| T the
: + thic ‘ckly plant. The Dayal is one of
commonly a bole in a wall, sometimes the interior of a low, thick, prickly pl ry

i ‘ity. Few of the
ds, and is perpetually caged, both for his song and his pugnacity
9 ne

boldest and most docile of bir - te callimense Wid eun
: : smitatic siHgent bird wi
sor is it deoraded by apish tricks of imitation, though this intellig
Thrushes have a finer note; nor 1s 1t degraded by ap

i 5 2 ing the male birds are perpetually
lend its courage for the profit or amusement of its keeper. In the apring : é aan Tee oe
is the defiance of one uttered than it is answere y an :

iging each other, < oner
challenging each other, and no so sale oil hin gotsondpeeeee

e j i O ISI ak is tame
} 1 availing olf his pr pensit ’ takes out his

srofessional bird-keeper, availing himself of this | y =

: . presently challenges ; the wild one immediately

> nex arde erove; the bird, at his bidding,
to the nearest garden or grove ; ; dicing which a

answers: the former is then slipped, and a desperate contest ensues between a eee ee
fowler readily secures the wild bird, with the tame one’s Serine for the sige a e - me
owner’s purpose, seizing the wild bird at the critical moment with both ae anc ne = ae
his master comes up, in case it has not been so much exhausted Ys the prewpus oon : a a
from flying away at the man’s approach. Fighting the tame birds is : favourite ae : ;
nor can any race of game-cocks contend with more energy and pesqlaien a do these ia i ie
Mr. Layard informs us that, in Ceylon, “this familiar household bird is called the Les Ul aby
Dienen and the natives regard it with as much interest as we do our own red-breasted favourite, of which

it is the Eastern representative. It is seldom seen away from habitations, about which it usually builds,

though the nest is often placed in a thick bush or hollow tree. ie oe

| i i > eI 2 is Insects, of « id in all stages
bright blue, thickly spotted with brown at the obtuse end. The food is isects, of all kinds sl all stages,
They have a variety of notes, and the song poured out in the fulness

The eggs, commonly four in number, are

captured on the ground and on trees.
of their joy in the pairing-season is very pleasing. On the top of a towering IE opposite ny
residence in Colombo (in Ceylon), a Magpie-Robin daily for some weeks charmed me with its song, ee
his mate sat brooding her eggs or callow nestlings in the roof of a native hut beneath him. One morning,
after the young had left the nest and betaken themselves to the neighbouring compounds, = aia y
cries of distress from various birds and squirrels, and, above all, I heard the seemingly plaintive mewing of
acat. I had no living specimen of the last in my museum; so, wondering what could be the pets went
into my garden to see. I found the mewing proceeded from my friends the Robins, who were furiously
attackmg something in a bush, whilst the birds and squirrels screamed in concert. There I found one of
the young Robins (whose plumage, by the way, at that early age, much resembles that of the European bird,
being speckled with yellow) caught, as I thought, in the tendrils of a creeper. I put out my hand to release
it, when, to my surprise, I saw the glittering eyes of the green whip-snake (7?imesurus viridis, Laceép.), in
whose fangs the bird was struggling. I seized the reptile by the neck and rescued the bird, but too late ; it
lay panting in my hand for a few moments, then fluttered and died. On skinning it, I found no wound,
except on the outer joint of the wing by which it had been seized, and am confident that fear alone deprived
it of life. A favourite attitude of this bird is, standing with the tail elevated over the back, either perpen-
dicularly or thrown so much forward as to nearly touch the head, the wings drooping ; in this position they
only utter a low note. During the dry season some of our birds become so discoloured with the dust of our
red Kabook soil, that they are useless as specimens for preserving.”

Latham states that this species “is one of those birds which are used when invoking the name of God —
a custom which those of India have borrowed of the Hindoos. Dr. Buchanan adds that at Calcutta it is
commonly called Doil by the Bengalese; in Persia, Dahool or Dahale, and there kept only for its song. It
makes an artless nest of sticks and hair on the branches of trees ; the eggs pale greenish blue, with brown
spots, most numerous at the large end.”

“This very sprightly bird,” says Capt. Boys, “frequents the trees and bushes of the gardens, and, like
the English Robin, carries its tail very erect, which gives it a bold appearance. It is very familiar, and has
a sweet note. Its food consists of insects; and it builds in the chinks and holes of walls, forming its nest of
small dry twigs and grass roots, and laying five greenish-blue eggs, blotched all over with brown, but mostly
at the larger end.

‘Specimens obtained at Sultanpore, December 8, 1839; and a nest at Almorah, May 28, 1842.”

Mr. Swinhoe says it is “a common resident” at Amoy.

The male has the head, all the upper surface, throat, chest, and u

pper portion of the abdomen steely
black ; wings dull black, with the exception of the upper rows of coverts and the margins of several of the
secondaries, which are pure white, formine

: 1 g a conspicuous stripe along the wing; three outer tail-feathers
white; the next on each side white, broadly margined on the inner web for five-sixths of its length from the
base with deep black, which is also the hue of the remaining tail-feathers, lower half of the abdomen and
under tail-coverts white; irides brown; bill and legs black.
| The female differs in having the upper surface dark grey, washed on the back with steel blue, the face
throat, and chest er ing’s i ;
ro nd chest grey, the wings brown, the white mark on the wing less conspicuous, the black of the tail
much less intense, and the white of the abdomen washed with greyish buff.

The Plate represents both sexes, of the size of life. The plant is the Thibaudia pulcherrima.