JAYTHRUSHES. 



45 



is like the cawing of a Grow, or like a human being 

 shouting " Hurrah ! " and he congratulates hiji readers 

 on the fact that the bird has been studie<l in «»ptivity. 

 Fortiuiately wimo notes on the wild life have been pub- 

 lished in 77/1' I his. 



Colonel Cliar'i's liinghain, in a pajier on " Birds of the 

 Southern Shan SlaU's^' (The Ibis, 1903, p. 587) says : — 

 " I never found this bird common, though it occurs over a 

 wide range, and at elevations from 500 feet to 5,000 

 feet " ; and K. C. Stuart Baker oKservers [The Ihi», 1906, 

 p. 89) that " Capt. Harrington has taken the nest of 

 this bird in the Shan States. He thus records the dis- 

 covery : — 'At tlanguni (5,000 feet) on the 1st of May 

 I fouiid a nest of this bird placed in a small tree about 

 nine feet up. I was unable to shoot the bird, as it sat 

 for some time on the edge of the nest just above my 

 head, and then got away. The nest was exactly like 

 that of the next species ' {D. sannio) ; ' three eggs, 

 measuring 1.04in. by .79in., glossy white.'" Unfortu- 

 nately we are not told wh.at the nest of />. sannio is like. 



Speaking of the Babblers, Mr. Frank Finn (7'Ac Ibis, 

 1901, p. 428) observes : — " Most esteemed, perhaps, is the 

 Chinese Jay -Thrush (Dryonaslcs chincnsis), which is 

 only known here" (Calcutta) "as an imported bird, and 

 under its Chinese name of Pekp. It is a very fine 

 songster, and an excellent mimic. A few arrive from 

 time to time, and find a ready sale. I know of a very 

 good specimen which is at least fourteen years old, and 

 certainly shows no signs of age." 



Mr. R. \V. O. Frith noticed that his specimen of this 

 bird had a habit, like the Crows, of sticking any bits 

 of chopped meat which were given to it between the 

 bars of its cage. If a bee or wasp was offered to it, this 

 was inst:intaneously seized, the tail was thrown forward 

 and the insect rubbed backwards and forwards between 

 the feathers, as if to clean it, before it was killed. It 

 would place a large beetle on the ground and kill and 

 break it up with a quick, powerful blow of the bill. 

 With a small snake it always manieuvred so as to hit 

 it on the centre of the head, then it devoured the same 

 about half at a time piecemeal, holding its prey under its 

 foot, and hacking off pieces with its bill, according' to its 

 usual method of feeding (quoted by Russ from Blyth). 



Dr. Russ fills several pages with accounts of this 

 bird's song, its timeness in captivity, and its jpy in 

 recognising another example of its species after a long 

 term of solitary life. He says that the first example to 

 reach Gennany went to the Berlin Aquarium. The 

 following is perhaps worth recording: — "Mr. Peter 

 Frank of Liverpool remark.s that a friend of his in the 

 South of England had made an attempt to breed with 

 a pair of Jav-Thru.'-hes. Moreover, these birds killed 

 and devoured little fish, but he could never make sure 

 whether they brushed an insect or other prey with 

 their tail-feathers. The pair actually started to breed; 

 yet the birds always broke up their Ortn eggs. 

 Although in the most approved manner they were pro- 

 vided in the matter of food, for the most part alive, 

 snails, little fish, blight, mealworms, etc., they did not 

 discontinue this unnatural behaviour, and consequently 

 were unable to breed successfully." 



This is a well-known species in our Zoological Gardens, 

 and ha-s been in the possession of not a few private 

 aviculturists. 



M.iSKED Jat-Thrfsh (Dryonaslis perspirillalvs). 



Front of head to above eye, sides of head including 

 cheeks and ear-ooverts black ; remainder of upper sur- 

 face dull greyish-brown; wings somewhat darker; the 

 flights with greyish margins to the outer webs; tail- 

 feathers bla.ck-brown ; the two centra! ones and the 

 basal half of the others clear brown ; body below brown- 



ish-white; the abdomen and under tuil-coverts bright 

 yellowish nist-ied ; bill bliick-brown ; feet brownish 

 flesh-coloured ; iris dark brown. The female is rather 

 smaller and has a shorter bill. Hab., South China. 

