278 Timehri. 
a handful of feathers in the hand. His head and neck are grey, his tail is 
longer and is forked. He has ‘a more varied and more musical note. He 
seems to say : “Scissors in it, scissors in it, scissors in it! it’s absurd, it’s 
absurd, it’s absurd.’’ His bill is more decidedly hooked at the end. He is 
a shy and melancholy bird as his specific name indicates. I kept one for 
several weeks ; but he moped in a cage and had all the bearing of a person 
much injured and offended. So I let him go again. I judge it to be a simple 
and inoffensive bird, justifying its specific name. But he is a perfect catcher 
of flying insects and may often be seen, generally alone, plying his craft from 
the telephone wires. If anyone should wish to keep this bird in a cage he 
should rear it from the nest. There are some birds which can only be kept in 
this way. 
KisKADEE Minor. 
A small brown tyrant bird, which I have been unable to identify with any 
of the specimens in the Museum and which was brought to me with a much 
damaged wing, proved a more interesting creature. He soon made himself at 
home in my aviary and occupied the floor. The wing that was broken dragged 
and he stumbled over it, so I cut the feathers close and arranged low perches 
for him. This bird is, so to say, a cheaper edition of the Kiskadee and for the 
present I have dubbed him “ Kiskadee Minor”: he is not so brightly clad. 
His head and back are russet brown with a greenish tinge ; his crest, which he 
raises on occasions, is redder so that one might call him “ carrots ”’ ; his breast 
is faded yellow with brown markings ; the white corona does not meet behind, 
nor is it so well defined, and there is also a yellowish white streak below 
the eye. But the bird is not a whit inferior in spirits and intelli- 
gence. He seems to have a sprightly, cheerful, little soul, and is quite worth 
studying. My specimen, as I said, grew tame ; but, unfortunately, he grew to 
consider that the whole floor of the cage belonged to him, and when the other 
birds came for their legitimate share of food, he resented it as an intrusion and 
fought them off. Eventually he got a peck from the Caduri that laid him low. 
But he fought death as valiantly as he had fought his bigger companions, 
eating his food to the end and keeping a bright, cheerful eye. But death was 
too big a monster for him and put him on his back. He struggled and recovered 
his upright position again and again, so that I thought he would recover. But 
it was not to be. He turned his head and seemed to wink at me ; then turned 
over and died with a chirrup of good-bye. I must leave the other tyrant 
birds to another article. 
We may now turn to the finches of which the colony possesses some twenty- 
one species. 
Tue Twa-Twa. 
At the head of the finches we will place the twa-twa (Oryzoborus crassirostris), 
a typical cage bird. It is the size of alarge canary but it is jet-black, with just 
a narrow bar of white upon the wings, just below what is called the “ bastard 
wing, ”’ reminding one of the ribbon of a military decoration, except that the 
bird wears it on both sides. And certainly the bird has a military bearing 
with his great Wellingtonian beak. Its beak, as its name implies, is a very 
