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B 3 33b 353

GIFT OF

BIOLOGY
LIBRARY

8061 '12

'I 'IT 'a

BIRDS OF

CALCUTTA.

BY

FRANK FINN,

THACKER,
SP1NK V CO.
CALCUTTA.

THE

BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

WITH THE PUBLISHER'S COMPLIMENTS-

THE

BIRDS OF CALCUTTA

BY

FRANK FINN, B.A. (OXON.), F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.,

AUTHOR OF "FANCY WATER-FOWL," "HOW TO KNOW THE INDIAN
DUCKS," "HOW TO KNOW THE INDIAN WADERS," &C.

SECOND EDITION.

Calcutta :

TRACKER, SPINK & CO.

1904.

LONDON: W. THACKER & CO., 2, CREED LANE, E.G.

BIOL03T
LI8RART

G

1 »

CARFENTtER

CALCUTTA :
PRINTED BY TRACKER, SPINK AND CO.

CONTENTS.

Page

T.
II.

v- III

IV.

V

VI

VII.

'V'VIIL

IX

X.

XI

v-XIT.

XIV.

r- XV.

XVI

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

'-""XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

THE CROW
THE MAGPIE
THE SEVEN SISTERS
THE BULBUL 1^1
THE KING-CROW
THE TAILOR-BIRD
THE ORIOLE
THE MYNAH
THE DHTAL
THE SPARROW
THE HONEYSUCKER
THE WOODPECKER
THE COPPERSMITH
THE BLUR- JAY
THE K INGFISHER
THE SWIFT
THE KOEL
THE PARROT
THE OWL
THE VULTURE
THE KITE
THE DOVE
THE GULL
THE PADDY- BIRD

1

10
15
22
28
34
39
44
50
55
60
65
70
76
81
87

104
110
116
123
128
132

732903

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

THE kind reception accorded to the first edition of
the present little work has been deemed a justification
for its reproduction in an improved form. A few neces-
sary alterations have been made to bring it up to date,
and the chapters have been re-arranged so as to bring the
birds dealt with into the same order as that in which
they occur in the Fauna of British India, Bird volumes.
The scientific names used for Indian birds are those
of the above work, the few foreign species mentioned
bearing the name given them in the British Museum,
Catalogue of Birds.

The usefulness of the book will, it is hoped, be en-
hanced by the illustrations, which have been drawn by
that well-known ornithological artist, Mr. Herbert Good-
child, in most cases from living birds in the collection
of the London Zoological Society.

FRANK FINN.

LONDON, January 1904.

THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

L— THE CROW.

" Even the blackest of them all, the Crow." — Longfellow.
BLACK though he is, the Crow may fairly head the list
for more reasons than one. His clan is reckoned by most
ornithologists as the most blue-blooded among the birds,
and comes first in the order of precedence in the official
list in the " Fauna of British India." And he himself ,
full no doubt of consciousness of his egregious merits, has
already made his bow to all my readers, even if they have
resided in India but for a day. Various people have
amused themselves at the expense of naturalists who
call him Corvus svlendens, but it would be hard to find a
better name. See him, as I first saw him, in the London
Zoo among a number of other species of his kind, and you
will at once pronounce him the sleekest, glossiest, and
best got-up fellow of the lot, for most of his upper plumage
has an exquisite satiny gloss of purple and green, admirably
set off by his grey neck and coal-black mask and cap. In
this pattern of colour, as well as in size, he certainly very
much recalls the jackdaw (Corvus monedula) at home, but
he has a very much longer arid heavier bill, and dark
instead of white eyes. The difference between the two
species may be at once noticed even in the mounted speci-
F, BC 1

2 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA

mens in a Museum, and is much more conspicuous in the
living birds, as specific distinctions most commonly are.

There is nothing to choose rin the matter of gloss and
richness of piumage between the male and female Crows,
but the former's bigger head and bill will distinguish him
easily if both are seen together : the difference in feature
is hardly marked enough to sex any Crow by itself.
Young Crows when they leave the nest have light blue
eyes and pink mouths, but they do not look innocent on
that account — rather, with their duller, shabbier plum-
age, more blackguardly than their dark-eyed, black-
mawed parents ; the old Crow being, if anything, rather
blacker inside than out, as far as one can see when he
opens his mouth to caw.

The Crow, unlike the Ethiopian of Scripture, can change
his skin, or rather his feathers, for pied, white and dun-
coloured specimens are not unknown ; one of the last men-
tioned kind lived for more than a dozen years in the
Alipore Zoo. The white birds have flesh-coloured legs
and beaks, and in the duns the parts that should be grey
in the normally-coloured Crow are lighter than the rest.
Such ' ' off-coloured ' ' Crows are said to be tabooed by
Crow society, but this does not seem to be the case with
birds suffering from deformity or disease. I knew for
years a Crow residing in or near Sudder Street which
suffered from some unsightly and doubtless highly un-
pleasant disease of the feet, which makes those members
look as if the bird had just been walking in thick mud ;
and evidently they were very tender, judging from the
gingerly way in which this sufferer walked. Yet I can-

THE CROW. 3

not doubt from the many accounts I have received of it
that a damaged Crow is often worried to death by its
fellows, and I myself once saw one that seemed to have
been having a very bad time at their hands, or what did
duty as such. But, nevertheless, the Crow is a bird of
many social virtues ; he will certainly rescue a friend in
distress if he can, for his evident and loudly expressed in-
dignation when one handles a dead or living comrade of
his makes it plain that a less powerful enemy than
man would probably be seriously attacked. Also he is a
good husband, feeding his wife assiduously, and letting
her pull their common booty away from him; and a ten-
der parent, much attached to his abominable offspring,
in defence of which Crows will attack even a human being
at times. The Crow, however, while looking leniently on
head-tickling and such-like simple connubial reciprocities,
is very severe upon any unfortunate couple of his
kind who go too far in a public display of affection, as I
have witnessed on more than one occasion ; and as for
the wing-drooping, tail-cocking strut which the English
rook indulges in during the breeding season, any Calcutta
Crow who presumed to show of! in such a way would most
likely be very soon taught that it was " no matter for his
swellings, nor his turkey-cocks." This persistent inter-
ference by Crows in each other's domestic affairs
may be the reason why there seem to be so few nests in
proportion to the numbers of Crows one sees. Although
this Crow lives so much in the company of man, it has not
taken much to nesting in buildings, usually preferring a
tree ; though here and there pairs will attempt a nest on

4 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

a house, and Mr. B. Aitken, in Hume's "Nests and
Eggs of Indian Birds," has given a long and amusing
account of an idiotic couple who wasted a whole breeding
season in trying to make nests in utterly impossible
positions in the verandah of the Madras Mail office ; other
eccentrics, wiser in their way. have built nests of wire, and
in one case even of gold and silver spectacle frames. I
have seen one bird which was vainly trying with its mate
to construct a nest in one of the little round windows of
the Economic and Art section of the Museum, soaking
twigs in water, for what reason I cannot divine, unless he
thought they would thereby become softer and stay in
position, which he was not at all successful in getting them
to do. The Crow evidently knows that water has a soften-
ing effect, for I have seen a bird come down to a tank with
a piece of bread in his bill, put it into the water to soak,
while he had a drink and then fly off with it. I have seen
jackdaws also in the London Zoo do a similar thing. It
is indeed curious to speculate on the extent of the Crow's
intelligence. Sometimes, when flying, you will see him
transfer something from his bill to his feet, and carry it
thus a .little way, as if he were trying to learn the kite's
trick of using his feet for transport. Yet he never seems
to learn to pick things off water with his feet, though pick-
ing objects up from that element at all is evidently an
acquired trick with him. I noticed our Crows about the
Museum are very poor hands at picking things off the tank,
while the Hooghly Crows were quite handy at water work.
Similarly, the Grand Hotel Crows are very good at catch-
ing flying, no doubt owing to constant feeding by residents

THE CROW. r>

there. The Crow's intelligence is of course kept up to a
high level by the constant elimination of the young f ook
by death or capture ; the old bird knows well the differ-
ence between a stick or umbrella and a gun. I have
almost touched one with an umbrella and seen another
suddenly recollect an appointment to a distant part of
Calcutta on catching sight of a gun in my verandah. That
a Crow should know a gun when he sees it, or that many
birds should have a working acquaintance with the range
of that weapon, is not so surprising a fact as might seem
at first sight, for we must remember that birds have to
learn by experience the appearance of their different
natural enemies and the distance at which the proximity
of each one becomes dangerous. Our Crow will pull at a
kite's tail, or swoop on its back, out of pure light-hearted-
ness and mischief; but he will not play tricks of that kind
with a falcon, though he makes no secret of his hatred of
the nobler bird. Similarly, I have seen Crows mobbing a
tree-civet or toddy-cat, but although they made a great
deal of noise, they took care to keep well out of reach ;
while with a dog they will go so far, I am told, as to tell off
one of the fraternity to pull his tail when he is engaged
with a bone, so that when the aggrieved canine turns
round to snap, those in front can make off with his dinner.
And this I can readily believe, as T have seen exactly the
same trick played or attempted on a kite more than once ;
the Crows in the last cases I have observed seemed un-
doubtedly to be pairs, which accounts for their working
together so well. No doubt the female does the tail-pulling,
while the male takes the post of danger in front ; in one

t) THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

instance I made sure of this from the forbearing behaviour
of the Crow which had snatched the bone of contention^
which he was able to do before any tail- pulling had
taken place. I have alluded to the Crows annoying kites
by way of recreation, and there is no doubt whatever that
this is the object, just as they seem to take pleasure in
letting a man come as near them as is consistent with
safety „ But they seem also to have regular games ; at
any rate I cannot otherwise account for the habit they
have of assembling in the evening and playing what looks
very like ''I'm the king of the castle " on the Museum
lightning-conductors, for the spiky top of these rods is not
a pleasant seat for a Crow ; and yet they are constantly
trying to sit on them at this time.

The Crow on the whole must have a very happy life.
He cannot want for food, for in addition to his natural
prey of carrion and insects, he can pick up or steal all
sorts of remnants of man's food; which makes it the more
remarkable that his feeding habits are at times so unspeak-
ably nasty. His enemies, outside man, who does not
often get a chance at him, are few ; and that the struggle
for existence does not press him very hard seems obvious
from the fact that he always has plenty of time to spare
in annoying other creatures, from men to lizards. I have
heaj-d of a Crow watching one of those reptiles laying
and1 eating up the eggs one by one ! He is indeed a ter-
rible pest to anything that is weak and helpless, though
he often meets his match in a most unexpected way. I
have seen him soundly beaten by the little spotted
(Jove — about the last adversary one would expect him

THE CKOW.

to fear — but a bad conscience no doubt makes nim a
coward.

What are his relations to the Jungle-crow (Corvus mac-
rorhynchus) I do not know. Every now and then one
hears, even in Calcutta, the provincial accents of this Mo-
fussilite, and catches sight of him, easily distinguishable
from the urban bird by his greater size and entirely black
plumage. Is the smaller bird the master — not an un-
known case among allied species— or is the size of the
Jungle-crow a disadvantage to him when flying amongst
buildings ? At any rate, one has to get some distance
away from Calcutta before one finds the big black Crow at
all common. Yet he has a very wide range, from Gilgit
where he meets the true raven with which he is some-
times confounded, to Siam and Singapore ; and he is
also the Crow of the Andamans, so that he must possess
considerable powers of adapting himself to circumstances.
But, from the fact that the Himalayan birds are the small-
est and those from the Andamans and Burma the largest,
we may infer that he likes a hot stuffy climate better than
a cool bracing one. It is the other way with the true
raven (Corvus cor ax), which is easily distinguished by his
greater size and the beard of pointed hackles on his throat,
for this bird is largest and finest in the hills and dwindles
into a puny race when he lives in the plains ; but he is
always considerably bigger than the Jungle-crow.

Our familiar Calcutta friend is mostly confined to India,
and to low elevations there, and does not seem to vary
much in size, though in the drier parts his neck gets nearly
white, and in Ceylon so much darker that it attracts the

THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

attention of any one who observes him ; on the Burmese
frontier he has a near relative in the Burmese House -crow
(Corvus insolens) which is of the same size, but dark-necked
and with a different note, but similar in habits. Outside
India he has of late years been introduced as a scavenger
into Zanzibar, where I first made his acquaintance in the
wild state ; but as a sanitary bird he is, in my opinion,
much inferior to his hated rival, the kite. Moreover,
there are, of course, Crows of other kinds in Africa, as
there are in all the large divisions of the world except in
South America, where the place of these birds is taken by
the carrion hawks, which exhibit in their habits the com-
bined rascality of Crow and kite. One of this group can
often be seen at Zoological Gardens in the person of the
Caracara hawk, a very handsome but cowardly and mis-
chievous bird. It will be interesting to see what will hap-
pen when Crows at length gain a footing in South America,
for some one is sure to introduce them sooner or later, just
as our own rook (Corvus frugilegus) at home was lately his
trial in South Africa. Of course indiscriminate introduc-
tion like this is much to be condemned from the point of
view of the practical man, though from that of the
naturalist it is of great interest, for future generations
of observers will find in it an experiment in evolution.

Crows are certain to have an important influence on the
fauna of a country, if only from their cunning arid their
Jong life. Whether Hesiod, when he said " Nine genera-
tions lives the croaking Crow ' ' was strictly accurate is
open to considerable doubt ; the oldest Indian Crow I ever
knew was at least fifteen and looked as young as ever he

THE CROW. 9

could have done. He was in the London Zoo, and I re-
member particularly that one very hard winter, although
in an out-of-door aviary, he looked about the most cheerful
bird in the gardens ; so that if he haunts a warm climate
here it is not because he cannot stand a cold one. There
is no doubt that he feels the heat very badly, but he
probably finds that an easy livelihood has compensating
advantages.

I fear, indeed, that things are made too easy for him,
for he is no doubt a deadly enemy to many smaller and
more attractive birds, besides being a great nuisance to
ourselves by his noise and pilfering, in which latter pur-
suit he will become appallingly impudent. When I used
to encourage Crows, I remember one coming into my room
after chota-hazri, taking a couple of mouthfuls out of the
butter on my plate, and staying to wipe his beak on a pam-
phlet that lay handy before he sought the top of the
jillmill ! When you give him an inch he will take an ell,
and my policy towards the Crows was one of war to the
knife, for I think one pair to a compound is a fair working
average. The Crows knew it, too, I think, for I was not
popular with them ; but for all that I would be the last
to advocate the entire extermination of such a polished
scoundrel as Corvus splendens.

Indian Magpie.
Dendrociita rufa.

II.— THE MAGPIE.

" Proud and pert as is a Pie." — Chaucer.

THE common Indian Magpie (Dendrocitta rufa) is cer-
tainly not the equal in pride and pertness of the European
bird which Chaucer knew. For one thing it has less to be
proud of, being soberly costumed in cinnamon and silver-
grey instead of snow-white and glossy black like Pica rus-
tica at home. Nor does it come down on the ground and
swagger about there ; its legs are very short, and restrict
its movements to hopping on the very rare occasions when
it does descend from the trees. Usually it keeps aloft,
searching among the foliage for any small game that may

THE MAGPIE 11

present itself in the way of insects or young birds ; and
though conspicuous in its slow dipping flight from tree to
tree, it is perhaps more often heard than seen. Its ordi-
nary notes are certainly not more melodious than those of
the home Magpie, one native name, ' ' Handi-chancha
well expressing one of them ; but it can produce some very
pretty metallic sounds if it likes. Whether it can learn to
talk I do not know ; the natives, at all events, do not
seem to make a pet of it, although one may now and then
see the young birds on sale in the Bazaars. They may be
known at once by their resemblance to their parents,
though they are much lighter in colour, being buff instead
of cinnamon. Of the old birds both sexes are alike, as is
the rule among the crow tribe. At first sight the long-tailed,
short- winged, and short-legged Indian Pie looks very differ-
ent from the well-proportioned crow, none of whose members
are unduly developed ; but she has much the same charac-
ter of cautious audacity, and, although not a " galley-
ranger ' ' like her black kindred, is very accommodating
in appetite. Jerdon relates a case in which one used to
daily visit a cage of small birds in a verandah, at first in
order to eat the seed supplied to them ; soon, however, he
passed from petty larceny to murder, and was ultimately
executed.

No doubt Pies, even more than crows, act as a healthy
check on the exuberant domesticity of Philip Sparrow,
which would otherwise overflow in those arboreal colonies
in which his soul delights in safer localities than Calcutta.
But Mag cannot be a very dangerous neighbour to most
small birds, seeing that they flourish so well in our midst

12 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

in spite of her presence and presumably not altogether
disinterested enquiries into the progress of their home
and family arrangements. She has no particular ill-
wishers herself, for birds of the crow kind are seldom at-
tacked by others, unless it be by the larger owls who
steal upon them under cover of darkness ; but the king-
crow, in exercise of his office of supervisor of all doubtful
characters in the feathered world, has been seen to harry
her, clinging to her tail and being thus towed
along for some distance. Whatever be the cause, although
our Indian Magpie favours thorny twigs for building with,
she does not, like the European bird, construct a dome
with them over her nest, but sticks to the usual corvine
pattern of an open cup. In the matter of eggs, however,
she boldly defies convention, for she will have them with the
pale ground colour tinted either pink or green, and enrich-
ed with spots varying in hue from bright red to dull brown.
In respect to refreshments, on the other hand, besides
exhibiting the family readiness to take whatever comes
to hand, she is a true crow in having as frugal a mind as
John Gilpin's wife, and in time of plenty will lay up stores
for a rainy day. This I found out from the only specimen
of the bird I ever kept, discovering that it had laid up bits
of meat in various parts of its large cage soon ofter receiv-
ing the ration.

To whatever cause we may ascribe the result, the com-
mon Indian Pie is a very successful bird, and extends its
range nearly all over the Empire from Cashmere to Tenas-
serim ; and, although quite at home in the sweltering at-
mosphere of the plains, ascends the Himalayas up to 7,000

THE MAGPIE. 13

feet, and thrives particularly well there, hill specimens
being of larger growth than those bred lower down. This
is curious, for our cinnamon friend has a relative which is
a thorough mountaineer, never living in the plains, though
I have seen it as low down as Raj pore in the Boon. And
this bird is smaller than the common one, although living
under the same conditions in which its rival so adds to its
stature. This hill Tree-pie (Dendrocitta kimalayensis)
is not so handsome a bird as its more widely distribut-
ed relative, its prevailing hue being a dark iron-grey.

Wherever our "wandering Pie" — as it is called in some
books — goes in India, it will find poor relatives, much re-
sembling itself in all but colour, which, for some reason or
other, have failed to spread as Dendrocitta rufa has
done. At present the problem defies solution ; but as the
distribution of birds generally has been pretty well map-
ped out by this time, I hope the day is not far distant
when ornithologists will begin to try and find out the
reasons for it — why, for instance, one species of a genus
should be able to live almost anywhere, as in the present
case, while the others have bounds set to their
wanderings.

The European Magpie, sometimes seen as a pet in
Calcutta, where it has been imported from China, is
another good case of a successful bird, for it is found all
round the Northern Hemisphere, and is still extending its
range, having invaded Ireland and become very common
there even in human knowledge, though not by any means
recently. Even in our Indian Empire it appears in Cash-
mere and Upper Burma, and the clan of Tree-pies may yet

14 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

find in it a dangerous competitor, for a bird that is active
both below and aloft has advantages which few possess.

A word seems needed for other exotic Magpies often
seen in Calcutta as pets. These are the white-backed and
black-backed Australian Magpies, better known in books,
as Piping Crows (Gymnorhina leuconota and G. tibicen).
These are short- tailed pied birds, about the size of the com-
mon house-crow, and are quite as much allied to the shrikes-
as to the true crows, though they more closely resemble
the latter in form and habits. They have and deserve a
high reputation, for they are good and very free talkers,
and their own natural note is a beautiful whistle, very
different from the varied cacophony of the genuine Magpie
and crow. It is not surprising, therefore, that they
readily learn to whistle tunes, though in their case, as in
our own, "a little knowledge" is objectionable. The
London Zoo had one once which persistently whistled a
line and a half of a song. With this, as the late Mr. A.
Bartlett told me, he habitually saluted the morn, and got
so annoying that he had to be banished from the pre-
cincts of the Superintendent's dwelling to the Western
Aviary. For, as the narrator of the episode said, he
"used to lie in bed and sweat, waiting for him to begin !**

Babbler.
Crateropus caiwrus.

III.— THE SEVEN SISTERS.

" We are seven." — Wordsworth.

