196 
Jackson's Whi/dah in Captivity. 
" downwards ; the tail is held straight up till it touches the ruff at the 
" base of the head and neck, the ends of the feathers falling in a 
" curvo downwards, with the exception of the two tail-feathers, which 
"are held outward and downward. While actually rising in the 
" ail the half -open wings are worked with a very quick shivering 
"motion, and the feet are also moved up and down very rapidlj'. 
" The bird springs straight up in the air. sometimes a few inches, 
"and sometimes to a height of two feet, and then drops. The whole 
"of the plumage is much puffed out during the performance 
"Only on one occasion was a female present on the pla3'ground. — 
"(Jackson, Ibis, 1899, p. 599)." 
the aviarji. — For the convenience of transit purpo.'^^es 
the tails of the males, in colour, were cut short, only about 
one inch of the beautiful, .sickle -shaped tails lieing left— that 
the end justified the means is evident from the result: all 
those sliipped arrived alive and all are still living'; but this 
fail mutilation only adds to the bird's grotesqueness when 
playing. 
In the aviary the^e birds are not wild, and T have had 
the opportunity of watching their play from a distance of barely 
three feet and thus have an advantage over the field natural- 
ists quoted above, for I have observed the ivholc of the 
ground movements. 
The fir.st reference must be to the groiuid: tlie place 
chosen was about four feet from the aviary -bath rthe bath 
is 4ft. X 3ft.) and just on the border of the irregular patch 
of growing grass occupying the centre of the aviary and only 
about eighteen inches from the aviary front. Here were 
growing four tufts of coarse grass forming a square of about 
twelve to fifteen inches, one side of which abutted on the grass 
in centre of aviary, the other three sides being surrounded by 
bare earth, which had been recently turned over. The .same 
day the bird was turned out it chose this spot, and has retained 
it since (a period of three weeks) and shows no inclination 
to make any change, in fact it guards it very jealously and 
drives off by furious rushes such birds as Grey-winged Ouzels 
and Malabar Mynahs, whene'er they trespass thereon. The 
four tufts of grass were about twelve inches high when it 
commenced operations; it speedily reduced them to about four 
and keeps them religously cropped to about that height. Its 
playground docs not form a complete circle, for it has not, as 
yet, beaten down the grass, but has been content with the bare 
