The Pekin-Bobin 



exported from India. So hardy is it that Finn 

 attempted to introduce it into England, and 

 with this object set free a number of specimens 

 in St. James's Park some years ago, but they 

 did not succeed in establishing themselves, 

 although some individuals survived for several 

 months. The English climate is to Asiatic 

 birds much what that of the West Coast of 

 Africa is to white men. J. K. Jerome once 

 suggested that Life Insurance Companies should 

 abolish the application form with its long list of 

 queries concerning the ailments of the would-be 

 insurer, his parents, grandparents, and other 

 relatives, and substitute for it the German cigar 

 test. If, said he, the applicant can come up 

 smiling immediately after having smoked a 

 German cigar, the Company could be certain 

 that he was "a good life," to use the technical 

 term. As regards birds, the survival of an 

 English winter is an equally efficient test. The 

 Pekin-robin is a very intelligent little bird. 

 Finn found that it was not deceived by the 

 resemblance between an edible and an unpala- 

 table Indian swallow-tailed butterfly, although 

 the sharp king-crow was deceived by the like- 

 ness. 



Those Anglo-Indians who wish to make 

 i35 



