14 The Humming Bird. 



individuals speak, but it is very probable that they had the 

 power, as these birds are often very obstinate, refusing to 

 utter a sound while being noticed, and then, when no one is 

 looking, breaking out into peals of laughter, and carrying on 

 quite a conversation in tones, the clearness of which would 

 quite eclipse those of most parrots. There was a pair of 

 Mynahs in this house in 1885 which were most amusing. I 

 do not remember whether they belonged to this species or 

 another, the Small Hill Mynah (G. ReligiosaJ , but they 

 answered certain questions in a nianner which gave one the 

 belief that they understood what was said to them. For 

 instance, on a person entering the house, their usual greeting 

 was, "Good morning, how are you ?" in accents which made 

 it difficult to believe that it w^as a bird speaking. On the 

 visitor giving a suitable reply, and inquiring after their healths 

 in the same manner, one would answer in shrill tones, '^ Al- 

 right, alright," while the other imitated the gruff accents of 

 an old man, saying, "Quite well, quite well." At other times, 

 on being asked how they did, they would suddenly develop 

 most alarming coughs. After a little while, they often ap- 

 peared to tire of their visitor, and would throw out a broad 

 hint for his departure by exclaiming, " Good-bye, good-bye." 

 One of their favourite amusements was to recall anyone who 

 had just left the house by whistling and shouting, "Hi ! hi ! hi ! " 

 and then, on the perplexed individual returning to see who 

 called him, they would burst into laughter, in apparent enjoy- 

 ment of his discomfiture. 



Next to the Mynahs are some small insect cases, one of 

 which contains some greenish-yellow scorpions, from South 

 Africa. These are curled up, and appear at first sight to be 

 dead, but the keeper informed me that he picked one up one 

 day in this position, thinking it was dead, when it suddenly 

 struck at his finger with his venomous tail, and then ran 

 under some moss with the greatest rapidity. Fortunately 

 the blow was not given with sufficient force to pierce the 

 skin. 



In another case are several South African Millepedes, 

 animals allied to the well-known Centipedes. These are very 

 curious creatures, several inches in length, and dark brown in 

 colour, the whole length of the body being furnished with 

 innumerable pairs of legs, of a red or reddish-brown colour. 

 They feed on decayed vegetables. 



Following the small cases are two larger ones, each 

 containing a Mygale, or Tarantula Spider, from Trinidad. 



