BULBULS. 
155 
the pages of Lalla Rookh , but they have sweet voices 
and light hearts, and they seem to bubble over with a 
happiness which is infectious. They are also easy pets 
to keep. If a bird’s food in its wild state consists of 
insects only, then it is generally difficult to find an arti- 
ficial substitute suited to its digestion ; but when a bird 
eats both insects and fruit, as the Bulbul does, then almost 
anything will agree with it. You may give it meat, raw 
or cooked, bread crumbs, pudding, potatoes, fruit, or any- 
thing that is going, and the greater the variety the better 
it will thrive. It is good, however, to have some staple 
diet, some staff of life, and let the other things be luxuries. 
For Bulbuls, Mynas and all miscellaneous feeding 
birds, I believe there is no better regular food than 
parched gram made into fine flour and moistened with 
water. I learned this from my friend the old birdman in 
Bombay, but he sometimes mixed the flour with ghee 
instead of water, to oil the bird’s throat and make it sing 
sweetly ! 
Last year a young Bulbul was brought to me in a very 
dilapidated state. Some native boy had found it, and, 
after the manner of native boys, had carried it about 
swinging by a string tied to ope leg. At least, I suppose 
