THE COPPERSMITH. 73 



distinguished in beauty of plumage from a wild bird, 

 though on its first assumption of the adult plumage it was 

 less brilliant. This bird's brother distinguished himself 

 by a very intelligent performance. He watched his oppor- 

 tunity and darted out when the door of the aviary was 

 opened, but returned in a day or so, to stay contented for 

 a short time and then repeat his sudden exit, this time 

 never to return. It looked as if he were taking his bear- 

 ings and learning how to get a living before he made 

 up his mind to go off altogether. The Coppersmith 

 seems to make an intelligent and interesting pet if hand- 

 reared, but he is not sociable with other birds, though not 

 aggressive. But, like Hannibal Chollop, he requires a 

 clear space round him, and if he be crowded either with 

 his own species or with other birds, there will be trouble, 

 for barbets are hard bitten birds and tenacious of what 

 they conceive to be their rights ; indeed a couple of wild 

 Coppersmiths have been seen to fight till one was quite 

 worn out. Steady persistence, in fact, seems to be the 

 key-note of a barbet's character, whether it be calling, 

 eating, or fighting ; the young birds start practising their 

 note before they are fledged, and everyone knows with 

 what relentless persistency the old bird keeps up his 

 banging on imaginary metal. At his meals, too, the Cop- 

 persmith is quietly energetic, eating a very large quantity 

 for his size, as indeed; he needs to do, his diet seeming to be 

 very imperfectly assimilated, as is the case with many 

 other fruit-eating birds. A curious fact about the Copper- 

 smith is his liability to albinism, or rather lutinism, for the 

 pale forms of green birds are yellow, not white. A beauti- 



