TIGHT BINGING
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the date last marjced below.
POPULAR HANDBOOK -OF
INDIAN BIRDS
All rights reserved
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF
INDIAN BIRDS
BY
HUGH WHISTLER, F.Z.S.
LATE INDIAN (IMPERIAL) POLICE
FOURTH EDITION
REVISED AND ENLARGED BY
NORMAN B. KINNEAR
BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) LONDON
llustrated with twenty-four full-page plates of which seven
. are coloured, and one hundred and eight figures
in the text, from drawings by H. Gronvold
and Roland Green
GURNEY AND JACKSON
LONDON: 98 GREAT RUSSELL STREET, W.C.
EDINBURGH: TWEEDDALE COURT
1949
FIRST PUBLISHED .... 1938
SECOND EDITION .... 1935
THIRD EDITION .... 1941
FOURTH EDITION .... 1949
MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
OLIVER AND BOYD LTD., EDINBURGH
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION
THE Popular Handbook of Indian Birds was first published in 1928,
followed by a second edition in 1935, and a third in 1941. This
last edition was becoming exhausted when the author died, and
Mrs Whistler asked me to prepare this new edition. Mr B. B.
Osmaston, who has such a wide knowledge of Indian birds and their
habits, has given very great assistance and, in addition, several
ornithologists in India, Mr Salim Ali, Mr C. M. Inglis, Mr W. H.
Mathews, and the Rev. F. S. Briggs, sent to Mrs Whistler their notes
and suggestions which, as far as possible, have been incorporated.
In the original edition 250 birds were described, and in each
succeeding issue the number was increased. In the present edition
7 more species have been added, and 12 referred to in the text.
There is also one new coloured plate and five text figures all of which
are the work of Mr Roland Green.
When the author of this work was preparing a new edition he was
taken ill, and died on 7th July 1943. By his death, ornithology, and
Indian ornithology in particular, has suffered a grievous loss. Hugh
Whistler was in his prime and had become the recognised authority
on everything connected with birds in India. During his seventeen
years' service in the Indian Police he had made himself thoroughly
acquainted with Indian birds, about which he has written so delight-
fully in this book. He had a happy knack of putting into words the
salient characters of a species which enables them to be readily
recognised in the field. Their habits too, he described in vivid
word pictures, so helpful to the beginner.
Hugh Whistler was a scientific ornithologist and his name will
be handed down as one of the most careful and- teriscigntious workers.
He had amassed copious notes on every aspect of Indian bird-life
which were always at the disposal of other ornithologists. But the
real purpose of these notes was to form a basis for a Handbook of
the Birds of the Indian Empire, which he and his great friend and
brother-ornithologist, the late Dr C. B. Ticehurst, had planned
and, indeed, commenced to write. After the lamented death of
Dr Ticehurst, Whistler had intended to carry on alone, but increasing
war-work hindered this. He never let his great love of ornithology
interfere with his official work, and in India those in authority did
not discourage his hobby since the search for birds took him into
out-of-the-way places seldom visited in the ordinary routine of duty,
v az
vi PREFACE
At his home near Battle, Whistler had brought together a wonderful
collection of bird skins, for the most part beautifully prepared by his
own hands, and nothing pleased him more than to show his collection.
He was ready to help others, and his many correspondents in India
will miss him, since he was the authority to whom they turned for
advice and guidance. Much of the recent work done there was
initiated by him, and many casual observers became good ornithologists
through his enthusiasm. Whatever work he undertook he did with
the same thoroughness and enthusiasm with which he studied birds,
and the high standard aimed at made him loved and rfespected by all
who knew him.
N. B. KINNEAR
CONTENTS
Order PASSERES
Family CORVIOSE
PAGE
Corvus corax Linnaeus. Raven i
macrorhynchos Wagler. Jungle Crow . ' . . . . . 3
splendens Vieillot. Common House Crow ..... 5
monedula Linnaeus. Jackdaw ....... 8
Urocissa flavirostris (Blyth). Yellow-billed Blue-Magpie . . .10
Dendrocitt a vagabunda (Latham). Indian Tree-Pie v-*". . . .12
Garrulus lanceolatus Vigors. Black-throated Jay vx" . . . 1 5
Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax (Linnaeus). Chough . . . . 17
Family PARIM:
Parus major Linnaeus. Indian Grey Tit . . . . . .18
monticolus Vigors. Green-backed Tit . . . . .21
Machlolophus xanthogenys (Vigors). Yellow-cheeked Tit ... 22
Lophophanes melanophus (Vigors). Crested Black Tit .... 24
sEgithaliscus concinnus (Gould). Red-headed Tit .... 26
Family SITTID^E
Sitta castanea Lesson. Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch .... 28
frontalis (Swainson). Velvet-fronted Nuthatch .... 30
Family TIMALIIDJE
Garrulax albogularis (Gould). White-throated Laughing-Thrush . . 32
Trochalopteron erythrocephalum (Vigors). Red-headed Laughing-Thrush 34
variegatum (Vigors). Variegated Laughing-Thrush . . -35
cachinnans (Jerdon). Nilgiri Laughing-Thrush . 37
lineatum (Vigors). Streaked Laughing-Thrush . . . -38
Turdoides somervillei (Sykes). Jungle Babbler . ... 40
striatus (Dumont). White-headed Babbler ..... 42
Argya caudata (Dume"ril). Common Babbler ..... 43
malcolmi (Sykes). Large Grey Babbler ..... 45
Pomatorhinus horsfieldii Sykes. Deccan Scimitar-Babbler ... 47
erythrogenys Vigors. Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler ... 48
Dumetia hyperythra (Franklin). Rufous-bellied Babbler . . .50
Chrysdmma sinensis (Gmelin). Yellow-eyed Babbler . . . 5 1
Pellorneum ruficeps Swainson. Spotted Babbler . . . . -53
Alcippe poioicephala (Jerdon). Quaker-Babbler 54
Rhopocichla atriceps (Jerdon). Black-headed Babbler . . . 56
Leioptila capistrata (Vigors). Black-headed Sibia .... 58
vii
viii CONTENTS
PAGE
Siva strigula Hodgson. Stripe-throated Siva . . . . -59
Leiothrix lutea (Scopoli). Red-billed Leiothrix 61
JEgithina tiphia (Linnaeus). Common lora . . . . .62
Chloropsis jerdoni (Blyth). Jerdon's Chloropsis ..... 64
Family PYCNONOTID^E
Microscelis psaroides (Vigors). Black Bulbul 66
Molpdstes cafer (Linnaeus). Red-vented Bulbul '68
leucogenys (Gray). White-cheeked Bulbul . . . * . .71
Otocompsa jocosa (Linnaeus). Red-whiskered Bulbul .... 73
lole icterica (Strickland). Yellow-browed Bulbul 75
Pycnonotus luteolus (Lesson). White-browed Bulbul .... 76
Family CERTHIIDJE
Certhia himalayana Vigors. Himalayan Tree-Creeper ... 77
Tichodroma muraria (Linnaeus). Wall-Creeper ..... 79
Family CINCLID>E
Ctnclus pallasii Temminck. Brown Dipper ..... 82
Family TURDID^E
Luscinia brunnea (Hodgson). Indian Blue-Chat . . . . .83
Saxicola caprata (Linnaeus). Pied Bush-Chat . . . . -85
torquata (Linnaeus). Stonechat ....... 87
Rhodophila ferrea (Gray). Dark-grey Bush-Chat .... 89
(Enanthe picata (Blyth). Pied Wheatear 90
deserti (Temminck). Desert Wheatear 92
Cercomela fusca (Blyth). Brown Rock-Chat ..... 94
Enicurus maculatus Vigors. Spotted Forktail ..... 95
Phcenicurus ochrurus (Gmelin). Black Redstart ..... 97
Chaimarrhornis leucocephala (Vigors). White-capped Redstart . . . 98
Rhyacornis fuliginosa (Vigors). Plumbeous Redstart . . . .100
Cyanosylvia svecica (Linnaeus). Bluethroat . . . . . 101
lanthia cyanura (Pallas). Red-flanked Bush-Robin . . . .103
Saxicoloides fulicat a (Linnaeus). Indian Robin . . . . .104
Copsychus saularis (Linnaeus). Magpie-Robin . . . . .106
Kittacincla malabarica (Scopoli). Shama . . . . . .108
Turdus simillimus Jerdon. Nilgiri Blackbird . . . . .no
boulboul (Latham). Grey- winged Blackbird . . . .in
unicolor Tickell. Tickell's Thrush 113
Geokichla citrina (Latham). Orange-headed Ground-Thrush . .114
Monticola cinclorhyncha (Vigors). Blue-headed Rock-Thrush . .116
solitaria (Linnaeus). Blue Rock -Thrush . . . . .117
Myophonus cteruleus (Scopoli). Whistling Thrush . . . .119
Family MUSCICAPID/E
Siphia parva (Bechstein). Red-breasted Flycatcher . . . .121
Muscicapula tickelliee (Blyth). Tickell's Blue Flycatcher . . .122
Eumyias tkalassina (Swainson). Verditer Flycatcher . . . .124
albicaudata (Jerdon). Nilgiri Blue Flycatcher . . . .125
CONTENTS ix
PAGE
Ochromela nigrorufa (Jerdon). Black and Orange Flycatcher . .127
Culicicapa ceylonensis (Swainson). Grey-headed Flycatcher . . 128
Niltava sundara Hodgson. Rufous-bellied Niltava . . . .130
Tchitrea paradisi (Linnaeus). Paradise Flycatcher . . . .131
Hypothymis azurea (Boddaert). Black-naped Flycatcher . . .133
Leucocirca aureola (Lesson). White-browed Fantail-Flycatcher . .135
Family LANIID^S
Lanius excubitor Linnaeus. Great Grey Shrike . . . . 137
vittatus Valenciennes. Bay-backed Shrike . . . . .139
cristatus Linnaeus. Brown Shrike . . . . . .140
schach Linnaeus. Rufous-backed Shrike . . . . .141
Hemipus picatus (Sykes). Pied-Shrike 144
