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satoo and gbee, carefully concealing the fact that his insect 

 eaters get a liberal dose of live insects every night and morning, 

 and that a good many of them practically live on this. Very 

 few, at any rate of the more difficult ones, are really meated off 

 as we should understand it, though I think the fault with us is, 

 as a rule, to cut the insect supply too short. Still, if birds are 

 to travel, they must be more or less meated off. For instance 

 at my afternoon visit at another shop I was told that Hanging 

 Parrakeets only eat canary seed, 3'et those very birds at my 

 morning visit were having a good tuck in at boiled rice and 

 milk, sweetened. Of course the dealers recognised me, but a 

 sahib would never notice a little thing like that. The Niltava 

 eats only satoo, as the sahib can see for himself there is only 

 satoo in his cage, and look, that Bulbul is actually eating satoo, 

 what more can the sahib want as testimony of truthful words. 

 As a matter of fact that Niltava had not even dug into his 

 .satoo in hopes of finding insects there. If pressed the dealer 

 will own up to the insects, but add they are quite unnecessary, 

 but cheaper, and that the sahib (may he soon become a lord 

 sahib) has no need to think of cost of feeding his birds. This 

 may or may not wash : it did not with me of course, and I 

 refused to take the Niltava at any price unless I also took away 

 with me (at a heavy price of course) a good supply of the food 

 mentioned by Mr. Finn, shelled millet and dried flies. I fancy 

 the Chinese shipper avenges the sahib by concealing the exist- 

 ence of this from the Indian dealer, I offered high prices and 

 could get no information even. 



I wish the native was more open with his little secrets. 

 He seems to think it a good thing for him if the sahib's bird 

 dies soon, as then he will be able to sell him another, when as a 

 rule it only puts the sahib off birds altogether, whereas, if 

 successful with one tlie sahib would be pretty sure to want some 

 more, and the dealer would score in the long run. These 

 Calcutta dealers looked after their birds well, which is more than 

 can be said for the up-country man, whom I have found to be 

 dirty and lazy, and does not seem to understand birds, which he 

 regards as so much stuff to be got rid of at a high price before 

 they die. As a result of this he will only buy the very hardiest 



