THE JAVA SPARROW. 249 



the sexes closely resemble one another, to trust implicitly to the sex 

 mark on his labels ; he, perhaps, discovers the actual sexual distinctions, 

 but having two males or two females differently sexed, he concludes 

 that the characters are valueless : but the breeder who pairs his birds 

 on these differences, and raises progeny from them ; knows them to be 

 perfectly reliable. 



Bechstein says that the song of the Java Sparrow " is very 

 monotonous, and consists of two notes " Dirr ! Dirr ! Dehi." As a 

 matter of fact, the song of the wild bird is seldom heard, excepting 

 when the male is paired up with a female for breeding ; consequently, 

 in all probability, Bechstein never heard it. In the same manner 

 some writers, who have only heard the little strophe, which is the call- 

 note of the male Liothrix luteus, assert that even this prince of 

 Accentors is a poor singer. However, the Java Sparrow is not a 

 particularly grand performer ; his song consists of a metallic whistling 

 which sounds like " Torcumtee, turcumtong ; torcumtee, turcumtong; 

 torcumtee, turcumtong; ivhirri-urra-urra " ; the last being a clear water- 

 bubble trill. 



The song of the white variety is very different : " Tseeow, tseow, 

 tseow ; tsee, tsow, irri-irri-urra ; chow, chow, chow, chow cheea ; whirri- 

 hurra-urra-irry-irrihu " : the long words being true water-bubble trills : 

 its call-note also is " chyup " in one syllable, and its fighting note 

 sounds almost like the worrying growl of a small dog a harsh 

 " grrrrrrh," often much prolonged. 



The native name for the Rice-bird in Java is " Glate" ; in Sumatra 

 " Gelatik" and in Bengal it is called "Ram Gira." 



From the many notes on the wild life of this charming, though 

 somewhat heavily-built bird, I select the following : Dr. H. A. 

 Bernstein says : "Just like our European Field-Sparrows the Rice- 

 bird inhabits exclusively cultivated tracts of land, and here he is very 

 commonly to be seen. During the time when the rice-fields (Sawah s) 

 are placed under water, that is in the months November till March or 

 April, when the sown rice is growing up and ripening for harvest, 

 the Rice-birds live in pairs or in small flocks in gardens, villages, 

 woods and thickets, where for food they have the seeds of various 

 plants, several small fruits and probably insects and worms, for I have 

 frequently seen them on country roads, &c., looking about on the 

 ground where it was hardly likely they could find anything else. As 

 soon, however, as the rice-fields begin to turn yellow, and are laid dry 

 by drawing off the water, they resort thither, often in large flocks, 

 and not uncommonly do a considerable amount of damage, so that 