Tephrodornis pondicerianus (Gmelin). Common Wood-Shrike . .145
Family CAMPEPHAGIM:
Pericrocotus speciosus (Latham). Scarlet Minivet . . . 147
brevirostris (Vigors). Short-billed Minivet 148
peregrinus (Linnaeus). Little Minivet .... 1 49
Lalage sykesi Strickland. Black-headed Cuckoo-Shrike . . .151
Family ARTAMID/E
Artamus fuscus Vieillot. Ashy Swallow-Shrike . . . . .153
Family DICRURIDJE
Dicrurus macrocercus Vieillot. King-Crow . . . . • 155
longicaudatus Jerdon. Indian Grey Drongo . . . .158
Dissemurus paradiseus (Linnaeus). Large Racket-tailed Drongo . .159
Family SYLVIIOSS
Acrocephalus stentoreus (Hempr. and Ehrn.). Indian Great Reed-Warbler 161
dumetorum Blyth. Blyth's Reed-Warbler 163
Hippolais caligata (Lichtenstein). Booted Warbler . . . .164
Orthotomus sutorius (Pennant). Tailor-bird . . . . .166
Cisticola juncidis (Rafinesque). Fantail- Warbler . . . .168
Fran klinia buchanani (Blyth). Rufous -fronted Wren- Warbler . .170
gracilis (Franklin). Franklin's Wren- Warbler . . . 172
Sylvia curruca (Linnaeus). Lesser Whitethroat . . . . 173
Phylloscopus collybita (Vieillot). Chiffchaff 175
inornatus (Blyth). Yellow-browed Warbler . . . .176
trochiloides Sundevall. Greenish Willow- Wren . . . . 177
occipitalis (Blyth). Large Crowned Willow- Wren . . .178
Seicercus xanthoschtstos (Gray). Grey-headed Flycatcher- Warbler . 179
Suya crinigera Hodgson. Brown Hill-Warbler . . . . .181
Prinia gracilis (Lichtenstein). Streaked Wren- Warbler . . .182
socialis Sykes. Ashy Wren- Warbler 183
sylvatica Jerdon. Jungle Wren-Warbler 185
inornata Sykes. Indian Wren-Warbler 187
x CONTENTS
Family IRENIDJE
PAGE
Irena puella (Latham). Fairy Blue-bird . . . , . .189
Family ORIOLID/E
Oriolus oriolus (Linnaeus). Golden Oriole . . . . . .191
xanthornus (Linnaeus). Black-headed Oriole . . . .192
Family GRACULIDJE
Gracula religiosa Linnaeus. Indian Crackle . . . . 194
Family STURNID^E
Pastor roseus (Linnaeus). Rosy Pastor . . . . . .196
Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus. Starling . . . . . . .198
Sturnia malabarica (Gmelin). Grey-headed Mynah .... 200
Temenuchus pagodarum (Gmelin). Brahminy Mynah . . .201
Acridotfarfs trift** (Linnaeus). Common Mynah .... 203
ginginianus (Latham). Bank Mynah ...... 205
dBthiopsar fuscus (Wagler). Jungle Mynah ..... 206
Sturnopastor contra (Linnaeus). Pied Mynah ..... 207
Family PLOCEIDJE /
Ploceus philippinus (Linnaeus). Baya Weaver-bird .... 209
manyar (Horsfield). Striated Weaver-bird . * . .211
Uroloncha malabarica (Linnaeus). White-throated Munia^ . . .213
punctulata (Linnaeus). Spotted Munia . . . . .215
Amandava amandava (Linnaeus). Red Avadavat . . . .216
Family FRINGILLIM:
Perissospiza icteroides (Vigors). Black and Yellow Grosbeak . .218
Pyrrhula erythrocephala Vigors. Red-headed Bullfinch . . .219
Carpodacus erythrinus (Pallas). Common Rosefinch .... 220
Hypacanthis spinoides (Vigors). Himalayan Greenfinch . . . 222
Gymnorhis xanthocollis (Burton). Yellow-throated Sparrow . . . 224
Passer domesticus (Linnaeus). House-Sparrow ..... 226
rutilans (Temminck). Cinnamon Sparrow . . . . .228
Emberiza stewarti Blyth. White-capped Bunting .... 229
da Linnaeus. Meadow-Bunting ...... 230
melanocephala Scopoli. Black-headed Bunting . . . .232
Melophus lathami (Gray). Crested Bunting * . . . . .233
Family HIRUNDINID^
Riparia paludicola (Vieillot). Indian Sand-Martin . . . .235
concolor (Sykes). Dusky Crag-Martin 236
Hirundo smithii Leach. Wire-tailed Swallow . . . . .237
fluvicola Jerdon. Cliff-Swallow 239
daurica Linnaeus. Red-rumped Swallow . . . . .241
CONTENTS xi
Family MOTACILLID^E
PAGE
Motacilla alba Linnaeus. White Wagtail ...... 243
maderaspatensis Gmelin. Large Pied Wagtail .... 245
cinerea Tunstall. Grey Wagtail 246
flava Linnaeus. Yellow Wagtail ...... 248
Anthus hodgsoni Richmond. Indian Tree-Pipit . . . . .250
rufulus Vieillot. Indian Pipit 252
Family ALAUDID^S
Alauda gulgula Franklin. Little Skylark . . . . . . 253
Calandrella brachydactyla (Leisler). Short-toed Lark . . . .255
Mirafra assamica McClelland. Bengal Bush-Lark . . . .256
erythroptera Blyth. Red- winged Bush-Lark . . . .258
Galerida cristata (Linnaeus). Crested Lark . . . . .259
Ammomanes phcenicura (Franklin). Rufous-tailed Lark . . .261
Eremopteryx grisea (Scopoli). Ashy-crowned Finch-Lark . . . 262
Family ZOSTEROPIDJE
Zosterops palpebrosa (Temminck). White-Eye .....
Family NECTARINIID^E
JEthopyga siparaja (Raffles). Yellow-backed Sunbird .... 265
Cinnyris asiaticus (Latham). Purple Sunbird ..... 268
zeylonicus (Linnaeus). Purple-rumped Sunbird .... 270
"Family
Diceeum erythrorhynchos (Latham). Tickell's Flower-Pecker . . 272
Piprisoma agile (Swainson). Thick-billed Flower-Pecker . . . 274
Family PITTIDJE
Pitta brachyura (Linnaeus). Indian Pitta . . . . . .275
Order PICI
Family PICIDJE
Picus squamatus Gould. Scaly-bellied Green Woodpecker . . . 277
Dry abates auriceps (Vigors). Brown-fronted Pied Woodpecker . . 279
mahrattensis (Latham). Mahratta Woodpecker .... 280
Micropternus brachyurus (Vieillot). Rufous Woodpecker . . . 282
Brachypternus benghalensis (Linnaeus). Golden-backed Woodpecker . 285
Family CAPITONID/E
Megalcema virens (Boddaert). Great Himalayan Barbet . 287
Thereiceryx zeylanicus (Gmelin). Green Barbet ..... 289
Cyanops asiatica (Latham).. Blue-throated Barbet .... 290
Xantholcema hamacephala (P. L. S. Miiller). Coppersmith . . , 292
xii CONTENTS
Order ANISODACTYLI
Family CORACIAD^
/ PAGE
Coracias benghalensis (Linnaeus). Blue-Jay \/ ..... 293
Family MEROPIDJE
Merops orientalis Latham. Green Bee-Eater ..... 295
superciliosus Linnaeus. Blue-tailed Bee-Eater .... 297
leschenaultii (Vieillot). Chestnut-headed Bee-eater . . . 298
Family ALCEDINID^E v'
Ceryle rudis (Linnaeus). Pied Kingfisher ...... 299
(Linnaeus). Common Kingfisher ..... 301
'Halcyon smyrnensis (Linnaeus). White-breasted Kingfisher . . 303
Family BUCEROTID^E
Dichoceros bicornis (Linnaeus). Great Hornbill ..... 304
Tockus birostris (Scopoli). Grey Hornbill ...... 306
Family UPUPIM:
Upupa epops Linnaeus. Hoopoe ....... 308
Order MACROCHIRES
Family MICROPODIDJE
Micropus affinis (Gray). Indian Swift . . . . ..311
Cypsiurus batassiensis (Gray). Palm-Swift . . . . .313
Hemiprocne coronata (Tickell). Indian Crested Swift . . . .314
Family CAPRIMULGIDJE
Caprimulgus asiaticus Latham. Indian Nightjar . . . . .316
Order COCCYGES
% Family CUCULIM:
canoriis Linnaeus. -Cuckoo 318
Hierococcyx varius (Vahl). Common Hawk-Cuckoo . . . .321
Cacomantis merulinus (Vahl). Indian Plaintive Cuckoo . . .322
Clamator jacobinus (Boddaert). Pied CrestecT Cuckoo . . . .324
Eudynamis scolopaceus (Linnaeus). Koel ^< . . . . .325
Rhopodytes viridirostris (Jerdon). Small Green-billed Malkoha . .328
Taccocua leschenaultii Lesson. Sirkeer /. . . . .329
Centropus sinensis (Stephen). Crow-Pheasants' . . . . 331
Ouler PSITTACI S
Family PSITTACID^E /
Psittacula eupatria (Linnaeus). Large Indian Parrakeet J . .332
krameri (Scopoli). Green Parrakeet . . . \/ . -334
cyanocephala (Linnaeus). Blossom-headed Parrakeet . . -336
Coryllis vernalis Sparrman. Indian Lorikeet . . , . • 337
CONTENTS xiii
Order STRIGES ±S
Family STRIGID^E
PAGE
Strix ocellatum (Lesson) Mottled Wood-Owl . . . . -339
Ketupa zeylonensis (Gmelin). Brown Fish-Owl ..... 340
Bubo bengalensis (Franklin). Rock Eagle-Owl . . . . .342
coromandus (Latham). Dusky Eagle-Owl ..... 344
Otus bakkamcena Pennant. Collared Scops-Owl .... 345
Athene brama (Temminck). Spotted Owlet ..... 347
Glaucidium radiatum (Tickell). Jungle Owlet ..... 348
Order ACCIPITRES
Family GYPIDJE
Sarcogyps calvus (Scopoli). King Vulture . . . . .350
Gyps himalayensis Hume. Himalayan Griffon . . . . -352
Pseudogyps bengalensis (Grnelin). White-backed Vulture . . -353
Neophron percnopterus (Linnaeus). Neophron . . . . 356
Family FALCONID^E v/
Gypaetus barbatus (Linnaeus). Lammergeier . . . . -358
Aquila rapax (Temminck). Tawny Eagle . . . . . .360
Spizaetus cirrhatus (Gmelin). Crested Hawk-Eagle . . . .361
Hamatornis cheela (Latham). Crested Serpent-Eagle . . . .364
Butastur teesa (Franklin). White-eyed Buzzard 366
Haliaetus leucoryphus (Pallas). Pallas' Fishing-Eagle .... 367
Haliastur indus (Boddaert). Brahminy Kite ..... 370
Milvus migrans (Boddaert). Common Pariah Kite . . . 371
Circus eeruginosus (Linnaeus). Marsh Harrier ..... 374
macrourus (S. G. Gmelin). Pale Harrier ..... 375
Buteo rufinus (Cretzschmar). Long-legged Buzzard .... 378
Astur badius (Gmelin). Shikra . . . . . . .380
Falco jugger ]. E. Gray. Lugger Falcon ...... 382
chicquera Daudin. Turumtee . . . . . . .384
tinnunculus Linnaeus. Kestrel . . . . . . .385
Order COLUMB^E
Family COLUMBIOE;
Crocopus phoenicopterus (Latham). Common Green Pigeon . . .388
Sphenocercus sphenurus (Vigors). Kokla Green Pigeon . . .389
Muscadivora cenea (Linnaeus). Green Imperial Pigeon . . . 391
Columba livia Gmelin. Blue Rock-Pigeon ..... 392
Streptopelia orientalis (Latham). Rufous Turtle-Dove . . . 394
chinensis (Scopoli). Spotted Dove . . . . . .396
