16 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS, 
and low down in the hills, and comes freely into gar- 
dens, making its presence known obtrusively by a 
squeaky babbling varied by hysterical outbursts. 
In confinement it is very easy to tame, will eat 
table scraps readily, and is amusing for a time; but 
nobody would want to keep such a frowsy unmusical 
creature for long, interesting as its habits undoubted- 
ly are. Birds which I turned out after studying them 
for some time remained so tame that they would 
still take food from the hand; and I imagine that a 
hand-reared one would make a very nice pet. The nest 
is an open cup-shaped one, placed low down, and the eggs 
are of a most lovely blue. In Bengal this bird is called 
Chatarva. 
Tue Rat-Birp (Argya caudata) is a less common and 
smaller species with a long Magpie-like tail, and coloured 
like a hen-Sparrow. It gets its popularname from the 
rat-like appearance given by the said tail as it skulks 
along the ground from bush to bush. This is also 
a bird of the plains, but not nearly so bold or so 
common as the Sat-bhai. Its nest and eggs are of the 
same type. 
Tue SrreakeD LauGuHine-THRusH (TL rochalopterum 
lineatum) is very common in the Himalayas up to 9,000 
feet, and is common about houses at Mussoorie. 
In shape it resembles the common Babbler of the 
plains, but is rather smaller. Its plumage is darker, 
being a streaky mixture of grey and chestnut ; the eyes, — 
bill and feet are dark, and the tail has distinct lght-grey / 
tips. Itisa tame but most uninteresting bird, and has 
