Editorial. 
141 
other Cockatoos; Rosella, King and other Parrakeets; a dozon 
Cockateelis, about 50 Budg-erig-ar.s, and about three dozen vari- 
ous smalt Foreigners. Truly a inarveih)us series to dwell to 
gether in amity as has been the case, l)ut it is not surprising 
that breeding results have been small. 
Miss A. B. Smyth, of Catford, has in a large cage (some 
6ft. long), in her in-door bird-room, had living together in 
amity for some months, Blue and Marsh Tits and several 
species of Waxbills. 
Babblers : Many of these are most interesting birds to 
keep, and in Bird Notes, Vol. VII., we figured two species, 
the Rusty-cheeked and Slaty Babblers. Though we are not 
likely to obtain the Australian species, referred to below, yet 
the notes, we opine, will be of general interest as the genus 
Pomatorhinus has a fairly large range and species are likely 
to come to hand from India. For this cutting we are indebted 
to Mr. F. Howe, who has taken it from the "New Zealand 
Herald." 
" The fact that soma birds display human traits to a sur- 
" pristnig degree is commented upon by Mr. H. G. Jarmau, of 
" Broken Hill, New South Wales, a former lesident of this JJomiaioii. 
" As au illustration of this he brings forth the Jumping .Jack, or 
■' Chatterer {Pomatorliinus ruficepa), of the interior of Australia. 
" These birds haunt stunted trees that grow along the dry water- 
" courses. They associate in companies, numbering from six to 
twelve, and spend much of their time on the ground. When 
" they are distributed they walk awi^y with a strange jerky motion 
" half jumpin/g and half hopping, with drooping wings and erect 
" tail, chattering vigorously all tlie time. With a succession of 
" clumsy jumps they climb a small tree. After reaching the top 
" they make a short, blurred llight to tlie bottom of another 
" tree. They repeat the performance if they are lollowed, junip- 
" ing, fluttering, and scoldingi in a very amusing way. They are 
" nearly always on the hop, but at rare intervals when they rest, 
" the body is crouched close to the branch, slanting from the head 
■' upwards to the tail. When Mr. Jarman first made the acquaint- 
" ance of the Jumping Jack, in the spring of 1910, he, was 
" puzzled at the discovery of no fewer tlian five nests in, one 
" small tree. All of them had been recently built, but only one 
" was occupied. The others remained unoccui)ied during the season. 
" He did not know at the time that, when spring approaches, these 
" strange birds are seized with a mania for building nests. Work- 
" i,ng in company they make nest after nest, without any attempt 
" at coincealment, until they have quite live times as many nests 
