70 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



variety of notes ; the usual harsh cry of the Magpie ; 

 a clear whistling, somewhat metallic call, which Sunde- 

 vall syllabizes into Kohlee-oh-koor, or Kohlee-oh; the 

 Bengalese into Xotree; and it has also a feeble, indis- 

 tinct note at the pairing season, which the male utters, 

 and the female responds to in a sort of chuckle. When 

 several pairs are together, they have a curious guttural 

 call, which the Rev. Mr. Philipps, as quoted by Hors- 

 field, says, ' sounds like Kakak or Keke-kak, repeated 

 several times.' It builds a large nest of ^sticks, generally 

 on lofty trees, and lays three or four eggs of a light 

 greenish-fawn colour, sometimes with a few indistinct 

 pale brown blotches." 



This Magpie first reached the London Zoological 

 Gardens in June, 1866 ; two more were acquired in 

 June, 1868, and a fourth in May, 1873 ; two were pur- 

 chased in June,, 1883, and two were received in 

 exchange in June, 1888. From time to time it has 

 appeared in the shops of various dealers and has found 

 its way into private collections, and consequently has 

 appeared mow and again at bird shows. 



HIMALAYAN TREE-PIE (Dendrocitti himalayensis). 



Back and scapulars reddish earth-brown, passing into 

 grey on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; crown, nape, 

 and hind neck bluish ashy ; wings glossy black ; the 

 primaries, excepting the two outermost, white at base 

 of outer web, forming a speculum ; tail glossy black ; 

 two central feathers bluish ashy for about two-thirds 

 of their length ; the next pair also ashy at base ; fore- 

 head, sides of face and throat black, browner on ear- 

 coverts and lower throat ; remainder of under parts 

 ashy, paler oil abdomen ; thighs blackish, washed with 

 bluish ashy ; under tail-coverts orange ; under wing- 

 coverts black ; bill horny, black ; feet dusky black ; 

 irides red-brown. Female generally less grey, and 

 with a heavier bill. Hab., Himalayas and Assam. 



Jerdon says of this species (" Birds of India," 

 Vol. II., pp. 316, 317) : " On the Himalayas it is 

 very abundant from 2,000 ft, up to 7,000 ft,, mostly so 

 perhaps from 4,000 ft, to 6,000 ft. It is found in the 

 more open parts of the forest, and near cultivation and 

 villages. Like its congeners, it is a noisy bird, and 

 has a variety of notes, similar in character to those of 

 D. rufa. It usually feeds on trees on insects and 

 fruit. I have, however, seen it on the ground eating 

 grain. I have had the nest and eggs brought me at 

 Darjeeling frequently. The nest is made of sticks and 

 roots, and the eggs, three or four in number, are of 

 a pale, dull greenish-fawn colour, with a few pale 

 reddish-brown spots and blotches, sometimes very indis- 

 tinct. Hutton, who got the eggs at Mussooree, describes 

 them as dull greenish-ash, with brown blotches and 

 spots, somewhat thickly clustered at the larger end." 



CHINESE TRIBE-PIE (Dendrocitta sinensis). 



Back and scapulars brown, passing into greyish on 

 the lower back ; rump and upper tail-coverts whiter 

 grey ; crown and hind neck dull grey, deeper on 

 mantle ; wings black, shot with greenish ; least coverts 

 slightly greyish ; primaries white at base, forming a 

 speculum; tail black, shot with greenish; a broad 

 frontal band, the feathers near base of bill and below 

 the eye black ; rest of face, throat and chest dull 

 greyish-brown, passing into grey on breast and abdo- 

 men ; thighs blackish-brown, shaded with grey ; under 

 tail-coverts orange ; under wing-coverts blackish : bill 

 and feet black; irides red-brown. (Russ.) Hab., 

 China. 



