46 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



almost entirely so, but the innermost golden brownish 

 changing to grey towards tlic tips ; all the outer tail- 

 feathers broadly banded with black towards the tips 

 which are grey internally, broadly white externally ; Icres 

 sordid whitish; a distinct pure white eyebrow streak, 

 below which a black streak runs above the ear-coverts 

 to the sides of neck, which are also black ; ear-coverts 

 ashy white with blackish shaft-streaks, the outermost 

 row black broadly tipped with white, forming an ill- 

 dofined irregular bar ; moustachial streak black ; uuder- 

 parts white, the feathers of tliroat and chest faintly 

 tipped with huffish ; a broad undulatfd lilack l>plt from 

 sides of neck across the chest, behind which the white 

 feathers are more deeply stained with huffish* ; sides 

 of body cinnamon ; under tail-coverts huffish ; under 

 wing-covert« white washed with pale cinnamon ; bill 

 with upper mandible blackish-horn ; lower mandible 

 slightfy paler, more flesh-coloured changing to- white 

 at baae ; feet greyish horn-coloured ; iris bright chest- 

 nut. Female slightly smaller, and with a shorter and 

 more slender bill. Hab., China. 



The late Consul Swinhoe, who originally described 

 and named this bird, tells us that he found in its 

 Btomaeh smooth caterpillars, grasshoppers, seeds, and 

 the pulp of tig-like berries. 



Messrs. Rickett and La Touche (The Ibis. 1897, 

 pp. 504-5), say: — "We found this species common at 

 'Ching Feng Ling. The birds were always in parlies, 

 frequenting underwood in all forests or detached 

 clumps of trees. 



" Tbev appear to feed chiefly on the ground, and one 

 of us obtained a good view of some when thus engaged. 

 They were scattering the dead leaves about, and peck- 

 ing vigorously at the earih. The blows dealt at the 

 earth were extraordinarily powerful, the bird raising 

 itself to the full stretch of its legs and bringing its 

 beak down like a pickaxe, at the same time dropping 

 iLs wings down by its sides. 



"When disturbed they invariably took to the trees, 

 calling with clear and very melodious notes, and rapidly 

 disappeared from sight. Wounded birds uttered loud 

 harsh cries, and ran through the cover with great speed. 



"We obtained twenty-five specimens, and note a good 

 deal of variety in the colour of the ' necklace.' which 

 Taries from pale ash to dark iron-grey and black, these 

 colours beina often mixed and shading into one another. 



"Young birds are much smaller than the old ones. 

 They want the white streaks on the ear-coverts, and 

 the ' necklace,' vhcre it crosses the chest, is narrow, 

 blackish, and unbroken. Their irides are pale straw- 

 colour, while in the old birds it is usuaUv crimson. "t 



In The Ibis for 1899, p. 180, Mr. I^ touche says : — 

 " Although we obtained breeding examples at Kuatun 

 •during the last expedition, we failed to find the nest. 

 A large flock was met on the 20th March in a wood 

 close to the river in the Kienyang district, so that this 

 tird may be said to be an inland species occurring in 

 mountainous wooded country at all altitudes, probably 

 all over South-west Chekiang, Western Fohkien, and 

 'N.E. Kwangtung." 



Dr. Russ simke of this as "one of the verv rarest 

 imported foreian birds living in our po.«session," but if 

 this is true as regards the German market it is not so 

 in England, 



The Zooloffif-al Sociefv rece'ved its fi'-st example from 

 the Paris .Jardin d'.\rclimatation in 1873. Vut the Berlin 

 Gardens did not obtain one until twenty years later. I 



• In Ifloo I described t*ie un*ierpart3 of thlB bird as "mostly 

 ypllowlBh-brown," BO that it would Beem that this ib a characteristic 

 of the young bird. 



t A siight exagperation If my bird was a normal specimen', the 

 eye Ib a bright chestnut-red. 



purchased a specimen in 1900 (Tanuiry 26th), and it 

 lived in my possession in perfect health, and. after it 

 had been transferred to a sufficiently large cage, in per- 

 fect plumage, until January 16th, 1907, when it was 

 unaccountably taken ill and died two days later. It fei 

 well to the last. 



Although after a time this bird became wonderfully 

 tame, and would readily take insects from one's fingers, 

 it cannot be recommended as a pet. Its song is a harsh 

 sort of chattering, and its note when it wants anything 

 or desires to be noticed is an incessant irritating plain- 

 tive whistle rapidly repeated ; when hungry it utters a 

 harsh note something like Werk.' repeated with a short 

 interval four or five times. It is, however, a strikingly 

 handsome bird, and when breaking up a mouse its 

 businesslike manner oi raising itself high on its legs 

 and digging at it with its powerful bill is amusing; it 

 will eat any amount of cockroaches, swallowing even 

 the largest down whole after giving them a single dig 

 with its hill. 



Towards the end of its life I suppose my bird must 

 have become more contented, for his irritating whistle 

 became more and more rare, so that sometimes it was 

 not iieard for months together. I remember Mr. FuU- 

 james telling me that he was obliged to get rid of a 

 specimen which he once had because the neighbours 

 complained of the noise. They would if the bird was 

 anywhere where they could hear it. I hardly know 

 which is the more unbearable — the miserable whistling 

 of a C/ollared Jay-Thrush, or the everlasting measured 

 Hoo, hoo, hoo (literally repeated hundreds of times) of 

 a male Wonga-Wonga Pigeon. 



White-ckested Jay-Thrush (Garrulax leuroJophus). 



Head, neck, and breast white, washed with sshy-grey 

 on the nape and hack of neck ; a black streak from 

 ujiper mandible through the eye to the ear-coverts • re- 

 mainder of plumage rufous-brown washed with oliva- 

 ceous, and becoming more chestnut at its iunction with 

 the white ; tail darker ; flights and tail with dusky 

 inner welis ; bill black ; f'»et lead?n errey ; iris red- 

 brown to brownish-yellow. Hab.. Himalavas from ths 

 far north-west to Bootan, and thence through the Khasia 

 hills to Arrakan. (Jerdcn.) 



Jerdon says of this species (" Birds of India," Vol. II,, 

 p. 35) ; " It assembles in large flocks of twenty or more, 

 every now and then bursting out into a chorns of most 

 discordant laughter, quite startling at first, and scream- 

 ing and chattering for some time. Thev feed on the 

 ground a good deal, turning over dead leaves for insects, 

 but also eat various berries. They frequent file hill 

 zone from about 2,000 to 6,000 feet of elevation (rarelv 

 higher), but are most numerous between 3,000 and 

 4,000 feet. 



" I have had the nest and eggs brought me more than 

 once when at Darjeeling. the former being a large mass 

 of roots, moss, and grass, with a few pure wliite eg^s." 



The following notes a^e from Oates'-s edition of Hum"'s 

 "Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds," Vol. I., pn. 47. 48: 

 — " According to Mr. Hodgson's notes, the Himalayan 

 White-crested Laughing-Thrush breeds at various eleva- 

 tions in Sikhim and Nepal, from the Terai to an eleva- 

 tion of 5.000 or 6,000 feet, from April to June. It lays 

 four to six esgs. which are described and figured as 

 pure white, very broad ovals, meisuring 1.2 hv 0.9. It 

 breeds, we are told, in small trees, (onstructim.' a rude 

 cup-shaned nest amongst a clump of shoots, or between 

 a number of slender twigs, of dry bamboo-leaves, 

 creepers, scales of the turmeric plant, etc.. and lined 

 with fine roots." 



According to Mr. Gammie, "The eggs are usually four 



