128 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 



They begin practising even as nestlings, and are 

 certainly untiring songsters according to their lights. In 

 disposition they are gloomy and unsociable, but not 

 ferocious ; that is, they are hard biters, but do not go out 

 of their way for a fight. Barbets are found all round the 

 world in most warm climates, but not in the Australian 

 region. The huge-billed Toucans of America are closely 

 related to the Barbets, but are not found in India, the 

 birds often so called there being Hornbills, which are 

 a distinct family altogether, confined to the Old 

 World. 



In confinement Barbets live very well, and are orna- 

 mental in an aviary ; if reared from the nest they become 

 very tame, and they are easy to manage, as they can be 

 fed on fruit from the first, and so give less trouble than 

 most young birds. They are gross feeders, and eat a 

 great deal of food, so that the more fruit they get, the 

 better, as fruit is not so fattening as satoo or sop. They 

 must not as a rule be shut up closely together, as they 

 will fight to the death in such a case, and it is as well 

 not to have more than a pair of each kind even in an 

 aviary. 



THE COPPERSMITH OR CRIMSON-BREASTED BARBET 

 (Xantholcema hcematocephala) called Tamkayat in Hindu- 

 stani, and Chota bussunt in Bengal, is a very well-known 

 garden bird all over the Empire, but does not go any 

 distance up the hills. Outside our limits it ranges east 

 as far as the Philippines, so that, although it is one of the 

 smallest of our Barbets, it extends over a very wide terri- 

 tory. Common as it is in Calcutta, where one may see 



