REVIEW. 137 
of Khandeish (for instance) tell. Whether a sportsman can be a 
naturalist or not, our own columns bear abundant witness here. And 
as a matter of fact, there never was a sporting society less animated by 
a mere love of slaughter, or more by a taste for observation and inquiry, 
than that of Western India at this present moment. You will scarcely 
find even a Griffin in the mofussil who would not be somewhat 
ashamed to own to “shooting for the bag,” As a practice, pigeon- 
shooting, indeed, belongs to another order of things. It is not “ look- 
ing at nature” in any sense, but simply looking at a target,—unfortu- 
nately alive,—which represents a fraction of a prize,—unfortunately a_ 
money-prize. But it seems to be fast falling off in public favour. 
Indeed, there is little wonder in that the trapped birds generally 
supplied to Indian Gymkhanas are poor fliers compared to the birds 
bred for the trap in Europe. Bazaar-bred birds turn the shooting into 
a farcical lottery for those who can make up their minds to shoot at 
them. To others, of course, it is a tragedy. But those who do not 
shoot trapped pigeons (including the present writer) are bound, in fair- 
ness, to acknowledge that that exercise requires great skill in the use of 
arms, and involves, when properly managed, no more cruelty than any 
other method of killing birds. 
Mr. Kipling’s first bird is “the parrakeet (Paleornis cupabius).” 
But he only recognises one species out of three that he can hardly have 
failed to see—the Alexandrine, plum-headed, and rose-ringed, which 
are in every bazaar. The rose-ringed paroquet is our common Bombay 
species, the most beautiful and stupid of the three. The plum-headed 
is common enough on the Ghats and in deep jungles near them. It 
is easily recognized on the wing by its light-tipped tail. The Alex- 
andrine is apparently rarer in our province ; at least the present 
writer has not seen it in the forest ; but its colouration is not such as 
to identify it on the wing except from above. Wild parrots are not 
often looked upon de haut en bas nor often shot for identification. 
Dr. Jerdon established one habitat of this bird by such a chance as 
killing a falcon which happened to have just caught the paroquet. 
Only these three paroquéets are common in our bazaars as “ forest 
produce ” of this Presidency, though other parrots, in great variety, 
but small in number, are imported, and seem to be outside our present 
purview. 
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