senegalensis (Linnaeus). Little Brown Dove .... 397
risoria (Linnaeus). Indian Ring-Dove ..... 399
(Enopopelia tranquebarica (Herman). Red Turtle-Dove . . . 401
Macropygia unchalla (Wagler). Bar-tailed Cuckoo Dove . . . 402
Order PTEROCLETES
Family PTEROCLIM:
Pterorles orientalis (Linnaeus). Imperial Sandgrouse .... 403
exustus Temminck. Common Sandgrouse ..... 405
xiv CONTENTS
Order GALLING
Family PHASIANID/E
PAGE
Pavo cristatus Linnaeus. Common Peafowl ..... 407
Callus sonnerati Temminck. Grey Jungle-Fowl . . . .410
gallus (Linnaeus). Red Jungle-Fowl .... / . .412
Gennceus leucomelanus (Latham). Common Kalij Pheasant \/ . .415
Lophophorus impejanus (Latham). Monal . . . . . .418
Galloper dix spadicea (Gmelin). Red Spur-Fowl / . 420
Coturnix cotumix (Linnaeus). Common Quail ^y 422
coromandelicus (Gmelin). Rain-Quail ^< / .... 424
Perdicula asiatica (Latham). Jungle Bush-Quail . ... 426
Alectoris grceca (Meisner). Chukor ....... 428
Francolinus francolinus (Linnaeus). Black Partridge .... 430
pondicerianus (Gmelin). Grey Partridge . . . . .433
Order HEMIPODII
Family TURNICIM:
Turnix sylvatica (Desfontaines). Little Button-Quail .... 434
Order GRALL^E
Family RALLIDJE
Amaurornis phoenicura (Pennant). White-breasted Waterhen . . 437
Gallinula chloropus (Linnaeus). Waterhen .... 438
Porphyrio poliocephalus (Latham). Purple Coot . . . 440
Fulica atra Linnaeus. Common Coot .... . 441
Family GRUID;E
Grus grus (Linnaeus). Common Crane .... . 443
Antigone antigone (Linnaeus). Sarus Crane . . . 445
Family OTIDID&
Sypheotides indica (Miller). Likh Floriken ... . 447
Order LIMICOL^
Family BURHINID^
Burhinus oedicnemus (Linnaeus). Stone-Curlew ..... 450
Family GLAREOLTD^E
Cursorius coromandelicus (Gmelin). Indian Courser .... 452
Glareola lactea Temminck. Little Indian Pratincole .... 454
/
Family JACANIDJE
Metopidius indicus (Latham). Bronze-winged Jacana .... 456
Hydrophasianus chirurgus (Scopoli). Pheasant-tailed Jacana . . 457
CONTENTS xv
Family CHARADRIIDJE
PAGE
Lobivanellus indicus (Boddaert). Red-wattled Lapwing . . .459
Lobipluvia malabarica (Boddaert). Yellow-wattled Lapwing . .461
Charadrius dubius Scopoli. Little Ring-Plover ..... 462
Himantopus himantopus (Linnaeus). Black-winged Stilt . . 464
Tringa hypoleucus Linnaeus. Common Sandpiper .... 466
ochropus Linnaeus. Green Sandpiper ..... 468
nebularia (Gunner). Greenshank ...... 469
Erolia minuta (Leisler). Little Stint . . . . . 471
Scolopax rusticola Linnaeus. Woodcock . ... 472
Capella gallinago (Linnaeus). Common Snipe ..... 475
stenura (Bonaparte). Pintail Snipe ...... 477
Family ROSTRATULID/E
Rostratula benghalensis (Linnaeus). Painted Snipe . . . 478
Order GAVI^E
Family LARID/E
LOTUS ridibundus Linnaeus. Black-headed Gull . . . . .481
Chlidonias hybrida (Pallas). Whiskered Tern 482
Sterna aurantia Gray. Common River Tern . . . 484
melanogaster Temminck. Black-bellied Tern .... 486
Rhynchops albicollis Swainson. Indian Skimmer .... 487
Order STEGANOPODES
Family PELECANIDJE
Pelecanus roseus Gmelin. Spotted-billed Pelican . . . 489
Family PHALACROCORACID^
Phalacrocorax niger (Vieillot). Little Cormorant . . . .491
Anhinga melanogaster Pennant. Indian Darter ... . 493
Order HERODIONES
Family IBIDID/E
Threskiornis melanocephalus (Latham). White Ibis .... 495
Pseudibis papillosus (Temminck). Black Ibis ..... 497
Family PLATALEID/E
Platalea leucorodia Linnaeus. Spoonbill ...... 498
Family CICONIIM:
Dissoura episcopus (Boddaert). White-necked Stork .... 500
Xenorhynchus asiaticus (Latham). Black-necked Stork . . .502
Ibis leucocephalus (Pennant). Painted Stork ... -503
Anastomus oscitans (Boddaert). Open-bill ... 505
xvi CONTENTS
Family ARDBID/E/
/ PAGE
Ardea cinerea Linnaeus. Common Heron \/ . . . . 507
Egretta garzetta (Linnaeus). Little Egret . . . . . 509
Bubulcus ibis (Linnaeus). Cattle Egret . . . . . .511
Ardeola grayi (Sykes). Paddy-bird 512
Nycticorax nycticorax (Linnaeus). Night Heron . . . . .514
Ixobrychus cinnamomeus (Gmelin). Chestnut Bittern . . . .515
Order ANSERES
Family ANATIDJE
Sarkidiornis melanotos (Pennant). Nukta ^/ . . . . .51?
Nettapus coromandelianus (Gmelin). Cotton-Teal . . . .519
Anser indicus (Latham). Bar-headed Goose . . . . .520
Dendrocygna javanica (Horsfield). Whistling Teal . . . .522
Casarca ferruginea (Pallas). Ruddy Sheldrake 524
Anas platyrhyncha Linnaeus. Mallard . . . . . .526
pcecilorhyncha Forster. Spotbill . . . . . .52?
Chaulelasmus streperus (Linnaeus). Gadwall . . . . .529
Nettion crecca (Linnaeus). Common Teal . . . . . .530
Dafila acuta (Linnaeus). Pintail . . . . . . -532
Spatula clypeata (Linnaeus). Shoveller . . . . . -534
Nyrocaferina (Linnaeus). Pochard . . . . . . .536
nyroca (Giildenstadt). White-eye 538
Order PYGOPODES
Family PODICIPIDJE
Podiceps ruficollis (Pallas). Little Grebe ...... 539
INDEX ' . 542
LIST OF PLATES
PAGE
PLATE I (Frontispiece in colours) ..... Frontispiece
Fig. i. Black and Orange Flycatcher (Ochromela nigrorufa)
„ 2. Fairy Blue-Bird (Irena puella)
„ 3. Yellow-browed Bulbul (lole icterica)
„ 4. Velvet-fronted Nuthatch (Sitta frontalis)
PLATE II
Fig. i. Spotted Munia (Uroloncha punctulata)
„ 2. Red Avadavat (Amandava amandava)
„ 3. Red-breasted Flycatcher (Siphia parva)
,, 4. Red-headed Tit (ffigithaliscus concinnus)
„ 5. Indian Grey Tit (Parus major)
,, 6. Himalayan Tree-Creeper (Certhia himalayana)
PLATE III 44
Fig. i. Variegated Laughing-Thrush (Trochalopteron variegatum)
,, 2. Yellow-eyed Babbler (Chrysomma sinensis)
„ 3. Purple Sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus)
„ 4. Common Babbler (Argya caudatd)
,, 5. Streaked Laughing-Thrush (Trochalopteron lineatum)
PLATE IV (in colours) ........ .66
Fig. i. Grey-headed Flycatcher- Warbler (Seicercus xanthoschistos}
„ 2. Nilgiri Blue Flycatcher (Eumyias albicaudata)
„ 3. Orange-headed Ground-Thrush (Geokichla citrina)
„ 4. Nilgiri Laughing-Thrush (Trochalopterom cachinnans)
„ 5. Red-billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix luted)
PLATE V 88
Fig. i. White-throated Laughing-Thrush (Garrulax albogularis)
„ 2. Deccan Scimitar-Babbler (Pomatorhinus horsfieldii)
» 3- Jerdon's Chloropsis (Chloropsis jerdoni)
„ 4. Black-headed Sibia (Lioptila capistrata)
xvii 0
xviii LIST OF PLATES
PAGE
PLATE VI (in colours) no
Fig. i. Verditer Flycatcher (Eumyias thalassina)
„ 2. Grey-headed Flycatcher (Culicicapa ceylonensis)
,, 3. Ashy Wren- Warbler (Prinia socialis)
„ 4. Tickell's Blue Flycatcher (Muscicapula tickellia)
,, 5. Little Minivet (Pericrocotus peregrinus)
PLATE VII 132
- Fig. i. Grey- winged Blackbird (Turdus boulboul)
„ 2. Whistling Thrush (Myophonus cceruleno)
PLATE VIII 154
Fig. i. Black Redstart (Phcenicurus ochrurus)
„ 2. Plumbeous Redstart (Rhyacornis fuliginosa)
,, 3. Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
„ 4. White-capped Redstart (Chaimarrhornis leucocephala)
„ 5. Brahminy Mynah (Temenuchus pagodarum)
PLATE IX 176
Fig. i. Bay-backed Shrike (Lanius vittatus)
„ 2. Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone parodist)
„ 3. Common Wood-Shrike (Tephrodornis pondicerianus)
,, 4. Blue-headed Rock-Thrush (Monticola cinclorhyncha)
„ 5. Brown Dipper (Cinclus pallasii)
„ 6. Bluethroat (Cyanosylvia svedca)
PLATE X (in colours) 198
Fig. i. Green Bee-Eater (Merops orientalis)
,, 2. Red-vented Bulbul (Molpastes cafer)
,, 3. Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus)
,, 4. Coppersmith (Xantholcema hcemacephala)
,, 5. Jungle Babbler (Turdoides somervillei)
PLATE XI 220
Fig. i. Black-naped Flycatcher (Hypothymis azurea)
,, 2. Dark-grey Bush-Chat (Rhodophila f erred)
„ 3. White-throated Munia (Uroloncha malabaricd)
,, 4. Spotted Babbler (Pellorneum ruficeps)
„ 5. Red-winged Bush-Lark (Mirafra erythroptera)
PLATE XII 242
Fig. i. Rufous-fronted Wren- Warbler (Franklinia buchanani)
,, 2. Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca)
„ 3 . Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)
,. 4, Large (ft-owned Willow- Wren (Phylloscopus occipitalis)
,, 5. Indian Wren-Warbler (Prinia inornata)
„ 6. Brown Hill-Warbler (Suya crinigera)
LIST OF PLATES
xix
PLATE XIII (in colours) ......
Fig. i . White-Eye (Zosterops palpebrosa)
,, 2. Baya Weaver-bird (Ploceus philippinus)
„ 3. • Short-billed Minivet (Pericrocotus brevirostris)
„ 4. Purple-rumped Sunbird (Cinnyris zeylonicus)
„ 5. Common lora (JEgithina tiphia)
„ 6. Tailor-bird (Orthotomus sutorius)
PAGE
264
PLATE XIV
Fig. i.
„ 2.
» 3-
» 4-
>, 5-
„ 6.
286
Indian Pipit (Anthus rufulus)
Stonechat (Saxicola torquata)
Red-whiskered Bulbul (Otocompsa jocosa)
Desert Wheatear (CEnanthe deserti)
Little Skylark (Alauda gulgula)
White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)
PLATE XV
308
Fig. i. Allied Grosbeak (Furctus)
,, 2. Great Himalayan Barbet (Megalcema vireus)
PLATE XVI
Fig. i.
,, 2.
„ 3-
„ 4-
» 5-
330
Green Barbet (Thereiceryx zeylanicus)
Blue-tailed Bee-Eater (Merops superciliosus)
Brown-fronted Pied Woodpecker (Dryobates aurireps)
Indian Pitta (Pitta brachyura)
Common Hawk- Cuckoo (Hierococcyx varius)
PLATE XVII (in colours) .......
