THE KHAN J AN 259 



in aviaries than in cages. The Indian bird- 

 lover never dreams of accommodating his 

 pets in aviaries. He thinks that 

 Cage-life anything bigger than his tradi- 

 tional cage is a superfluity. 

 Yet, the wonder is that birds do thrive 

 under the conditions provided by him. 

 Take the case of the Lars^e Pied Wa'^-tail. 

 or the Lark. One naturally thinks that 

 the cage is the most undesirable place 

 for such restless birds ; they require 

 plenty of space for their very existence 

 and the Wagtail, in addition, needs water 

 to paddle in. But in the small, crampy, 

 and covered cages in which these birds 

 are kept in India, they sing with all their 

 natural vigour and sweetness. However 

 successful the ordinary bird-keeper may 

 be, I would recommend for the Khanjan 

 a large cage in which it can freely run 

 about. 



I possessed, at different times, only 

 two specimens of the Khanjan, one of 

 which came to me in a very bad condition 



