on so?ne habits of the Kokla in confinement.



167



have three dogs in the house, and these appear to be on the

most friendly terms with him : he does not mind their presence

in the least, and sometimes when he gets a chance even pecks

at their noses, when the animals come too close to his cage.

But when a stray dog happens to come close to him the bird

recognises the difference at once, and begins fluttering and dash¬

ing himself against the bars of his cage. The house dogs appear

to have associated the noise made by the bird’s fluttering with

the presence of a strange dog, and immediately rush out and

soon see the intruder off the premises.


Before concluding these notes, I will add a few remarks

about the plumage of this species in captivity. The curious

thing here is that the colouration assumed by such birds differs

iu many respects from that of the wild ones. Indeed the differ¬

ences are so great that Blytli was actually led to describe a caged

specimen as a new species under the name Vinago cantillans.



Bird in captivity.


Sex $.


(a) Head, neck and lower

plumage light green, with only

a faint touch of orange on

the crown and breast.



( b] ) Upper backpearl grey,

passing into dull leaf green and

no maroon* whatever o?i middle

of back : only the lesser wing-

coverts are dull maroon.


( c ) Rump, upper tail-

coverts, median and larger

wing coverts and exposed por¬

tions of tertiaries dull leaf-

green.


I11 other respects the specimen appears to be similar to

that of the wild bird. Of course it must be remembered that my



Wild Bird.


Sex <$.


( a ) Head, neck and lower

plumage yellozvish green, very

distinctly tinged with rufous

on the crown, and with orange

and a wash of pink on the

upper breast.


( b ) Upper back greyish,

passing into maroon red on

middle of back and lesser wing-

coverts.



( [c ) These parts are olive-

oreen.



* Since writing: these notes, I have shot a young male showing only faint traces of

maroon on the back, and from this it would seem that it is a sign of age, when the

1 whole of the back gets covered with maroon.



