18 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS 



if the aviary be large enough, will be found easy to keep 

 and the most picturesque and interesting that could be 

 found. But none of these birds are suited for small 

 aviaries. 



Only one of the large Babblers has much repute as a 

 songster, and this may almost always be procured in 

 Calcutta. 



THE PEKO OR CHINESE MOCKING-BIRD (Dryonastes 

 Chinensis) is figured on Plate III, as mentioned on page 15. 

 This bird is a really fine musician, having singularly 

 pure and plaintive tones ; it is also an admirable mimic, 

 and, when tame enough, delights in being caressed. It 

 will live many years in a cage, and is the most easily 

 kept of all the non-seed-eating cage-birds. At the same 

 time it always seems to me a pity not to give this lively 

 and sociable bird the happier life that an aviary affords. 

 It is chiefly known in India as a foreign bird, being 

 imported from China, but it is found in South Pegu 

 and Tenasserim. 



Few of the Babblers are as large as most of those I 

 have been describing. 



THE BLACK-HEADED SIBIA (Lioptila capistrata) is, al- 

 though nearly nine inches long, a slight, graceful crea- 

 ture ; it is figured on Plate IV (Fig. 5). It is a very com- 

 mon bird in the hills up to 8,000 feet, being particularly 

 numerous about Darjeeling. It comes to the ground 

 less than most Babblers, and is fairly strong on the wing ; 

 indeed, it is, all round, a most remarkably active bird, 

 and so dexterous that I have seen it turn right round its 

 perch without letting go. 