Fig. i . Green Parrakeet (Psittacula krameri)
„ 2. Blue- Jay (Coracias benghalensis)
„ 3. White-breasted Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis)
„ 4. Golden-backed Woodpecker (Brachypternus benghalensis)
„ 5. Common Kingfisher (Alcedo at this) ~
352
PLATE XVII
Fig. i . Tawny Eagle (Aquila rapax)
,, 2. Brown Fish-Owl (Ketupa zeylonensis)
374
PLATE XIX
Fig. i. Turumtee (Falco chicquera)
,, 2. White-eyed Buzzard (Butastur teesa)
„ 3. Lugger Falcon (Falco jugger)
„ 4. Spotted Owlet (Athene brama)
• 396
xx LIST OF PLATES
PAGE
PLATE XX 418
Fig. i . Little Brown Dove (Streptopelia senegalensis)
,, 2. Red Turtle-Dove (CEnopopelia tranquebarica)
,, 3. Rain-Quail (Coturnix coromandelica)
„ 4. Indian Courser (Cursorius coromandehcus)
,, 5. White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurorms pnaenicnra)
PLATE XXI (in colours) % 44°
Fig. i . Common Green Pigeon (Crocopus phcenicopterus)
„ 2. Blue Rock-Pigeon (Columba livid)
„ 3. Red-wattled Lapwing (Lobivanellus indicus)
PLATE XXII 462
Fig. i . Paddy-bird (Ardeola grayi)
,, 2. Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus)
„ 3. Little Ring-Plover (Charadrius dubius)
,, 4. Black-bellied Tern (Sterna melanogaster)
„ 5. Grey Partridge (Francolinus pondicerianus)
PLATE XXIII 484
Fig. i . Common Sandgrouse (Pterocles exustus)
,, 2. Jungle Bush-Quail (male and female) (Perdicula asiatica)
,, 3. Cotton-Teal (male and female) (Nettapus coromandelianus)
„ 4. Gadwall (Chaulelasmus streperus)
PLATE XXIV 506
Fig. i. Pochard (male and female) (Nyroca ferina)
„ 2. Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
„ 3. Ruddy Sheldrake (Casarca ferruginea)
INTRODUCTION
(TO THE FIRST EDITION)
BEFORE proceeding with the actual purpose of this book, which is
to provide a popular and scientific, but not too technical, account of
the Common Birds of India, there are a few general observations
which I should like to make by way of introduction.
First to explain why the book has been written.
One of the commonest questions that is put by the new arrival
in India is jbr the name of a book to teach him or her a little about
the birds which intrude themselves on every one's notice. There
are many excellent books on Indian ornithology, but the majority
are either too advanced and scientific for the beginner or else too
expensive. One search for a common bird in the volumes of the
splendid Fauna of India series is enough to send the inquirer away
frightened by the mere wealth of material and by the technical terms
in the descriptions. -The few popular books that have appeared of
recent years have suffered from the necessity of sacrificing fullness
to cheapness, and in particular the majority lack illustrations.
Pictures are what the beginner requires ; a few pictures are worth
pages of description. In Europe and America, where Nature-studies
have made such vast strides and have now such a general appeal,
the demand has made it posirble to bring out numbers of cheap
natural history books with excellent coloured illustrations.
In India this is not yet possible. The area is so great and the
fauna and flora so rich and diverse that to describe them requires
more space and wealth of illustration than in the West, while the
public to purchase such books is much smaller and at present
practically confined to the European population. It is, however,
to be hoped that educated Indians may turn more and more to the
study of the natural wonders of their land.
This book is an earnest attempt to supply a well-illustrated guide
to Indian birds at a price suited to the moderate purse. That the
illustrations are good is guaranteed by the name of Mr Gronvold,
who stands in the front rank of living bird-artists. That the price
is moderate is due to the generosity of three gentlemen, Mr F.
Mitchell, Sir George Lowndes and Mr W. S. Millard, who have
taken the publication outside the sphere of commercial profit ;
whoever buys this work should realise that their public spirit and
generosity have reduced the price by a very large amount. While
xxii INTRODUCTION
Mr Millard in addition has kindly undertaken the work of arranging
all the details of publication, and promised to see the book through
the press.
The nomenclature follows the recognised international usage.
This may be briefly explained.
Scientific nomenclature started with the Swedish naturalist
Linnaeus, who invented what is known as the Binomial System.
In this each living creature has two Latin names, the first repre-
senting the genus, the second the species. To take an example
from the first family in the book we have the Raven (Corvus corax)
and the Common House Crow (Corvus splendens).
Now a species is a group in which all individuals resemble each
other consistently except in such details as are due to age or sex
or individual variation. Individuals of a species normally breed
together and produce fertile offspring.
A genus is a wider term. It embraces one or more species
which, from the possession of certain characteristics, are clearly
worth separating from other groups of species. The Raven and
the House Crow are obviously very nearly related to each other
as compared with the Blue Magpies, though at the same time they
are not one and the same species. We therefore place both birds
together in the genus Corvus, and give them their individual specific
names of corax and splendens. The Blue Magpies have each their
own specific name, but their common characterise, ies group them
together in another genus Urocissa.
Genera which have certain features in common are similarly
linked together into families ; Families are combined with other
families to form Orders ; while the .various Orders together make
up the great class Aves. It is merely a system of classification or
labels, made partly for convenience and partly to express the differ-
ences and affinities that appear amongst birds. No space has been
devoted in this book to a diagnosis of the Families and Orders, but
their extent has been indicated in the list of species that precedes
the main text.
Increased study has shown that the Binomial System alone is
not sufficient to express all that is required. Abundant and widely
spread species vary more or less consistently in different parts of their
range, chiefly in response to climatic and geographical conditions.
These geographical races or subspecies require to be recognised, and
this is done by the addition of a third name after the specific name.
Thus our Raven in India, which is clearly the same species as the
European Raven, slightly changed by difference of habitat, is called
Corvus corax lawrencei, to recognise the fact and to distinguish it
from the typical race Corvus corax corax of Europe.
The selection of the Latin name is fixed by the Law of Priority,
INTRODUCTION xxiii
that the first name published for a species must be used for that
species irrespective of any names that may have been given to it
later. The various provisos to this rule need not trouble us here.
If a species is divided into races the first-named race is known as
the typical one, and its name gives the specific name ; so that the
typical race may be recognised as having its second and third names
the same — Corvus corax corax. The surname given after the scientific
name is that of the writer who originally described the species. If
this surname is placed within brackets it means that he originally
described the species with a different generic name to that now
used.
In the heading to each species I have given the name binomially,
the races, if any, being indicated under the paragraph on Distribution.
Vernacular names have not been given. In my experience published
lists are of little value, as few species have really established
vernacular names and local names vary from district to district.
My aim throughout has been to emphasise the position of our
Indian birds as part of a wider scheme, and that their range in
India is almost always part of a wider range.
This leads us naturally to J-the question of Geographical
Distribution. No student of zoology can fail to observe that the
fauna of the various portions of the world differ markedly in
character in different areas. There have been many attempts to
define the limits of these areas, though their boundaries must
necessarily be vague. Six regions are now commonly accepted,
the Hclarctic, with its Palaearctic and Nearctic subdivisions (extending
across tbs whole Northern Hemisphere and including Europe, a
small portion of Africa, Northern and Central Asia and North
America), the Ethiopian (Africa and Arabia), the Indian or Oriental
(India, China, Ceylon and the Malays), the New Zealand, the
Australian (including also the Pacific Islands), and the Neotropical
regions (Mexico to Cape Horn).
The boundaries of the Western Palaearctic subregion of the
Holarctic region march with those of the Indian region roughly along
the line of the Himalayas and the Afghan and Baluchi borders ; and
it must be remembered that the desert areas of the Punjab, Sind and
Rajputana are part of the great Palaearctic desert which starts on the
Atlantic coast of North Africa and reaches the heart of China.
The Indian region of course needs to be further subdivided, as
China and the Malays have characteristics that separate them off from
India. India, Burma and Ceylon are usually considered as 'forming
an Indian subregion, while the Himalayas are regarded as having
closer affinities with China than with the Indian plains at their base.
The student of Indian ornithology must from the beginning
realise that the avifauna of his area is not homogeneous, spread
xxiv INTRODUCTION
over India evenly as butter on a slice of bread. He must obtain
a conception of it as divided into sections. He must realise that
the most comprehensive knowledge of the birds of Simla will leave
him ignorant of the species that he will meet at Ootacamund, that
the avifauna of the Sind desert has hardly a common feature with
the avifauna of the forests of Malabar.
The most recent endeavour to express these differences is that
of Blanford in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
(Vol. 194, 1901, pp. 335-436). He divides India, Burma and Ceylon
into five primary subdivisions as follows : —
(a) The Indo-Gangetic plain, — This extends across the whole
of Northern India from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of
Bengal. Its boundaries run up the hill ranges from
Karachi to Peshawar and thence along the outer spurs of
the Himalayas to Bhutan and thence roughly southward
to east of the Sunderbunds. The southern boundary
takes a line from the Rann of Cutch to Delhi and from
about Agra to Rajmahal whence it goes south to the Bay
of Bengal. \a
(b) The Indian Peninsula, southwards of the above area.
(c) Ceylon.
(d) The Himalayas. This subdivision includes the whole area
of the mountain ranges from their i, jt-hills up to the limit
of tree-growth. Above forest limits *he fauna becomes
Palaearctic in character.
(e) Assam and Burma. «.
These five subdivisions may again be further divided largely in
accordance with the influence of rainfall, while along the Himalayas
there are distinct altitudinal zones which affect the fauna. Those
who are interested in the subject are advised to consult Blanford's
paper in the original. It is too long to be quoted here, and its
conclusions may have to be modified when the geographical races
of Indian birds are fully worked out.
The races of Indian birds follow some fairly defined lines.
Himalayan species generally have an Eastern and Western race,
meeting about Nepal, the Eastern race being generally darker and
smaller. In the Peninsula the races vary to some extent in correlation
with the total distribution of the species. If a bird is common and
widely distributed throughout India and the neighbouring areas of
the Indian subregion it will often be found to have special races
in (i) the semi-desert area of the north-west ; (2) the humid area
of Assam and the Eastern Sub-Himalayan duars and terais ; (3) the
heavy rain-area of the lower Western Ghats from about North
Kanara to the southern limit of the Travancore ranges ; (4) Ceylon ;
INTRODUCTION xxv
while a more generalised form occupies the intervening mass of the
Peninsula, grading in turn into each race.
If, on the other hand, a bird has a more limited range, the
influence of these areas in the formation of races appears to be less
strong and the distribution of its races is harder to forecast. Humid
areas produce dark birds, desert areas pale birds. North and west
enlarge, south and east dwarf their birds.
Finally, one must regard the influence of migration. The
avifauna of India or of any square mile of it is never stationary,
but changes season by season in response to the great tide of bird-
life which sweeps across it with the regularity of the tides of the sea.
The fundamental principle of migration is easy to understand. With
the changing of the seasons a bird which summers and nests in
northern latitudes is unable to find food in those latitudes in winter.
It therefore moves southwards to an area that time and circumstances
have fixed as its winter quarters. In the north the bird is known as
a " summer visitor " and in the south as a " winter visitor," while in
the intervening countries that it travels over it is a " passage migrant."
The southerly route followed in the " autumn passage " is not
necessarily the same as the route by which it returns north on the
" spring passage."
India lies south of the great mass of Northern and Central Asia,
where winter conditions are very severe following on a short but
luxuriant summer. It is not strange, therefore, that a huge wave of
bird-life pours down to winter in India where insect and vegetable
food is so abundant. The movement starts as early as July, and
reaches its greatest height in September ; it crosses the Himalayas
from both ends, and gradually converges down the two sides of the
Peninsula spending its strength until it ends finally in Ceylon. In
spring the wave again recedes, starting at the end of February, and
all the migrants have gone by the end of May.
Ceylon is one of the few countries of the world that has no
summer visitors, for it lies at the end of the migration routes through
India, with no land of any size to the south of it.
The Indian winter, luxuriant after the monsoons, is more suit-
able to the needs of bird-life than the parched Indian summer.
Geographical position and physical features, therefore, combine to
account for one of the chief ornithological characteristics of India,
that it is practically without summer visitors from beyond its borders.
The few species that fall under this category are confined to North-
western India, where they are able to take a route round the head
of the Arabian Gulf to winter in Africa.
The effect of migration on status is most easily shown by an
example. I will take a station in the Punjab and indicate the various
categories of birds to be found in it.
xxvi INTRODUCTION
There are first of all the Resident species, which breed there and
remain the whole year round, such as the Parrakeets and Babblers.