SOME years back, a new Viceroy was being shown
the wonders of his temporary kingdom, and among these
the Taj at Agra held, of course, an important place. Ar-
rived before the glorious monument of Eastern love and
pride, ' ' the artless Aide-de-Camp was mute ; the gilded
staff were still ' ' as Kipling says, in anxious expectation of
the comment of His Excellency. But this, alas i when it
came was merely the remark: "What are those funny
little birds ? ' ' The shock must have been the greater
for the fact that the mean fowls thus honoured were it
seems, of that singularly disreputable species which is
commonly known in India as the "Seven Sisters" or
"Seven Brothers," or by the Hindustani equivalent of
sat-bhai. In books it gets called the Jungle Babbler, the

16 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

first part of the name being inappropriate, for it is found
everywhere, and the last singularly happy, for it does
babble with a vengeance. As may be inferred from their
popular names, these birds go about in small packs of
about half-a-dozen —there are not invariably seven, nor can
these be a family party, since only three or four eggs are
laid. They hop about searching for food on the ground or
branches, murmuring squeakily to themselves meanwhile,
and ever and anon burst out into a startling volley of
wheezy hysterical chatter, which gets terribly upon one's
nerves in time in a place where they are common. Lin-
naeus, when he called the bird Turdus canorus, the tuneful
thrush, must have been wildly ignorant of it, or
have hopelessly mixed it up with an ally and a real
songster, the huamei of China (Trochalopterum cano-
rum ), which he included under the same name.
Modern ornithologists call our babbling brotherhood
Crateropus canorus, placing them in a different family
from the true thrushes, to which they nevertheless
bear a strong general resemblance in form and size.
But the differences are very soon perceptible if one studies
the living birds. Your thrush is sleek, stiff, and starch ;
he is a musical artist, but allows himself no artistic license
in his dress, which is neat to primness. The Babblers, on
the contrary, have a fluffy, frowsy appearance ; their tails
hang loosely, and their wings, which are short, are not
neatly tucked up as they should be, but lie anyhow.
Nor have they the excuse of pleasing colour, such as many
clumsy birds can boast of ; a brownish grey, of ' 'unpar-
alleled dignitude" as Baboo Jabberjee would say, is almost

THE SEVEN SISTERS. 17

the only hue visible in their attire, and is not particularly
well set off by a white eye like a jackdaw's and whitish
legs and bill of an unpleasantly anaemic appearance. There
is, however, a real interest attaching to these disre-
putable-looking birds. We are all familiar with Lamb's
appallingly ugly lady whose facial turpitude was supposed
to be atoned for by the possession of superlative moral
excellence ; and unquestionably fraternal affection is the
strong point of the babbling brotherhood. In the grave
pages of the Asiatic Society's Journal a friend of mine has
recorded his frequent experience of the devoted courage
with which these feeble-winged creatures will rush to the
defence of a comrade held in the grip of a trained hawk .
on one occasion the victim was actually rescued by its com-
rades before the hawk could receive its master's assistance,
and on another, one of the Babblers was caught by hand
as it clung to the back of its relative's murderer. No one,
so far as I am aware, has recorded behaviour anything
like this on the part of our song-thrush (Turdus musicus),
who appears to be rather a coward, although his near rela-
tive the missel -thrush (Turdus viscivorus) will show fight
boldly in defence of his home and mate. And with regard
to these Babblers courage appears to be a variable quality
even in this particular species ; for Dr. Jerdon expressly
states that the Jungle Babbler will not attack a trained
hawk flown at the flock as the bolder Mahratta Babbler
(Argya makolmi) will. Dehra Dun, therefore, where the
above incident occurred, must be inhabited by a peculiarly
warlike clan of Crateropus canorus, and certainly they
are very numerous there and obtrusively noisy. That
K, BC. 2

18 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

sociability is a passion with the species no one who has
studied it can doubt ; I have kept several, and have
found that they almost invariably exhibited the spirit of
the poet's goldfinch, who

66 A prison with a friend preferred

To liberty without."

If one found himself outside the cage which contained
the happy family, he "did his possible" to get in again
without any thought of escape. It may be ungenerously
suggested that such birds are afraid to go about alone, lest
their ribald remarks, made in the security of numbers, meet
with a just retaliation at the beaks and claws of outraged
bird society ; and so it may be, but nevertheless there
is a well-spring of sincere sociability under the Babbler's
frowsy feathering. On the comparatively rare occasions
when my captives were still, they employed themselves in
affectionately tickling each other's heads as they cuddled
together, and I have even seen one diligently employed in
endeavouring to clean the wing of a friend, soiled by the
bird lime with which its capture had been effected. At the
same time it must be admitted that the addition to their
ordinary diet of table scraps of such a delicacy as a cock-
roach was apt to produce a sad disruption of fraternal
harmony. On such occasions one might see one brother
prone in the sand, while another, holding his head " in
chancery" with one foot, was punching the same with his
beak in a manner calculated to awake grave fears for the
integrity of the sufferer's skull when the punishment
should be over ; and once I saw two birds adherent with
bill and claw to one and the same cockroach, which a

THE SEVEN SISTERS. 19

third was devouring, as neither of the joint owners dared
to let go his hold ! These traits of character would seem
to show that Crateropus canorus is in about the same stage
of moral evolution as that represented by the public school
boy, a gallant defender of his kind against the assaults of
"cads," "nippers," and '' vulgar plebs" generally, but
inclined also to be severe on them in individual disputes.
The reason for the development of such clannishness
is obvious when the very weak flight of this bird is noticed ;
the short wings are beaten quickly for a short distance,
and the labour is economised by a gliding skim till a fresh
effort is required ; and with such a method of flight escape
by aerial evolutions is very much at a discount. On
his feet the Babbler is much more at home, and hops along
with considerable speed, never running smoothly as the
true thrushes often do. He differs from these birds also
in another noticeable point in the use of the feet, having
the crow-like habit of using them to hold anything large
he is eating — a thing no thrush would stoop to do — or
think of doing, more likely. Babblers also resemble crows
and differ from most thrushes in the young birds being
like their parents ; young thrushes being, as everyone
knows, much more spotted than old ones. Whether the
Babblers go through any elaborate courtship ceremony I
cannot say ; male and female are equally ugly, but this
does not prevent some birds from making themselves ridi-
culous before the object of their affections, and possibly
these are among the number — a Babbler could not be dig-
nified if he tried. Their nest is just about the sort of
abode one would expect them to build, a simple cup, more

20 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

or less loose and untidy, placed almost anywhere in shrubs
or trees. But the eggs are the one beautiful thing about
the bird, being of that lovely blue so noticeable in the
hedge-sparrow's at home, and very glossy in addition.
As above implied the young -ones fledge off very like the
old, but they have dark brown instead of white eyes.
A very plump one I experimentally ate tasted much like a
quail, and herein perhaps lies an economic possibility for
the "Seven Sisters ;" the clan would just about fill a pie.
The French in Algeria regard the local babbler there (Argya
fulva) as gibier, but their notions in that matter are known
to be liberal ; witness the colonists in New Caledonia who
used to eat the local crow, until one day a native asked one
of these sportsmen why the white men ate what they reli-
giously avoided, giving as a reason, when questioned, that
the said crows ate them when exposed dead on platforms
in the forest according to custom. After this crow ceased
to figure in the Colonial menu.

The said Algerian Babbler is the nearest of the family to
Europe, and generally speaking, babblers inhabit Africa
and the Oriental region only. Our familiar suburban
friend, which is found all over India, is the only one about
here in a wild state, though several of his more or less close
relatives may be met with at bird-dealer's places, includ-
ing the abovementioned huamei of China, recognizable
by its russet plumage and white eyebrows, and another
species common to that country and Further India, the
slate-coloured, white-cheeked Chinese mocking-bird or
peko (Dryonastes chinensis), which, though obviously of the
vulgar babbler family, is a finer songster than almost any

THE SEVEN SISTERS. 21

bird I have heard, and a mocker to boot. Some day,
possibly, when people begin to realize that desirable birds
can be cultivated in gardens as well as desirable plants
(the efforts of humanity in the former direction hitherto
having been largely expended in the acclimatization of
nuisances) we may have the peko making our gardens
melodious and supplanting the " shrieking sisterhood"
altogether — a consummation devoutly to be wished,
although, till some such better bird takes their place*
their industriously insectivorous habits may give . them a
raison d'etre.

Common Bengal Bulbul.
Molpastes benyalensis.

IV.— THE BULBUL.

!* The Bulbul, which did chase the jewelled butterflies." —
Arnold.

CONSIDERING what a charming and characteristic feature
butterflies form in the tropical landscape, it would not be
much to the Bulbul' s credit if chasing them were his most
noteworthy occupation. Undoubtedly he does catch but-
terflies sometimes, for I once saw a wild Bulbul with one
in his bill — not "jewelled," but plain white — and he will
eat them readily enough in confinement. But on the
other hand, fruit is undoubtedly his more ordinary food ;
a certain Lantana bush I wot of is much resorted to by
both Bulbuls and butterflies, and the berries seem to be
the, birds' only object in visiting it. And captive Bulbulg

THE BULBUL. 23

display an indiscriminateness in taste as regards the species
of butterflies they devour, that would shock many of the
exponents of ' ' warning colouration in insects ;' ' eating,
without the stimulus of hunger, species which other birds
will avoid unless they have no choice allowed. This may
be interpreted in two ways. Either the Bulbul is such a
common bird because he doesn't care what he eats ; or he
is a mere amateur in butter fly -eating, and doesn't know
what's good, like a young bird who has his experience to
gain. Certainly his insect-catching when at liberty is
mostly concerned with smaller game, for it is not always
easy to see what he takes when he rises in the air a short
distance and then drops back to his perch. For he is a bird
of varied abilities ; he can skip about gracefully among the
branches of a shrub, though he is more given to sitting on
the top ; and on the wing his movements, though not
particularly powerful or swift, are easy and graceful to a
degree. Only on the ground is he awkward, for his legs
are too short for him to hop with much agility or keep his
tail clear ; but he does not often descend to earth, and
wisely. No small bird looks well on the ground unless he
can run, like the wagtail, and even then he is rather insig-
nificant. But place the Bulbul as one generally sees him,
on a lofty spray, his jetty crest erect, and his tail drooping
in a neglige manner all his own, and it is difficult to find a
small bird so picturesque. True, his black fore-quarters
fade off to dusty brown on the wings and iron-grey on the
breast, and the only bright colour he boasts is the silky
crimson patch modestly concealed under the root of his
tail ; but even so he is more strikingly attired than most

24 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

European birds. Both cock and hen are also equally well
dressed ; but the young are duller and look rather shabby,
especially as they have to wear a rusty-buff escutcheon
instead of a blood-red one. This curiously-placed bit of
colour seems a family feature with Bulbuls ; it is always
either red or yellow, however, when it occurs at all, other
tints being strictly barred. The only Bulbul which occurs
in Europe — in the Cyclades — bears a yellow patch, being
otherwise of a snuffy brown ; and this is possibly the bird
which has got mixed up with the Nightingale in Eastern
poetry, as it occurs in Palestine, and is there called Bulbul
by the Arabs. Bulbul in Persian is always supposed to
mean the true Nightingale, the lover of the rose, and there
seems to be no reason to doubt the correctness of the iden-
tification— though it may be mentioned that the Persian
nightingale (Daulias golzii) is not absolutely identical with
the European bird. More to the point are the facts that
the Yarkandis call the Barred Warbler (Sylvia nisoria)
the Bulbul, and that the Palestine Bulbul (Pycnonotus
xanthopygus) above alluded to is a really fine singer. So
that whatever bird was called by the name to start with,
it seems to be about as indefinite among Orientals as
4 ' Mocking-bird ' ' and ' ' Sparrow ' ' are in our own lan-
guage. However, in India " Bulbul " is taken by both
natives and Europeans in a very definite signification for
a large group of pretty birds, of which our dark Bengal
species (Molpastes bengalensis) may very fairly claim to be
the type. He certainly is not much of a songster, but his
notes are never harsh and always singularly cheerful and
liquid, conveying an unequivocal sense of happiness and

THE BULBUL. 25

well-being ; and he is a thoroughly nice bird. He is nofc
obtrusively sociable nor peevishly solitary and quarrel-
some ; when the natives make him fight, it is by showing
two hungry birds a morsel of food, over which of course
there is a conflict. It is for this purpose that he is so
often kept tame, tied to a cloth -padded, T-shaped iron
perch by a long string connected with a soft thread round
bis body. Fortunately, he does not seem to get much
damaged in these fights, and at the end of the winter, the
bulbul- fighting season, he is released, unless he has proved
himself an exceptional champion and worth reserving for
future triumphs. It is a shame to make use of his courage
in this way, for he is really a plucky bird, and will even beat
off a crow from his nest, although not more than half as
large again as a sparrow himself. The said nest is an open
one placed in a bush, and has nothing particularly remark-
able about it. The eggs, however, are very pretty, being
pinky-white with red spots, a common colour in the family.
Young Bulbuls taken just as their tails begin to grow are
easily reared and become very tame, making most charm-
ing pets ; I had one which was allowed full liberty, and
was at times quite a nuisance by its determination to
follow me about. The Bulbul, indeed, seems to have a
warm heart, although as above noted not fussily affec-
tionate with its kind ; a well known English authority on
cage birds has recorded that a male Bulbul in his posses-
sion had his paternal instincts so quickened by witnessing
the rearing of a brood of American Blue Robins (Sialia
sialis) in the same aviary that he insisted on taking a
helping hand, and even murderously attacked the real

26 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

father for not altogether resigning in his favour. This,
indeed, might be considered as carrying matters rather too
far, but after all the poor bird was no worse than any other
' well meaning person."

Red-whiskered Bulbul.

I have never noticed what are the exact relations, friend-
ly or otherwise, between the black Bulbul and his smaller
relative the Red- whiskered (Otocompsa emeria) which
is also not uncommon here. The Red- whiskered Bulbul
is not nearly so numerous, and is easily distinguished by
his white breast and throat, and by having his red under-
tail -patch reproduced on his cheeks in two small scarlet
tufts. Besides he is considerably smaller, and has a
much longer crest, elegantly tapered to a point. Alto-
gether he is a very pretty little bird, and one which
would attract attention anywhere. He has a much wider
range than the larger Bulbul, extending from India to Siam

THE BULBUL. 27

and China, while the other species is not found outside
this country, and is confined here to the north-east, being
replaced elsewhere by other species very much resem-
bling it, but not so big or so black. In Western and South-
ern India the Red-whiskered Bulbul also gives place to
another species, which is however, very like it, chiefly differ-
ing in having no white tip to the tail. Both of our Bulbuls
must be fairly hardy birds, for they range up the Himalayas
to quite a temperate climate; however, they no doubt
come down in the winter just like human visitants to the
hills — which is where a hill-bird has such an advantage over
one that has to make a long migration on the level.

I have seen variations of both our species of Bulbuls ;
in the case of the larger one the " freak " was ash-grey
and in the smaller, white, the red markings persisting
in each case, as indeed red colour usually does in albino
varieties. Both ' ' sports ' ' were very pretty, and as Bul-
buls will breed in confinement, they would be well worth
taking some trouble to perpetuate. But no one is
likely to take that trouble in India, and Bulbuls are not
very commonly kept at home, although both of our spe-
cies can be obtained there at more or less moderate prices.
The Bulbul, unfortunately for its reputation for a cage-
bird, has only beauty of form to recommend it, and the
home fancier demands a song or gaudy colour if he is to
honour a non-seed-eating bird with a place in his aviaries,
with the occasional variation of ' ' starring it " on the
show bench.

KING-CROW

" I am monarch of all I survey ." — Cowper.

THE King-Crow, or Drongo as he is called in books,
has a wide enough kingdom to rule over, extending from
West Africa to China, and here in India he may claim to
be one of our most characteristic birds, for it would hardly
be an exaggeration to say that there is one of these jet-
black fork- tailed birds between every two telegraph
posts for many miles of country. Where there are no
telegraph-wires the king-crow will put up with a dead
branch or a cow's back ; he wants some perch that will
afford a clear outlook and plenty of room for evolutions
around it, and though sometimes, as on the maidan, he
will sit about on the ground, he is grievously falling from
the traditions of his family in so doing, for the Drongos
generally are as much given to pride of place as the green
pigeon, concerning which native traditions avers that
when it comes down to drink it carries a twig in its feet,
lest its enemies should say that it had ever deigned to
leave a perch. Perhaps our common Drongo (Dicrurus
ater) owes his prosperity to waiving his family pride, since
even settling to catch prey is contrary to strict Drongo
etiquette, and he is constantly doing this, though he is
active enough at taking insects on the wing. But he is
by way of being a very versatile bird, and though he

THE KING-CKOW. 29

appears never to touch vegetable food, he has been known
to take small birds as well as insects, and even to capture
small fish ; a feat of which no one will deem him incapable
who has seen him taking his bath by plunges like a swallow,
a method of performing ablutions much favoured by birds
which are ready of wing. And the King-Crow is remark-
ably good at aerial evolutions, whence he is enabled to
maintain that authority over birds great and small which
the Deccanis have neatly expressed by calling him kotwal,
superintendent of police. Armed with very punishing
beak and claws, he is a terror to evil-doers like the kite
and crow, who cannot catch him, much as they would like
to — I have seen a sickly King-Crow fall a prey to a kite—
but also, it is to be regretted, at times a nuisance to the
more peaceful portion of the bird community, robbing
them when he can of their insect prey ; although perhaps
he feels that this is merely an exaction of a tribute due to
his energetic exertions against the criminal classes, which
the public would churlishly withhold.

It must be admitted that he is sometimes very unscru-
pulous ; a King-Crow has been known to give the alarm of
a hawk in order to frighten off a bird which was capturing
an insect which he wanted himself, though such an action
shows intelligence of no mean order ; and also exempli-
fies the vocal powers of the King-Crow, which, like many
other birds possessed of a powerful and flexible voice, has
considerable aptitude for variations. His notes are very
pleasant, and he is almost the earliest bird to tune up in
the morning. The male and female King-Crows are quite
alike, and even the young aie fledged black at first,

30 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

though afterwards they become mottled with white below,
and it is years before this marking disappears altogether.
The eggs that give them birth are very pretty, being sal-
mon-coloured spotted with red, though pure white ones
are not uncommon. They are deposited in an open nest
in a tree, which the parents vigorously defend ; but these,
with all their care, are liable to be imposed upon by a
remarkable cuckoo (Surniculus lugubris), which is one of
the very best instances of mimicry in nature, since it re-
sembles the Drongo, not only in size, but in colour and
form, having a forked tail, an altogether exceptional fea-
ture in the cuckoo family. No doubt the impostor benefits
in a general way by resembling a bird which is given to
making itself respected by others, but the special advan-
tage secured is probably greater security in foisting its
unwelcome offspring on the Drongos ; this, however, it
does not always accomplish successfully, for an instance
has been recorded in vrhich the unfortunate cuckoo was
actually seen to be pecked to death by them.

I am not aware that this Drongo- cuckoo is found about
Calcutta, but this may possibly be the case, as it .is no
doubt often passed over as a King- Crow ; but anyone who
notices one of these which looks a little different from the
rest, and on watching it finds that it has the toes in pairs
after cuckoo fashion, will know that he has seen a speci-
men of the mimic.

There is one thing about the King-Crow that puzzles me
considerably. Very often I have noticed that one of the
forks of the tail is much worn away ; whether the right
or the left I have not observed, nor can I suggest an

THE KING-CROW. 31

explanation — unless it is that the bird when sitting on a
bough or wire and turning round always does so on the same
side, so as to bring all the consequent friction on one-half
of the tail. The King-Crow's tail, indeed, seems rather
an unwieldy member, for he does not lift it up in the air
when on the ground, where it must be rather in his way,
and although a forked tail is undoubtedly meant as an
aid to evolution in flight, in our present subject it seems
unnecessarily long, and from its turned-up edges looks as
if it were quite as much for ornament as for use.

The whole family of Drongos have more or less forked
tails ; this and their almost invariably black plumage
easily distinguishing them from their near relatives, the
shrikes, of which a typical representative may be seen in
Calcutta gardens in the person of the Brown Shrike (Lani-
us cristatus) a bull-headed, black-eyebrowed bird rather
larger than a sparrow, given to making highly unpleasant
noises and very appreciative of cockroaches thrown out
for him. Both shrikes and Drongos have the habit of
holding their food in one foot like a parrot, but the latter
are not known to impale their prey like the former. No
Drongos are found outside the old world, but in general
domineering their place is ably filled in America by the
king-bird and other members of the American family of
tyrant-flycatchers. In Europe no bird seems to have
taken up this position, though the missel-thrush attempts
it a little. Perhaps the European birds are too free and
independent to be^thus lorded over, or possibly the supply
of insects is not suitable for the support of birds which,
although as big as thrushes, do not hunt for their prey,

32 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

but like Mr. Micawber, wait for something to turn up
and then come down on it, as is the custom of these
Oriental and American oligarchs in feathers. The true
shrikes, one would think, might fill such a place, but
they prefer devouring their smaller relatives to waging
war on birds of prey, though they hate them well enough.
I have only noticed one near relative of the King- Crow
about Calcutta, and that in the Botanical Gardens, in the
person of the Kesraj or Hair-crested Drongo (Chibia hotien-
totla), a larger species than the King-Crow, with a shorter
tail and longer bill, and exquisitely glossy plumage, deriv-
ing its English name from the curious ornament of a few
long hairs springing from the forehead. This bird is
sociable, unlike the common Drongo, and does not go in
much for fly-catching, preferring to rummage in flowers
for honey and insects, for which purpose its long, curved,
fine-pointed bill is well adapted — it is, in fact, a drongo
trying to turn honeysucker. Another cousin of the King-
Crow's, however, although only known here as a captive,
cannot be passed over. This is the Bhimraj, or Racket -
tailed Drongo (Dissemurus paradiseus), a bird nearly as
big as a magpie, with the outer tail-feathers prolonged for
about a foot into long bare shafts, with, a bit of feathering
at the tip — an ornament which does not usually stand
much chance of maintaining its perfection in the miser-
ably small cages in which the poor birds are usually confin-
ed. No wonder they do not live long ; very few, I am
told, survive a year. But given a big cage, say three or four
feet square, the bhimraj is not difficult to keep ; he will eat
almost anything, like one of the crow tribe, though the

THE KING-CROW 33

more live insects he gets the better ; and a lizard he will
tear to pieces with a positively fiendish joy. He is, how-
ever, a very sociable bird, extremely fond of being noticed
and petted, and is the most accomplished mimic in exis-
tence. The neigh of a horse, the mew of a cat, and the
song of a canary, he will render in perfection, and has even
been known to talk — an accomplishment not recorded, so
far as I am aware, of the famous American Mocking-bird.
To any one who wants a really good pet bird, I can cordial-
ly recommend the bhimraj .

