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S. Porter—Wanderings in the Far East



in design, from tiny bamboo cages the shape of a compressed sphere

they range to very elaborate structures. One which belonged to a

Malay syce in Johore where I stayed for some time, resembled nothing

more than a miniature “ roundabout ”, which one sees at fairs. It

was an incredible piece of work and defies description, it had a lace

cover as nearly all the dove’s cages have in Malaya, it had platforms,

bays, niches, etc. : was decorated with flags, beads, pictures, artificial

flowers, highly coloured tumblers full of brightly coloured rice, and

altogether was the quaintest contraption I have ever seen. Malay

cages are amazing in the variety of their design and also their utter

inconvenience. In most cases it appears that the cage is simply built

around the bird, there being no door or opening other than between

the bamboo lathes, wdien once the bird is in, it just “ stays put

Chinese cages, on the other hand, are models of convenience and the

acme of cage-maker’s art.


To get back to the doves, the price asked for them in Penang is

15 (Straits) cents, which is less than 4 \d. apiece. There must have

been thousands of these birds in the markets in Penang, certainly

more than anywhere else I went to. One sees a great many of both

species of doves in the outskirts of Penang where they rise continually

from under one’s feet on any uncultivated piece of ground.


Another bird which is very plentiful in the markets is the Malayan

Grackle or Greater Javanese Hill Mynah (Gracula javana). I can never

understand why these birds are called either Grackles or Mynahs,,

they appear to be no relation to either. I was told that these birds

were imported from Java. There were literally hundreds of them

in huge flat chicken crates about a foot high with no perches and

with coarse wire bottoms. Those who know the amount of excrement

which one of these birds passes in a day will realize that this was the

best way of keeping them and preventing each bird fouling the other.

All seemed to be in perfect condition and very tame, the reason for

this is because most of the birds have been hand-reared. One dealer

had thousands of them and the price was about 60 cents or Is. 6 d. each.


The most remarkable bird I have ever possessed was one of this

species. I acquired it on my return journey from the Far East when

I was staying on a remote rubber estate in Johore. We could only