A few Summer visitors arrive to breed, such as the Purple Honey-
sucker and Yellow-throated Sparrow. These, if they are late arrivals,
dependent on monsoon conditions for their food-supply, are known
as Rains visitors. But both Summer and Rains visitors have this
in common, for the most part, that they are species which are
residents farther south in India, i.e., they are summer visitors merely
in the northern part of their range in India and not, as our summer
visitors in England, arrivals from distant countries. A very numerous
class is that of the Winter visitors which breed north of India
altogether, like the Waders and Ducks. No winter visitor arrives
from the south. There are two more large classes, the Spring and
Autumn Passage Migrants, such as Rose-Finches and Red-breasted
Flycatchers, temporarily abundant on their way to and from winter
quarters farther south in the Peninsula and Ceylon.
It must be remembered, however, that Nature is seldom clear-cut
in her distinctions, and a species may fall under more than one
heading. The mass of Red-breasted Flycatchers, for instance, that
pass through in autumn and return again in spring, will leave a few
of their numbers as winter visitors. Some individuals of another
species may remain as residents while the remainder migrate.
The movements indicated above come under the heading of true
migration, a tide which ebbs and flows year by year in response to
the annual changes of the seasons. But they are supplemented by
smaller and more irregular movements known as Local migration.
These are due to different causes. In India the most frequent cause
is variation in the rainfall and its consequent effect on food-supply.
A prolonged drought will drive away the birds from a locality, good
rains will fill it with birds where previously there were none.
Along the Himalayas and the neighbouring ranges there is a
marked seasonal altitudinal movement, which moves the resident
birds down through the various zones in response to the lowering of
the snow-line. This, particularly in severe winters, sends a wave
of stragglers into the plains of Northern India in January and
February. A plague of locusts or an unusual crop of seeds may
temporarily upset the usual distribution of several species. And
finally the rudiments of local migration may be seen in the way
in which some species shift their ground in a district while breeding.
This movement may be very slight, merely a matter of a few miles,
yet it is of interest as showing the evolution of the great migrations
from hemisphere to hemisphere.
At present we have practically no detailed knowledge on the
subject of migration in India, whether true or local ; records and
observations on it are badly needed.
INTRODUCTION xxvii
Hitherto Indian ornithology has fallen into very definite periods.
The first period revolves around the pioneer work by Hodgson,
Jerdon and Blyth, and found its expression in Jerdon's Birds of India,
published in 1862.
The second period is dominated by Hume (also the founder of
the Indian Congress) who directed and marshalled the labours of a
number of notable workers. This period found its fitting expression
not in a single comprehensive work but in the packed and
miscellaneous volumes of Stray Feathers, a periodical which
appeared in parts from 1872 to 1888.
With 1889 appeared the first volume of the Fauna of British
India, Birds, by Blanford and Gates, followed at intervals by three
other volumes. This work completely dominated Indian ornithology
down to about 1922.
In 1922 Mr Stuart-Baker produced his first volume of the second
edition of the Fauna. With this has opened the fourth period of
Indian ornithology, which will be memorable for its introduction
of the trinomial system. Its progress is still in the moulding, and
I can only hope that this book of mine will help more than one
beginner to take his share in the advancement of Indian ornithology.
The day is now over in which it was necessary to collect large
series of skins and eggs in India. Enough general collecting has
been done ; concentration on filling in the gaps in our knowledge
is now needed. Those who wish to help in the work should first
familiarise themselves with what has been accomplished and learn
what remains to be done. With some species the distribution of the
different races still needs to be worked out and this implies careful
collecting in certain areas. Of other species we still need to know
the plumage changes ; for this specimens collected at certain times
of the year are required. In other species the down and juvenile
plumages are unknown. But the greatest need of all is* accurate
observations on status and migration. In this all can help. Keep
full notes for a year on the birds of your station, noting those that
are resident and the times of arrival and departure, comparative
abundance and scarcity of all the migratory kinds ; and you will
have made a contribution to ornithology that will in the measure
of its accuracy and fullness be a help to every other worker.
The wonderful avifauna of India is still unspoilt and almost in its
entirety. Let us chronicle and appreciate it while we may and
endeavour in return to awake an appreciation of its value *and
interest so that steps to preserve it may advance part passu with the
destructive influences. These have already started. The irrigation
of vast tracts has already made considerable changes in the fauna,
the interesting desert forms giving place to less specialised and widely
common birds. With the passing away of the Arms Act one of the
xxviii INTRODUCTION
greatest barriers to the wasteful destruction of bird-life by ignorance
and greed has been broken down, at the very moment when the
opening up of the country by the motor-car has lessened the number
of natural sanctuaries. So in return for the interest of your study
of the Indian avifauna, endeavour to protect it and awaken public
opinion to the task.
In conclusion, I have to acknowledge my indebtedness on many
sides in the writing of this book. While I owe something directly
or indirectly to every naturalist who has worked in Jndia, my
obligations are very deep to the authors of .both editions of the
Fauna series, Messrs Blanford and Gates and Mr Stuart-Baker.
Mr N. B. Kinnear of the British Museum has given me much
valuable advice and encouragement. And especially I owe much
to the help and enthusiasm of Dr Claud B. Ticehurst, who has
kindly read through the text of the book in order to ensure its
accuracy.
HUGH WHISTLER
The Common Mynah. (J nat. size).
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF
INDIAN BIRDS
FIG. i — Raven
({ nat, size)
THE RAVEN
CORVUS CORAX Linnaeus
Description. — Length 24 inches. Sexes alike. Entirely black,
glossed with steel-blue, purple and lilac.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
The feathers of the throat are prolonged into conspicuous
hackles.
Field Identification. — Plains of North-western India. Distinguished
from all other Crows by the large size, complete blackness, the throat
hackles, and the distinctive call-note. Only likely to be confused with
the Jungle Crow, but both species do not usually occur in the same
locality.
Distribution. — The Raven is found in almost every part of the
Northern Hemisphere, in Europe, Northern Africa, Asia, and North
America, and is divided into several races distinguished by size and
the shape of the bill. We are only concerned with one race, C. c.
subcoraXy which is the resident bird of Western Asia, Turkestan,
Baluchistan, and North-western India, though it appears to some
A
z POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
extent to be locally migratory. In India it is found in the Punjab,
North-west Frontier Province, Sind, and the desert portions of
Western Rajputana and occasionally in British India. No Raven
occurs in the Himalayas proper until the Tibetan tracts of their
northern face are reached, and there in the barren wastes above
10,000 feet is found the so-called Tibetan Raven (C. c. tibetanus),
a huge bird, perhaps identical with the Greenland form.
Habits, etc. — In North-western India the Raven is a very abundant
species in the drier and more barren portions of the plains and about
the low rocky hill ranges which crop up here and there. In the
irrigated and better cultivated tracts it is scarcer, as also in the more
thickly wooded districts.
Although while nesting it prefers solitude, at other times it
is distinctly social, and fifteen or twenty birds may often be seen
together on the outskirts of villages, towns, and camps, marching
sedately about the ground, turning over and examining the refuse
of man. For in India the Raven is a common scavenger, bold and
dissolute as any Crow ; though it retains when need arises all the
wariness that in England is associated with a scarce and shy bird
that avoids the haunts of man. It is particularly common about
cantonment stations.
The food is very varied ; in addition to the scraps collected
in the course of its scavenging the Raven does a certain amount of
damage to crops, for instan.ce cutting off and carrying away whole
heads of millet, and a pair are generally found with the Vultures
at every carcass.
The ordinary call-note is a frequently uttered deep pruk, pruk.
The flight is strong and straight, and the massive head and beak
project conspicuously in advance of the wings. The birds seem
to pair for life, though many pairs collect together where food is
plentiful. Like the other Crows the Ravens roost in companies,
often fifty or sixty together, flighting to the selected spot towards
the fall of dusk, flying fast and moderately low over the ground.
The breeding season lasts from December to March, though most
eggs will be found in January and February.
The nest is a large, stout structure of sticks with the cup thickly
lined with rags, wool, hair, and similar rubbish. It is placed either
in the fork of a large tree, often close to a well or house, or on the
ledges of rock and clay cliffs. The birds often exhibit a tendency
to attack the climber who goes up to secure their eggs.
The clutch varies from four to six eggs.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, considerably pointed towards
the smaller end ; the shell is close and firm, with only a slight gloss.
The ground-colour varies from greenish-blue to dingy olive or pale
stone-colour. The markings are blackish-brown, sepia, olive-brown,
THE RAVEN 3
and pale inky-purple, distributed in spots, speckles, blotches, and
streaky clouds, the eggs in one clutch usually being all of one type,
though there is much variety between different clutches.
In size the eggs average about 1-94 by 1-31 inches.
THE JUNGLE CROW
CORVUS MACRORHYNCHOS Wagler
Description. — Length 17 inches. Sexes alike. Entire plumage
black with a dark blue or purple gloss.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — A typical Crow, entirely black, and inter-
mediate in size between the ordinary House Crow and the Raven ;
to be distinguished from the former by the absence of any grey on
the hind neck and breast, and from the latter by the smaller size
and the difference in call caw caw, that of the Raven being a hoarse
bark pruk, pruk. Usually gregarious, except at nest.
Distribution. — India, Burma, Ceylon, extending to South-east
Asia. It is divided into various races which are separated on minor
points of size and coloration of the base of the feathers, and are
distinguished with difficulty except in a series. Three races concern
us. C. m. intermedius is found along the whole length of the Himalayas
from Afghanistan to Bhutan and is the familiar Crow of all the
Himalayan hill stations from Gulmurg to Nepal. It occurs from
the foot-hills up to 13,000 feet. The smallest race, C. m. culminatus,
occurs in Ceylon and the whole of the Indian Peninsula up to a line
through Thar and Parkar, Delhi and Ambala on the west, growing
gradually in size until about Calcutta it becomes the large bow-beaked
C. m. macrorhynchos found in Assam and Burma. All these races are
strictly resident and they may prove to be races of the Carrion Crow
(Corvus corone) of Europe, which certainly has a race C. c. orientalis
in Ladakh and Baltistan. The Rook (Corvus frugilegus) which occurs
in North-west India in winter in vast numbers may be distinguished
by its finer, more pointed beak and the bare white scabrous patch
round its base in adults.
Habits, etc. — The Jungle Crow is, as its name implies, and in
contradistinction to the House Crow, a bird of the forests and jungles
rather than of the haunts of men throughout the Peninsula of India ;
though it often visits cities and villages for the sake of scavenging.
It is not as bold 'as the House Crow in entering verandahs or in
deliberately stealing food from the actual possession of man. The
Himalayan race, however, is bolder in this respect than the plains
bird, and in all the Himalayan sanatoria this Crow replaces the House
4 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Crow as the common scavenger round houses, though it is never as
much at home in the bazaars as is the smaller bird.
Although not actually nesting in rookeries, the Jungle Crow is
found scattered throughout the extensive sal forests of the U.P. and
Central India. It is usually the first bird to discover the more or
less well concealed kill of a tiger or leopard, which it advertises by
a peculiar loud " caw " recognised by other crows in the vicinity and
of great assistance to the shikari on the look-out for tiger " Khabbar."
It is a highly gregarious species, numbers feeding in company or
collecting together at the scene of any object of interest, whether food
to eat, a fox or bird of prey to mob, or a disturbing human element to
swear at. Large numbers collect to roost in special patches of forest,
though never so many together as in the case of the House Crow.
In the hills this Crow is very fond of soaring and circling at a great
height in the air and twenty or thirty often do this in company,
exhibiting a complete mastery of all the arts of flying.
Like other Crows this species is omnivorous, scraps of human
food, refuse, flying ants, fruit, berries, small mammals and birds,
insects, carrion, all are welcome to it ; while it is particularly destruc-
tive to the eggs and young of all birds. I have seen it settling on
the packs of mule trains crossing the high passes, travelling with
them and tearing holes in the packs to get at the contained corn.
