88 THE BULBULS. 



heart, and it twitters with the artless joy of a child, 

 but it cannot sit and compose a song. Yet it is 

 second only to the parrot as a favourite with those 

 castes of natives who keep pets at all. Easily reared, 

 easily fed, easily tamed, it has almost every quality 

 that goes to make an engaging pet. It is spirited 

 and pugnacious, too, and serves sporting Mussulmans 

 as a pocket edition of the fighting cock. They carry 

 it about perched on the finger, with a thin cord tied 

 about its middle, and challenge rival Bulbuls, betting 

 of course on the result ; else where would be the fun ? 

 In Hyderabad much money is won and lost over this 

 sport and a famous fighting Bulbul has been sold for 

 Rs. 500. Natives feed all soft-billed birds on flour of 

 parched gram made into a paste with ghee. If you 

 are a poor man, water will do instead of ghee^ except 

 for song birds, which require their throats oiled. As 

 a staple food I do not believe there is anything better 

 than this, but you will make your Bulbul happier if 

 you give it fruit of all kinds, pudding, rice, anything 

 in short that comes to your own table. In a state of 

 nature it feeds largely on berries and knows of many 

 kinds for which we have no names. 



The Bulbul looks a plain creature at a distance, but 

 it is really a very handsome bird. Its face and the 

 whole of its fine crested head are glossy black. The 

 rest is of a rich smoky brown colour, but each feather, 

 especially on the upper part of the back, has a pale 

 edge, which makes a very effective pattern, like the 

 scales of a fish. The " under-tail' coverts," as they 

 are called in polite society, are crimson. This is the 

 only bit of colour about the bird's costume, and cor- 

 responds to a gentleman's necktie. 



