22 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 



This bird is found all over the Empire, but does not 

 ascend the hills to any height ; it prefers grass to any 

 other cover, and is less gregarious than most Babblers, 

 going singly or in pairs. It has some very pretty notes, 

 and looks very striking when uttering them with erected 

 head-plumage, the pure white throat looking like a beard. 

 In captivity it is mischievous and quarrelsome ; it is not 

 wise to put more than a pair together, or to associate 

 them with birds as small as themselves. Two caged 

 birds of this kind I kept singly were absurdly tame ; 

 one would let itself be tickled through the bars with one's 

 ringer, and the other could be even taken up in the hand 

 and allowed to fly about, when it would fearlessly ex- 

 plore one's person. I have removed it from my mous- 

 tache three times in quick succession. Taken altogether, 

 if all Gulab-chasms are anything like these two birds, the 

 species can hardly be excelled as a pet. But, as a true 

 insect-feeder, its food of course will give a little trouble. 



It breeds from May to September, building a cup- 

 shaped nest of grass and bark fibre in long grass or a low 

 tree. The eggs are pinkish-white with red blotches. 



THE WHITE-EYE OR SPECTACLE BIRD (Zosterops pal- 

 pebrosa) is shown at the top of Plate V (Fig. 2), and is 

 the smallest and most wide-spread of all our Babblers. 

 This little creature is rather of a different build than 

 Babblers generally, having longer wings and shorter tail ; 

 but its sociable, cuddlesome habits, and the fact that 

 several small birds which are undoubted Babblers closely 

 approach it, settle its relationship easily enough. The 

 white ring round the eye and the olive-yellow plumage 