Its voice is not disagreeable, the ordinary call being a variable
caw rather reminiscent of that of the English Rook, sometimes harsh,
sometimes almost melodious in tone, and very often distinctly like
the quack of a domestic duck ; a harsh allah or ayah is also uttered,
and in addition as it meditates on a shady bough during the heat
of the day it indulges in a succession of amusing gurgles and croaks.
As I write, several are conversing in the trees outside my room, the
sound recalling memories of early spring in England, with swaying
elms and rooks preparing to nest.
The various races of the Jungle Crow throughout our area agree for
the most part in laying their eggs from March to May, but in the plains
a few nests will be found with eggs as early as the middle of December.
The nest is a large, moderately deep cup, composed of twigs and
small sticks, lined with hair, dry grass, wool, coco-nut fibre and similar
substances. Some nests are massive and well built ; others are
somewhat sketchy affairs.
In the Himalayas they are often placed in deodars or species
of pine, while in the plains mangoes and tamarinds are said to be
preferred ; but with these reservations, the nest may be built in any
species of tree, and it is often surprising how well so bulky a structure
is concealed from a casual glance. The tree selected is occasionally
in the midst of a bazaar or garden, but most pairs build away in the
jungle but in easy reach of some village.
THE COMMON HOUSE CROW 7
lower temperature of the Himalayas and the comparative abundance
there of the stronger Jungle Crow.
This Crow is highly gregarious, and this trait is nowhere more
clearly demonstrated than at the roost. Many thousands of birds
sleep together in company in a selected patch of trees, often acres
in extent ; and the morning and evening flight from and to the roost
is a most conspicuous event, as an unending stream of birds arrives
or departs. In the morning the birds leave in a body, hungry and
impatient for food, and the flight is soon over, but in the evening
their arrival is much more protracted. An hour or two before dusk
the first stragglers appear and their numbers gradually increase,
until at the end an unbroken line of birds extends across the sky,
till darkness falls and puts an end to the unceasing clamour that
accompanies every operation of this bird's life.
During the flight small parties have the habit, so often seen
amongst Rooks in England, of swirling suddenly down from a
height in the sky almost to the ground. The roosting-places are
always littered with the remains of dead Crows, and their mortality
is heavy, partly no doubt from disease and partly from the
depredations of Peregrines and Eagle-Owls. These roosting flights
show no apparent diminution even during the breeding season, and
this is due to the fact that this species does not breed during its
first year. While not nesting in colonies after the fashion of the
Rook, the House Crow is so numerous that numbers of nests may
be found within a small radius.
Familiarity with man has made the House Crow bold and thievish
to a degree. It sidles into rooms, alert and keen, ready to retreat
at the least alarm, and with a sudden bounce and dash removes food
from the table ; it robs the shops in the bazaar if they are left
unattended for a moment ; it snatches sweetmeats off the trays of the
vendors* at railway stations. Yet with all this familiarity and boldness
it retains the wariness and sagacity of the family and is quick to take
a hint of real danger and evade it.
And not only man suffers from this impudent Crow ; it mobs
birds of prey, more especially the Owls and Eagles, on occasions
actually buffeting them ; and I have seen Vultures sitting gorged
on the ground much worried by a sort of game of " Tom Tiddler's
Ground " played by Crows who insisted on hopping on and off their
backs. They perch on the backs of bullocks and mules pecking
bits of flesh from raw saddle-galls, though at times their attentions
are welcome for they also remove ticks and other vermin. They
rob dogs and fowls of their food, and in general steal and bully
to the utmost extent of their opportunities. Yet with all their
manifold villanies there is much that is attractive about the sleek,
intelligent, shameless bird that is the companion of our daily life
8 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
in India. There is only one living thing that habitually gets the
better of the House Crow — a claim which man certainly cannot
make ; the KoeFs whole life-history is based on the assumption
that it can at will circumvent and deceive the Crow, and this it
does, substituting its own eggs for those of the Crow and making
the latter bring up its young.
This bird is absolutely omnivorous ; it will eat anything that man
will eat, and innumerable things that he will not.
The ordinary call is a cawing note rather softer in tone than that
of the larger Crows.
The breeding season is very regular in the North-west, eggs
being laid from the middle of June till the middle of July. In the
rest of India numbers also lay in April and May, and occasionally
nests are found in November, December and January.
The nest is built in a fork of a tree, and is a shallow cup of sticks,
sometimes neat and well made, sometimes sketchy and ragged ; it is
lined with grass roots, wool, rags, vegetable fibre, and similar miscel-
laneous substances. Instances are on record of nests built partly or
exclusively of wire.
The normal clutch consists of four or five eggs, but six or seven
are occasionally met with. The egg is a broad oval, rather pointed
at the smaller end. The texture is hard and fine and there is a fair
gloss. The ground-colour is any shade of blue-green, and is blotched,
speckled and streaked with dull reddish-brown, pale sepia, grey and
neutral tint.
In size the eggs average about 1*45 by 1*05 inches.
THE JACKDAW
CORVUS MONEDULA Linnaeus
Description. — Length 13 inches. Sexes alike. The whole upper
plumage, wings and tail glossy black ; a broad collar from the sides
of the head round the back of the neck dusky grey, becoming so pale
in parts as to be almost white ; chin, throat, and fore-neck black ;
remainder of lower plumage dull slaty-black.
Iris whitish ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — Extreme North-western India and Kashmir.
Distinguished from the House Crow by the smaller size, the fact
that the grey is confined merely to a collar, the white eye, and the
very musical call.
Distribution. — The Jackdaw is widely distributed in Europe, in
Algeria, and in parts of Northern and Western Asia. Of its races
THE JACKDAW 9
we are only concerned with C. m. monedula, which apparently breeds
from Scandinavia and Russia to the Yenisei and south to Persia,
Afghanistan, and Kashmir. In winter numbers appear from the
middle of October to the beginning of March in the North-west
Frontier Province west of the Indus, and in the Punjab districts
along the base of the North-western Himalayas.
The traveller to Baltistan and Ladakh will find the Magpie (Pica
pica) common in the sparse groves in the valleys and he will Jbe
agreeably surprised at its tameness compared with the persecuted
English bird. It is also found in Baluchistan.
Habits, etc. — No one who has visited the Vale of Kashmir can
have failed to notice the Jackdaws, which are extremely common
there all the year round, and with their cheerful, familiar calls
largely contribute to the extremely English air of the European
quarters, of Srinagar. Great numbers live in the trees and buildings
all round Srinagar, feeding in the fields and on the grassy lawns,
and becoming as tame and impudent in their behaviour as the
House Crow is in the plains. These birds roost in the willows of
the Dal Lake, and the morning and evening flight of the Jackdaws from
and to their dormitory is one of the ornithological sights of Srinagar.
In winter when it arrives in the Punjab the Jackdaw is found in
flocks which associate with the immense flights of Rooks (Corvus
frugilegus) that appear about the same time and in the same
localities. The flight is strong and fairly fast, but the Jackdaw has
rather quicker wing-beats than the Rook and can also be distinguished
in the air by its smaller size. The call is more musical than that of
most Crows, being a melodious Jack and cae, ringing with cheerful-
ness and well-being ; these calls are responsible for the English
name, the first syllable also exemplifying the English practice of
personifying familiar species, as in Magpie and Jenny- Wren. The
whole demeanour of the bird is pert and knowing, and it makes
a delightful pet, some individuals learning to talk ; though the
irresistible attraction which small bright articles have for the
Jackdaw often makes it a nuisance about a house when tame
enough to be allowed out of its cage.
In Kashmir the breeding season is from April to June. The
nest is a massive cup of dirty wool, rags, and hair on a foundation
of sticks and thorny twigs, and it is placed in holes in rocks, buildings,
and trees. Numbers of pairs breed in colonies wherever suitable
nest-holes are available.
The clutch consists of four to six eggs.
The egg is an elongated oval, somewhat compressed towards the
smaller end ; the shell is fine and stout but there is only a faint gloss.
The ground-colour is pale greenish-blue, speckled and spotted with
deep blackish-brown, olive-brown, and pale inky-purple ; these
io POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
markings are sometimes fine and close, at other times bold and
thinly set, but on the whole the eggs of the Jackdaw are more lightly
marked than those of most of the family of Crows.
In size they average about 1-40 by 0*98 inches.
THE YELLOW-BILLED BLUE-MAGPIE
UROCISSA FLAVIROSTRIS (Blyth)
Description. — Length 26 inches, including tail of about 18 inches.
Sexes alike. Head, neck, and breast black, with a white patch on
the nape ; remainder of lower plumage white, faintly tinged with
lilac ; whole upper plumage purplish-blue, brighter on the wings and
tail ; flight-feathers tipped with white, the outermost edged with the
same ; tail long and graduated, the feathers blue, broadly tipped
with white, all except the very long central pair having a band of
black in front of the white.
Iris bright yellow ; bill waxen yellow ; legs bright orange-yellow.
Field Identification. — Purely Himalayan form ; in noisy parties
amongst trees. A conspicuous long tail, greatly graduated, and at
the end drooping in a graceful curve. In jungle appears dull greyish-
blue, with white under surface and white tips to tail-feathers.
Distribution. — The Yellow-billed Magpie is found throughout
the Himalayas from Hazara to the Brahmaputra. It is divided into
two races. Of these U. f. cucullata is the better known and is
found from the Western boundary of the range to Western Nepal,
being a common species about most of the hill stations of the
Western Himalayas, breeding in a zone from 5000 to 10,000 feet.
The typical form is found from Eastern Nepal eastwards and differs
in that the under parts have a darker lilac tinge ; its zone is slightly
higher than that of the Western form, as it seldom occurs 'as low
as 6000 feet. A resident species, but during the winter months it
usually deserts the higher parts of its summer zone.
From Simla eastwards the closely allied Red-billed Blue-Magpie
(Urocissa melanocephala) is often found in the same areas as the
yellow-billed species ; it is particularly common about Mussoorie,
Tehri-Garhwal, -Kumaon, and in Nepal, and may be easily
distinguished by its red beak and the greater extent of the white
nape-patch.
The lovely Green-Magpie (Cissa chinensis) is found in forest along
the lower Himalayas from the Jamna eastwards and in parts of Assam,
Eastern Bengal and Burma. It is brilliant green in colour (which has
a tendency to fade to blue) with a black band through the eye and
red bill, wings and tail.
THE YELLOW-BILLED BLUE-MAGPIE 11
Habits, etc. — The Blue-Magpies are, as may be judged from their
handsome tails, essentially arboreal birds ; though, while they are
most usually to be met with in heavy jungle areas, they also venture
out into the trees amongst cultivation, and at times on to bare
mountain sides at high elevations. They frequently feed on the
ground and then adopt a curious hopping gait, with the tail held
high to prevent it coming into contact with the ground. They live
in parties of seven or eight birds and are very partial to particular
localities, so that once a party has taken up its abode in any particular
pIGt 3 — Yellow-billed Blue-Magpie (i nat. size)
nullah or patch of forest it will generally be found there. They are
very active, flying incessantly from bough to bough and not hesitating
to launch high into the air when flying from ridge to ridge ; a party
of these bird£ crossing a nullah out of gun-shot above one's head is
a curious sight, with their long tails waving in the air and the light
shining through the feathers. The flight is rather slow, laboured
and undulating once the bird comes into the open. The food consists
of small mammals, the eggs and young of other birds, insects, and
wild fruits and berries of various kinds. This bird is very noisy ;
the ordinary call is harsh and grating, but it has a wide variety of
notes, some of which are melodious enough.
The nest is built in a fork of a tree, usually of moderate size but
12 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
with dense foliage, and is difficult to find. It is a rather large and
roughly constructed cup of sticks with a lining of fine grass, roots
and fibres.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs. The ground-colour
varies from a pale, dingy yellowish-stone colour to a darkish rather
reddish-stone colour, and there is very occasionally a faint greenish
tinge. The markings consist of small specks, blotches, streaks, and
mottlings of various shades of brown, sienna1 or purple, and they
generally tend to collect in a cap or zone about the broad end of
the egg.
