BARBETS 109 



then, falling suddenly upon his enemy, put him 

 to flight. Encounters of a like nature frequently 

 recurred, and it was a long time before the dayals 

 yielded to the pertinacity of the intruders, and 

 allowed them to go on with their work in peace. 



Coppersmiths are ill-natured little birds, and are 

 apt to commit unprovoked assaults on one another, 

 or on any other small birds whom they may meet 

 in the course of their wanderings. This in itself 

 is enough to make them undesirable inmates of a 

 mixed aviary, but, in addition to this, there are 

 difficulties in regard to their food when they are 

 associated with many other kinds of birds. It is 

 easy enough to supply them with food that they 

 like, but unless special precautions are taken they 

 seldom survive for any length of time. The reason 

 for this has been pointed out quite recently by 

 Major Alcock, who has discovered that the sattu, 

 of paste of gram-flour, which forms such a staple 

 in the food of many cage-birds, is, in spite of its 

 being poisonous to coppersmiths, greedily devoured 

 by them, and that by confining them alone, or only 

 along with birds that are not fed with .this material, 

 the difficulty of keeping them in good condition is 

 done away. Whilst at large they feed on fruits and 

 buds of many different kinds, the ripening re- 

 ceptacles of many figs, and especially those of Ficus 

 nitida and F. rumphii, being particular favourites. 



The blue-throated barbet is certainly a much 



