84 ASARCORNIS SCUTULATA 



Domestication. There are various references to mottled or piebald specimens 

 from Sumatra and Java, and these have been explained on the assumption that the 

 birds were breeding in domestication. This, however, seems to me very improbable 

 because the species has given no evidence of easy domestication. There are in- 

 stances of considerable changes of plumage after many years in captivity which 

 may account for these freak plumages. The possibility of a distinct southern 

 race (leucoptera) of this species as suggested by Hume and Marshall (1879) still 

 exists. 



