182 PET BIRDS OF BENQAL 



Thrush at the Zoological Gardens, on being 

 loosed into the same aviary with a female, 

 killed her before they could be separated." 

 But such squabbles never occurred when 

 all my Damas — I possess two pairs — were 

 housed together in the same aviary. After- 

 wards when I made an arbitrary selection 

 of pairs and lodged them in different 

 aviaries, even then there was no quarrel. 

 But now, when each pair has lived toge- 

 ther for sometime, I find that if I try to 

 interchange partners, it is not tolerated by 

 the birds. 



The Dama. is probabl}' a mimic. I 

 cannot speak from experience. But Regi- 

 nald Phillips declares that its white-throated 

 cousin is. Finn also, in his *'Bird Beha- 

 viour" says, '*I have heard the Indian 

 Orange-headed Ground Thrush, a species 

 which combines the excellences of the 

 Song-thrush and Blackbird, irritatingly 

 repeat a most trivial and monotonous note 

 it had picked up in the Zoo Gardens". 



The male Dama is a decently clad 



