Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/20

4 Crawford Market, which wander about the island in vagabondage until the crows kill them, or settle down and make themselves comfortable among us. I have heard a cockatoo making the primæval forests of Cumballa Hill echo with the joyful roar of freedom. A Persian Bulbul once escaped from one of my own cages and re-appeared next morning with a companio! If I remember I caught them both. Canaries of course are common. I once caught a fine one with my hand in one of our churches, I had better not say which, though the Bishop and the Archdeacon of that time have both retired. It came in during the service and perched above the pulpit, where the sermon soon put it to sleep. But the most perplexing foreigners are those which find that the climate suits them and make themselves at home. The Blue Java Sparrow is an example. I should not be much surprised if I found that bird making its nest in some bush about Worlee or Sewree. In these circumstances I have decided to protect myself with the title The Common Birds of Bombay. If anybody convicts me of omitting a well-known bird, I can maintain that it is not "common " as I understand the term. And if I succeed in making it even a little easier for any one to take an intelligent and kindly interest in the lives of those bright beings which do so much to enliven our surroundings, still more if I succeed in any measure in staying the hand of slaughter, whether raised in the name of sport or science, I shall have my reward.

Birds constitute the second class of the vertebrate animals, being higher than the reptiles in that their