branches of trees when its haunits are iatruded upon. 

 Its food consists of insects, and prolbiiilbly berries, fruits, 

 and snails." 



"I ha\f received its eggs, accompanied by the fol- 

 lu'wi'iig noteis, from the late F. Strange, of Sydney : — 



" ■ I nearer saw any bird whose adtions are more 

 gracefiui ttoii tliose of I'ilta strcjiilans when seen in 

 its native briishe.-;, where its presence i.s indicated by 

 its singular cail. resemWing the woaids ''want a watch," 

 ■by imitating which you can will it close to the muzale 

 oif your gun ; no sooner, however, does it commence 

 breeding than it becomes shy and reltirijig, keeping 

 out of sight in the most ailtfuJ manner, moving abouit 

 from place to place, aaul ocoasionailly uttening its cry 

 until it has drawn you .%way from the nest. The nedts 

 I liave seen were generally placed in tihe spur of a fig- 

 tree, somet-inies near the ground, aiid were outiwia.rdly 

 conatruoted of sticks, and lined with moss, leaves, and 

 tine pieces of bark. The eggs are .four in number,' of 

 a pale creamy^white, marked ail over with irreguJarly- 

 .sha.ped bilotniies of brown and deep vinous grey, the 

 latter appearing as if beneiatlli the surllace of the shell ; 

 they are one inch and a quariter in length by seven- 

 eighths of an indh in breadth." 



Two examples of this species were purchased by the 

 Iiondon Zoological Society, and exhibited at Regemt's 

 Park in March, 1894. 



Green-bheasted or Hooded Pitt.\ {Pitta 

 cucullata). 



Ahoye very like the p.receding sii>ecies ; tihe primaries 

 crossed by a broad white subtermiinad band ; belioiw 

 bright green, the throat and a central abdominal patch 

 black ; lower abdomen and under tail-coverts scarleit ; 

 under wiing-coverts black; bill blaci ; "feet brown" 

 (Sharpe), pale redd'ish (Jerdom) ; irides broiwn. Female 

 not diiiferenitiated. Hab., Nepal and thix>ugh Assam 

 and the Malay Peninsula to the Island of Banka. 



Jerdon says ("Birds of India," Vol. I., p. 505) : — "I 

 only procured one .'specimen, which was killed by a 

 Lepdha, when seated on her nesit, on the banks of the 

 great Romgeet R.ver, about 1,200 feet alxive the sea. 

 The nest was composed chiefly of roots and other 

 liibrous matter, with a few hairs, and oonita.ined three 

 eggs of a flaint greenislh^white, wiith a few reddisth and 

 some fawn-coloured .«pot6." 



Russ describes this, as he does P. iris ; but appa- 

 rently only because he thinks thev may he imported ; 

 it would seem never to have reached the London Gar- 

 dens; but, in Till' Avicultu7-al ilagazinr, First Series, 

 V'ol. VIII., p. 9, Mr. AstJey speaks of a pair of what 

 he beilieved to be this species which he had notiioed 

 at a Crystal Palace show a few years previously. Of 

 course, this is quite likely, and therefore I include it 

 here. 



We next have to consider the Tyrants, a group in- 

 clndin? birds of the most varied form and colouring, 

 and differing not a little in their habits. Begaiding 

 them from the avicultural standpoint, one would suppose 

 the family to greatly need breaking up. It is, indeed, 

 difficult to undei-sltand how birds so Utterly dissimilar 

 can behm.; to tihe same family. 



TYRANTS (ryrannida-). 



Only one species of this large family is freely im- 

 ported, and. unlike a great many of the Ti/raiits, which 

 bear a curious resemblance to Thrushes and other 

 l^isserine groups, this si>ecies is, both in appearance 

 and habits, much more like a Kingfisher. 



Upwards of 400 species of Tyrant-birds are known 

 to science, the majority being small and inconspicuous 



birds, though some (as, for instance, the marvellous 

 crested birds of the genus Mttscivora) have no little 

 pretension to beauty. They ai-e all characterised by a 

 hooked, incurved bill, combined with nearly free toes 

 to the feet. The family is strictly conHned to the New 

 World. 



Some of the Tyrants bear a certain likeness to the 

 Shrikes, others to the Flycatchers, others again to the 

 Wheatears, while one genus recalls the Wagtails, 

 another the Tits, and a third some of the Warblers ; 

 yet'to none of these are they really related. The term 

 "Tyrant" was first applied to the King-bird, which 

 differs greatly in appearance from most of the other 

 7'yi'annidce. 



AH the Tj'rants should be fed n\x>n a good in- 

 .sectivorous mixture and on living insects, but some of 

 them require a more varied diet, as I shall point out 

 when dealing with them separately. 



Pepoaza Tyrant (Tanioptera nentjcta). 



Above ash-grey ; wings black, with a well-defined 

 patch at base of primaries and the margins of the outer 

 secondaries white ; basal third of tail white, otherwise 

 it is black with whitish-ash tip; lores white; below 

 pale ashy, a blackish stripe on each side of the throat ; 

 middle of throat and belly, flanks, vent, and under 

 tail-coverts white ; bill horn-colour ; feet black. Female 

 not differentiated. Hab., S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, 

 Uruguay, Argentina, and Bolivia. 



Hudson observes ("Argentine Oi'nithology," Vol. I., 

 pp. 114, 115) : " The bird perohes itself on an eleva- 

 tion — ^the summit of a stalk, or bush, or even of a low 

 tree— to watch like a Flycatcher for its insect prey_; 

 only, instead of looking about for passing insects, it 

 gazes intently down at the ground, just as a Kingfisher 

 does at the water, and when it spies a beetle or grass- 

 hopper, darts down upon it, not, however, to snatch it 

 up with the bill as other Tyrants do, but it first grasps 

 it with its feet, then proceeds to despatch it, swaying 

 about and opening its wings to keep its own balance, 

 just as an Owl is seen to do when it gi'asps a mouse or 

 other small aninial in its claws. After devouring the 

 insect on the spot, it flies back to its perch to resume 

 the watch. They are very restless, active, playful 

 birds, and seldom remain long on one six>t, apparently 

 finding it irksome to do so ; but I have seen the T. 

 irupero occupy the same perch for hours every day 

 while looking out for insects." 



'• The Pepoaza is a swift, active, graceful bird, with 

 a strong, straight beak, hooked at the point, and a 

 broad tail 4 in. long, the total length of the bird being 

 9 in." 



Ml-. Barrows gives the following account of its lively 

 habits in Entrerios : " They are commonly seen 

 perched on fences or the tops of bushes or trees in open 

 ground, frequently making sallies for winged insects, or 

 dropping to the ground to catch a grasshopper or worm. 

 When shot at while perched and watching you, they 

 almost invariably leave the perch at the flash, pitching 

 forward and downward, and usually evading the shot, 

 even at short range. Several times I have secured them 

 by shooting about 1 ft. below and 2 ft. in front of them 

 as they sat, but they do not always fly in this direc- 

 tion. The rapidity of their flight when frightened, or 

 when quarrelling, is simply astonishing. I have -seen 

 one chase another for three or four minutes, doubling, 

 turning, twisting, and shooting, now brushing the grass, 

 and now rising to a height of at least 200 or 300 ft., 

 and all the movements so rapid that the eye could 

 scarcely follow them ; and at the end of it each would 