The egg measures about 1-20 by 0*92 inches.
THE INDIAN TREE-PIE
DENDROCITTA VAGABUNDA (Latham)
Description. — Length 18 inches. Sexes alike. The whole head
and neck with the breast sooty brown ; remainder of the body plumage
bright rufous, darker on the back ; wing-coverts greyish-white ; wings
dark brown, with a large conspicuous greyish-white patch on the sides
extending almost their whole length when closed ; tail long and
graduated with the central feathers elongated, ashy-grey, each feather
broadly tipped with black.
Iris reddish-brown ; bill slaty horn-colour, albescent at the base ;
legs dark brown, claws horn-colour.
Field Identification. — A bright rufous magpie with sooty head and
neck, and impressions of grey, black and white in the wings and tail ;
a strictly arboreal bird of open forest, often near gardens, usually in
pairs, with a very musical call.
Distribution. — The whole of India and Burma from the Indus and
the Lower Himalayas to Travancore, and from Assam to Tenasserim
and Siam. A strictly resident species.
Like most widely-spread and common birds the Indian Tree-Pie
is divided into several races, distinguished by size and the relative
depth in colouring of the body plumage. There is much intergrading
between them, and authorities in consequence differ as to their number
and distribution. The typical race is found in North-east India including
the outer fringe of the Himalayas from Nepal to Assam and Central
India, being replaced by D. v. pallida in the North-western Hima-
layas, North-west Frontier Province, Sind, Punjab, and Rajputana.
A small dark race, D. v. parvula, occurs in the rain area of the
Western coast from South Kanara to Cape Comorin, while a small
pale race, D. v. vernayi, occurs in the rest of Southern and Eastern
India up to the Godavari River. Although essentially a bird of the
THE INDIAN TREE-PIE 13
plains of Continental India this Tree-Pie is found in hill country up
to about 5000 feet, including the outer fringe of the Himalayas.
Two closely allied species, the Himalayan Tree-Pie (Dendrocitta
formosa) and the Southern Tree-Pie (Dendrocitta leucogastra), are
common in the Lower Himalayas and from Mysore to Travancore
respectively. The former is grey and brown with no rufous in the
plumage except below the base of the tail. The latter has a black
mask in sharp contrast to the white collar and under parts.
FIG. 4 — Indian Tree-Pie (i nat. size)
Habits, etc. — The Tree-Pie is, as its name denotes, essentially
arboreal, and it is practically never seen to visit the ground ; though
I have known it come into a verandah and climb about the chicks
in order to catch the yellow wasp which habitually builds its nest
in houses. It also climbs about trunks and branches of trees, hanging
on with the claws and partly supported by the tail as it searches the
crevices of the bark for insects. It is found not so much in heavy
forest as in open country where large trees grow in clumps and
avenues, and it is also very partial to gardens. But although it is in
14 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
consequence common in the immediate vicinity of man it is a some-
what shy bird, living amidst the thicker foliage and usually only seen
in glimpses as it flies from tree to tree in front of the observer. It
is found in pairs or small parties. The flight is dipping, the bird
alternately flapping the wings for several beats and then gliding with
them stiffly outspread. The food consists of fruit, berries, insects,
caterpillars, lizards, and small snakes, and this bird has the reputation
of being one of the most destructive enemies in India to the eggs
and young of other species.
The Tree-Pie is found throughout the sal forests of Northern
and Central India and is invaluable to the initiated in pointing out
the whereabouts of tiger or leopard kills. In the discovery of kills
the Tree-Pie competes with the Jungle Crow.
The ordinary call is a loud and most melodious kokli or googeley,
which is one of the familiar bird-notes of India. But it has a variety
of other notes, some quite charming and soft, others less pleasant,
particularly a raucous scolding note which 'is as ugly as the first is
melodious.
The breeding season extends from February until the first week
in August, but the majority of nests will be found in April, May, and
June.
The nest is placed in trees or large bushes, in a fork usually
towards the top of a tree. Mango and babool trees are most
commonly favoured, though sheeshum and neem trees are also
often selected, and the nest has even been found in cactus clumps.
It is a shallow, open cup, sometimes large and loosely constructed,
sometimes small and compact. There is a foundation of large twigs
usually thorny in character, and on this is built the nest proper of
finer twigs and roots, with a lining of grass roots and occasionally a
little wool or straw.
The normal clutch is four or five eggs in the north, and generally
two or three in the south.
The eggs are typically somewhat elongated ovals, a good deal
pointed towards the small end ; there is sometimes a slight gloss.
In colour they are very variable, though there is always a family
resemblance between the eggs composing one clutch. There are
two leading types of coloration ; one pale greenish in ground-colour
with blotches and spots of light and dark grey brown, somewhat
resembling the eggs of the Grey Shrike ; the other pale reddish-white
or salmon-colour with blotches of reddish and dark brown and
underlying markings of lilac and neutral tint, similar in type to the
eggs of the Drongos.
In size they average about i* 17 by 0*87 inches.
THE BLACK-THROATED JAY
THE BLACK-THROATED JAY
GARRULUS LANCEOLATUS Vigors
Description. — Length 13 inches. Sexes alike. Top and sides
of the head black ; chin and throat black with broad white streaks,
the black ending in a patch of iron-grey ; body plumage vinous-grey,
brighter towards the tail ; wings black, closely barred with bright
blue, a black patch on the coverts being bordered outwardly by a
white patch ; innermost flight-feathers vinous-grey with a black and
FIG. 5 — Black-throated Jay (£ nat. size)
a white band at the end of each feather ; tail black, broadly tipped
with white, all but the outermost feathers closely barred with bright
blue.
Iris reddish ; bill steely slate, darker at tip ; legs steely grey,
claws darker.
The head is conspicuously crested, and the throat-feathers are
long and pointed. The tail is long and slightly graduated.
Field Identification. — West Himalayan form. A noisy active bird
found in parties in trees. The black crested head, with untidy
white streaking on the throat, and the bright blue and black barring
on the wings and tail contrast sharply with the nondescript body
plumage.
16 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Distribution. — The Suliman Hills ; the Western Himalayas from
Hazara and Chitral to Nepal, breeding from 5000 to 8000 feet,
and occasionally higher to 10,000 feet, and in winter descending
to 3500 feet. A resident species with no races.
The Himalayan Jay (Garrulus bispecularis), sometimes considered
a race of the familiar English bird, is also resident throughout the
Himalayas. It lacks the black head and crest of the Black-throated
Jay, and is brighter, more rufous in colour with a squarer tail.
Loud harsh calls also draw attention to the Nutcracker (Nucifraga
caryocatactes), another Himalayan species of Crow, which feeds
largely on pine seeds. It is dark chocolate brown, spotted with
white. The white of the outer tail-feathers is conspicuous in flight.
Habits. — The Black-throated Jay is a familiar species in the
outer ranges of the Western Himalayas where it comes freely into
the various hill stations. When in pairs in the breeding season it is
quiet and secretive in habits until disturbed in the neighbourhood
of the nest when it immediately becomes excited and noisy, screaming
and chattering at the intruder. At other seasons it is found mostly
in parties of four or five birds which in winter often combine into
considerable flocks, up to twenty individuals in number, and these
sometimes join forces with the Himalayan Jay and the Yellow-
billed Blue-Magpie. These parties keep to trees, whether in forest
or in the neighbourhood of houses and cultivation, and their where-
abouts is sooner or later betrayed by the harsh schack, similar to the
call of the English species. The food consists of grubs, caterpillars,
beetles, insects, fruits, berries, seeds and the like, and some of it is
taken on the ground.
From the hostility that this Jay awakens in other species in the
breeding season it is obvious that they consider it a danger to their
eggs and young.
The breeding season extends from the middle of April to June,
most eggs being found in May.
The nest is a moderately shallow cup built of slender twigs and
sticks and lined with dry roots and fibres, particularly the black
horsehair-like rhizoids of fungi. It is placed in trees or thick
bushes, never at any very great height from the ground. An upper
fork of a small sapling affords a very favourite situation.
The clutch varies from three to six eggs, four or five being the
usual number. The eggs are somewhat lengthened ovals in shape,
and there is little or no gloss. The ground-colour varies from
brownish-stone to pale greenish-white, and it is very minutely and
feebly freckled and mottled all over with pale sepia-brown. There
are usually a few dark brown hair-like lines, more or less zigzag,
about the larger end.
The eggs measure about i- 12 by 0-85 inches.
THE CHOUGH 17
THE CHOUGH
PYRRHOCORAX PYRRHOCORAX (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 17 inches. Sexes alike. The whole plumage
glossy black.
Iris dark brown ; bill coral-red ; legs dark coral-red ; claws black.
Bill slender and curved and the feathers at the base of the bill
short and dense.
Field Identification. — Himalayas and Baluchistan. A very graceful
black Crow with a pleasant call which is immediately identified by
the coral-red bill and legs.
The slightly smaller Alpine Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus) with
shorter yellow bill and red legs has roughly the same distribution
in our area as the Chough. The traveller in Lahul and Ladakh will
find it a bold scavenger about his camp. It is commonly stated that
these two Choughs are always found in separate valleys, but this is
not a fact.
Distribution. — The Chough has a very wide distribution from
Europe and Africa to China, mostly as a mountain bird. We are
concerned with the race P. p. himalayanus, separated from the typical
race on its slightly larger size, and this is found in North-eastern
Baluchistan, Chitral and the Himalayas from Hazara to Bhutan.
It is a bird of high elevations, seldom breeding below 8000 feet, most
commonly in the zone from 10,000 to 12,000 feet, and sometimes
up to 15,000 feet. It has been recorded up to 20,000 feet in summer,
an elevation attained by very few species. In winter, stress of weather
sometimes drives it down as low as 5000 feet or even 3000 feet.
Habits, etc. — Except in Baluchistan, where the Chough visits the
Quetta Valley in winter, this delightful bird will only be met by the
observer who leaves the ordinary Himalayan stations and travels a
little further into the hills. On the outer ranges he will meet it on
the Pir Panjal and the Duala Dhar, but for the most part he must
enter the Main Himalayan range before he can expect to see its buoyant
flight and hear its cheerful call. Once in its haunts, he will find the
bird common enough in flocks and pairs and parties sometimes in
the same valleys and in the same ranges as the Alpine Chough and
sometimes alone. Its local distribution is a little erratic. In some
places it is common ; in others it is apparently absent and the reasons
for this are not apparent.
The Chough usually roosts and breeds in precipitous cliffs though
in the Chumbi Valley and in Tibet it also uses the numerous holes
in the walls and under the flat roofs of the houses in the Tibetan
villages. It feeds for the most part on the alpine pastures where it
probes and digs in the soil or scatters the yak dung for the beetles
B
i8 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
and their larvae, the wireworms, the insects and the small seeds which
form its food. Further down it takes the berries of various mountain
bushes such as the Ladakh thorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) and robs
the tillage of its sparse supplies of corn. As a rule it is far from shy
though it is not the shameless scavenger of the camp like its cousin
the Alpine Chough. On the ground the loose thigh-feathers are
conspicuous.
This Crow is an excellent flier. A party will often obviously fly
for pleasure, playing and circling in the air currents in front of the
cliffs where they live, or mounting high to soar in the sky till bird
after bird comes plunging down again with swift slanting flight, closing
the wings almost to the body.
The ordinary call is a melodious kew or jack much like that of the
Jackdaw ; another note is a high-pitched squeaky chee-o-kah and the
alarm is a clear quoick or kor-qmck. The voice carries far in the
mountain valleys and draws attention to birds above almost out of sight.
