuse my apparent 

 lunac}^ ; it would certainly be considered madness up 

 here if it were known. This small aviary was started 

 with a nondescript lot in which odd birds figured 

 much too largely, being survivors spared by a cat from 

 the little lot I had brought out from home or picked 

 up in Bombay, Cawnpore, or lyahore, on the way. 

 Regarding Bombay my wife has a 3'aru against me. 

 A friend said to her at tiffin, " What a pity j'our 

 husband was out this morning. A man brought round 

 such a lovely lot of birds, I am sure he would have 

 bought some." I maintained a guilty silence, as those 

 birds were the result of m\' " morning out" in the 

 Crawford Market. I had to own up after tiffin and 

 take the usual chaff. There was only one cage, too, 

 though I must own it was rather crowded. 



I quickh' realised that enforced absences barred 

 all but seed eaters, and that Indian seed eaters were 

 not much, and that if I wanted to go in for birds in the 

 style desired, some return must come from the birds 

 themselves. Kxotic Finches and small Parrakeels 

 were evidenth' indicated ; my own wishes, quite apart 

 from these considerations, also indicated these birds, 

 which was just as well for the other considerations. The 

 puzzle was to get them, and this remained practically 

 unsolved till my Calcutta visit. True, I did pick up a 

 few odds and ends in Lahore and Pindi, but nothing 

 that really filled the bill, i.e., exotics. R. B. Saniyal 

 Rai Bahadur, the Superintendent of the Calcutta Zoo., 

 did indeed send me a nice small lot of about 20 by 

 one of our little men returning sick from China. I 

 fancy both he and Mr. Finn were put to much trouble 



