260 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



pointed a finger. Immediately the Wagtail rushed excitedly 

 across, and pecked the outstretched finger ; then turned, and 

 watched for some other person to do the same. Thus it rushed 

 from one to another until it was tired of the fun, when it returned 

 to its cage to rest. My hand-reared Jay is as playful as a puppy, 

 and doubtless, if instructed by an experienced showman, might 

 have been taught many tricks ; but I never care to see any bird 

 do strange things unless it does them for its own pleasure. 



The notes uttered by my Wagtail would have puzzled as well 

 as astonished a student of wild birds, so many and varied were 

 they. The tone was changed so as clearly to express glee, anger, 

 expostulation, pleading, fear; they were all call-notes of a kind, 

 but most of them I never heard from a wild Wagtail. The song 

 was very sweet and varied, more like that of the Swallow than of 

 any other British bird. 



The nidification of many foreign birds being imperfectly 

 known, it is useful for the aviculturist not only to watch the 

 behaviour of birds nesting in aviaries, but to save and blow 

 infertile, addled, or deserted eggs, carefully marking them with 

 the name of the species, and the date at which they were laid. It 

 is true that the eggs of many imported birds are white, and differ 

 chiefly in size, proportional dimensions, polish, &c, as, for in- 

 stance, those of the Waxbills, Mannikins, Grass Finches, typical 

 Weavers (Ploceus, but not Pyromeloena) ; the whole of the Doves 

 and Parrots ; yet to those who do not know chem, they are of 

 scientific interest, as representing part of the life-history of the 

 species. 