F, BC

VI.— THE TAILOR-BIRD.

"Singer and Tailor am /." — Kipling.

HEREIN, and in the pretty stanza that follows, our poet
sadly flatters the Tailor-bird, for any one who waits to
hear " durzee " sing will have much the same experience
as Mark Twain's young pilgrim in Palestine, who was
discovered waiting patiently for a vocal effort on the part
of a mud-turtle, on the strength of the text " the voice of
the turtle is heard in the land." Singer our small cock-
tailed friend is not, though his note is something astonish-
ing for loudness, and gives reason, as has been justly re-
marked, for thankfulness that the elephant does not
possess a voice in like proportion. Orthotomus sutorius,
however, doubtless feels that as the only member of the
melodious family of warblers commonly seen about here, it
is due to his position to make his presence felt. So, when
the spirit moves him, he shouts ' ' to-whee, to-whee, to-
whee," with such vigour that he gets black on the side of
the neck, having a cunningly concealed patch of that
colour there which only shows when he is calling. Mrs.
Durzee, no doubt, admires both hue and cry, for, unlike
most of our warblers at home, Durzee goes in for conspicu-
ous superiority to his mate, at any rate in the breeding
season, for then he alone sports a tail about twice the usual
length, and "elegantly tapered off. Except for this, the

THE TAILOR-BIRD.

Tailor-bird is in build very like our English wren, and were
it brown, instead of green above and white below, might
pass for one with a hasty observer, especially as its habits
are very similar ; it is generally solitary, and equally
lively on its legs when hopping on bush or lawn, and weak
on the wing when it trusts itself to flight. Like ' ' Jenny,"
too, our sartorial artist is insectivorous, and will tackle
insects of good size, though he relies on his bill alone to
manipulate them. This makes it the more remarkable
that he is able to build the wonderful nest which gives him
his name and his reputation. A bird which puts its foot
to a thing, as the even more clever weaver-bird does, has a
great advantage over one which has but one instrument to
work with. But probably both of the tailors work at
their wonderful structure, which is simply a big living leaf,
or several, actually sewn into a rough bag for the reception
of the inner nest, with silk or fibre somehow procured by
the bird, passed through holes bored in the leaves by its
slender bill, and finished off at the end with what is said to
be a knot. The nests vary very much in construction as
far as the details of tailoring are concerned ; there may be,
as above implied, one leaf or many pressed into the service,
and the thread may be of cobweb, cocoon-silk, vegetable
fibre, or real sewing- thread pilfered from a verandah ; for
the Tailor-bird is one of the most familiar of our birds, and
is to be seen even in town, tamely hopping about pot-
plants a few feet from a room.

Nevertheless, though broods have been often brought
off in the Museum compound, I have never seen the nest
in situ, and it is naturally not easy to find. There is a

36 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

good specimen of a single-leaf nest in the Museum for any
one to see who has not met with an actual specimen ; but
the Tailor-bird's reputation is a century old in Europe, and
many people must have seen pictures giving more or less
of an idea of it and its abode. The young birds are cradled
for the most part in cotton- wool, of which the inner nest
is composed, and when they come out in the world are
charmingly tame little things, with a very strong likeness
to their parents, except that the chestnut cap which marks
the old birds is not so bright in the young ; although in
many warblers the young birds are actually brighter than
their parents while keeping the same pattern.

The eggs are, according to Mr. Hume, from whom I take
my details about the nests, most remarkably variable, for
although always spotted with reddish brown, they may
have either a white or a bluish-green ground colour. But
as these two types do not occur in the same nest, it is very
probable that the disposition to produce eggs of one or
other colour ' ' runs in the family ' ' in certain strains of
Tailor-birds, just as a common duck has been known to
secure her destruction and that of her descendants (who
took after her) by laying eggs which always had yolks of the
very unappetising appearance of melted glue! There are
only three or four in the clutch, so thatDurzee has not to
work so hard for the family as Jenny Wren, who is wont to
resemble the traditional old lady who lived in a shoe in the
exuberance of her family. Presumably the reason for the
difference in two so similar birds is that the hanging cradle
won't accommodate safely more than a very limited num-
ber of infants, while the wren's nest in a hedge can be

THE TAILOR-BIRD. 37

packed with impunity. Besides, the bitter struggle for exis-
tence in a cold climate requires a considerable prolificacy to
keep a small weak species going against many risks. Now,
though Durzee has doubtless a great many ill-wishers, his
food-supply is never likely to fail, nor is it ever cold enough
in his home to nip the smallest bird, seeing that he only
inhabits warm climates, not ascending our hills more than
4,000 feet, and only ranging, outside India, into Burma,
Siam, and South China. Needless to say, he is not a mi-
gratory bird, and any day at all seasons his tiny form may
be noticed in our gardens even in the middle of the town.
Here, then, is an opportunity for any of our amateur natu-
ralists. It is doubtful if every detail of the building of
Durzee' s nest has ever been watched, as it has in the case
of our other wonderful architect, the weaver ; and any one
who can locate a pair of Tailor-birds in his or her compound,
and, penetrating into their secrets, tell us exactly how the
thing is done, they will be doing a service to ornithology ;
so much is there to study even in our commonest birds
here, for India is the home of wonderful nest-builders
There are other warblers in the tailoring trade besides
Orthotomus, and curiously enough these also are non-mi-
gratory birds of insignificant vocal attainments ; the
migratory warblers, who do most of the warbling, like qur
blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) at home, being nothing out of
the way as architects. Darwin has observed that beauty
and the power of song seem to a great extent to replace
each other ; the songlessness of beautiful birds is almost
proverbial. And similarly songsters do not seem to run to
architecture, and vice versa ; the tailor and weaver are

38 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

more remarkable for noise than melody, and the nightin-
gale, with twenty centuries of reputation for music, is but
a poor nest-constructor compared with many hum-
bler birds. Another curious fact is that clever birds of any
sort display the infirmities of genius in a most marked way
by having nasty tempers ; song birds are generally soli-
tary, and a weaver colony admirably exemplifies the
definition of a sociable animal as one which always sits
within quarrelling distance of another. I fear that Durzee,
although belonging to a profession usually credited with
peaceful proclivities, comes under this indictment. He is
certainly only about the ninth part of a bird, but one
never sees two Tailor-birds together, unless they are hus-
band and wife or members of a family ; and oftener the
little artist is alone. Herein probably is the reason why
with habits so well calculated to preserve his species, he is
not more common ; two of a trade never agree, and Durzee,
like Cock Robin, has doubtless long ago learnt that a pri-
vate pitch is the first necessity of life, and that after a
time even the little apprentices must be compelled to move
into the next street.

VII.— THE ORIOLE.

" There's a golden bird"— Hood.

GOLDEN indeed is the rich plumage of our Black-headed
Oriole (Oriolus melanocephalus), and the prevailing hue is
admirably set off by the black hood, wings and tail ; while
the pink bill and grey feet add prettily contrasting details
to the whole. This fulness of beauty is most characteris-
tic of the old cock ; for young birds at first have the yellow
body much paler and streaked with black, and the black-
head, to equalize matters, duller and streaked with
yellow. The bill is also black, and altogether -, al-
though as birds go rather showy, they arejaot to be com-
pared to their father. Their mother may be like them, if
she is still a young thing, but only then. For among the
happy birds good looks do not deteriorate with age, and
in some cases the gentler sex become much more beautiful
with advancing years. And this is one of them ; for the
hen Orioles become in course of time almost as brilliant as
their mates, merely showing a tinge of green at times in
the yellow — but the change in their case does not take
place so early in life. It is curious to see how Nature is
continually striving to bring the hen bird up to her mate's
level of beauty ; for the progressive increase of beauty in
the hen occurs in several groups, notably in the hawks,
This is quite a different thing from the assumption of male

40 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

plumage by hen birds which by age or accident have be-
come barren, such as often occurs among hen pheasants ;
and can only be ascribed to a natural tendency on the part
of the species to progress in a given direction, the male
leading the way.

This is well seen in our domestic birds. If we ornament
an unoffending bird such as the Chinese goose or the pigeon
with a knob on its nose, we find the male grows a
bigger one. If, on the other hand, Nature has been before-
hand with us in bestowing the decorations, such as the
comb and wattles of the fowl and the bare red face of the
Muscovy duck, and we take the birds into domestication,
we find that the females, in which these decorations were
rudimentary or absent, proceed to develop them in imi-
tation of their lords, quite independently of our selection.
And if we deliberately breed for big-combed fowls, the
hens will run the cocks very close indeed in the matter of
head-dress.

But to get back to our Orioles ; their young are cradled
in an excellent nest, cup-shaped and firmly laced into a
fork high up in a tree, and they emerged from white eggs
spotted with black, this type of egg being a family one
with them. They feed on fruit and insects, and are tho-
rough tree-birds, never seen on the ground, and not making
themselves conspicuous when perched. The chief indication
of the Oriole's presence among us is his beautiful liquid
whistle, and the occasional appearance of the bird in his
leisurely flight from one tree to another. Such are the
habits of Orioles in general, and they seem a thriving race,
for they spread from Australia to the British Isles, where

THE ORIOLE. 41

one species, the Golden Oriole (Oriolus galbula), an even more
beautiful bird than the subject of this article, has bred, but
cannot establish itself on account of persecution. This
Oriole is a rare winter-visitor to our North- West, but
has a resident relative ranging all over India, which closely
resembles it — the yellow-headed mango-bird (Oriolus kun-
doo). Both have yellow instead' of black heads, and only
differ in some slight details of marking, and in the fact that
the migratory bird has, as one would expect, longer wings.
I don't remember ever seeing this mango-bird in Calcutta,
but it is very likely to occur here. The black-headed
species has an even wider range than the Indian Golden
Oriole, for it extends into Burma as far as Tenasserim. In
Southern India and Ceylon it gets smaller and has the
black wings less varied with yellow than is the case here- ;
but Orioles do nob give much scope for variation — they are
just yellow and black birds as a rule, and there is an end of
it. It is a curious fact that, although their food seems
simple enough, Orioles don't bear confinement well, our
black-headed one especially, and one seldom sees them
caged. Our only species which is not black and yellow,
the Maroon Oriole (Oriolus traillii] of the hills, is an excep-
tion and will thrive and keep in good condition where the
golden birds would be miserable scare-crows. Although
the Orioles have such a wide range in the Old World, they
have never penetrated into the New, the American birds
.commonly so called really belonging to a very different
family, the Troupials. They reproduce the real Oriole
colours and patterns to a remarkable extent, but are
different in form and habits, being in these respects some-

42 THE BIRDS OP CALCUTTA.

what intermediate between a starling and a weaver-bird,
while the real Orioles have a form and style peculiarly
their own. It must be confessed that the American birds
are much more interesting ; they also tend to range north-
wards more than do the Old World Orioles, and hence help
to enliven the United States to a very great extent, some of
most brilliant and common birds there belonging to this
troupial family. We might have more brilliant birds in
England if we could only let them alone ; I have already
alluded to the persecution of our one Oriole, and even the
green woodpecker is oftener seen in a bird stuffer's shop
window than on a tree in the open ! As the Oriole is one
of the brightest birds I am dealing with, I may perhaps be
allowed to conclude with an earnest appeal to all Anglo-
Indians to help in the preseivation of beautiful birds,
which exist in every country under difficulties, both from
natural enemies and from man. The plain-coloured spe-
cies can take care of themselves out here at any rate ; but
beauty is everywhere a fatal gift to the lower animals, and
it is very much to be hoped that the recent enactment
will preserve against the export of skins the more brilliant
kinds whose danger is the greatest. Even about Calcutta
we have in the larger kingfisher, the blue- jay, the golden-
backed woodpecker, and the subject of the present chapter,.
a quartette of birds which would attract attention any-
where, and going further afield fresh showy species present
themselves, too numerous to mention in few words. Pos-
terity would not have thought much of us as a cultured
nation if we had allowed such creatures to be hunted to
extermination in countries under our rule, when so manv

THE ORIOLE. 43

centuries ago Alexander the Great — in India on a mere
military expedition — gave orders that the peafowl should
not be molested, through admiration of their beauty
alone.

Common Mynah.
AcridotJieres tristis.

VIIL— THE MYNAH.

" I am not black in my heart, though yellow in my legs-."
— Shakespeare.

THE Mynah needs perhaps to make some apology for his
yellow stockings, since such mustard-coloured understand-
ings are not usual among small birds, pertaining rather to
the rapacious tribe, and being thus a badge of anything but
respectability. But the Mynah atones for his yellow legs,
feet, and face, by the exceedingly decorous plumage which
covers the rest of him ; no objection can be made to his
black hood, or the sober chocolate of his body colour, or
to the plain black, diversified with white, of his quills and
tail. It is no wonder that Linnseus, probably having only
seen a Mynah stuffed, and concluding from his general
style that he was some poor relation of the Bird of Paradise,
called him Tristis, the sad-coloured, for as a Paradisea he
did not show up well. He has long, however, been degrad-
ed to his proper rank among the starlings, and named

THE MYNAH. 45

with a happiness somewhat rare amongor nithologists.
Acridotheres — the grasshopper-catcher — and so he is likely
to remain Acridotheres tristis till the end of the chapter
(the general rule being that a bird always bears the first
specific name bestowed on it). Nevertheless as a starling
our present subject is a rather big and showy bird, being
certainly equal in looks to any of his relatives in Calcutta,
none of which bear the shot-silk sheen of green and purple
which adorns the home starling, also a visitor to India.
For the starlings or Mynahs are in great force in the East,
which is their true home, and the common Mynah is a good
type of the clan. Bold, vigorous, and pushing, he secures
to himself a large share of all good things in the way of
insects and fruit that may be going, and is a bird of remark-
ably all-round abilities, though not particularly graceful in
his movements. On the ground he runs and walks well,
hopping when he wants to put on an extra spurt, albeit
there is a swing in his gait which is not particulaily elegant.
No doubt, however, he is proud of this, as it is a family
character ; geese, which do not suffer from excessive
modesty, have a similar style of going, and are known to-
be redoubtable pedestrians in their quiet way. But the
Mynah, unlike many ground-birds, is nimble and active in
a tree as well ; and his flight, though not remarkably fast,
is tolerable enough for ease, and he feels sufficient confidence
in it to occasionally attempt a little insect-catching on
the wing, when his quarry has got away from him on foot.
When he flies, he tucks up his long yellow shanks to his
breast, showing conclusively that birds which stow their
legs this way when on the wing do so by custom, not for

46 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

convenience ; for from their size one would think that he
would do better to stow them astern like the paddy-bird
-and other waders. The Mynah, like most of the birds I
have dealt with, goes in for equality between the sexes in
the matter of dress. You can only tell a hen Mynah by her
slightly smaller form, and by her exemption from
the amorous fits which impel her spouse to now and then
puff himself out and bow grotesquely for her edification,
meanwhile emitting various gurglings, presumably meant
to please her ear; the result being charmingly uncertain,
for with Mynahs as with men apparently

A glance of despair is no guide,

It may have its ridiculous side,

It may draw you a tear,

Or a box on the ear,

You can never be sure till you've tried.
At least I judge this to be the case from having seen a
Mynah pecked by his spouse for showing off, and also the
lady become suddenly kind for the same reason apparently.
The gentler sex in Mynahs have no particular reason to
make themselves too cheap, for I have observed no less
than three cocks bowing and scraping after one hen, and
doubtless amatory rivalry will often account for the sa-
vage contests in which one sometimes sees Mynahs indulge.
In other cases the possession of an eligible nesting site will
furnish a reason, for, like other birds that nest in holes, the
Mynah is sometimes hard put to ic for house-room. I
remember once seeing a mynah-fight in which two, no
•doubt the heads of families, lay clenched as to their feet
upon the ground, while what were no doubt their wives

THE MYNAH. 47

looked on together with certain crows, who had evidently
been attracted, like Mark Twain and his friends in Italy on
a similar occasion, by a disinterested desire to be allowed
" to help cord up the dead." The crows, however, were
not officious beyond a nervous twitch at a combatant's
tail, for the Mynah is a good bird of his hands, so to speak,
and can make himself respected even by a crow ; indeed,
the Market Sergeant told me that he had once seen a crow
nearly pecked to death by a pair of these birds. The
Mynah is indeed a truly respectable character ; while
offering a creditable resistance to aggression, he does not
seem, as a rule, to interfere with other birds, though I
have seen him clinging to the entrance of a sparrow's nest
in a manner that betokened designs either on the babies or
the bedding ; I fear possibly the former, since I have
noticed a small house-lizard in a Mynah's bill, and from
such a victim to a young bird is not a very long step. At
the same time, a Mynah likes a warm nest, so perhaps a
desire to borrow a little upholstery was the real motive.
The Mynah's eggs are of a cheerful light blue, like those of
most starlings, and his young, when fledged, are like him-
self, but less brightly and distinctly marked. I have seen
young birds with brown heads, which may be either a
' ' sport ' ' or the result of the softer plumage of the young
getting sooner rusty on that part. Mr. Aitken in Hume's
' ' Nest and Eggs of Indian Birds, ' ' gives an interesting
account of a pair of Mynahs which in every alternate brood
produced a white young one. I have seen several white
Mynahs myself ; one in particular which Mr. Rutledge had
was very interesting, having assumed its natural colour at

48 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

the first moult — a contingency which is always possible with
albinos unless they have pink eyes. On one occasion also I
saw a bird in the Bazaar with pale cinnamon body-plumage,
and once the skin of one such was submitted to me, which
showed a change to the normal colour actually going on by
moult. Abnormalities in Mynah complexion, therefore,
may often be set down to individual weakness of constitu-
tion ; but the Mynah is a vigorous bird as a rule, and given
to enlarging his borders as a species. Most of the Indian
Empire, from Kashmir to Mergui, is held by him,
and he ascends the hills up to a very temperate climate,
though I was assured on good authority that he had only
penetrated to Darjeeling within the last twenty years.
Outside India man has helped him to a settlement in the
Andamans, Australia, New Zealand, and Honolulu, but he
is a bird which she aid be introduced into a new country
with caution, as he is too powerful and too free a breeder
to be allowed to increase without checks, and in the last-
mentioned place has rendered himself a decided nuisance
by his aggressive habits towards domestic birds, for he
will turn out pigeons without compunction ; and the
disappearance of the pretty little white Mynah (Sturnia
andamanensis) from Ross Island in the Andamans is
doubtless due to his presence there, though it is found on
other islands and is sometimes brought for sale to Calcutta.
The Mynah has also wild relatives here, notably the Bank
Mynah (Acridotkeres ginginianus) with its grey body
colour and buff facings, set off by a red face and
orange legs and bill, and the Jungle Mynah (Aethiop-
sar fuscus) which has the grey body and orange

THE MYNAH. 49

bill and legs of the bank species with the white wing and
tail marks of the common one and differs from them
both in being feathered up to the eyes. One naturally
does not expect a simple jungle-bird to be so bare-faced
as a denizen of cities. Much commoner is the sweet- voiced
black and white pied Mynah (Sturnopastor contra) with
its orange face and orange ivory-tipped bill, which is much
the most like our starling, but unlike starlings generally
builds a great untidy nest on a bough, as if to show that
it fears no enemy ; and it certainly ought not to find one
in man, for its showy plumage, beautiful note, and harm-
less disposition, make it one of the best of our birds.

F, BC

IX.— THE DHYAL.

A ! Robyn, joly Robyn .'—Old Ballad.

