Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/104

88 heart, and it twitters with the artless joy of a child, but it cannot sit and compose a song. Yet it is second only to the parrot as a favourite with those castes of natives who keep pets at all. Easily reared, easily fed, easily tamed, it has almost every quality that goes to make an engaging pet. It is spirited and pugnacious, too, and serves sporting Mussulmans as a pocket edition of the fighting cock. They carry it about perched on the finger, with a thin cord tied about its middle, and challenge rival Bulbuls, betting of course on the result; else where would be the fun? In Hyderabad much money is won and lost over this sport and a famous fighting Bulbul has been sold for Rs. 500. Natives feed all soft-billed birds on flour of parched gram made into a paste with ghee. If you are a poor man, water will do instead of ghee, except for song birds, which require their throats oiled. As a staple food I do not believe there is anything better than this, but you will make your Bulbul happier if you give it fruit of all kinds, pudding, rice, anything in short that comes to your own table. In a state of nature it feeds largely on berries and knows of many kinds for which we have no names.

The Bulbul looks a plain creature at a distance, but it is really a very handsome bird. Its face and the whole of its fine crested head are glossy black. The rest is of a rich smoky brown colour, but each feather, especially on the upper part of the back, has a pale edge, which makes a very effective pattern, like the scales of a fish. The "under-tail coverts," as they are called in polite society, are crimson. This is the only bit of colour about the bird's costume, and corresponds to a gentleman's necktie.