Next to nothing seems to be known respecting the 

 wild life of this bird, but it probably has very similar 



habits to those of its Himalayan relative (with which- 

 Russ confounds it). Messrs. Rickett and La Touche 

 speak of it as feeding under the big trees in the pro- 

 vince of Fohkien (The Ibis, 1897, p. 606), and in their 

 later paper (The Ibis, 1905, p. 26) they say : " Although 

 a common resident on the wooded hills, we have never 

 obtained its eggs." The Zoological Society of London 

 first obtained the bird as a present from the late Consul 

 R Swinhoe in November, 1872, and two others were 

 purchased for the Gardens in July, 1875 ; Russ asserts 

 that it was also received at the Amsterdam Gardens, 

 but he may be speaking of the Himalayan bird. 



HUNTING CROW (C*f*--v/ <-7iin<'>i*is).* 



Beautiful paleigreen in life, changing to verdigris-blue 

 after death ; head somewhat yellowish, conspicuously 

 crested; wings, exceipt lesser coverts, reddish-'brown ; 

 flights dull Ibrown on inner welbs, the inner secondaries 

 with a subterminal black bar and broad bluish-white 

 tips ; tail pale blue or green ; central feathers white- 

 tipped, the others with a 'broad suibterminal black band 

 and broad white tips ; lores and orbital feathers ex- 

 tending backward into a nuchal band, black ; bare 

 orbital skin vermilion ; bill and feet bright coral red : 

 eyelid yellowish-brown, edged with coral red ; irides 

 deep reddish-brown (Jerdon), blood-red (Oates). Fe- 

 male with the bill stronger than in the male. Hab. r 

 South-Eastern Himalayas, through Burma to Tenas- 

 serim. 



Jerdon observes ("Birds of India," Vol. II., pp. 312, 

 313) : "This lovely bird is found in the South-eastern 

 Himalayas ; also in the hill ranges of Assam, Sylhet, 

 Arracan, and Tenasserim. It is not rare in Sikhim 

 from 1,200 feet to 5,QCO feet, or nearly so. It wanders 

 about from tree to tree, and picks various ins- 

 grasshoppers, locusts, mantides, etc., off the leaves ami 

 branches. It has a rather loud, not unpleasant, call, 

 besides the usual harsh cry of the Jays and Magpies. 

 They are frequently tamed and caged, and become, 

 says Blyth, 'very tame and fearless, are very amu 

 and imitative, sing lustily a loud and screeching strain 

 of their own, with much gesticulation, and are highly 

 carnivorous in their appetite. The Shni ike -like habit, in 

 confinement, of placing a 'bit of food between the bars 

 of their prison, is in no species more strongly exempli- 

 fied than in this.' 



" Buch. Hamilton states that it is said to be trained 

 in Tippera.h to hunt like a hawk, and catch small birds." 



In Hume's " Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, " Vol. I.. 

 pp. 17-19, we read : "According to Mr. Hodgson's notes, 

 the Green Magpie breeds in Nepal in the lower valleys 

 and in the T'erai from April to July. The nest is built 

 in clumps of bamboos, and is large and cuip-ehaqjed, 

 composed of sticks and leaves, coatted externally with 

 Ibamlboo leaves and vegetable fibres, and lined inside 

 with fine roots. It lays four e<rgs, one of which is 

 figured as a broad oval , a good deal pointed towards one 

 end. with a pale stone-coloured ground, freckled and 

 mottled all over with sepia-brown, and (measuring 1.27 

 x 0.89." 



" A nest of this species takein below Yendong, in 

 Native Sikhim, on April 28th, contained four fresh eggs. 

 It was placed on the branches of a medium-sized tree, 

 at a height of about 12 feet from the ground ; it was 

 a large oval saucer, 8 inches by 6 inche>s, and about 

 2.5 in de/ptdi, composed mainly of dry bamlboo leaves 

 bound firmly together with fine stems of creepers, and 



* Sharpe gives this inappropriate name in preference to 

 C. venatoria, over which it has priority. I doubt the wisdom 

 of this action, bait follow him for the sake of convenience of 

 ref erenow. 



