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By Alexander Wetmore
The large-billed Java "sparrow" (Padda
oryzivora) is the most common of the weaver-bird family in captivity, as it is sold in all
bird stores and is kept without difficulty in
ordinary cages. It is in all probability the
best known of exotic cage birds (Color Plate
IV). This heavy-bodied bird, about the size
of an English sparrow, soon becomes tame.
Its pleasant song is given rather infrequently,
usually when everything about it is quiet, and
the bird is prized mainly for its soft colors and
rather curious appearance, as well as for the
ease with which it is kept.
An albino variety that is pure white, or white
with light gray
mixed in the back,
is found commonly. Some captive birds develop
black cheeks and
lose the pinkish
wash on the under
surface. Male and
female are alike,
both in size and in
markings, so that
pairs are known
only when breedng. These birds
do not change in
color with the seasons.
Java sparrows
are found wild in
the Malay States,
Sumatra, Borneo.
Java, and Bali, as
well as on some
other islands in
that region. They
have been introduced and established in recent
years in other sections, as in the
coastlands of eastern Africa and adjacent islands, and
elsewhere. According to some,
the bird may have
been native originally in Java and
Bali and been
brought from there
into the other sections where it is
now found wild.
The Java sparrow has long been
known in captivity
in Europe. Sir
Hans Sloane had
one in 1740, and I
have seen them represented in paintings by
Dutch artists of the same period.
In its native home the Java sparrow is
called the "ricebird," and its large flocks are
very destructive to rice before the harvest.
To protect their fields natives erect little huts,
elevated on posts, in which a guard may sit.
Strings hung with rags, tin-can rattles, or
wooden clappers lead out from this central
place over the fields. As the flocks of ricebirds alight, the guard pulls the proper line
and sets in motion the pendants, whereupon
the rattling above the birds frightens them
away.
Originally appeared in the December 1938 issue of the National Geographic Magazine
This Web version COPYRIGHT 2004
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