ten valuable Indian birds, presented by Mr. Harper, all of which are new

to the collection.


Our space will not permit of our giving more than a bare list of the

species: Brown-headed Stork-billed Kingfisher (Pelargopsis gurial) ; Eastern

Calandra Lark (Melanacorypha binuiculata) ; Eastern Linnet (Acanthi's fringilli-

rostris) ; Pale Rose-finch (Rhodospiz i obsolete) ; Glossy Calornis ( Calornis

chalybeius) ; Small-billed Mountain Thrush (Oreoctncla dawna) ; Large Pied

Wagtail [Motacilla made ra\pa tens is) ; Ashy Wood-Swallow (Artamns fuscus );

Bay-backed Shrike ( Lanins v it tat its) ; Indian Great Reed-Warbler ( Acioce -

phalus stentoreus).


All who are interested in the migration of birds should carefully

study Mr. W. Eagle Clark’s paper entitled “A Month on the Eddystone,”

which appears in the April number of the Ibis. By residing with the light¬

house keepers, cut off from the world for a whole mouth, Mr. Clark was

able to make observations of the highest importance in the study of this

remarkable phenomenon.


The cleverness of the Grey Parrot is well known, but we think that

specimen below described must almost beat the record. The following is a

cutting from Nature of December 12i.l1, 1901 : —


“ My daughter had a very clever young Grey Parrot, which,

unfortunately, died on the first of this month, after a severe illness of three

weeks’ duration. He was brought to my daughter straight from the nest in

Africa, and had he lived another month would have been about two years

old. He was a singularly clever bird, and of a charming disposition to his

friends, though very shy and inclined to be hostile to strangers. He was

an exceptionally good talker for his age and showed remarkable intelligence

in fitting his savings to the occasion. He was very fond both of fruit

and sugar, but I never knew him ask for sugar at dinner or apple at

breakfast. For nuts, which were kept in a cupboard in the room, he would

ask at any time; and in many similar ways he showed a vivid association

between the words and the things represented by them.


“ But the remarkable, and to me novel, power which he displayed at

so young an age was that of acting. He played with a bit of wood exactly

as a clever little girl plays with her doll. For example, he would take the

wood in his claw and would say to it, imitating the voice and gestures of

my daughter or of one of the servants, ‘ What ! are you going to bite me?

How dare you ? I will take the stick to you ! ’ Then he would shake his

head at the wood and say, ‘ I am ashamed of you ! Whom did you bite?

Go on your perch ! ’ Then he would take the wood to the bottom of his

cage, and putting it down on the floor would hit it with his claw several

times, saying, ‘Naughty! I’ll cover you up, I will!’ Then he would

step back from it one or two paces, put his head on one side and say, as he

looked at it, ‘ Are you good now ? ’


“ No attempt was ever made, deliberately, to teach him this or any

other of his histrionic performances. He picked them up spontaneously

from his own observation and memory.


“ It would interest me much to know whether this capacity for

acting is often found in Grey Parrots.


“ The Athenaeum, Pall Mall, S.W.



I). R. Fearon.”