A " ROBYN," as our ancestors called him, seems strange
at first in black and white instead of russet and red ; but
half-an-hour's acquaintance with our Dhyal (Copsycfius
saularis) will show that his English name of Magpie-robin
was well bestowed. Nevertheless, this name has not
gained much ground in England, where the Dhyal is occa-
sionally seen as a cage-bird — a rare and much-prized one,
it is true — and has even been bred in captivity. Here he
is not very commonly held in durance vile ; chiefly, I
suspect, because of the deservedly greater popularity of his
gifted kinsman, the Shama (Cittocincla macrura). This
is just as well, for thus more Dhyals are left to grace our
gardens with their beauty and song. For the Dhyal is an
exceptionally pretty bird ; he is just of a nice size—in-
termediate between the English robin and blackbird; his
pied plumage is striking, yet tasteful ; and his movements
are particularly graceful and animated. His mate also,
although not exactly resembling him like the home Cock
Robin's wife, is nevertheless very nearly as pretty, merely
showing iron-grey in her plumage instead of black. She
is much more retiring in her habits, and thus one sees many
more cock Dhyals than hens : though, of course, it is also
possible that the hens are actually less numerous as well as

THE DHYAL.

less obtrusive. The Dhyal can never be very abundant,
for, being a purely insect-eating bird of no great travelling
proclivities, he has to keep a hunting-ground to himself,
and hence cannot afford to be sociable. Thus, although he
is one of our commonest birds, his kind are merely found
scattered about singly or in pairs ; and as with so many
pugnacious birds, even the two sexes do not seem to be
very warmly attached, and are hardly ever close together
even though they may inhabit the same garden in peace'
They need never leave it, for they are not particular about
nesting accommodation, building in any hole in tree or
wall. The eggs vary much in size and colour, but generally
speaking resemble more or less those of the English
blackbird on a small scale. And in connection with this
it is interesting to note the resemblance in proportions,'
gait and gestures between these birds; the two species
show admirably that the names " Thrush " and " Robin''
like " Duck " and "Teal," are largely only measure,
of size. If the Dhyal were as big as the blackbird, everyone
would call it a thrush, but, as it is a good deal smaller it
gets the other name. Young Dhyals show their relation-
ship to the thrushes by being marked with buff on the
breast and wings, though generally speaking their plumage
resembles that of their mother. They seem to be not
difficult to rear and make nice pets. The old Dhyal is
said to be very hard to tame, in spite of its confiding
habits in a wild state ; but my friend Mr, F. Groser
has not only tamed a wild-caught old bird, but bred from
him in confinement. Of course the great point is to supply
abundance of insect food, and this is not difficult in ;

$ THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

Calcutta, where shamas are so much kept that men make
a trade of breeding maggots and catching grass-hoppers
for their daily supply. At the same time, breeding the
Dhyal is distinctly a feather in any amateur's cap, while it
also shows that the bird itself is ready to accept fresh condi-
tions. In a wild state it ranges, indeed, over a very large terri-
tory, including all the Indian Empire. It is, however, more
especially a plains bird, although it ascends the Himalayas
up to about 5,000 feet. At its eastern limits in South
Tenasserim the black in the wings and tail begins to in-
crease at the expense of the white, but not in places where
it is noticeable on a casual view.

Nowhere have I seen the Dhyal so common as in Ross
Island in the Andamans, where in the morning the air is
full of the music of these birds, and they are to be seen
everywhere and are particularly tame. I really don't
know what they all live upon, for insects were not at all
plentiful as far as I could see when I was there.

I have not noticed the Dhyal's music in Calcutta, but he
does not get much chance there with the noise constantly
kept up by the kites and crows. But he is certainly one of
the birds which give the lie to the oft-repeated assertion
that Indian birds have no song. Another is his cousin,
the shama above mentioned, which is probably more
numerous in cages than the Dhyal is in the wild state.
The shama is a smaller bird than the Dhyal, but has a
longer black and white tail and a bright chestnut stomach,
so that he shows three colours. He has a voice of great
power and much variety of note, and is far superior to any
European singing bird except the nightingale. As he

THE DHYAL, 53

thrives so well in confinement, he has long been popular
in India, and a good many are now even sent home annually.
The shama is not found wild near Calcutta, and would not
come into the town if he were, being, like the nightingale,
rather a woodland than a garden bird ; but being so nearly
related to our pied songster, and so familiar a captive to
boot, it is hardly possible to leave him out of consideration.

But a bird closely related to the true European robin
occurs in a wild state as well as the Dhyal, and thus de-
serves mention. This is the Red-breasted Flycatcher
(Siphia albicilla) a winter visitant. When he comes to us
his red breast is wanting or not much in evidence, but
except for this he is very like the English favourite, except
that he has longer wings and shorter legs, shows some white
on the tail, and is smaller altogether. This sounds as if
the resemblance were not very close, but the general atti-
tude and style of the bird make it so. As a matter of fact,
flycatchers and robins are very near relatives indeed ; the
red-breasted flycatcher being one of the links between the
two, and still retaining the habit of his robin relatives of
frequently coming to the ground, which the more thorough-
paced flycatchers have discarded. The real home of our
little bird is in North-East Asia, for he leaves us as the hot
weather comes in, like so many other birds both great
and small. So although he has just as much right to
the title of robin as the Dhyal, so far as appearances go,
his absenteeism during most of the year may fairly bar
his claim.

As for the Dhyal, he is such a nice bird in every way that
I think some attempts should be made to encourage him to

54 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

increase and multiply to a greater extent. Suitable house
accommodation in the shape of large joints of bamboo put
up near his usual haunts and in places inaccessible to ene
mies, and a few cockroaches or crickets put out where he
can easily catch them, would probably make him very
ready to enter into friendly relations with the giver of
such kind assistance, and then we should have a better
chance of appreciating his good qualities than is afforded
us at present.

X.— THE SPARROW.

"Look now to little Philip Sparrow." — Old Ballad.

WHY NOT ? Philip himself would certainly say. Once
he must have been considered a friend of man, for his
nickname, derived doubtless from his note, is the earliest
known to have been given to any bird, though now not in
use, while Tom Tit, Mag Pie, and Jack Daw have been
allowed to retain theirs ; to say nothing of the redbreast,
whose real name has been quite dropped in favour of his
pet name of " Robin." But Philip has brought his un-
popularity on himself ; no doubt in England in the old
days when crows and kites and other enemies, then more
numerous, exercised on him the wholesome influence that
chey do in India, he was not sufficiently numerous to be a
nuisance, and so from his familiar habits was looked on
rather with a kindly eye. Of course I don't mean to im-
ply that crows and kites keep Sparrows down by catching
and eating old ones ; the bublime indifference of the Spar-
row in their presence is sufficient proof of the contrary.
But they exercise a ligid supervision over all young birds.
I remember actually seeing once a young Sparrow met on
its entrance into the outside world on my verandah by
three crows, who nc doubt succeeded in helping it to a
speedy exit ; moreover, the c/ow prevents the sparrow
from making those huge untidy nests in trees in which h s

56 THE BIRDS OP CALCUTTA.

soul delights at home ; in India he has to stick rigidly to
holes in buildings if he wants to be safe. It is only due to
Philip to say that he is a most affectionate father, and will
do his utmost to warn his young of danger, flying with it
and chattering in the most impressive way when its safety
is threatened ; and I have been leproached for days by a
cock-sparrow whose offspring I had destroyed. For I
think it a wise proceeding to kill, on principle, every Spar-
row I can get hold of, and to encourage others to do the
same. There can be no doubt that whatever his function
in the world in primitive times, Philip has now outlived
his usefulness, and that to a very great extent. No bird
is such a thorough and unmitigated pest ; field and garden
produce suffers terribly from his attacks, and the insect
diet he provides tor his young cannot fairly be taken as a
set-off for this, especially when it is considered that in his
absence such insects would be taken by better birds than
he, which would not levy toll on the crops as well. And
the Sparrow is only too well-known as an enemy of all
other birds which he can induce to vacate his vicinity by
single or combined attack, or, if vioLnce fails, by perbis-
tent mobbing and vocal annoyance. In India and in
Europe, where he is a naoive, we do not see much of this,
for he and his various feathered associates have had ages
in which to settle matters and " shake down " together;
but in North America, where he was introduced half a cen-
tury ago, his unpleasant peculiarities have been only too
evident, and the native birds have been forced to retire
from th.e vicinity of human habitations in almost every
case ; while even in the old world, his hostility to our

THE SPARROW. 57

traditional allies, the beautiful and harmless swallow
tribe, is still only too evident, and would of itself be a
sufficient reason for his execution.

Of course it will be said that even Sparrows have their
use in the economy of nature and should not be thought-
lessly wiped out; but there is no more probability of actu-
ally extirpatiijgPhilip than of arriving at the same consum-
mation in the case of rats and mice, creatures of similar
tendencies in the way of uninvited domesticity. And the
work of Sparrows, whatever it may be, is equally well
performed by the Tree Sparrow (Passer montamis), a pret-
tier bird than Passer domesticus, as anyone may observe
at Darjeeling, where, as in Japan and in some other parts
of the world, the Tree Sparrow is the house-frequenting
species. It can easily be distinguished from the house-
sparrow by the fact; that both male and female are like the
male domestic bird, though slightly smaller and having a
chocolate crown instead of a grey one, to say nothing of
some minor points of difference. This bird is evidently a
mountaineer and forester on account of eligible city
sites being barred to it in so many places by its
stronger relative ; for when, as happened in one case,
both were introduced together into the United States, ifc
was found that Passer domesticus soon crowded out his
weaker relative, which besides being smaller is much less
pugnacious, and not given to annoying other birds ;
likewise being a less free breeder, its capacities for mischie-
vous increase are far more limited, not the least item in
" Philip's " objectionableness being his appalling powers
of propagation. Were he, indeed, a less prolific bird no one

58 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

would have a word to say against Mm, for in many respects
he is deserving of the greatest admiration. Seen, as we
see him in India, unsoiled by English town smoke, he is
really a pretty bird in his way— a fact of which one might
think him to be fully conscious, judging from the persis-
tency with which he displays his charms before his
plainly -at tired spouse, who is just as likely as not to peck
him for his pains. No doubt he deserves it, for he does not
seem to be addicted to those gentlemanly attentions of
combing his wife's hair and offering her titbks which are
favoured by better-bred birds, although an ardent admirer
of the sex, which generally seems to be tcterrima causa
belli with his race. And courage is certainly another good
quality to be put down to Philip's credit. Alike in a
single- hand fight, and in backing up a friend, he will give
a good account of himself, while the same dogged tenacity
has won the reluctant admiration of his unwilling American
hosts when displayed in his unremitting care of hi? young,
which he will do his best to start in the world at all costs
even when handicapped by the loss of a partner, or b}r the
unseasonable accident of a young hopeful having fallen
out of the nest when too unfledged to be gob back to it ;
other birds in such a case would often give up such a child
as deserving its fate, but the despised Sparrow will stick to
him and pull him through. Then again, Philip is a prac.
tical philosopher ; although, unlike most finches, he has
no song, he is always cheerful ; one of the most versatile
of birds, he will eat anything, wallow in sand or wash
in water, nest anywhere, and stand any climate ; for, as
anyone can see, he bears the Indian heat as well as most

THE SPARROW, 59

other birds, while in the States it seems that his high north-
ern range is limited, not so much by direct effect of cold
itself as by the circumstance that it freezes the horse-drop-
pings, on which city Sparrows depend for food to so large
an extent. Nor are cities a necessity for his existence;
in New Zealand, where he is now the commonest bird, he
has pushed his way into the wilds, and thrives far
away from civilization, having even learnt to burrow
nest-holes like a sand-martin in some cases. Neither New
Zealand nor Australia, however, regard him as a desirable
colonist, and in fact it is his long tale of virtues and his
strong and independent character which make him so
objectionable. His readiness to be accommodated with
food and lodging make him an economic pest and an ob-
trusive co-tenant of our roofs ; his courage degenerates
constantly into vulgar bullying, while such philoprogeni-
tiveness as his would probably in course of time make any,
even the mildest mannered and least obtrusive, bird into
a nuisance. It is the fact that insect-eating birds cannot,
however prolific, increase beyond a certain limit obviously
imposed by their food, that makes it reasonable to recom-
mend the continual suppression of Philip to give them
more scope.

XI.— THE HONEYSUCKER.

" For he on honey-dew hath fed." — Coleridge.

A DIET of sweets appears to have a marked effect on

the bird constitution, marvellously invigorating the same

instead of enervating it as one might expect. It would be

difficult to find a livelier little bird than our common

yellow-bellied or Amethyst-rumped Honeysucker (Arach-

nechthra zeylonica), or one more fearless and energetic. With

his yellow waistcoat set off by a red velvet coat and green

satin cap, he is the gayest of all our birds in dress, and as

he is very tame you can get near enough to appreciate his

beauty. His little olive-green mate, who keeps only the

yellow vest of all her husband's brilliant attire, is usually

with him, and together they merrily take their meals, of

insects with sweet sauce, from the flowers, flirting their

wings up and down as they hop about. For, unlike the

true humming-birds of the New World, with which they

are so often confounded, the Honey suckers or Sun -birds do

not feed on the wing, unless quite exceptionally, but skip

from twig to twig like other little birds. At the same time

they are strong and bold flyers for such tiny creatures, and

although they have the bounding flight common to most

small fry in feathers, will fearlessly mount high in the air

and go off for a distant point as readily as a mynah or a

crow. Like other honey-feeding birds, they are remark-

THE HONEYSUCKER. 61

able for courage ; I have heard of one which was long kept
successfully in an aviary, and asserted his authority there-
in over a number of inmates larger than himself. And I
myself have seen a weakly bird, which had been seized by
a Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus), defend himself bravely
against his ruffianly adversary, though whether he escaped
altogether I cannot say.

It is very probable that the reason for the courage and
activity of honey-feeders lies in their mode of life ; they
must be very active to obtain a sufficient quantity of their
comparatively innutritions food, whether they do so by
hovering bee-like like the American " hummers," or by
perching and clinging on slender twigs, like our birds and
the much larger Australian honey-birds. And in addition
they need a long-pointed bill to run into the flowers, which
in case of need becomes a bayonet-like weapon against
any other bird. Our little Honeysucker's tongue is also
long, and split into filaments at the tip and tubular in form,
so as to suck up the liquid nectar. So fond is he of sweets,
and so fearless, that a captured bird will readily sip up
syrup if he be held in the hand and his bill dipped into the
liquid. Indeed, for a short time the Honeysucker will
appear contented enough in confinement, and continually
give out his lively little song of " Chi-chit, chit-che-wee,"
as if he were at liberty. But unless he be provided with
insect-food in addition to honey, he will not survive very
long, for his dinner must include a course of meat as well
as sweets. And in any case, I hope none of my readers
will cage this dear little bird unless for purposes of export
to Europe or elsewhere, for so harmless and happy a little

62 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

being should be left alone in his native country as much a&
possible ; though it is, I think, quite legitimate to cage
such birds in order to give people who cannot see them
wild some idea of what they are like in life.

When the Honeysucker's fancy lightly turns to thoughts
of love, the pair construct a very curious little nest of cob-
webs and rubbish, oval in shape, with the entrance-hole at
the side surmounted by an eave or porch. This is hung at
the end of a twig, sometimes quue low down ; I remember
one in the Bengal Club compound which could have been
reached with the hand. On account of the nature of the
materials of which it is made it does not particularly
strike the eye as a nest at all, and no doubt its situation at
the end of such an exiguous support serves as a protection
against enemies if it does happen to draw their attention.
Only two eggs are laid, white speckled with drab ; and the
young male birds are at first very like their mother. I knew
of two being reared by hand in Calcutta by a very painstak-
ing fancier, who kept them successfully till they had attained
their full beauty of plumage, and for some time after that.

This species of Honeysucker is confined to India and
Ceylon, and is certainly much the commonest kind in
Calcutta. But it has a relative in India which is also fre-
quently to be seen, and is to my mind even a handsomer
bird, though less varied in hues. This is the Purple Honey-
sucker (Arachnechthra asiatica), a bird of about the same
size as that which I have been discussing, but with a pro-
portionately bigger bill, both longer and stouter, al chough
maintaining the curved and slender form so characteristic
of these birds.

THE HONEYSUCKER. 63

The male of this species is clad throughout in rich
metallic purple, set off by a flame-coloured tuft under each
armpit which is ordinarily concealed by the wings. It
projects, however, when the bird is settled for repose, and
is, I believe, shown off in courtship.

The hen is olive and yellow Jike that of the yellow-bellied
species, but she can easily be distinguished by her bigger
bill, and by having a yellow throat as well as breast ; the
throat in the hen of the commoner bird being of a dirty
white, not yellow. The Purple cock apparently thinks his
wedding garment too expensive to be worn the whole year
round ; for after nesting he doffs it, and assumes female
plumage, retaining only a purple streak from chin to sto-
mach as a mark of his sex. The young cocks are at first
like the hen, not having even this distinctive mark.

This species of Honeysucker is a quieter and less sociable
bird than the other ; he is commonly seen alone, has a
great fancy for particular spots, and does not flirt his
wings like his rival. He is, however, a much better song-
ster, being nearly equal to a canary ; and sings much
merely to amuse himself. I well remember one bird
which came to the Museum compound after breeding to
change his plumage ; he kept very much to two or three
trees, singing, apparently, from one particular twig, and
even when in undress he kept up his song. The Purple
Honeysucker has a much wider range than the other, being
found from Persia to Cochin China, and it also ascends
further up the hills. It is, therefore, evidently, a more
hardy and adaptable bird ; and as its ordinary feeding and
nesting-habits are the same as those of the other species,

64 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

I do not quite understand why it is not so common in
Calcutta. Very probably, however, its more lively rela-
tive's competition is too much for it there. I certainly
noticed that one bird, which I took alive to the London Zoo
some years ago, seemed afraid of the yellow-bellied birds
confined with him, all of which succumbed on the journey
— the last one distinctly bullying his dark companion.
Other people have since repeated my experiment with the
purple kind, and I believe this would thrive in the open in
Southern Europe if turned out there ; a more charming
ornament to a garden it would be difficult to find.

Gold-backed Woodpecker.
(Brachypternus aurantius. )

XII.— THE WOODPECKER.

" Th? golden woodpecker laughs loud at nothing.7'

— Hurdis.

IT would appear that a propensity for irresponsible
and irrelevant hilarity is widely spread in the Woodpecker
family ; for the species alluded to by the worthy author of
the * ' Village Curate ' ' is the English Green Woodpecker
(Gecinus viridis) — a bird which can hardly even by a
stretch of the poetical imagination be called golden, by the
way. Our own common Calcutta Woodpecker (Brachyp-
ternus aurantius) is just as unseasonably jovial. He is
j oiliest when on the wing ; if you watch after hearing his
ringing cackle, you will generally be rewarded by a sight
of his somewhat ungainly form, as, with head outstretched
F, BC 5

66 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

and legs drawn up, he progresses with his curious flight —
first a flutter and then a dip with closed wings — to some
tree-trunks which he intends to explore. He is not shy,
and will readily permit you to admire his old-gold back
and scarlet crest as he hitches himself up the bark, sound-
ing for insects as he goes. His motto is ever excelsior, for
Woodpeckers always work upwards, though they can slip
down backwards or laterally round the trunk of their
tree if they wish. The foot of the Woodpecker, with the
toes in pairs, is supposed to be especially fitted for this
kind of travelling. But this is open to doubt ; some other
birds which do not climb, like the woodpeckers, near
relatives the barbets, have the same arrangement ; and if
it be go convenient for a climbing bird to have two toes
behind instead of one, why are the woodpeckers as a
family gradually getting rid of the inner hind toe ? This
is always smaller than the outer one, and not unfre-
quently absent altogether ; while in some species, as in
the Golden-backed one under discussion, the toe is there
indeed, but in the form of a tiny useless vestige that has
to be looked for carefully.

There are other points in our feathered carpenter's
structure, however, about the usefulness of which no doubt
can exist. His stiff wiry tail, which is never cocked up as
it is by other birds, is a most admirable prop to support
him as he clings vertically to the tree, and his hard chisel-
tipped beak contains a most curious tongue, long and
worm-like, and armed with a many-barbed horny tip.
This he can shoot out with great facility to some distance,
as its base is supported by a pair of bony springs ; and

THE WOODPECKER. 67

altogether it is an admirable instrument for exploring
orevices and persuading any grub which may lie hid therein
to come out to dinner.

It is also useful in enabling the bird to lick up the juice
of soft fruit, though whether this forms part of his diet in
a wild state I cannot say. Probably it does, as it seems
very acceptable in captivity, a condition to which this
species is readily reconciled — at any rate if taken young.
A young Woodpecker, indeed, makes a very interesting
pet in several ways. Like a young barbet, it possesses a
warty pad on the hocks, and shuffles about thereon for
some time, not getting really on to its feet till ifc is full-
fledged. It is not till then, too, that the curious arrow tip
of the tongue is fully developed — this being at first devoid
of barbs. The first plumage, however, which springs from
a skin unclothed by any baby-garment of down, is just as
bright as that of the old birds, and indicates the sex of its
wearer at once — a very rare case among birds. For the
young hen Woodpecker has her forehead black, sometimes
speckled with white Hke her mother's, while in father and
son the red of the crest runs forward right up to the beak.
How young Woodpeckers get on in their close quarters in
a hole hewed out by the parents I don't know, but their
tempers must suffer considerably by enforced restraint,
for I have seen brother and sister fight savagely in capti-
vity while still fledglings. Nor do the birds seem at all
sociable in their habits when wild ; indeed, one does not
usually see even a pair together. Business is business,
and a hard-working bird like a Woodpecker has no time to
spare for social amenities.

68 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

Laborious as the lives of Woodpeckers seem to be, how-
ever, they are a thriving clan, and are spread all over the
world except in the Australian region, from the icy pine-
forests of the Arctic regions to the warm damp jungles of
South America.

The Golden-backed Woodpecker has not so wide a range
as some other species, but it is still a very numerous bird,
being found all over India except in the higher hills. It
varies to a certain extent with locality, like so many other
Indian birds, Sind specimens being paler and South Indian
ones darker than the type found in Calcutta. There is a
certain amount of individual variation also : the black-
and-white waistcoat of some birds is darker than that of
others, and the golden mantle may show a strong tinge of
red. In fact, if extreme forms be taken, two or three
species can be made out of our present subject.

