The Bengalee. 2 2 3
Tha t tlie Bengalees are not pure descendants from U. striata seems toleraljly
evident, from tlie fact that all three varieties are nniformly smaller ; the brown and
white form, which is nearest to Urotoncha, being the larges t (as it shonld be), and the
two other forms, which more nearly approach Aideviosyne, smaller.
My first two pairs of Pied Bengalees were presented to me by the Hon. Wal ter de
Rothschild, and greatly delighted me by their tameness and their comical j e rky little
actions ; but Mr. Wiener's account of them made me half afraid to turn them loose
in my bird-room among the wild Mannikins and Astrilds. Thi s author says :
" T h r o u g h being bred by the J apane s e in miniature cages, the imported Whi te and
Piebald Mannikins seem to be almost unable to fly, and consecpiently they are nearly
as helpless in a l a rge aviary as a young bird jus t leaving the nest. The y tumble into
the water, or hide in corners, or get into all sorts of scrapes . "
Now, as I do not think that Crede c.xperto is a motto always to be followed, I
concluded to turn my birds out and see what would happen ; so I slid up the door
and out the}' fle^v boldly, alighting- on the sand, upon which they hopped about for
some time, occasionallj' taking short flights on to the wire-netting, or on to some
pea-sticks s tuck in a pot in one corner of the aviar}'. Af ter about an hour of this
play, one of them suddenl}- flew directly upwards to a branch some ten feet overhead
and joined a party of Miinias, and within ten minutes the three other birds had
followed his example. The next morning when I entered the bird-room I looked
round somewhat anxiously' to see wdiat had become of my new children ; I found the
two cock birds s ing ing their ridiculous song, which-to my mind resembles nothing so
closel}' as it does the sound made bjf the little woollen sheep on wheels which one
sometimes sees children dr a g g ing along the pavement, dancing to their hens with a
peculiar z igz ag sort of approach, and evidently quite at home.
Presently one little fellow flew down to a ledge close to me, looked up in mjr face
and uttered a sound like wheli. I got him a rape seedling, which he took immediately
from my fingers, and after eat ing it flew to the fountain, had a drink, then a good
wash, and w^as shortly afterwards joined by his companions and many other
inhabitants of the aviary.
S o far from the Bengalees proving to be dull or helpless, I have found them
more fearless in perching upon the rim of the glas s bowd into which the fountain falls,
in venturing into the bowl itself, more cjuick to comprehend the me aning of a
seed-hopper, and st ronger on the wing than the majority of the small, newly imported
flnehes. Before many days were over, both pairs were busy bui lding a nest in the
same box, wdiere each hen laid one egg, hatched and reared i t ; the two hens s i t t ing
side by side, each on her own egg. Thi s they did twice in the same year, thus