102 PET BIRDS OF BENGAL 



If there is any bird which can give the 

 lie direct to the adage — Fwe feathers do 



not make a fine lircl — it is the 

 Cage-life Harewa. Whether or not the 



Green Bulbul makes any preten- 

 sions to a monopoly of fine feathers (the hue 

 of its livery being detectable in a few others 

 of the avine community ), there is scarcely 

 any other bird whose plumage can 

 transcend in mao^nificence the view- of the 

 Chloropsis as revealed in its natural netting. 

 Indeed so majestic a sight justly deserves 

 the appellation of the ^Ornament of the 

 forest' bestowed on it by the people of the 

 Deccan. But the *fine feathers' of the 

 Harewa are the least of its qualities for 

 marking it out as a popular cage-favourite. 

 Pre-eminent amoni^ its merits are its 

 loquacity, and a remarkable power of 

 mimicry which has earned for it the 

 designation of *a veritable gramophone'. 

 Sanguine and vivacious, it has none of the 

 morbid scruples which torment many a 

 bird in captivity. It has a robust cons- 