It is more interesting, however, to note that the plumage
of this species is very nearly reproduced by two others,
one of which (Chrysocolaptes gutticristaius) has a well-
developed inner hind-toe, while the other (Tiga javanensis)
has none at all : so that the common Golden-backed Wood-
pecker forms the middle term in this series of degenerates,
and is a fine example of a " missing link ' ' still existing,
to use a rather Hibernian expression. It is very remark-
able, indeed, that Woodpeckers should be so undecided in
the matter of toes ; as I implied above, the reason is not
easy to find, as generally speaking they are so very uni-
form in structure and habits. All agree in laying white
eggs, and in refusing to wear any shade of blue in their
plumage, and most are inveterate woodlanders ; for the

THE WOODPECKER. 69

Ground Woodpecker (Colaptes campestris) of the South
American Pampas has gladly turned his attention to trees
now that they have been planted on his native plains. In
fact, his enthusiastic carpentering; performed on the as yet
none too luxuriant plantations has rendered him rather an
economic pest, unlike the majority of the family. For
Woodpeckers are, generally speaking, among the most
useful of birds, attacking the destructive woodboring
insects which few other species can reach, and serving as
a wholesome check on the industrious ant, which in the
East finds so many ways of exercising its ingenuity to
our discomfort.

XIIL— THE COPPERSMITH.

" Only the song of a secret, bird" — Swinburne.

Vox et prceterea nihil, indeed, is Xantholcpma ha>ma~
tocephala to most of us ; for though many, vexed by his
monotonous music through the blazing weather in which
he delights, may have exclaimed with the apostle ' ' Alex-
ander the Coppersmith hath wrought me much evil," few
have seen him face to face. Nor can one reasonably be
expected to see a pudgy little green bird, not much bigger
than a sparrow, with distinct ventriloquial proclivities,
and an aspiring spirit which leads him to prefer tall trees
to bushes. Nevertheless, Alexander sometimes descends
lower, and then one may see and admire his coral feet and
crimson and primrose head-marking, and realize that a
bird which would be striking in any country is really one
of our commonest citizens, for when once you know him
by sight you may see him almost anywhere, even in the
trees in the streets ; while long before his personal acquain-
tance is made his continual " tonk-tonk-tonk," repeated in-
definitely like the tick of grandfather's clock, attests his
ubiquity. Even in the cold weather he will tune up at
times, but he does not really do himself justice till it gets
warm, though he feels the heat as much as other birds, for
I have caught him gasping for breath like any crow. No
doubt, as he is an energetic little bird, he is often scant of

THE COPPERSMITH. 71

breath, for like all the barbet family, to which he belongs,
he is of a somewhat clumsy build, and not adapted for
active exercise in a warm climate. Nevertheless he
thrives exceedingly ; his food, of wild fruits, is abundant,
and he can peck out a home in any old tree ; barbets, like
woodpeckers, excavating their own quarters, and nobly
despising any luxury in the form of bedding within. Both
barbets and woodpeckers have the toes in pairs like a
parrot's, two in front and two behind, which as stated
above, has been cited in the case of the latter birds as a
beautiful adaptation for climbing ; but as nuthatches
climb better than woodpeckers with toes of the ordinary
three-to-one arrangement, and as barbets don't climb
at all. but just hop, that theory is insufficient.

One very puzzling point about the Coppersmith is his
whiskers. His stout black bill is garnished with a sort of
straggly moustache of the ' ' cricketer ' ' type — eleven a
side — which does not appear to be either ornamental or
useful. Both sexes have it, the female Coppersmith being
in all respects like her mate, and it is common to many
other barbets, but not to all ; though such whiskers crop
up again in other birds of quite different families. These
are generally insect-eaters, but some barbets which do
eat insects are clean-shaven ones, so no connection with
that habit will account for Alexander's hirsuteness. In
fact the use of the " rictal bristles," as ornithologists call
such appendages, is one of the puzzles presented by birds
which have not as yet been solved. Young barbets, like
young woodpeckers do not move about on their toes, but
on fcheir heels, arid they have a similar hard heel-pad to

72 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

protect the joint and give them a grip ; when they are
fledged and hop about it gradually disappears. Another
curious trick of Alexander's family is their ingenious
custom of turning their tails over their backs, beneath the
wings, when pigging together iu their very limited quarters,
obviously to economise space. They never quite get out
of the habit, for though a barbet most steadily keeps his
tail pointed down in the daytime, at night he forgets him-
self and the unruly appendage makes a wild attempt to
turn over as in childhood's days, but cannot get further
than an angle of forty-five degrees. The big Himalayan
Barbet (Megalc?ma marshallorum), however, has mastered
the difficulty, and can keep his tail properly drooping like
any ordinary birds. To return to the little Coppersmiths ;
they emerge from white eggs, and are presumably quite
nude at first, though T have never seen any so young ;
when they fledge off they show no red colour anywhere,
being merely green with yellow faces and flesh-coloured
feet. They are extremely easy to rear on plantain cut up
and administered with a quill, and very readily learn to
peck for themselves as soon as fledged. It is very curious
indeed, that the dealers have never taken them up as they
have the larger Blue-cheeked Barbet (Cyanops asiatica),
of which more anou. The fact is, that the Coppersmith,
although he will eat it, cannot live on the universal pea-
meal pn ste, but will die in a few days if allowed to devour
the unwholesome mess. But give him his natural fruic
diet, and he will live well, even if caught wild ; and hand-
reared birds, at all events, will thrive on bread-and-milk
also. I knew one such which could not ultimately be

THE COPPERSMITH. 73

distinguished in beauty of plumage from a wild bird,
though on its first assumption of the adult plumage it was
less brilliant. This bird's brother distinguished himself
by a very intelligent performance. He watched his oppor-
tunity and darted out when the door of the aviary was
opened, but returned in a day or so, to stay contented for
a short time and then repeat his sudden exit, this time
never to return. It looked as if he were taking his bear-
ings and learning how to get a living before he made
up his mind to go off altogether. The Coppersmith
seems to make an intelligent and interesting pet if hand-
reared, but he is not sociable with other birds, though not
aggressive. But, like Hannibal Chollop, he requires a
clear space round him, and if he be crowded either with
his own species or with other birds, there will be trouble,
for barbets are hard bitten birds and tenacious of what
they conceive to be their rights ; indeed a couple of wild
Coppersmiths have been seen to fight till one was quite
worn out. Steady persistence, in fact, seems to be the
key-note of a barbet's character, whether it be calling,
eating, or fighting ; the young birds start practising their
note before they are fledged, and everyone knows with
what relentless persistency the old bird keeps up his
banging on imaginary metal. At his meals, too, the Cop-
persmith is quietly energetic, eating a very large quantity
for his size, as indeed; he needs to do, his diet seeming to be
very imperfectly assimilated, as is the case with many
other fruit-eating birds. A curious fact about the Copper-
smith is his liability to albinism, or rather lutinism, for the
pale forms of green birds are yellow, not white. A beauti-

74 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

ful specimen of a lutino Coppersmith was, when this book
was written, in the Calcutta Zoo, and was interesting in that
the red on the plumage and legs persisted, although the bill
was fleshy white, and only a little of the green feathering
was to be seen, in the wings and tail mostly. Of course
even if these pallid birds could hold their own with the nor-
mally coloured ones, they would still be at a disadvantage in
the struggle for existence, since their colour would be no
protection ; but the red on the present bird showed that it

Blue-cheeked Barbet.
(Cyaitops asiatica.

had moulted at least once, and so managed to exist foi a
year at all events. The Coppersmith must, however, be a
singularly successful species, for it is not only very common
but has a wide range east of India to the Philippines. In
this respect it has the advantage of our other Calcutta
species, the Blue-cheeked Barbet above mentioned, a very
showy bird as large as a thrush, with sky-blue in place of
primrose-yellow on the cheeks and throat. This bird is
less common in Calcutta than the Coppersmith, and is

THE COPPERSMITH. 75

confined to India and Burma, though it ranges higher up
the hills than the smoll species. It is blessed with a better
digestion and temper than Alexander, and will assimilate
pea-meal brose successfully and stand crowding ; and so
it gets frequently caged and sent to Europe. In fact a
very tame bird of this kind, which lived for years at the
London Zoo, was the first barbet I ever saw alive, and
every now and then it turns up in a dealer's shop or a bird
show. It is true that its " song of colour " pitched as it
is in brilliant red, blue, and green, rises to a shriek, and
that its triple call of "Jcuturruk" is about three times as
monotonous as Alexander's foundry- work, so that its
popularity as a cage bird is never likely to be wide. Never-
theless I must confess to a great liking for barbefcs ;
their form, if not beautiful, is quaint, and their colouring
gorgeous, if a little barbaric. And as to the noise they
make, it is at least constant and consistent, and has not
the exasperating quality of intermittence which is so
annoying in some feathered vocalists, the domestic fowl
for instance. The sturdy smith has always been a popular
character, and I hope such may always be the case with
his fellow artisan in feathers.

XIV.— THE BLUE-JAY.

"A lovely bird, with azure wings." — Byron.

ONE can hardly go on with the above quotation and
credit the subject of the present article with a "song that
said a thousand things," for the Blue- jay's vocalizations
are limited to a degree. Ordinarily, as has been neatly re-
marked, he "encourages himself in patience" by uttering
a sound like "tschok" at intervals, and more rarely he
points his bill to heaven and his tail to earth and utters a
cackling laugh, in feeble imitation of the great Australian
kingfisher, commonly known as the Laughing Jackass
(Dacalo gigas). As a matter of fact, our present friend is
more kingfisher than jay. this poverty of vocabulary
being one of the points in which the relationship comes out ;
real jays having a remarkable flexibility of voice, though
their ordinary remarks are not much more musical than
those of the Roller family, to which the Indian Blue-jay
really belongs. Rollers also agree with kingfishers and
differ from jays in several easily noticeable points of habit,
to say nothing of more recondite anatomical distinctions.
Thus, they extend their feet behind when flying, instead of
drawing them up to the breast like the crow tribe ; they bolt
their food whole , never tearing it with bill and foot like
the real jay ; they are practically pure animal feeders, and
do not lay up stores against a time of scarcity, unlike the

THE BLUE-JAY. 77

omnivorous and, provident corvine jays; and most import-
ant of all. they nest in holes and lay white eggs. It is this
common confusion between two groups of birds very well
known in their respective habitats that makes it excusable
to include in this series a bird which is not common in Cal-
cutta by any means. In fact, I was personally acquainted
with only one wild specimen, who was generally to be
seen on one of the furlong posts of the race-course, just
opposite the jail. Hereabouts he spent most of his time,
for Rollers, again unlike the birds whose name they borrow,
are very sedentary birds, waiting till they see some small
live thing and then pouncing upon it, instead of actively
hunting about. As to the quality of the game they are
not very particular, for, as I have proved with a captive
bird, they will eat and digest toads, which are a good deal
too much for some birds' insides. The Roller throws up the
hard parts of- its food in quids or pellets, like many other
insectivorous j birds. Young Rollers are ugly little crea-
tures at first, being quite naked, but when the feathers
have grown enough to cover the body they are very pretty,
their plumage, with the wings and tail banded with Oxford
and Cambridge blue, being like that of their parents ; for,
unlike many brilliant birds, the Indian Roller has a com-
mon livery for all ages and both sexes. The large dark
eyes also do not change with age, and give the young birds
a singularly innocent appearance, which rather belies their
real disposition ; for they are greedy little creatures, and
when hungry will fight violently over their food ; although
I have seen a youngster which I had filled up kindly present
an extra piece to a brother fledgling. Young Rollers are

78 THE BIRDS OP CALCUTTA.

quite easy to rear if fed on raw meat and cockroaches, and
will grow up very tame. But they are not interesting pets,
for in a small cage they beat and break their beautiful
plumage, and in an aviary sit still so much that they are
nob a very great acquisition. Indeed, so sedentary are
the Roller's ordinary habits, and so inconspicuous are the
pinky drab and sea-green of his plumage in repose, that our
American winter visitors have called him "the surprise
bird," in allusion to the startling display of colour he gives
as he takes wing, looking like a great butterfly in his lazy
flapping flight. Like many of these weak-looking fliers,
however, he is really very active in the air, as might have
been seen in the case of the race-course habitue above-
mentioned when he was badgered by the local crows, who
seemed to cherish a prejudice against him.

The Nilkant, as the Roller is called by the natives, is
with them a sacred bird, and once at least a throne has
been gained by the holy fowl — no doubt a trained specimen
— alighting on the successful candidate's head. And cer-
tainly if beauty deserves the honour of worship, the Roller
has full right to it, more especially as he is absolutely harm-
less ; for, when he does fly, he is almost the most effective
bird one could have in a landscape. Fortunately, al-
though I fear many have been killed for their plumage,
the Roller is, over a large part of this country, exceedingly
common, and extends westwards through Persia to
the Levant. Hereabouts he is on the confines of his
eastern range, for from about the longitude of Calcutta
he begins to intermarry with the darker Burmese species,
called by naturalists Coracias affinis, our bird being Cora-

THE BLUE-JAY. 79

das indica. The Burmese bird is rather larger than ours
and very much darker in the general tone of its plumage,
although curiously enough the tail is lighter, not having
the purple band at the tip which so well sets off that of the
Indian bird. The young, also, of the Burmese Roller are
different from the parents, being much lighter and duller.
This species must be found wild near Calcutta, though I
have never seen it even on the telegraph wires by the rail-
way ; but I have seen some more or less pure Burmese
specimens brought in, fresh-caught, for sale, and have
successfully " meated them off," as bird-fanciers say,
together with the common bird. For it is easy enough to
get adult Rollers to feed in confinement if you start them
on cockroaches all — more or less — alive and kicking.
Water they do not constantly require, for they seldom ap-
pear to drink when they have the chance, in this total
abstinence again resembling the kingfishers ; but unlike
those birds they not only bathe, but wallow and shuffle in
dust like a fowl when they want a clean-up.

It is curious that, being so easy to keep in confinement,
the Indian Roller has so seldom been sent to England.
Some time ago a well-known London fancier of birds ob-
tained a very seedy specimen from a dealer, and more
recently my friend Mr. E. W. Harper of this city succeeded
in sending one to the London Zoo, where it is still in
good health. The curious thing was that, though tame
enough in Calcutta, the bird became for a time very wild
and nervous in London. But the very intelligent keeper
who had it in charge told me that he had found the Euro-
pean Rollers, which he had had for some time in his care,

80 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

also very timid, and the same thing was noted about this
latter species (Coracias garrula) by Bechstein in his work
on cage birds more than a century ago ; so that possibly
the peculiarity runs in the family. The European Roller,
which also occurs in the extreme north-west of India, and
comes to England frequently to get shot and " recorded,"
is a migratory species, with much more pale blue and less
purple in its plumage than our " Blue- jay." Curiously
enough, it is sometimes called in German the Birch- jay, so
that the superficial resemblance to the jay has struck
Europeans independently in two distant countries.

The Americans, however, do not seem to have been
taken in, being no doubt too well acquainted with their
own Blue- jay (Cyanocitta cristata), which really is in a
literal sense what its name proclaims it to be. There are
no Rollers in America, and when Brother Jonathan gets
over the unreasonable horror of acclimatization with
which his too successful experiment with Philip Sparrow
has filled him, he cannot do better than set to work to
supply the deficiency with a big consignment of our lovely
Indian species ; for the Roller would not only be a great
ornament to the prairies, but a very useful ally in grass-
hopper plagues.

White-breasted Kingfisher.
( Halcyon smyrnensis. )

XV.— THE^KINGFISHER.

tc On the shore

The halcyons loved oj Thetis spread their wings. " —
Virgil.

THERE seems to be some reason for suspecting that the
goddess's pets were terns, not Kingfishers after all ; but
nevertheless Aristotle describes a bird as at any rate one
sort of ' ' halcyon ' ' which certainly could not have been
anything else but a Kingfisher. Moreover, in various
parts of its wide range across the Old World the Kingfisher
often finds itself on the shore and takes kindly enough to
a diet of salt-water fish and shrimps. But it is by rights
a haunter of trees overhanging fresh water ; its little coral
feet, with the front toes joined together by skin, are better
F, BC 6*

82 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

suited for perching than for walking, and all it ever does
in the way of pedestrianism is a very short waddle.

As it is not adapted for hopping about the twigs either,
and furthermore has not very long wings, it wisely sits
still on whatever point of vantage presents itself, and
thence plunges on its prey with a determined splash. If
there is no suitable perch, it will fly up and hover for a
short time, but this more laborious procedure it naturally
does not adopt if it can be avoided. Our little Indian
Kingfisher has sometimes been ranked as a distinct species
from the home bird (Alcedo ispida) and called Alcedo benga-
iensis ; but it really does not deserve such distinction, be-
ing simply a rather undersized variety. That this should
be so is curious ; the Kingfishers are essentially a tropical
family, pushing out here and there hardy pioneers into
colder climates. And yet here we find that the European
bird, which too often starves to death when winter lock
up the fresh waters it frequents, nevertheless has a finer
physique than when living in its native tropics, where food
is almost always plentiful. In another way the Kingfisher
is better off in the East, in that it is not much persecuted
by man, although even here far too many are killed
for their feathers. But it is not relentlessly hunted down
here as it is in England ; presumably because bright birds
are more numerous and destructive fools with guns less so.
So our little halcyon is as tame as a robin, and all
the details of his daily life may be watched. He is a
great believer in " spheres of influence." and seems to
require a large tank all to himself ; for if I saw another bird
besides our usual resident at the Museum tank., there was

THE KINGFISHER. 83

apt to be an amount of tail-cocking and wing-drooping
going on, which argued matrimony in prospect, and hence
the tolerance of a stranger is explained. Where the bur-
row, in which their pinky white eggs are deposited in due
season, may be, I do not know ; but it is not surprising
that it should be some little distance off, for Kingfishers
often nest some distance away from water. The half-
fledged young are funny little things, for their feathers
grow to some length before bursting their sheaths, so that
the resulting appearance rather suggests a miniature por-
cupine. Moreover, they rival the Hibernian of fiction in
their ability to "advance backward," a useful accom-
plishment to dwellers in holes. They fledge off into
a plumage not much inferior in brilliance to that of
their parents, who, in their turn, each sport an azure
mantle and cinnamon breast, not being addicted to in-
vidious sexual distinctions in dress, though the hen alone
shows a red streak on the bill. But brilliant as is the
little Kingfisher, he is quite eclipsed by his larger relative,
the White-breasted species (Halcyon smyrnensis). This
bird is as big as a thrush and is most richly attired in sky-
blue and chocolate, set off by a white shirt-front and red
bill and feet. He is, in fact, quite the showiest bird we
have in Calcutta, and is more in evidence generally than
the small species, since he does not confine himself to water,
feeding on worms, grasshoppers, &c., as well as aquatic
prey. Indeed, he does not seem to be much of a fisher,
for when he does strike at something in the water, he
glides down slantingly and touches the surface in a very
half-hearted way, although when taking his bath he dashes

84 THE BIRDS OP CALCUTTA.

in boldly enough. Obtrusive as he is in colours, he is
still more so in voice, and deems it necessary whenever he
takes wing to let the neighbourhood know he is moving by
uttering a loud unpleasant cackle. Occasionally, presum-
ably when under the influence of the tender passion, he
will fly erratically about uttering a wailing note; but his
flight is not swift at any time, and very different from the
arrow-like progress of his little kinsman. The two seem
to get on all right together, for they frequent the same
tank in peace — no doubt because their lines of business
are not quite identical, as I remarked above. Although,
however, he is more or less of a Jack-of -all-trades for a
Kingfisher, the white-breasted bird has not nearly so wide
a range as the little one, for, though found from Cyprus
to China, he is essentially a bird of warm climates. His
versatility is shown in his nesting-habits as well as in his
feeding, for though he usually nests in a burrow like his
family generally, he has been observed in Cachar to ac-
tually make a rough nest of moss among rocks — a most
anomalous habit ; for kingfishers, in addition to being bur-
rowers, usually despise all bedding, and allow the family
to pig together on a sort of mat of fish-bones which have
been cast up in " quids ' ' after the flesh has been digested.
In this larger Kingfisher, as in the other, male and female
have the same plumage, and the young merely a rather
duller one ; but the beaks and feet of the youngsters are
blackish instead of red. The male, when courting, makes
a great display of his wings, which have a fine white patch
on the primary quills, like the mynah's; while the wing-
covers are quite diagrammatically coloured, the "major"

THE KINGFISHER. 85

being blue, the " median " black, and the "minor" chest-
nut— a useful ' ' tip " for anyone who wants to learn the
topography of a bird's wing according to the ornithologi-
cal books. Halcyon smyrnensis bears captivity very well,
and has been exhibited both at the London and the Cal-
cutta Zoological Gardens.

There is a sort of larger edition of him, nearly as big as
a crow, which one may see as near as Alipore ; this bird
rejoices in the name of Pelargopsis gurial, the Stork-billed
Kingfisher. He is not as showy as his smaller relatives,
being buff and pale-blue in colour, and has a curiously
plaintive call for such a big strong bird. He is a fish
feeder, although in form he resembles the White-breasted
species more than the little fisher, and likewise has a red
bill, t have never seen about Calcutta the pretty spotted
Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle varia), whose plumage always re-
minds me of a silver-spangled Hamburgh fowl ; but he is
sure to be found not far off, for he is one of our common-
est Indian birds, and in a slightly different form extends
to Africa and Western Asia also.