 According to I'ere Uavid, it is a resident spe<'ie.s and i,s 

 abundant in the vicinity of human dwellings and on 

 fields in the plains which are dotted over with groups 

 of treeis, .scrub, and bamboo-jungle, but never in dense 

 •woods. It .«eeks its food on the ground, along the 

 hedges which enclose fields and under the bamboos: 

 this consists principally of insects, as well as all kinds 

 of fruitis and seeds; moreover it pursues small bii-ds in 

 order to kill and eat them. Its screaming, unpleasing 

 song is continually to be heard. 



Mr. F. W. Ryan, in a paper on the birds of the lower 

 Yangtse Basin (The Ibis, 1891, p. 334) says:— "A 

 common resident, frequenting thick cover and bamboo 

 copses on the plains." 



Messrs. La Touche and Rickett "on the nesting of 

 Birds in Fohkien " (The Ibis, 1906, p. 28) say. ^" We 

 have taken but four nests of this common "resident. 

 There are two, or perhaps three, broods in the season, 

 as we have taken eggs as late as July 11th. 



" A jiest found on May 9th was placed in a large 

 thorny busk eight or ten "feet froni the ground. It was 

 composed of hard wiry tendrils, within which was a 

 layer of dead leaves, and then a layer of straw, that 

 showed conspicuously all round the edge, giving the 

 nest the curious appearance of having a straw binding. 

 The lining was of pme-necdles. Another nest, built in 

 a small tree, was compo'ed of coarse grass, roots, and 

 a few small twigs, lined with fine dry grass. 



"The nests are 6in. or 7in. in external diameter, 4in. 

 in internal diameter. In depth they are 4in. externally 

 and 2in. to 3in. int-ernally. ' / 



"Eight eggs average" l.lOin. by .85in. ; they arej 

 delicate greenish white in colour and, as a rule, very^ 

 glossy, but the texture is uneven ; in shape they ai'e 

 more or less oval. There are three or four eggs in a 

 clutch." 



In his " Field-Notes on the Birds of Chekiang " (The 

 Ibis, 1906. pp. 438-9), Mr. J. D. D. La Touche says : — 

 " Abundant and resident. It breeds in the bainboo- 

 copses round about the villages and also in the reed- 

 beds. Tlie nests which I have seen in the former were 

 all placed on bamboos at a considerable height from the 

 ground— twelve feet at least. Two haif-torn-down and 

 deserted nests found on June 10th in a patch of reeds 

 were about five feet from the ground; one contained 

 three slightly incubated eggs, the other was empty. 

 Fresh eggs were brought to me on June 21ft, July 11th, 

 and July 13th, so that no doubt two broods are reared 

 here. The Chinkiang nests which I have seen resemble 

 thos>e taken at Foochow, but ten eggs taken at Chin- 

 kiang are much larger than Foochow eggs. They 

 average 1.14in. by 0.86in. The largest is 1.20in by 

 0.86in., the shortest 1.07in. by 0.85in.' 



Dr. Russ observes that this Jay-Thrush is one of the 

 most infretjuent to appear in the European bird market 

 and only come.s extremely larelv to the large Zoological 

 Gardens (I^ndon Gardens, 1878) ; nevertheless in the 

 year 1884 it was advertised several times by English 

 dealers in the Gcfiederlr Will. 



Collared jAV-THRrsH {Garrulax piclicnllis). 

 Upper surface grey-brown washed with cinnamon, 

 but indistinctly ; the innermost secondaries and centraf 

 tail-feathers indistinctly transversely barred ; back of 

 neck stronglv washed with golden cinnamon, diffused ; 

 outer secondaries and primaries with black inner webs, 

 the jirimaries with their outer webs becoming 

 increasingly white outwardly, the outermost being 



