72 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



protect the joint and give them a grip ; when they are 

 fledged and hop about it gradually disappears. Another 

 curious trick of Alexander's family is their ingenious 

 custom of turning their tails over their backs, beneath the 

 wings, when pigging together iu their very limited quarters, 

 obviously to economise space. They never quite get out 

 of the habit, for though a barbet most steadily keeps his 

 tail pointed down in the daytime, at night he forgets him- 

 self and the unruly appendage makes a wild attempt to 

 turn over as in childhood's days, but cannot get further 

 than an angle of forty-five degrees. The big Himalayan 

 Barbet (Megalc?ma marshallorum), however, has mastered 

 the difficulty, and can keep his tail properly drooping like 

 any ordinary birds. To return to the little Coppersmiths ; 

 they emerge from white eggs, and are presumably quite 

 nude at first, though T have never seen any so young ; 

 when they fledge off they show no red colour anywhere, 

 being merely green with yellow faces and flesh-coloured 

 feet. They are extremely easy to rear on plantain cut up 

 and administered with a quill, and very readily learn to 

 peck for themselves as soon as fledged. It is very curious 

 indeed, that the dealers have never taken them up as they 

 have the larger Blue-cheeked Barbet (Cyanops asiatica), 

 of which more anou. The fact is, that the Coppersmith, 

 although he will eat it, cannot live on the universal pea- 

 meal pn ste, but will die in a few days if allowed to devour 

 the unwholesome mess. But give him his natural fruic 

 diet, and he will live well, even if caught wild ; and hand- 

 reared birds, at all events, will thrive on bread-and-milk 

 also. I knew one such which could not ultimately be 