Sometimes, however, one may see in Calcutta a bird
which, although not a Kingfisher, :"s nevertheless a very
near relative of that family, and therefore ought not to be
entirely passed over, especially as he generally goes under
an alias. This is the Green Bee- eater (M crops viiidis},
commonly miscalled a flycatcher. The term describes
his way of getting a living well enough, but in his general
form, except that he has a curved instead of a straight
beak, and a long tail, he is very kingfisher-like. When in
the hand, it may be observed that his feet are of the

86 THE BIRDS OP CALCUTTA.

same peculiar make as those of Kingfishers, and he burrows
out a nest in the same manner, and lays similar eggs. Bee-
eaters are very nice little birds ; they are more sociable
than their relatives, and several sit about together ; and
they also breed in societies, making a regular warren where
they are numerous. Like Philip Sparrow, also, they are
among the few birds which both dust themselves and
bathe, which argues an intelligent appreciation of all the
simple pleasures open to a bird. When dusting they, of
course, have to settle ; but they take their bath by a plunge
like a swallow. They are not constant residents in Cal-
cutta— at any rate one only notices them at certain seasons,
and then their pretty green plumage and graceful flight
make them very conspicuous. Although one of the small-
est of the family, being, except for his long tail, only about
as big as a sparrow, the Green Bee-eater is a most prosper-
ous species, extending from North-East Africa to Cochin
China. As with so many wide-ranging birds, the Bee-
eater's coat varies locally. In the North- West of India
his throat becomes more or less blue, while in Burma he
frequently sports an auburn cap. This is an example of
one way in which species arise. If the pure-green strain
died out on account of unfavourable conditions, the blue-
throated and chestnut-headed varieties would be two
distinct species. But of course this does not explain how
the different varieties arose in the first place, which is the
real problem of the origin of species.

XVI.— THE SWIFT.

" True to the kindred points of heaven and

home" — Wordsworth.

WHAT the gentle bard sang of the English sky-lark
is still more applicable to our long- winged, dusky house -
fellow who squeals and skims round the constituent
buildings of " The City of Palaces " much as his near
relative does about English towns and villages : for house-
swifts hardly ever alight outside theii- nests, and only go
there to rest, sit, and sleep, performing all the other func-
tions of life on the wing. The Indian Swift (Cypselus-
affinis}, indeed, is neither so loud nor so speedy as the
English one (Cypselus apus); this, indeed, could hardly
be expected of him as he is not so large a bird ; but he is
certainly prettier, being greenish black instead of sooty
brown, and with his dark hue set off by a patch of pure
white above the tail, which is not forked as in the home
bird. As in Swifts generally, there is no noticeable d^ffer-
erence between male and female ; and the young are merely
duller by reason of a light fringing to their feathers,. One
has plenty of opportunities of studying them, as they are
unusually happy at falling out of their stuffy nests, com-
posed of all sorts of rubbish that the parents can pick up
on the wing and stick together against some roof or in a
crack with their gummy saliva. Glutinous salivation is
indeed a speciality with the Swifts, and the celebrated

88 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

birds' nests of which soup is made to gladden the hearts
of such Chinese bigwigs as can afford to pay about its
weight in silver for the raw material are the product of
certain birds of this family who rely for their procreant
cradles simply on unlimited expectoration ; those which
adulterate their secretion with feathers and other extra-
neous substances producing a far less marketable article.
The eggs of this Swift, like those of its family, generally,
are long and white, and few in number, only two to four
being laid ; the young are nasty, naked, pink little things,
at first blind, with their little helpless wings no bigger
than their legs ; then, as the feathers sprout, the wings
predominate by degrees, till in the full-grown bird the puny
legs only serve to carry the strong grappling claws which
the bird needs for scrambling about and hanging on in
its confined nesting and roosting quarters. The toes
are not placed three in front and one behind, as in
most birds, but spread out anyhow like the "fingers"
of a starfish, and they grip very closely. On one occa-
sion I picked up in the Museum two birds, presumably
rival males, so tightly clenched by their feet that they
did not separate even when taken in hand. The Swift
seems, as might be expected with such feet, not to
be able to walk like other birds, but only to crawl in
a shuffling flat-footed fashion like a nestling, with the
hocks touching the ground ; and I had to catch one
and tie its wings to find this out, for if you place a
Swift on the ground he wastes no time in pedestrianism
on his own account, but jerks himself into the air at once
— if he can, for both this species and the home Swift have

THE SWIFT. 89

been said to be incapable of rising when once down. I
have, however, several times experimented with our bird
and with one exception always found uninjured birds
could get under way, even the two fighters I mentioned
above ; but I did get one specimen which apparently
could not start till I threw it up in the air. It is not diffi-
cult to get hold of Swifts for experiment, for of all the
birds I have met with, the Indian Swift is the best hand
€it getting into a scrape at any age ; several times I have
heard the piteous squeals of one in the grip of a crow, and
I once extracted a wretched individual from a drain, too
weak to fly when he was released ; while getting into a
room, forgetting the way out, and so circling round hope-
lessly till he drops is quite the ordinary thing for a Swift
to do ; I presume if he is driven out of his nest he is alto-
gether lost for the time.

The Swift, indeed, does not compare at all favourably
for intelligence with the swallow, whose name or nest he
sometimes usurps. Into the anatomical distinctions be-
tween the two it is not my intention here to enter ; but
roughly Swifts may be distinguished from swallows by
having only ten instead of twelve tail-feathers, or if one
cannot catch them for the purpose of noting this distinc-
tion, by the Swift's habits, noticed above, of not perching
away from home. The swallows sit both on dead twigs
and telegraph wires, and when they have occasion to come
to the ground for mud, can walk as much as they want
with their pretty little feet, which are just miniatures of
those of ordinary birds. But one does not often see swal-
lows in Calcutta to make the comparison, though our

90 THE BIRDS OP CALCUTTA.

common Chimney Swallow (Hirundo rustica) which also is
found here, and breeds in the Himalayas, does turn up
sometimes, especially in the cold weather. Perhaps the
Swifts have had something to say in the matter, for, as I
hinted above, they are rather too much for swallows when
the interests of the two happen to clash, the swallow's
nice mud nest being a great temptation to a dishonest
Swift. However, Swifts and swallows of numerous spe-
cies do exist out here together, so that probably as a rule
they do not get in each .other's way. The English Swift,
for instance, occurs in the hills and Kashmir, and in Cal-
cutta itself the little Palm Swift (Tachornis batassiensis)
may be found as well as the House Swift. The Palm Swift
is a considerably cmaller and slenderer bird than the domes-
tic species, with a well-forked tail and plain drab plumage
all over ; it is not a very rapid flyer, and keeps near the
palms, on the fronds of which it fastens its tiny cup-like
nest of plant-down or feather, stuck together and fastened
in one of the furrows of the leaf by the usual salivary ce-
ment. There was a small colony inhabiting a tall fan-
palm in the Museum compound.

Wherever the fari-palm grows in India the Palm Swift
takes up its abode, but the house bird, not being so fastidi-
ous in its requirements, is at home wherever there are
cliffs or buildings in Africa and India, and the intervening
countries ; indeed, I first made its acquaintance at Mom-
basa in one of the offices of the British East Africa Com-
pany nearly a dozen years ago. East of India the House-
Swift is blacker and sports a longer forked tail, and so
claims rank as a distinct species (Cypselus subfurcatus),

THE SWIFT. 91

but to go into the Swifts of the Indian region would be
getting too far away from the birds of Calcutta altogether,
so that I will confine myself to further stating that the little
producer of the best quality of edible nests (Collocalie
francica) breeds in the Andamans and Nicobars, though
he wilfully refuses to be civilized and inhabit houses ;
which is the more vexatious as a near relative of his (Collo-
calia linchi), who builds a nest so adulterated with moss
as to be quite worthless, has taken freely to buildings at
Port Blair, and can be studied there readily. Perhaps
transposing the eggs of the two species might persuade the
first class bird not to waste his sweetness on the desert
rocks, and they breed at the same time ; so valuable a
product ought to be worth a little trouble in its cultivation.
As for our humble companion here, he is to be tolerated if
not loved ; it is difficult to get up much interest in Swifts,
which have never enjoyed the popularity of swallows ;
but think of what we might have to put up with in the
way of insects if he were not here to make at least some
impression on their numbers ! For Swifts, as every one
probably knows, live on small winged insects, and of all
the places in which I have ever lived, Calcutta is facile
princeps in the production of such amenities of existence.

Hen Koel.
(Ewdynamis honor ata. )

xvii.— THE KOEL.

" 0 Koel, little Koel, singing on the siris bough." —

Kipling.

IT is in my mind, as Mr. Kipling's animal say, that
'Our Anglo-Indian laureate has in the above-quoted passage
grievously mixed up the Koel with the Coppersmith, a
miscreant dealt with earlier in this series. For the
Koel is not so very small as birds go, being as big as a good
sized pigeon, nor, though his ' c speech " is " ceaseless ' '
enough in the season of his vocalizations, is it "bell-like ;"
while the Coppersmith's metallic call might deserve such
.an epithet. I must confess to being heretical about the
Koel, who is not as a rule a popular character with the exile

THE KOEL. 93

in India whose fate Mr. Kipling so pathetically deplores.
No note among our English song birds' utterances, save
only the lark's or the nightingale's, is to my ear so plea-
sant as the " kuk, kuk, ko-eel, ko-eel, ko-eel," running up
the scale, with which Eudynamis honorata warns us that
the time to stew in our own juice is at hand. The natives,
who enjoy the said culinary process, love the Koel, and
deem his jetty plumage a fit object with which to compare
the locks of beauty, even as European poets do the raven's.
They also evince their admiration of his song by keeping
him caged, and he seems to do very well in confinement,
although he must find satoo — gram-meal paste — a some-
what monotonous diet in place of his natural fare of jungle
fruits. However, the birds of the cuckoo family, to which
he belongs, have accommodating stomachs, so long as the
food be soft and plentiful, and the Koel especially must
have a hardy constitution to withstand the load of mixed
garbage with which his infant interior is presumably filled
by his natural foster-parent, the crow. It is much in the
Koel9 s favour that after such an upbringing he reverts to
vegetarianism ; and how he gets brought up at all under
the circumstances is somewhat of a puzzle. There is no
doubt whatever that crows hate the old Koels and perse-
cute them literally to the death when they get the chance ;
nevertheless, they perform a parent's duties to their off-
spring when once the supposititious bantling has been
safely foisted into the corvine nest. To get this done the
male Koel is said to show himself and draw off pursuit
while his mate, who is speckled like a hen pheasant and
not in the least like him, deposits her egg where it is to

$4 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

receive parental attention, As the said egg is very like a
crow's there is no great wonder that it should be hatched
as if it were one ; nor can a crow be expected to notice
that the changeling's toes are in pairs, not three in front
and one behind, as crows' toes should properly be.
But one would expect that when the young bird is fledged
its appearance would provoke suspicion. It is not so big
as a young crow, and though it is sometimes as black as
its real or foster-father it generally betrays a certain speck-
ling, more or less according to its sex, of the plumage of its
maternal parent ; though even the lightest coloured young
hen Koel, by her dark bill and eyes, is easily distinguished
from her mother, whose ruby eyes and jade-green bill are
like those of her husband. Probably, by the time that the
hen crow awakes to the fact that she has been " sold
again," maternal affection — that powerful force which
makes cats foster rats, and wolves babies — has asserted
itself to such an extent that she cannot bid the intruder
begone.

It is sometimes stated, however, that the real parent
hangs about, so as to be ready in such a contingency, and
certainly there seems to be some feeling of propriety among
Koels, in spite of their disreputable family connexions. I
have seen the male take the trouble to feed the female with
berries plucked off the tree on which both were sitting ;
and I am not aware that even so small an act of courtesy
as this is has been recorded of the home cuckoo. It is
possible therefore that care of offspring as well as atten-
tion to the conjugal tie is a little more in evidence in the
Indian bird.

THE KOEL. 95

Both our common crows, the urban and the mofussilite,
are victimized by the Koel, but the former more frequently
than the latter, probably because the town crow is the
smaller bird ; and as a family upset by this cuculine intru-
sion is almost the only calamity crows have to fear from
other feathered members of creation, it is a great pity the
Koel is not commoner — though some people, who object to
the persistence of the sable vocalizer by night as well as by
day, would probably say there are far too many of his
kind about already. Such have been known to confound
the Koel with the brain-fever bird, which, however, is a
quite distinct species, much more like the home cuckoo,

Brain-fever bird.
(Hierococcyx varius.)

and known in books as the Hawk-cuckoo (Hierococcyx va-
rius) form his remarkable resemblance in plumage and
general form and flight to the common Indian Sparrow-
hawk or Shikra (Astur Radius). His note, however, fully
entitles him to his ordinary designation, whether from its
" damnable iteration " or from its remarkable resem-
blance to the word " brain- fever ' repeated in a piercing
voice running up the scale ; although an equally worthy
rendering of the performance, which has the merit of

% THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

including the overture preceding the triple note, is, " O
k>r' ! 0 lor' ! how very hot it's getting— I feel it, I feel it,5 '
&c., &c., &c. The brain-fever bird in youth is nurtured
by the " seven sisters," and in connection with his resem-
blance to the shikra it may be noted that one observer
states that the whole sisterhood make themselves scarce
when Hierococcyx appears on the scene, and thus give her
a fair field for planting her oval imposition on them. On
the other hand, as has been stated in the chapter dealing
with those birds, the shabby seven have been known to
show a bold front to the real enemy, and moreover the
young brain-fever bird is as similar to a young hawk as
its parent is to an old one ; so that general rather than
special deception may be the object of this remark-
able resemblance, which occurs to a certain extent in
many parasitic cuckoos, including the familiar bird at home
(Cuculus canorus). This also occurs here, and may be
heard any spring day at Darjeeling, together with a larger
mountaineering relative of the brain-fever bird (Hierococ-
cyx sparverioides). India, indeed, rejoices in a number of
cuckoos, both of the sort " as doesn't lay 'is own eggs
'isself," and of the more honest section who behave in
domestic matters like any ordinary bird. About Calcutta
one may occasionally meet, of the former kind, the hand-
some black and white Crested Cuckoo (Coccystes jacobinus)
which the natives mil call a bulbul, and of the latter, the
awkward looking Crow-pheasant (Centropus sinensis) with
its black body and tan wings, which certainly does at first
sight recall the two birds whose name it bears rather than
the ordinary members of its real family. The Crow-

THE KOEL. 97

pheasant is prescribed in some places as an enemy to game ,
which, as his general habits resemble those of a magpie,
he probably is ; but as he also destroys snakes, it would
be better to protect him stringently, since whatever harm
he may do to young pheasants or partridges would be in
most people's opinion amply offset by warfare on creatures
which are their enemies and ours alike.

F, BC.

XVIII.— THE PARROT.

" Fraught with antics as the Indian bird."" -Wordsworth.

THE Parrot may fairly claim to be the Indian bird par
excellence, for the peacock and fowl had been so long known
in Europe, when he arrived to gladden the hearts of Greek
bird fanciers, that they had found their way into mytho-
logy ; and we hardly think of them as foreigners ourselves.
But the Parrot, always a captive and renowned for its
power of speech, has always remained a type of what is
gorgeous, tropical, and strange. This is right enough in a
way, for Parrots are very unlike any other birds, European
or otherwise, and they are pre-eminently characteristic of
warm regions all round the world. But India is not rich in
species of Parrots, nor Africa either ; the great haunts of
these birds are South America and the island continent of
Australia and its satellites. And here we see the hardi-
ness of the Parrot constitution ; a large parrakeet (Cyano-
lyseus patagonus) haunts the bleak plains of Patagonia ;
a smaller one (Cyanorhamphus unicolor) crawls among the
tussock-grass on the remote Antipodes Island, so much in
fear of the violent winds which sweep its home that it
never takes wing ; and it is only high up on the New Zea-
land Alps that the great sheep-killing Kea (Nestor notdbilis),
which looks as much like a buzzard as a Parrot, makes its
horrible meals off living sheep. It would seem therefore

THE PARROT. 99

that Parrots can live almost anywhere and anyhow, given
ground habitable by land-birds at all ; and this makes it
the more curious that in those most richly varied collec-
tions of animal life, the African and Indian faunas, the
Parrots make no very great show. We have here no
gorgeous lories or macaws, no snowy and crested cockatoos
— hardly anything, in fact, but che long-tailed green
parrakeets, of which our common Ring-necked species
(PalcEornis torquatus), is far the most abundant, and
extends all over India, spreading East to Cochin China.
It does not ascend the hills as a rule, and it likes cultivated
ground, where it has the opportunity of using holes in
buildings, as well as in trees, for nesting purposes,
paying for the accommodation afforded by constituting
itself an economic pest of the first water by its greedy and
wasteful assaults on grain and fruit. It must be admitted,
however, as an extenuating circumstance, that " poor
Polly's " popularity as a cage-bird outweighs a good deal
of damage done, for a good many rupees must be turned
over annually by those who deal in Parrots. Hundreds of
the birds, both old and young, come into the market
annually, and seem to find a ready sale, and certainly this
Parrot is the commonest pet bird here, and is very popular
in Europe, also. In Calcutta, as everyone must have
noticed, it is as frequently chained as caged, often, alas,
with a chain which would hold an ordinary terrier ! Poor
Polly indeed ! a heavy chain and an iron swing, or a small
hemispherical cage, form a sad exchange for the tree tops
and the blue sky. Somehow I always pity a caged Parrot
now, although Parrots do so well in cages, and^their slow

100 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

crawling movements seem so excellently suited for a
captive's narrow bounds.

But a wild Parrot shows one thab half the bird's time is
passed in its swift graceful flight — a flight, by the way,
that is strikingly different from that of most land birds, the
downward-pointed wings, with their sharp decisive
stroke, at once recalling some plover, sandpiper or other
shore -haunting fowl. Like these aquatics, also, Polly
carries her feet stowed astern and not tucked up to the
breast, though it took me a long time to find this out when
I was investigating this point, with a view to discovering
the reason for this difference in habit in birds — for some
kinds carry their feet forward and others behind in the
most inexplicable way. But one day a Parrot, urged
perhaps by a desire to examine its defunct relatives, came
into the Bird gallery of the museum, and, as it careered to
and fro overhead, it gave me an opportunity of seeing how
the feet were placed. Ordinarily they seem to be buried
in the under-tail-coverts when the bird is on the wing,
but this individual was too flurried to put this final touch
to its flying attitude. As to the reason, I have not found
that out yet ; all birds belonging to a given natural family
seem to stow their feet in the same way, so that it is pro-
bably only a meaningless inherited habit.

Parrots are chiefly winter birds with us in Calcutta, but
they must breed not far off, for some of the infants brought
into the Provision Bazaar are very young indeed, and
hardly fit to stand a "long journey. Nasty little things
they are, some as naked as the palm of one's hand, and
of much the same colour. Few. however, are quite nude,

THE PARROT. 101

for, as a rule, the green feathers are beginning to sprout
before they are taken and brought in. The fledged young
bird can be always known from the old one by its dark
eyes, a point to be borne in mind by those who are buying
Parrots as pets ; the old bird's eyes are white — that is to
say, their iris is, clearly showing off the waxing and waning
pupil which gives the bird such a knowing, wicked look.
There is probably some meaning in this expression, for
light eyes in birds are often indicative of a bad disposition
in their owners ; the yellow-eyed Black-crested Yellow
Bulbul (Otocompsa flaviventris) is much more spiteful
than its common dark -eyed relations ; and any falconer
knows that the yellow-eyed short-winged hawks, such as
the goshawk and sparrow-hawk, have much less manage-
able tempers than the true falcons, which are all dark-
eyed.

In spite of her " canister look in the heye," however,
Polly makes a nice pet, and is often an excellent talker.
The only Indian Parrot I ever actually heard talk was
a specimen at a bird show at home, which constantly,
marked in a thin piping, but very clear voice " Waiter
bring Polly pint of beer, quick, quick, quick ! ' ; This
was a hen bird, and so I conclude that the sex is not of
prime importance in a talking Parrot. As most people
know, the male of our common Parrot can be easily distin-
guished by the pink ring round his neck, which, however,
is not found in the newly-fledged bird, but is a sign of
maturity. Curiously enough, this pink ring remains in
the lutino or yellow variety, which is not uncommon, and
sells for a high price. It certainly is a most lovely bird,

102 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

being of a most even and delicate yellow, and retaining
the bright red bill of the ordinary green bird. Among the
wild green birds brought into Tiretta Bazaar — presum-
ably for sale to the guileless sailor — one often sees speci-
mens more or less heavily splashed with yellow, and
probably by pairing these the pure yellow form could be
bred at will in a few generations. In the only observed
case known to me of the actual production of this variety,
however, T am told that the parents are just two ordinary
green Parrots ; they breed every year in the same tree
and all their brood are always yellow, and a lively com-
petition exists among the local natives for the position of
these valuable youngsters.

It is a very curious fact that, popular as the Parrot ha«*
always been as a pet, the native fanciers have never
attempted to breed this " sport ' in confinement ; whereas
in the case of the little Australian Grass Parrakeet or
"Budgerigar" (Melopsittacus undulatus) which has only
been known as a cage-bird in Europe for about half a
century, a yellow variety has already been fixed, and is
now offered for sale at a price doubtless highly gratifying
to its producers. The Budgerigar is a familiar cage-bird
here and has even escaped and bred, but it has not yet,
at all events, established itself as one of our wild birds.

