90 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



the Coppersmith, and is confined to India and Burma, 

 though it ranges higher up the hills than the small 

 species. It is blessed with a better digestion and 

 temper than Alexander, and will assimilate pea-meal 

 brose successfully and stand crowding ; and so it 

 gets frequently caged and sent to Europe. In fact 

 a very tame bird of this kind, which lived for years 

 at the London Zoo, was the first barbet I ever saw 

 alive, and every now and then it turns up in a dealer's 

 shop or a bird show. It is true that its " song of 

 colour " pitched as it is in brilliant red, blue, and 

 green, rises to a shriek and that its triple call of 

 " Jcuturruh " is about three times as monotonous as 

 Alexander's foundry-work, so that its popularity as 

 a cage bird is never likely td be wide. Nevertheless 

 I must confess to a great liking for barbets ; their 

 form, if not beautiful, is quaint, and their coloiiring 

 gorgeous, if a little barbaric. And as to the noise 

 they make, it is at least constant and consistent^ 

 and has not the exasperating quality of intermittence 

 which is so annoying in some feathered vocahsts, thfr 

 domestic fowl for instance. The sturdy smith has 

 always been a popular character, and I hope such 

 may always be the case with his fellow artisan in. 

 feathers. 



