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calling to me in distressful, dejected tones. But when the sun

bursts into their cage, they are alive at once, and as happy as

kings. Then it is that they go down to the ground ot their own

accord, scoop up stray morsels of food, and scramble about in

a manner which adds intense life and interest to Mr. Bayard's

happy description of this species on the ground, already quoted

(p. 104).


Although so fond of sitting together upon a perch, it must

not be supposed that they are dull and lifeless birds. Their

heads are always 011 the move, their eyes are always on

the look-out, their senses are always on the alert. I never

can catch them napping, either by night or by day. They

can distinguish the sound of my footstep from that of any other

person in the house ; and in the dead of night, when I creep

down with unslippered feet to visit a mouse-box I have in the

dining room, they will detect and whistle to me before I reach

the room, while the mice, now ultra wary, will fail to notice my

presence until my hand is upon the fatal box. With the back of

the head depressed, and the bill slightly raised, not a fly can wink

nor a gnat blink without their noticing the movement, and the neck

and body will become lengthened out to nearly double the length

and a quarter of the circumference of the figures depicted by our

artist in the fogs of October.


I have referred more than once to the voice of this bird.

It may best be described as a warbling whistle, with almost

endless variations. They talk to one another and to me as

plainly as plain can be. And not only have I never heard them

utter a discordant note (I suppose I must except the ‘ snarl,’

presently to be mentioned) but every note I have heard

has been pleasing, and many of the notes are sweetly musical.

We are told that the call-note of the species is quilp. To this I

do not fully agree. The quilp or quip note is usually a note of

alarm, surprise, or interrogation. I come back from Church, and

peep into their cage with my tall hat 011, and it is quilp. A cat

appears on the window-sill, and it is quilp , or quip-quip repeated

rapidly. The greater the excitement, the more quickly and

sharply is the note brought out, and the more like quip or quick

as distinguished from quilp, sometimes even repeated lour times

or oftener, as rapidly as the notes can be uttered. The ordinary

call-note is Q (Kew), with modifications and variations. My

male has not yet attempted to sing, but, should he ever do so, I

should be surprised if the song were otherwise than musical and



