244



Dr. R. Lovell-Keays.



and thirsty one, gathered her one night, and Charon took her on

that journey whence the wayfarers never return. But I am

digressing. I examined the eggs, they were all clear, and once again

I was rash enough to think for myself, pink base or no pink base.

I saw a cock advertised in Edinburgh ; I sent for him and he made

the journey down south during that very cold weather of this winter.

But he never turned a hair until I put him in the flight, and that

only after 36 hours resting up on the warm pipes. When he, for it

was a “ he,” saw the other supposed “ he,” the real and new “ he ”

nearly had a traumatic dislocation of the cervical vertebras, and as

to the other and original “ he,” she simply proved a little minx.

Subsequently I obtained another cock from the Rev. John Paterson,

who, I regret to say is leaving us again for Cashmir. But by that

time my other little friend was feeling too ill to take any stock of

the male article, and his gavotting's and neck twistings were simply

lost on the desert air. But he was, and still is, a cock, and the first

introduced cock doesn’t forget to let him know it either, even if I

did. Curiously enough Mr. Sich (our fellow member) had two cocks

all last season and I had two hens. We both suspected it and yet

both forbore to suggest an exchange. His, too, were sold as a true

pair. I have thus been brought in contact with eight birds for Mr.

Sich, subsequently obtained a hen bird from Mr. Frost. This last

lias, alas, also gone to the happy hunting ground. The result of my

observations is this. The beak of all the four hens that I have seen

has been a bright coral red with a slight pinkish stripe at and around

the base of the upper mandible. All four cocks that I have seen and

handled have had a dark, almost magenta, red beak with a lighter band

at the base. But the mandible is so much darker than the hen that I

can tell mine apart instantly even with only one in view. Is this a

coincidence or a constant ? I am utterly unable to detect any other

difference, except as regards behaviour. In that respect the difference

is so marked that the veriest tyro could sex the birds. The hen, of

course, never displays or bobs up and down, like a lady at the end

of a bathing machine rope, with a piece of grass in her mouth.

With the cock, however, these antics seem to be his chief amuse¬

ment. The notes are of course entirely distinct, but as musical

expressions generally fail to convey any impression to average