Our own native bird is certainly not very conspicuous
here at most times, and I was astonished to find him so
abundant in Bombay, where he is as numerous as the
mynah in Calcutta. The Parrot, however, will make his
presence felt wherever he is. and his familiar squeal over
head is one of the pleasantest sounds of a cold weather

THE PARROT. 103

morning. It is a curious fact that Parrots do not in their
wild state indulge their imitative faculties at all. unlike
the clever starling tribe ; and so thousands of generations
of them live and die in their native jungles without ever
fully exercising ears and tongue fully as acute, in many
cases, as our own. I say tongue conventionally, of course,
for in Parrots, as in other birds, the tongue has nothing to
do with the production of the sounds uttered, human or
otherwise; the bird's vocal organ being the. syrinx, which
is situated at the base of the windpipe, where that organ
forks before entering the lungs.

I have not seen any other kind of Parrot wild about
here, but the large " Rock Parrot " (Palceornis nepalen-
sis) is said to occur in that condition, and is at all events
such a very common captive as to require notice. In the
difference between different sexes and ages, and in its
general colour and form it resembles the ordinary Parrot,
but it is not only larger, but of a much duller green, and
always possesses a splash of red on the wing. Its plumage
never seems to incline to yellow like the smaller Parrot' s,
although we have in the museum a skin of the very nearly
allied Andaman large Parrot ((Palceornis maynirostris)
which is nearly a pure " lutino." This Andaman variety
chiefly differs in having a very much bigger bill, according
to a very general rule in island colonists among birds ; but
why an insular habitat should result in a big nose is a
problem which science has yet to solve.

XIX.— THE OWL.

' The Owl and Owlet talking, scoldiny, at tack

other. ' ' — Longfelloiv.

THE ordinary notes of our common little spotted Owlet
(Athene brama) do certainly suggest family jars, the
spasmodic cackles in which it indulges before beginning
its nightly avocations sounding as if promoted by very
bad feeling. But, as a matter of fact, the house Owlet is a
harmless and not unsociable little being ; I have seen one
* ' playing gooseberry " to a pair of lovers of its own spe-
cies with the utmost nonchalance, and, up-country, where
it comes out in broad daylight, the other birds generally
do not seem to mind its presence, though I once saw one
being hustled by the " sat-bhai." In Calcutta, however,
the Owls do not appear till the shades of night have pretty
well fallen, doubtless, on account of the crows, who, num-
bering among their very few foes the large horned Owls,
persecute all the tribe on principle ; for how are they to
know that the small Owls won't grow up into big ones ?
We are far too apt to fall into the mistake that birds are
born with an intimate knowledge of ornithology ; that is a
subject they have to study just as much as ourselves. No
doubt the small birds suffer from the little Owl at times,
but generally insects, mice, and house-lizards must make
up his bill of fare, as .being most easily obtainable. He is
not a bird of powerful flight, and does not spend much

THE OWL. 105

time on the wing, his up-and-down method of travelling
not being suited for hunting ; so he prefers to sit on a
telegraph-wire, or any other convenient perch, and await
eventualities.

He is very much of a domestic Owl, and I am told, is
sometimes so tame in verandahs where he is unmolested
that he will let himself be touched ; for under man's hos-
pitable roof he finds a dormitory for the day-time, and a
convenient nesting place. The few eggs his mate lays are
white, like those of all Owls, and the fluffy owlets, when
fledged, are drab-and-white with yellow eyes just like
their parents, for as a general rule Owls do not go in for
invidious distinctions between different sexes and ages in
the matter of dress. In Burma and Western India, the
little Owls are smaller and darker than hereabout ; and in
the north-west, about Peshawar, begins the range of an-
other species, the Bactrian Owlet (Athene bactriana) chiefly
differing from the Indian bird in being streaked instead of
barred below. This bird is almost identical with the cele-
brated Owl of Minerva (Athene noctua), which must have
been as common in Athens as Athene brama is here, since
'' to take owls to Athens " was the classical equivalent
for taking coals to Newcastle. Minerva's Owl was, of
course, the bird of wisdom, and by their selection the
Greeks showed their own discernment, for Owls are any-
thing but the futile creatures which popular tradition
makes them to be both here and at home. An Owl com-
bines valour with discretion ; his nest is more dangerous
to rob than a hawk's, while as to his habits by day he may
well say with Diomed " thou dost miscall retire; I do

106 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

not fly, but advantageous care withdrew me from the odds
of multitude," for he can see well enough in the daytime,
but is perfectly conscious of his unpopularity with other
birds. Moreover, Owls are prudent and far-seeing, even
to laying up a store of food against time of dearth ; not
that our local owlet has any need to do this, as he never
goes into cold climates. In America, however, the small
horned-owl (Scops asio) has been found gloating over a
store of fresh fish, which he had taken advantage of an
artificial opening in the ice to procure from a pond a mile
off ! That Owls should fish seems unnatural, somehow,
and yet we have more than one fishing species in India,
and the ordinary ' ' mousing owl ' ' of barn and steeple has
been known to turn piscator in England.

The said Barn-owl (Strix flammea) is also found in
Calcutta, but is not nearly so conspicuous as the little
spotted bird, and is comparatively seldom seen, owing, no
doubt, to his more nocturnal habits. Now and then one may
see the big broad-winged bird flapping steadily and silently
over the compound, or plunging into a bush to raid the
roosting sparrows, for this Owl is one of the enemies of
those pestilential finches, although his more ordinary diet
consists of "rats and mice and such small deer." For the
capture of these he is eminently adapted ; his dark eyes
look out from a most perfectly-formed " facial disk,"
that radiating arrangement of feathers so beautifully
contrived to concentrate the light — though the immediate
effect of the Barn-owl's heart-shaped countenance on most
people is to make them compare him to a monkey ; his
wings are longer than in other Owls, to sustain him in his

THE OWL. 107

search over open ground for his victims, as he is not migra-
tory ; and his legs are also long, presumably for conve-
nience in a sudden grapple, since he is not a quick or elegant
pedestrian, his long talons being to grip with, not to walk
on. There is one point about the Barn-owl's structure,
however, that badly needs explanation, and that is the
small-tooth-comb which he carries on the inner side of his
middle claw. It is true that all birds use this particular
claw for scratching their heads with, and that some other
species besides this Owl have a similar arrangement ; but
nature has distributed the favour with a niggard and par-
tial hand, and in a manner that at present defies conjecture.
But his structural peculiarities are not the only points
about the Barn-owl ; he teems with interest. For one
thing, he is one of the most cosmopolitan of birds, being
found practically everywhere except in the high north and
in New Zealand ; he varies in colour and size to an extent
which has given naturalists a great deal of trouble, for
several beautiful species could be made out of him if his
progeny would stick to one type. But this they will not
do ; once in Calcutta T had two fine young birds of the
same age, and presumably the same brood, of which one
had a white face and breast, while the other's breast was
buff, and its face smoky grey. Both were spotted
with black below, which is usual with the Barn-owl here>
whereas in England the bird's waistcoat is plain. The
English Barn-owl also tends to sport a white tail, the
Indian bird's being buff with dark bars. But then
the same bird in Jamaica comes out with the
points of the English form, thus upsetting a beautiful

108 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

rule that might otherwise be framed to the effect that
" insular tropical forms of this owl are very dark." The
Andaman Barn-owl certainly bears out the rule to the
letter, but as it is also conspicuous by having very much
shorter wings than the continental birds, while the bill and
feet are just as big if not bigger, it may really be a distinct
species altogether. This raises the interesting question
as to whether the dark insular-tropical Owls of this kind
are a primitive race like the small dark human races which
have a way of cropping up in out-of-the-way places, or
whether the Barn-owl when it gets on a tropical island pro-
ceeds with singular uniformity to degenerate in complexion
and power of wing. One might argue a point like thi? till
doomsday, and so as the Barn-owl is an eminently useful
bird, it is fortunate that he has been introduced into New
Zealand, which is sufficiently insular, if not tropical ;
there he can evolve for such of our great-grandsons as
take an interest in natural history.

Unfortunately, and this another point of interest about
the Barn-owl, he is not popular. Owls, generally speaking,
are considered uncanny as well as stupid ; and the Barn-
owl, both in Europe and in India, is the worst reputed of the
lot. From Spenser, who called him " the rueful
shriek, still waiting on the here," to the modern Spaniard,
who thinks he is of the devil's poultry and drinks the oil
out of church lamps, his reputation has been hopelessly
bad in the west. And out here the native calls him the
•'bad bird" or " death -bird," and dreads his weird
screech accordingly ; but he does not kill him wantonly
or for the purpose of mounting him as a hand-screen. The

THE OWL. 109

use of the owl to the native consists in his various magical
properties, chief of which is the fact that if you serve him
up instead of chicken in a curry the hapless partaker
thereof will become as stupid as an owl, a consummation
devoutly to be wished in the case of an enemy !

XX.— THE VULTURE.

Never stoops the soaring vulture

But another vulture, witching

From his high aerial lookout,

Sees the downward plunge, and follows

And a third pursues the second,.

Coming from the invisible ether,

First a speck, and then a vulture,

Till the air is dark with pinions. — Longfellow.
THE length of the above quotation will, I am sure,
be excused for the sake of its beauty and accuracy ; for
it is now well established that Vultures find their food not
by scent, as some authors use to maintain, but by sight
only. Nor is it necessarily the case that a Vulture should
discover it at all ; often the ubiquitous crow is the first
comer, only to be driven oft by the kite, who in turn yields
place to his betters. The commonest Vulture hereabout
is certainly the Bengal or white-backed species (Pseudo-
gyps benqalensis), which may be seen almost any day soar-
ing high in air, his wings flat and motionless as boards, in
hope of the full meal that he gets, perhaps, once a week,
For when a carcase is found, and the Vultures are assem-
bled to enjoy it, they quarrel a good deal over the repast,
and many have to stand back before their despot, the
King Vulture (Oiogyps calvus), who keeps the plebians off

THE VULTURE. Ill

till he is satisfied ; though, even he fears the great Adju-
tant StoTk(Leptoptilusdubius), once so common in Calcutta,
but now, alas ! only a memory. The Bengal Vulture is a
dull dirty-looking bird of a dingy black, relieved only by
some white on the back and under the wing, and this only
noticeable in flight. The regal bird, which is not nearly
so numerous, is of a richer blackness, and has a bright red
head, with a pendent flap on each side, as the insignia of
his rank. The young of both are of a dirty brown, and in
this resemble our third local species, the Long-billed Vul-
ture (Gyps tenuiro?tris), which is, however, easily distin-
guishable by its very long and lean head and neck ; it is
quite a grey-hound among Vultures. The best place to
study vultures and their want of manners is at Dhappa,
to which richly-flavoured locality I once made an
expedition for that purpose. Here the Bengal Vultures
fare somewhat meagrely on the boiled garbage thrown out
from the vats after the town carcases of horse and bullock
have been boiled down for grease ; and as they are nearly
as tame as turkeys they can be easily watched. The Long-
billed birds are few and more shy ; they keep aloof,
disdaining, as I was told, boiled beef in the hope of a more
dainty meal of dead dogs and rats. To these viands the
King Vulture appears also more addicted, but I saw none
at Dhappa and was told they were rare there and much
more wary than the rest. In fact, the first occasion on
which I identified his vulturine highness in Calcutta was
when two of the species pitched on the maidan, appa-
rently to settle some difference of opinion. Since then I
have seen one or two others there.

112 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

In Vultures we have in the East not only the rajah and
the common ruck of his subjects of various species, but
the humble sweeper, in the form of the well-known White
Scavenger Vulture (Neophron ginginianus). This bird,
however, eschewed the neighbourhood of Calcutta, for
although appallingly accommodating of stomach, he has
some delicacy of constitution about him, and avoids a
moist climate.

It is a curious thing that the same hierarchy of Vultures
obtains in America, although the birds there belong to a
distinct family of their own ; the old-world vultures being-
very near of kin to the eagles. In South America we get
a handsome and powerful King Vulture (Cathartes papa),
but creamy-fawn is here the royal colour ; and he has for
subjects the mean Turkey-Buzzards (Oenops aura), in
their rusty black, and the Gallinazos or Black Vultures
(Catkaristes atiatus), which look uncommonly like our
scavenger, only dipped in ink, the colours of sovereign and
sweeper being practically reversed. It is a curious fact
that the Old and New World Vultures, like the monkeys
of the two worlds, can most readily be separated by the
form of the nostrils ; the difference in the case of the birds •
being that in the Eastern Vultures thei'e is a partition
between the nostrils as in most animals, whereas in the
Western family this is absent, and you can look right
through the beak from one side to the other. The Ameri-
can Vultures also have weaker feet and do not build nests ;
and they have no voice-muscles, so that they can only
hiss. Their Eastern relatives, though not taloned like
eagles, are more powerful in the extremities, and even

THE VULTURE. 113

carry nesting material therewith, for they build large un-
wieldy nests on trees or rocks ; and they are sufficiently
well endowed with a vocal apparatus to vent their affec-
tions in horrid bello wings at the breeding season. Onr
Vultures heie build large rough nests in trees, of fresh
boughs torn off by main strength, and the plebeians are
sociable, nesting in colonies ; royalty, of course, can toler-
ate no neighbouring rivals. As a rule, they only lay one
egg ; a large fertility is not necessary to keep up the num-
bers of birds which run so few risks as Vultures do and
possess such iron constitutions. They have even been
known to take and survive doses of poison which would
inevitably have proved fatal to anything else.

A pleasing subject for speculation is the baldness of
these disreputable fowl. Of course the most obvious
explanation is that feathers on a head which is continually
being poked inside carcases would soon be the reverse of
ornamental, if not unhealthy ; but as Darwin, with his
usual philosophic caution, remarks, the head of the cleanly
turkey is just as naked. So are those of the Ibis and the
Cassowary, and the Sarus Crane, and scattered here and
there throughout the bird class we come upon heads grie-
vously in need of a hair restorer. It will, however, be
noticed, that such usually belong to big birds ; and that
where degrees of baldness exist in any given family, the
biggest will also generally be the barest on the top. The
Ostrich indeed, the largest of all birds, is also the nakedest ;
his head and neck only have scanty hairs, and his thighs
are completely nude. To apply this to the Vulture ; the
low-caste and under-sized Scavenger has a bald face, the
F, BC 8

114 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

ordinary Vultures a sparsely downy head and neck, the
Longbilled a longer and nakeder neck, and the King luxuri-
ates in complete bald-headedness accentuated by side-flaps,
and a naked red patch inside each thigh. A very similar
gradation may also be traced with the American kinds.
So, too, with the cranes. The little Demoiselle (Anthro-
poides virgo] has her pretty head well covered ; the Coolung
(Grus communis) is much bigger and is bare on the -top ;
the white Crane (Grus leucogeranus), bigger still, is bare
trom beak to eyes all round ; and the great Sarus is
naked all over his head and some way down his neck.
Thus we arrive at the fact that baldness and prosperity in
birds somehow go together ; when a species gets up in the
world it can afford to take off some of its feathers where
they will not be missed, and go about more or less decol-
lete. A simpler explanation would be that when a bird
gets over a certain size it can't grow enough feathers to
cover itself properly ; but after all this involves the
other, for it must be prosperous to be big at all. Vultures
may certainly claim to be well-to-do, though they don't
look it. Their simple tastes are more easily gratified than
the expensive ones of the eagles, who, however, will condes-
cend to bully the best of them occasionally in order to
take of their high yet humble repast; and nobody owes
them a grudge, for they do no one any harm to speak of.
Yet there are curious limits to their spread which are hard
to understand. It is strange that there should be none
in Ceylon, for instance, and that none inhabit Australia ;
for though not migratory, they are great travellers on
occasion — the Arabs of North Africa said that during the

THE VULTURE. 115

Crimean War the Vultures emigrated to Europe with an
eye to unlimited dead horse. They can bear both heat
and cold, and the only hindrance they would be likely to
meet, one would think, would be heavy jungle in which
they could not see their food. The New World birds are
more enterprising, for the Turkey Buzzard extends from
end to end, almost, of the American Continent and is a
well known bird everywhere. It is true that one of the
Old World birds, the huge Cinereous Vulture (VuUur
monachus] also spreads from Spain to China, but it is
not a common species anywhere, so that there must
be some check on its increase that does not exist in
the case of the much weaker and smaller Turkey-
Buzzard, which is a very insignificant bird compared
to it. But nothing demonstrates better than the
study of the lives of birds that the battle is not
always to the strong. The Turkey Buzzard in Jamaica
has itself been recently experiencing a serious and
quite unexpected check by reason of the introduction
of one of our best known Indian animals, the mongoose.
This beast plays havoc with the eggs of the poor Vul-
ture, which has not, so far, developed sufficient sense to
move his domestic belongings to a safer situation than
the bare ground and has become much less numer-
ous in consequence. It is evident therefore that "John
Crow," as the Turkey Buzzard is called, has not intelli-
gence equal to his constitution, and that he has prospered
so far more by luck than judgment.

XXL— THE KITE.

" When the kite builds look to lesser linen." — Shakes-
peare.

THE Kite is a melancholy example of unutilized talents.
He could, if he chose to exert himself, be monarch of all he
surveyed in Calcutta, but he lets the crow get there before
him every time. You never see a crow miss the opportu-
nity of annoying a Kite, but what does the Kite do in reta-
liation ? He essays a few robberies with violence, it is
true ; but only once, and that after several years' resi-
dence here, have I seen him successful. Usually the
pursued crow " puts in," as a falconer would say, to a
house or tree in time to save his bacon or whatever else
he has appropriated. Indeed, I have seen him settle
down to peck at his booty, held firmly under his foot,
before the baffled Kite had wheeled away. That the
kite can be formidable if he likes anyone may find out
who cares to stroll out on a verandah with an unconcer-
ned expression and anything edible — or that a kite's
experience of human habits leads him to think may be so.
The experimenter will find that an unseen bird will sweep
down from behind and whip the object of experiment out
of his hand before he can say whatever he is in the habit of
saying on occasions of unpleasant surprise. " There's
many a slip 'twixtthe cup and the lip" was once admirably
exemplified to me by a Kite. I was imprudently drink-

THE KITE. 117

ing tea in the open when I felt a flap on my nose, and the
cup was rudely dashed to the ground — but I never saw
the kite ; nor is this the only occasion on which a kite
burglariously attacked me — in fact, T kept always ready
for them latterly. Their dexterity is something marvel-
lous ; never have I been scratched by their talons, though
I have had bread snatched out of my very hand. It is
this wonderful management of wing and foot that makes
the kite, in spite of his shabby brown plumage and
general appearance as of a small eagle run to seed, such a
beautiful and interesting bird to watch at his task of sca-
venging. Whatever his mark is, he always takes it with
his feet, and holding it therein, he will, if the object be
small enough, and his companions do not interfere, dine on
it in mid-air. So rooted is this habit that when he is mak-
ing a light supper on the delicious and succulent white-ant
as it swarms, he ceremoniously seizes even this minute
prey in one foot instead of snapping it up with his bill.
The only time he breaks his rule of " feet before bill " is
when he is carrying sticks for his nest, at which time he
may often be seen with his load in his beak. This seems
a peculiarly senseless habit, but it is quite possible that the
Kite's idea is to have his feet free for fighting, for he
relies on his talons rather than his bill in this also. Every-
one has seen how, of two bickering Kites, the lower bird
will turn on his back to receive the swoop of the upper, till
with locked talons they go slowly spinning towards the
ground ; generally having sense enough to let go before
they reach it, however. On the ground the Kite is not at
home ; he walks in a stiff-legged fashion., and gets under

118 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

way with some difficulty, like most long-winged birds ;
and as he wants a lot of room for his evolutions, he has
little use for trees, except to perch on the top of them.
He seems, indeed, when nesting,to favour buildings much
more than the crow, no doubt for this reason

I have not observed in the kite's matrimonial arrange-
ment that refined delicacy which has been alluded to in the
case of the crow. Endearments and presents seem to be
at a discount, and the banns of marriage are published
abroad by an aggravation of the ordinary virulent squeal-
ing which is to my mind the Kite's worst fault as a town
bird. Ornamental, except in flight, he certainly is not,
though he seems to have an idea that he is suited for mu-
ral decoration, judging from the way in which he spread-
eagles himself against any warm wall. The young Kite is
indeed handsomely spotted with buff after he has grown
out of his white nestling-down — for young Kites are not in-
decently nude like young crows — but when this ultimately
gives place to the sombre snuff-colour of the adult bird,
there is little for the aesthetic eye to take hold of. But
the Kite may fairly claim to be both useful and harmless.
Garbage of any sort, from a dead rat to a footful of boiled
rice, he will appropriate and make away with, if not robbed
of it by the crows ; and he cannot very well do much harm,
as anything with any sense knows how to get out of his way.
Moreover, he is an arrant coward as a rule, though bolder in
defence of his nest than the crow, whose parental affection
is apt to be overborne by a prudent distrust of his powers
of flight ; a Kile's ne?t is not to be approached without
caution if one does not want to be clawed over the scalp.

THE KITE. 119

The Kite's most unpleasant habit is that of eating his
prey alive — a trait which marks him as a bird accus-
tomed to tackle what can't hit him back ; since the
' ' nobler' ' hawks have, in self-defence, to kill their more
powerful quarry, as quickly as possible. Altogether he is
not a nice bird, and one can quite understand how when
tame falcons and wild Kites were well known to our ances-
tors, the name of the latter bird became a common term of
abuse. For the Kite was once as common in England as
m India : a Bohemian visitor noticed in the fifteenth cen-
tury that he had never seen so many Kites anywhere as
round London Bridge — an observation that throws a lurid
light on the City sanitation. The common European
Kite, however, is not exactly the same bird as his relative
here. Milvus govinda, our urban sanitator, is smaller than
Milvus ictinus of Europe, which is much redder in colour,
especially on the tail, and whiter on the head — in fact a
finer bird altogether.

