Ch. XIX.] OANAEIBS. MINA BIED. 321 



Throwing the head far back they would turn over, touching 

 momentarily the bars of the cage in passing, and alight on 

 their feet, either on the floor of the cage or on the perch, 

 repeating the operation rapidly and constantly, and not un- 

 frequently turning over in httle more than their own length. 

 When I first noticed this freak in a bird-shop I set it down 

 as a matter of education : but I have since found that every 

 individual has the same habit, although some tumble better 

 than others. The Tumblers, by which name they came to 

 be generally known, had a short, loud, and somewhat 

 monotonous song, not unlike that of a missel-thrush, and 

 often when placed in different parts of the ship I have heard 

 two singing alternately in reply to one another for an hour 

 together. 



Canaries are also in plenty in the bird-shops ; but Japan 

 seems to be the paradise of the canary-bird. The " ScyUa," 

 homeward boimd, was like an aviary. On a sunny afternoon 

 I have counted 50 or 60 cages on deck, few containing less 

 than two, and some as many as seven or eight birds, all 

 singing in chorus. The attraction was that in Japan good 

 singing canaries could be purchased at the rate of an itzeboo, 

 or about one s hillin g and sixpence each; and the sailors, 

 therefore, had made tkeir hay where they found the sun 

 shining. 



The Grackle (Gracula religiosa), called in these parts the 

 Mina, is a favourite bird, much admired in Singapore and 

 Borneo. It* is as large as a jac^-daw, black, with long feet, 

 and two yellow wattles on each side of the head. Like the 

 Acridotheres above described, the mina is also a member of 

 the Stuminee, or family of starlings. The powers of imita- 

 tion of the human voice possessed by this bird are truly 

 remarkable. The Governor of Labuan possessed one which 



