200



On the Piecl Chat.



It is universally distributed throughout the Sinaitic peninsula,

from the highest mountains to the seashore. In Africa it is found

in Egypt, Nubia, Arabia and Abyssinia.


Whether any of our members have ever possessed any of the

Pied Chats in captivity, I do not know, but in an aviary a pair would

be strikingly handsome, and therefore I have given an illustration of

it, in the event of anyone, unacquainted with it, being fired with the

desire to obtain some living specimens.


All the members of the Chat family — Saxicola, etc., are very

attractive, both in plumage and demeanour. A hand-reared Wheatear

which I once had, was so tame that he would play “ hide and seek ”

with me when out of his cage, popping in under chairs and sofas,

sometimes to pop out again behind me when I was searching under

the piece of furniture beneath which he had disappeared.


I forget whether I have recorded the sad event, but this

charming bird was killed owing to this. I shall never forget the

poignancy of my feelings. As I rose up from looking under a sofa, I

set my heel right on to the poor little Wheatear, crushing his life out

to my intense horror. He had swiftly emerged round the other side

of the sofa, when my back was turned towards him, and was

evidently, as he had often done on previous occasions, waiting behind

me to surprise me and had stationed himself just by one of my feet.


I was about to add that it was a terrible moment, but it was

more than that, for it took me a long time to forget it, at its worst,

and to forget it altogether, I never can, although it occured some

thirteen years ago. I never saw a bird so deliberately play with one

for when he bobbed out from behind a chair, he would pirouette up

to me with his wings extended, daring me to catch him, and when I

made a feint so to do, he would flit off again, appearing round from

the other side of the chair to repeat his frolics. It was no question

of mealworms or other bird-delicacies, it was nothing but a romp,

as one would with a puppy or a kitten.


So that I think, if hand-reared Pied Chats could be obtained;

a romping, frolicsome Pied Chat, such as was my “never-to-be-

forgotten” Wheatear; some lucky aviculturist would possess a very

charming playfellow.



