50 PET BIRDS OF BENGAL 



the same characteristics as the other bird, 

 though less known as a cage-favourite. It is 

 dressed in a parti-coloured attire — a lovely 

 black cap with a ruddy chestnut waistcoat, 

 set off by its immaculate white collar — 

 which gives it a distinctly handsome appear- 

 ance and makes it a conspicuous figure 

 amidst its furzy surroundings. But all this 

 splendour of its gay plumage is lost to 

 mankind, as unlike the Dhayal, it is too shy 

 to visit our gardens and orchards. It gives 

 a wide berth to human surround- 



ino-s but avoids forests as well like 



Notes ^ 



the.Piddah. It prefers the open, 

 keeping to tracts covered with small furzy 

 bushes, or to cultivated fields, specially 

 €orn, maize and millet fields, and sugar-cane 

 plantations, where they destroy the insects. 

 It perches on a clod of earth, a post or a 

 swaying stem in search for insects, and flies 

 down to the ground for just sufficient time 

 to catch its prey. It is prodigiously active. 

 The opening and jerking up of the tail at 



