I



W. Goodfellow—Familiar Birds of Singapore 205


that time they began to feed from my hand on the bed. One sister was

tolerant, but most drove the birds off if they happened to be around

at the time. These Sparrows, when driven off by attendants, did

not fly away as birds usually do, but hid under the beds, and it was

amusing to watch them run from under one bed to another, or double

back as they were followed up, and it often had to be given up as a

bad job. They stopped about the ward until dark, but just one more

enterprising than the others found a roosting place somewhere in a

passage leading from the ward, from whence it flew every five minutes

to my bed for an extra feed until lights were put out. The Tree

Sparrow mixes freely with the Javas about the town, and the two

kinds can always be seen feeding in company. Malay name “ Pipit

rumah ”, which simply means “ House Sparrow ”.


Still another common town bird, but not quite so prosaic as the

Sparrow, is the Glossy Calornis (C. chalybea ), which is now quite an

institution, and has certainly increased in numbers within recent

years. Most aviculturists know this group of birds with bright ruby

red eyes, although there is one species in the Moluccas with black

eyes, the only one. It is, of course, a Starling, with the nesting habits

of an African Weaver, building hanging nests in colonies on trees, but

the Straits bird does not do that, at any rate in the city. Here it nests

in any holes it can find about the roofs of houses, and under tiles.

I watched a pair last year appropriate the nest of a pair of Javas

under the roof of the hotel annex, and later two other pairs started to

build close by, so they still like company. What makes this bird

conspicuous is its habit of collecting in immense flocks towards evening

exactly after the manner of our Starlings over London. Here, too,

one is surprised how they all suddenly turn off sharply in another

direction in perfect unison. One favourite roosting place, and has

been for years, is in one or two trees at the north-west corner of the

Cathedral close, facing the Adelphi Hotel, where an incessant warbling

is kept up until late at night. They are very partial to the bright

scarlet fruit of a certain palm, which grows in clumps, and is not very

lofty. The fruit is the size of a large pea, and hangs in long masses

around the base of the leaves. A group of these palms in any compound

attracts the Calornis from far and near. They keep very silent when



