on the Black-headed Sibia.



261



flies away with a tsit, doubtless the note it would use if driven

from its nest. Again, when one has some mealworms in one’s

hand, it comes up to one with the most imploring whispered

tsit that can be imagined.


Towards roosting time, at the sight of a cat, they or one of

them will call out loudly as our Blackbird does at sight of Owl,

or prowling cat or fox. Although often disregarding nocturnal

foes during the day, many species towards nightfall become

exceedingly alarmed, for instinctively they feel that in but a very

short time they will be entirely at their mercy. This evening

alarm call, a kind of chickwp , repeated very rapidly and sharply,

rarely uttered during the day, is not identical with that of the

Blackbird, but is of the same character.


I11 addition to the foregoing, the Sibias have many rippling

and si-si notes, especially on a bright warm day in the early

summer, though many are only whispered between themselves.

It is in dull cold weather that they are thick ; in warm sunny

weather they are sleek and slim, fully alive and ever on the

move, and rarely silent though not noisy. A single Sibia may

be uninteresting, but a pair in a roomy garden aviary are

exceptionally attractive.


My two Sibias are so fond of one another that one feels

inclined to think that birds of this species must pair for life.

It is unnecessary to add that they always squat together when at

roost, the hind parts of the bodies pressing together, as they sit

side by side, with the foreparts pointing right and left, at an angle

of some forty-five degrees or more. They sleep in high sheltered

spots, but never in any hole or box.


As I have pointed out, the Sibia is not a delicate species;

and it would make a charming addition to the wild birds of this

country could it but be acclimatised. East summer, eleven

examples were loosed in England (I think in Surrey or Sussex,

but am not sure) by Mr. E. W. Harper, of which one was shot,

and another drowned ; of the fate of the others I have no

knowledge. In my own opinion, they could not live through

our cold damp winters and springs, even if they could find a

sufficiency of food. My own birds have a keen appreciation of



