THE FATIK-JAL 



( AEGITHINA TiPHIA ) 



The'^'Fatik-jal" or lora, as it is known 

 to the Europeans, is a beautiful little 

 bird with a sweet though melancholy note. 

 Its plaintive cry just before the rains is so 

 pathetic that popular imagination inter- 

 prets it as an appeal to Heaven for water. 

 This bird is happy only in Nature's bosom 

 and becomes so morbid in the cage that 

 it seldom lives Ions:. Insect-feedino: birds 

 seldom thrive in captivity unless they take 

 to artificial food. The Fatik-jal is so 

 thorough-going an insect-feeder that it ap- 

 pears to derive very little nourishmen 

 from the prepared food supplied by man. 

 Not that captivity tells upon its temper 

 and makes it refuse food altogether. On 

 the contrary, it greedily devours the food 

 offered, unlike many insectivorous birds. 

 It lano^uishes, notwithstandino- for inex^oli- 

 cable reasons. 



