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On Bircl-keeping in China.



inhabitants — small finches, etc. Their plumage is very simple and

they have no song, but still their quaint and confiding ways make

them a desirable and interesting bird. My birds seemed to be

perfectly happy until spring came and they could hear the call of

their wild comrades from the garden; then they became very rest¬

less and fluttered constantly against the wire-netting, so that finally

I gave them their freedom. Last year I found a pair of the large

Paradoxornis gularis —in my opinion a near relation to the small

Suthora — in the bird-market. As they looked interesting birds,

although I cannot call them exactly beautiful, I bought them and

put them in a large garden aviary. They were quiet birds, equally

peaceful as their small cousins, but unfortunately they escaped

through a hole in the wire-netting only a week after they had come

into my possession.


The Mynah is never caught as an adult bird, but always taken

from the nest. They become very tame and attached to their

owners, whom they will follow like a dog. They have an agreeable

natural whistle and are certainly very clever in imitating the human

voice and tunes. I have seen a Mynah which talked as well as a

good parrot. I have never kept them, as some pairs nest regularly

in my garden where I can watch them better than when in an

aviary. At present a pair has its nest in a pigeon cote, and pigeons

and Mynahs seem to agree very well together.


The Dyal Bird is a lovely cage-bird and I can fully endorse

the interesting lines written in his praise in a number of last year’s

magazine. It is, however, not advisable to keep him with smaller

birds together, as he is given to bullying the small companions. It

is difficult to find hens here. Last autumn I procured a bird which

moulted into a fine hen, but all my efforts to keep her with a very

tame and perfect cock proved in vain. Tne cock fought the hen

pertinaciously and certainly would have killed her if I had not

removed her from the cage. I let her fly away in spring, while the

cock lives now in freedom in the garden of a friend of mine, but

always comes back to the verandah to feed and to roost in his cage.


These are the principal birds kept by the Chinese. Of other

species one finds the following here in the market: The Ruby Throat

(Calliope camtschatcensis), the Bulbul ( Ixus sinensis ), the Blue Ely-



