46 PET BIRDS OE BENGAL 



develops the distinctive white wing-patch 

 while it is quite a chick, it is easily recog- 

 nised and picked out by bird-catchers. 



The Piddah is one of those birds in which 



the sexes differ in colour and the 



Coloration seasonal changes of plumage are 



quite marked. 



The male is clothed in black except the 



rump, the vental portions and a bar on the 



wing which are white. 



In the female grey with reddish-brown 

 streaks replaces the black and the white 

 is replaced by wood-brown ; the tail is 

 black. 



In autumn after the completion of its 

 seasonal moult, the bird puts on a new garb. 

 This happens when its new feathers which 

 overlap like the scales of a fish show their 

 edges only ; and as the colour of these edges 

 is brown in the case of the male bird, and 

 greyish in the female, the effect is to give its 

 owner either a brown or a greyish appear- 

 ance. But the edges wear away gradually, 

 so that, as the hidden portions of the feathers 