This bird, despised as he was generally, was royal game
in falconry ; for, coward as the Kite is, to capture him
taxes the powers of a falcon to the utmost, and one that
could perform the feat was deemed fit for "a prince's
pleasant sport." The Kite when pursued by the falcon
" takes the sky," and both birds rise to a great height, the
quarry endeavouring, as long as he may, to shift from the
fatal grip of his more powerful enemy. Indeed, in one
case in which King James I. was induced personally to
witness the flight at a Kite of a couple of falcons which had
been procured for him, both pursuers and pursued went out

120 THE BIRDS OP CALCUTTA.

of sight altogether and permanently, an extreme form of
the diversion which could hardly have been pleasing to the
parsimonious prince, for the birds had cost a thousand
pounds to procure, being so remarkably good that they
had taken nine Kites running without a miss.

With the advance of sanitation and the decay of fal-
conry the English Kite began to be looked on solely as a
nuisance. Cuffs and collars were not safe when he was
furnishing his nest, as Shakespeare knew, and many young
chickens fell victims to his insidious attacks. At the
same time, there has been no reason to shoot and trap him
so mercilessly as has been done, making the Kite one of the
rarest of British birds. But as the Indian Kite has the
whole of India to range over, and goes even as far
as Australia, no amount of sanitation, poultry-breed-
ing, or game-preserving, is likely to bring him anywhere
near extermination. Talking of the Kite's residence,
it is curious that Jerdon alludes to a story that they
leave Calcutta almost entirely during the rains, which,
Dr. Blanford says, is perfectly correct. How such an
idea could have arisen I do not know. I have always
noticed Kites in the rains, and have never heard that
they ever were in the habit of leaving Calcutta then.
This Kite is not usually migratory, unlike the big Kite of
the hills (Milvus melanotis) which may be distinguished by
its white instead of yellow feet, white patch under the
wing, and larger size, the male hill-kite being as big as or
bigger than the female of our low-country bird. Females
in Kites, it should be observed, are larger than males,
following the usual but inexplicable rule of birds of prey.

THE KITE. 121

Milvus melanotis, as one sees him at Darjeeling, is
certainly a finer bird altogether than our Calcutta cockney,
but both are thrown into the shade by another common
Calcutta resident, the Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indue).
Tt is rather an insult to class this bird with the kites, for he
is, at all events, of a much better jat, as his name implies,
though Tommy, having converted the same name into
"Bromley-kite," applies it to the common pariah bird.
In his first plumage, indeed, the Brahminy Kite is very
like the adult pariah, but may be easily distinguished by
his rounded tail — the other's being forked in the old and
square in the young — and by "a certain indefinable
style." When he becomes adult, however, there is no pos-
sible confusion, the Brahminy 's brilliant chestnut, set off
by black quills and a white head, being quite unique among
Indian birds of prey. To see the Brahminy one has
usually to go down the Hooghly, for he is not much of a
town bird, though I used to see one not unfrequently at
the Museum tank. He is said to be a bolder bird than
the common Kite, and to rob this bird of its prey. Other
birds fear him little as a rule, however ; I have seen one
perched on a bush with several paddy-birds, and a king-
fisher has been known to "wipe the eye" of a Brahminy
in the matter of a fish the latter was stooping to sei/e.
In this case, however, the small bird paid dearly for his
impudence, for the indignant bird of prey vindictively
hunted him down and devoured him alive !

The Brahminy reminds one rather of the American Bird
o' Freedom, and indeed he is rather a dwarf sea-eagle than
a Kite. Curiously enough there are no Kites, properly so

122 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

called, in America, for the birds so styled by American
ornithologists do not seem particularly like what we asso-
ciate with the name in the Old Woild. One can under-
stand that the carrion-hawks would stand in their way in
South America, but it is difficult to understand why they
have not spread into the fine field for emigration offered by
the top half of the great Western continent.

Spotted Dove.
Turtur mratensis.

XXII.— THE DOVE.

k< The love of the turtle." --Byron.

MR. PHIL ROBINSON, in his delightfully humorous book
" Noah's Ark," arrives at the conclusion that the lion
takes rank as king of the beasts because he roars loudest ;
and similarly the Dove seems to have gained credit as the
truest and most typical lover among the birds, because
he makes the most fuss about his affections. At any rate
the fancy of our spotted Turtle-dove (Turtur suratensis)
seems to turn to thoughts of love the whole year round.
Any day you may see him bowing profoundly to the
object of his adoration and inflating his speckled neck as
he gives forth his rather harsh and unmelodious coo.
For, as a cooer, he does not compare at all favourably

124 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

with another Dove very familiar in Calcutta, the domestic
fawn-coloured or white Dove, which is so well-known as a
cage-bird, although its real origin and home seem to be
still doubtful. The spotted Dove, however, has few rivals
among the Turtle-doves in the matter of plumage, being
most elegantly spotted with pinkish fawn on a drab
ground, and boasting a black tippet spotted with white as
a neck ornament. As is usual with Doves, the male and
female are equally pretty, but the young birds have no
tippet-marking at first, and only a dingy indication of the
pretty speckling on the back, which will appear later.
The eggs whence the twin offspring are disclosed are white,
as in all Doves, and deposited on a flimsy collection of
twigs, placed, doubtless, in some secure retreat ; foi. in
spite of the numbers of doves to be seen about suitable
compounds, their nests are not by any means common ob-
jects, and, considering the proverbial helplessness of "two
strengthless doves," it is really very creditable to the
pretty pairs that they bring off so many young. Love,
indeed, supplies much to these weak creatures, giving them
courage not only to fight each other with their feeble bills
and unarmed wings, but even to attack the blackguard
crow, even if not, as Shakespeare says, to " peck the
estridge." They are the best of parents, too ; if the wild
cock dove is like his tame relative, he is a most admirable
husband and father, taking his fair share of the sitting,
i.e., most of the day time, and feeding his young just as
assiduously as their mother does ; first with the " pigeon's
milk " secreted in the crop, and afterwards with softened
grain and other vegetable food.

THE DOVE. 125

The vegetarian habits of the Doves, and their want of
special weapons for fighting and of means of defence, have
no doubt given them their reputation for gentleness,
which is really hardly deserved, in respect of their
relations to each other. Harmless to other birds not
of their own species or family they undoubtedly are -y
but among themselves, and with other members of the
tribe, the Doves generally display a spirit of nagging
which leads one to suspect that the author, who spoke of
the ' ' mild, humble, patient, peaceful dove ' ' had never
made the acquaintance of the bird outside a pigeon-pie m
The terms ' ' pigeon ' ' and ' ' dove ' ' seem to have origin-
ally been, to a certain extent, interchangeable ; but now
the latter term has been confined in use almost exclusively
to the smaller members of the family, such as our present
subject. Mild, then, the Dove certainly is not, but a most
inveterate pugilist in a feeble way ; and he can hardly be
called patient, in consideration of the way in which a new-
caught bird will knock itself about in captivity ; although
the species can be so far reconciled to that condition as to
propagate itself therein, as happened some years ago in
the London Zoological Gardens. As to humility, that can
hardly be assigned as a conspicuous quality of birds so
given to bloating and bowing and scraping as are
the Doves. They are all, taken as a family, given to this
form of ostentation ; but the turtle group have also a
very pretty form of showing off which is very charac-
teristic of them. This consists in the bird towering up in
the air for a short distance, and then sailing downward
with outspread tail, so as to show off the light and dark

126 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

marking of the under surface thereof to the fair spectator
below.

I have seen this done by several wild species, and also
by a tame bird, to which I used occasionally to allow a
little liberty ; and this shows the persistence of the in-
stinct, for the quarters in which such tame Doves are usual-
ly kept are not so spacious as to afford facilities for the
performance. But nothing is more striking than the fide-
lity with which individuals of a species, or various na-
turally allied species, will reproduce the same attitudes
in courtship, showing the essentially artless and in-
stinctive nature of the performance. Thus, all the
Turtle-doves, when bowing, keep their tail closed, not
spreading it as the pigeon does, though they have just
as much, if not more, reason for doing so, as the closure
prevents the light side feathers from being seen.

The Turtle-doves, however, may well be tenacious of
their customs, for they are a prosperous clan, albeit con-
fined to the Old World, and mostly to the warmer parts
thereof ; but their conjugal and parental devotion enables
them to inciease rapidly in spite of individual feebleness
and small broods, and wherever they occur they are com-
mon birds as a rule. Only a few migrate, but our only
English species, the traditional and original Turtle-dove
(Turtur communis), is a thriving migrant which is continu-
ally extending its range northward. The Spotted Dove
s a short-winged bird compared with this and is one
of our resident and most characteristic birds in India .
in Burma its place is taken by a very near aily, the Malay
Spotted Dove (Turtur iigrinus), which is less distinctly

THE DOVE. 127

spotted, while further east, in China, we get another
species (Turtur chinensis) which is not spotted at all,
although it bears a black-and-white tippet like the other
two.

Another Dove that may sometimes, but not often, be
met with in Calcutta is the Ring-dove (Turtur risorius), a
bird very like the tame Dove, but drab instead of fawn in
colour. Indeed, as the tame bird appears to be sometimes
coloured just like the wild one, one might put it down as
the descendant of the latter, were ifc not that the coo of the
two birds is different. It may be urged in this connection
that there is a difference in the song of the white tame and
the grey wild Java sparrows ; but in these ring-necked
Turtle-doves the notes of the various wild species are so
distinct that the coo becomes a character of importance.
The wild Ring-dove never seems to utter the peculiar snig-
gering laugh of the tame one, which is quite unlike any
note made by any other turtle-dove I know, and I have
studied several in life. Whether or not it gave origin to the
world-familiar domestic pet, the Ring-dove of India has a
wide range on its own account, and may soothe with its
cooing the ears of many men of many races from the un-
speakable Turk in Europe to the heathen Chinese in the
uttermost East.

XXIIL— THE GULL

tc Sauntering hither on listless wings. ," — Bret Harte.

FOR some reason or other, the warmer seas are not
rich in species of Gulls, and so these graceful birds are not
so numerous with us as one used to European sea-ports
would expect to find them. Indeed, all round the wide
extent of the coast? of the Indian Empire not nearly so
many Gulls are found as have been recorded from the
British Islands ; and in our part of India only one species
can be called really common. This is the Brown-headed
Gull (Larus brunneicephalus), a familiar enough object to
any one who keeps his eyes open when in sight of the
Hooghly during a large part of the year. After the hot
weather has well set in, however, it leaves us for the high
regions of Central Asia, where it breeds, though no one has
as yet been lucky enough to take the eggs, which are there-
fore as yet undescribed. It is not likely, however, that
they will be very different from the usual brown and
spotted type found in the family.

It is only just before it leaves us that the Gull dons its
brown hood, and its general plumage, of white below and
French-grey above, is so much of a Tamily livery that it
would not be very distinctive if there were several species
to be confounded together here. But this is not the case,
for the only other Gull one is at all likely to see in Calcutta

THE GULL. 129

is a familiar home bird, the Laughing Gull (Larus ridibun-
dus). so abundant and tame in Scotland, and reputed to be
the producer of many of the ' ' Plover's eggs ' ' of commerce.
This bird is, however, slightly smaller than the commoner
Indian one, has dark instead of light eyes, and — a much
more noticeable distinction — the longest flight-feathers,
forming the tip of the wing, mostly white, while in the
bigger bird these are chiefly black. By this the young
birds also may be distinguished ; in both species they are
much like each other, having the upper plumage more
brown than grey, and a broad black band at the end of the
tail. Moreover, their legs and bills are only coloured
orange, instead of the rich deep red which adorns these
parts in the old birds. As in all Gulls, there is no difference
in plumage between male and female. But, like the
pigeons, in which a similar equality usually exists, Gulls
are very demonstrative in their courtships, as may be seen
in the captive birds at the Alipore Zoo. The attitude
which the enamoured Gull apparently considers most
attractive is an arched neck and wings opened in front,
while kept close at the tips, and no doubt it does as well as
any other, for the whole family carry all their delicate
beauty of colour fully exposed, not having, like so many
birds, hidden charms to display. For they are better off
than the dwellers on land as regards enemies ; their easy,
lazy looking flight is yet well calculated to puzzle a hawk,
and their habit of flocking at their breeding places makes
for protection when their helpless offspring need it. Help-
less comparatively, that is to say, for the young Gull, al-
though it does not run about and find its own food like a
F, BC 9

130 THE BIRDS OP CALCUTTA.

young duck, is yet open-eyed and downy, and able to get
about and look after itself to some extent ; thus being an
interesting link between the active chick and the blind
naked helpless nestlings of so many birds. The brown-
mottled plumage, which is the first feathering of the young
Gull, is also probably a protection, while it gains strength
of wing and experience, for, as one may see at home,
where so many Gulls are bred, it makes the young bird
much harder to see when on the shore than is the old one
in its grey and white dress.

Another advantage Gulls have in the struggle for exis-
tence is their readiness of resource ; their ease and grace of
flight is patent to every observer, and though they are not
very swift on the wing, they can easily follow and circle
round a steamer. On the land they run about actively,
without the usual waddle of a water-fowl, but with a pretty
mincing gait peculiarly their own ; and on the water they sit
lightly and gracefully, though they do not swim very fast
and cannot usually dive at all. In case of need, they perch
readily enough, though their feet are not suited for taking
a grip of anything, and they have to rely upon balance.

Above all, they are very easily accommodated with food ;
fish they like when they can get it, but they are not very
clever fishers, and Lheir best opportunity is when the hap*
less fry are hard beset by the bigger members of the class
below, and are not in a condition to look after themselves ;
and so they fall back on insect and vegetable food and
garbage of various sorts, including especially what is
thrown overboard from ships and fishing-boats. It may
be that their scarcity in warm seas is due to the compara-

THE GULL. 131

tive rarity of ships and fishing stations therein ; but, it is
also very possible that heat does not suit most Gulls' con-
stitutions. At any rate, two non- Indian species, the
common Gull (Larus canus) and the Great Black-backed
Gull (Larus marinus), did not thrive in captivity at the
Alipore Zoo, where the Brown-headed Gull and its smaller
relative have done very well.

Whether from their greater ability to provide for them-
selves pivscatorially, or from a heat-enduring nature, the
Gulls' graceful relatives, the Terns, are quite at home in the
Tropics. They certainly prefer warm regions, as they
leave Northern Europe in winter, and many breed even in
our seas around India. They may be known from Gulls
by their usually smaller size, forked tails — whence their
alternative name of sea-swallows — and small feet, and
their bills are not hooked like those of Gulls. They are
constantly on the wing, plunging down with a headlong
dash on their prey of small fish and shrimps, or even hunt-
ing over the dry land for insects. Most of them are so
much alike in colour, being of a delicate grey set off by a
black cap, that they are hard to distinguish at a distance ;
but one species or another may often be seen about Cal-
cutta. I have even noticed them hawking over the museum
tank, right in the town. Occasionally in winter they
find their way into the Provision Bazaar, where not being
ducks or <c E-shnipe," they go down as " Peeluver bird "
along with other miscellaneous wild fowl. Some of these
really are worth eating, but it is hard when the pretty Terns
are translated from their proper sphere of landscape orna-
mentation to ingloriously disfigure a sorry scrap of toast.

XXIV.— THE PADDY-BIRD.

" The eeVs joe the heroun" — Chaucer.

IT is not many cities of this si/e that can claim a heron
of any sort as a resident ; but the Pond Heron or Paddy-
bird (Ardeola grayi) lives and moves and has his being
with us always, and is very fairly numerous. Conspicuous
he is too, when he spreads his white wings for flight ; until
then you will probably not notice him at all in most cases.
For his drab upper plumage is most admirably protective,
and he would well merit the title of the " surprise bird,"
if the American globe-trotter had not already bestowed
that on the Roller or blue- jay. When the breeding
season comes on in the rains, however, the Paddy-bird
feels that he must be smart at all risks, and goes in for a
dun ruff and maroon cloak, an alteration in his appearance
that " gives him away" at once. I say "him," but as
a matter of fact "her" would be just as correct, for the
Paddy-birds, like most of the heron family, show no
difference between the sexes, even when they put on a
wedding-dress. Young Paddy-birds are drab-and-white
like the old ones in winter, though they may be distin-
guished by the white of the wings being slightly sullied in
places. When they are squabs in the nest, their scanty
down allows their skin to be seen, and this, curiously
enough, is of a light and cheerful green like their legs, and

THE PADDY-BIRD. 133

contrasts strikingly with their flesh-coloured beaks. They
always have green legs, but the beak, as they grow up>
changes to blue and yellow with a black tip. Their eyes
too are always yellow like those of most herons, this
giving the family a vicious appearance, which their dispo-
sition does not belie ; for, though sociable at breeding
and roosting-time, they are decidedly quarrelsome, ill-
conditioned birds in their general character. What every
heron wants is to be let alone , and if he feels his liberties
and rights are being encroached upon, he does his best to
give the intruder " one in the eye " with a despatch and
accuracy which are the natural outcome of much fishing
experience. The heron tribe are, indeed, specialists in the
art of taking aim and biding their time ; they do not
generally walk about after their prey but wait for it to
come to them, and reach for it when it is obliging enough
to do so. Their general habits and attitudes are very
stereotyped, and any one who has watched the little
Paddy-bird will have a very good idea of most of his rela-
tives. They all keep their necks curved back on their
shoulders when they are flying, unlike most other long-
necked birds ; and they mostly fly with the same easy
regular stroke of the wings, which, in the case of the bigger
species is much quicker than it looks. Twice I have timed
the wing-strokes of the big grey heron (Ardea cinerea) at
home, and both times found them to be two to every
second.

They build, too, the same style of nest, a miserable
platform of sticks or other convenient material, generally
in a tree, like the Paddy-bird, and the eggs are usually

134

THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

light blue like hers. It is their difference from other birds
that makes herons so striking and interesting ; their
usually silent undemonstrative ways, stiff, persistent
attitudes, and the strange contrast of their bustle and
clamour where they congregate, make them attract
every one's attention wherever they are found. Also,
though far less graceful in form than many other water-
birds, they have the fatal gift of beauty in the form of
filmy feathers they bear on their backs as wedding gar-
ments ; which, in the trade, have somehow got the absurd
name of " ospreys." For these the poor birds are ruth-
lessly shot down, though this has not been done so much
in India as in America, where the valuable white-plumed
species have been terribly persecuted — and most cruelly,
as they carry these plumes all the while they are rearing
young. It is fortunate for the Paddy-bird that he does
not bear plumage of the first quality, but still he
gets indented on to a certain extent. But under the Act
that has now been made about bird protection, he will
receive all the immunity he needs, for herons are easy
birds to legislate about, owing to their distinctness,
which makes them always distinguishable, and their
unanimity in the matter of places and season for breeding.
It is just possible, indeed, that protection may be over-
done in case of these fish-eating birds, though not very
likely, as they are themselves esteemed as food by some
natives. It seems, however, that the Buff-backed Egret
(Bubulcus coromandus), which forms so picturesque an
object in the landscape as he stalks by the dark buffaloes^
is tabooed by certain fastidious Mussulmans, because he

THE PADDY-BIRD. 135

picks ticks off pigs ! This pretty bird has considerably
advanced in shaking off heron traditions — or sunk, as the
rest of the family may possibly say. Not only does he
live on ticks and grasshoppers instead of fish, but he walks
about a lot, and is sociable all the time, though this is
probably only accidental, and due to the fact that several
find one beast convenient both as a preserve and a beater for
game. Similarly one may see on the maidan tanks seve-
ral Paddy-birds standing about casually on the weeds and
mud, bub nothing is more obvious than that they have not
been introduced, and are not on speaking terms. The
Buff -backed Egret is not a Calcutta bird, but some other
of the Paddy-bird's relations are. I have seen the little
Cinnamon Bittern (Ardetta cinnamomea) wild in the Zoo,
and it has bred in the Botanic Gardens ; and the Blue
Bittern (Dupetor ftavicollis), which is dark slate with a
buff neck, bred wild in the Zoo, a year or two ago, and
probably does still. Then, of course, all habitues of that
exhibition know that the Night-Heron (Nycticorax griseus)
has for years invaded the Alipore Gardens and used the
islands in the middle of the tank for a combination of
dormitory and nursery, in large numbers too.

So numerous, indeed, did they become, that they had
to be given notice to quit, so that the heronry is now a
thing of the past. The Night-Heron is much bigger than
the Paddy-bird, being larger than a crow, and is unusually
short-necked and thickset for a heron. The old one is
slate-grey and black, while the young are brown with
white spots, and look altogether different. Whether the
habit of going out at night is of great benefit to this bird

136 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA.

is hard to say, but he certainly has a very wide range
being found over most of the world. The Paddy- bird is
purely Indian and Burmese, and is so very common that
he is one of the characteristic birds of the country. In
Burma and the Andamans, however, he meets a slightly
larger relative, who wears the same winter dress, but in
summer plumage has a maroon ruff and slate back. This
bird has been unkindly named Ardeola bacchus ; but I am
not aware that its behaviour justifies the appellation,
although another member of the heron family, the Malay
Bittern (Gorsachius melanolophus), was once captured in
Ceylon in a disgraceful state of intoxication owing to
indulgence in toddy.

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