Nidification begins in March and eggs are to be found in April
and May. The nest is built in a crevice of a precipice or a hole in
the roof of a hill cave and is usually quite inaccessible. In Tibetan
villages it may be built in a hole in a house. The nest is made of sticks
and twigs and the cup is lined with wool, though some nests consist
merely of a pad of wool.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs. They are rather variable
in size and shape but are typically a moderately elongated oval, slightly
compressed towards the small end. The shell is tolerably fine and
has a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white with a faint creamy
tinge and the whole egg is profusely spotted and streaked with a
pale, somewhat yellowish brown and a pale purplish grey. The
markings are most dense at the broad end.
The egg measures about 1-75 by 1-20 inches.
THE INDIAN GREY TIT
PARUS MAJOR Linnaeus
(Plate ii, Fig. 5, opposite page 22)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Head, neck, breast
and a broad line down the centre of the abdomen glossy black ; a
conspicuous white patch on the cheek and a fainter one on the nape ;
remainder of under parts white tinged with vinaceous ; remainder
of upper parts bluish ashy-grey, with a white bar across the wing ;
tail black and bluish ashy-grey, with a large amount of white on the
outer feathers.
THE INDIAN GREY TIT 19
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs slaty plumbeous.
Field Identification. — A typical Tit ; bluish-grey above and whitish
below, with black head, neck and broad abdominal stripe, and a white
cheek-patch. Purely arboreal, generally single or in pairs.
Distribution. — The Great Tit (Parus major) is an interesting species
of wide range. It extends throughout the whole of Europe, North-
west Africa and the greater part of Asia to Japan and Southern China.
But as is to be expected with such a wide range the species has been
divided into a great number of geographical races or sub-species.
These fall into two main groups ; the European group with green
backs and yellow under parts (exemplified by the familiar Great Tit
of England), and the Asiatic group with grey backs and whitish or
buff under parts.
To this latter group belong our Indian birds, and they fall again
into several races, which differ from each other in the depth and
purity of their colour and in the relative amounts of black and white
on the tail-feathers.
P. m. caschmirensis occupies the Western Himalayas from Kashmir
to Gahrwal, visiting the Punjab plains in winter. P. m. nipalensis
extends from Lower Nepal through Behar, Bengal, and the Duars
into Assam and Western Burma. P. m. stupce is found at Mount
Aboo, in the Central Provinces and Orissa, and southwards to Cape
Comorin, while a fourth race P. m. ziaratensis overlaps from Afghanistan
into parts of Baluchistan and Trans-Indus Punjab. An insular race in
Ceylon is the true P. m. mahrattarum. A resident species with slight
local migrations. This species must not be confused with the White-
winged Black Tit (Parus nuchalis) locally common in Rajputana.
Habits, etc. — The Indian Grey Tit is more properly to be considered
a hill than a plains bird, and each race breeds throughout the more
wooded ranges of its area from a height of about 3500 feet to their
summits, even to 9000 or 10,000 feet when this is possible. But
above 6000 feet it is usually rather scarce. While not strictly migratory
it wanders a good deal after the breeding season, and then is found
commonly in the plains area contiguous to the ranges on which it
breeds. It is* a bird of the more open types of forest, and while really
arboreal wanders freely into bushes and scrub-jungle, and frequently
visits the ground in search of food.
Although often found in small parties or included in the large
mixed hunting parties of small insectivorous birds this Tit is more
usually found singly and in pairs. When feeding it is very methodical,
carefully examining the branches and twigs for small insects and theii
caterpillars and eggs, peering into every nook and cranny and bunch
of leaves, and when necessary for the purpose indulging in a variety
of acrobatic postures for which its sturdy build and strong legs are
admirably adapted. At times it holds some article of food between
20 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
its feet on a branch and hammers at it with pickaxe blows of the
beak, and the noise thus made is frequently mistaken for the work
of a small Woodpecker. It is a cheerful bird both in demeanour and
note, and the loud whistle tsee tsee tsee is always a cheery welcome
sound. With the spring and the approach of the breeding season this
is supplemented by a number of louder and clearer calls, of which the
most familiar is zwink zwink. When disturbed in the nest the bird
endeavours to frighten away the intruder by hissing and spitting like
a snake.
It is interesting to note that the young bird in the juvenile plumage
is greenish in colour on the back and yellower underneath than the
adult, a clear indication of the relationship between the two main
types of Parus major and the fact that the Western birds must be
considered the older and original type.
This Tit appears to be double-brooded wherever found. In the
Himalayas the breeding season is from the end of March to July :
while in the Peninsula the breeding season is more extended, com-
mencing in February and lasting until November, but it varies in
different localities, and the majority everywhere lay before July.
The nest is a large, shapeless mass of downy fur, cattle hair,
feathers, and wool, with a foundation of grass roots and moss, the
whole forming a soft pad with a saucer-like hollow for the eggs.
The fur is often obtained from the droppings of carnivorse. It is
placed in a hole of some kind, whether in a wall, bank, tree or rock,
and sometimes in the old nest-hole of a Woodpecker or Barbet. On
one occasion I found two nests built side by side touching under
the coping-stone of a wall, with one and four eggs respectively, both
apparently the property of the same bird. Similar cases have been
reported of the Great and Blue Tits in England. Hume has recorded
two instances in which the nest was built in the open on a branch of
a tree, but this is very unusual.
The normal clutch consists of four to six eggs. In shape they
are a broad oval, somewhat elongated and pointed towards the small
end, and have a faint gloss. In colour they are white, speckled and
spotted with reddish-brown and pale purplish, these markings often
tending to coalesce into a zone round the broad end.
They measure about 0*70 by 0-54 inches.
THE GREEN-BACKED TIT 21
THE GREEN-BACKED TIT
PARUS MONTICOLUS Vigors
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Tfye whole head,
neck, breast, and a broad line down the centre of the abdomen
glossy black : a conspicuous white patch on the cheek and a fainter
one on the nape ; remainder of lower plumage deep yellow ; back
greenish-yellow ; rump slaty-blue ; wings mixed slaty-blue and black
with two white bars ; tail black and slaty-blue, edged and tipped
with white.
Iris brown ; bill black ; legs plumbeous-slate.
Field Identification. — Himalayan form ; the common Tit of all
Himalayan hill stations. A typical Tit with white cheek-patch,
black head and breast and abdominal band ; distinguished from the
Grey Tit by the brighter coloration, greenish back instead of grey,
yellow under parts instead of greyish- white.
Distribution. — The Green-backed Tit is found throughout the
Himalayas, and also further eastwards through Manipur, Chittagong
and the Chin Hills to Yunnan and Formosa. Its normal breeding
zone lies between 5000 and 8000 feet, but a few may be met with
up to 10,000 and even 12,000 feet ; during the winter numbers
descend to the foot-hills below 4000 and a few even to the fringe
of the plains beyond them. Apart from this seasonal altitudinal
movement it is a resident species. All birds in our area belong to
the typical race.
Habits, etc. — This bird resembles other Tits in being a forest-
loving bird though it wanders a good deal and may be found in any
type of country in the hills, cultivation or scrub -covered hill-side.
While properly speaking arboreal it freely descends to undergrowth
and to the ground. It is occasionally found in small flocks and
parties, but is more usually found singly or in pairs, and one or
more of these birds will invariably be found attached to the mixed
hunting parties of small birds which are such a familiar feature of
the Himalayan forests.
The food consists chiefly of insects in their various stages and
also of fruits, and it is less of a seed eater and less omnivorous than
the Grey Tit.
Although without a proper song, this bird has a number of not
unmusical calls, which are amongst the most penetrating and familiar
of the bird sounds in a Himalayan station. One note is described
as a very loud four-syllable whistle which may be written ti-ti-tee-ti>
the third syllable much prolonged. Its ordinary spring call at the
commencement of the breeding season is a mewing whistle pheeow
B2
22 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
or pawee, while other calls may be syllabilised as peeweet or tweentwee
and sit-here and teacher. But it must be remembered that most of
the Tit family have a variety of very similar calls, hard to distinguish
from one another. This species is very fond of water, bathing more
regularly than most other Tits.
Nidification begins in the latter half of March and most clutches
of eggs will be found in April, though fresh eggs may be still found
until June ; it is possible that some birds are double-brooded.
The nest is a shapeless mass, with a hollow on top for the eggs,
of soft downy fur and feathers with more or less moss by way of
foundation. It is placed in a hole, either in a tree, wall, bamboo or
even in a bank, though a hole in a wall is usually chosen.
The clutch consists normally of six to eight eggs, though some-
times as few as four eggs are laid.
The eggs are moderately broad ovals, some almost symmetrical,
others slightly pointed at one end. In colour they are white, almost
without gloss, spotted, blotched, and speckled with different shades
of red and brown ; the markings vary in quantity and intensity but
tend to be most numerous towards the large end. The eggs of this
species in a series will be found to be rather longer and more slender
and more richly marked than those of the Grey Tit.
In size they average about 0-72 by 0-52 inches.
THE YELLOW-CHEEKED TIT
MACHLOLOPHUS XANTHOGENYS (Vigors)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Crown and a long
pointed crest, a line through the eye and a broad band from the
chin to the vent glossy black ; a line over each eye to a patch on
the hind neck, the cheeks and the sides of the body canary-yellow ;
upper parts yellowish-green ; wings black, the small coverts spotted
with pale yellow-white, the flight-feathers edged and variegated with
blue-grey and white ; tail black, washed with blue-grey, the tips of
all feathers and the outer edge of the outer feather white.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs dark slaty-blue.
Field Identification. — A typical greenish and yellow Tit with a
pointed black crest and a heavy black band down the centre of the
lower parts ; distinguished from the Green-backed Tit by the crest
and the yellow cheeks. Strictly arboreal and confined to well-wooded
country, particularly hills.
Distribution. — This species is confined to India and is divided
into three races. The typical form occurs in the Western Himalayas
from Murree to Eastern Nepal, breeding in a zone between 5000 and
PLATE II
i. Spotted Munia.
headed Tit.
about ^ nat. size.)
2. Red Avadavat. 3. Red-breasted Flycatcher. 4. Red-
5. Indian Grey Tit. 6. Himalayan Tree-Creeper. (All
\Fact ft. aa
THE YELLOW-CHEEKED TIT 23
7000 feet, though its distribution is somewhat capricious. M. x.
aplonotus is found across the centre of the Peninsula from Mount
Aboo and Mahabaleshwar to Parasnath Hill and the Krishna River.
M. x. travancoreensis, a larger and duller bird, is confined to the
Western Ghats and the neighbouring wooded areas from the South
Konkan to the Asambo Hills. These two races are found at air
elevations and differ from the typical race in having a shorter crest,
the spots on the wing-coverts white instead of yellow, and the yellow
parts of the plumage paler. In these two races the females have
the black band on the lower plumage replaced with olive green, and
in M. x. travancoreensis some females also have the crest olive-green.
f '
FIG. 6— Yellow-cheeked Tit (g nat. size)
Habits. — The Yellow-cheeked Tit is a very sociable bird. Except
when actually breeding it is found in small parties which are apt
to attach themselves to the mixed hunting parties that are commonly
found in the woods which they frequent. It is arboreal in habits,
spending its life in an incessant hunt in the trees for the small insects
and their eggs and larvae and the various seeds and fruits which
form its food. Even the largest caterpillars are attacked and torn
into pieces. Like many other birds it catches flying ants and feeds
at the flowers of the cotton-tree. The call-notes are loud and joyous in
tone, being very distinct from and more musical than those of other Tits.
Those of the Himalayan race may be syllabilised as tyuji tyuja and again
as teetweenh twit-teetweenh, while the breeding call is a loud towit towit.
There is also a low jarring note and a chatter like that of the Grey Tit.
24 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The Himalayan race breeds from April to June. The Continental
races evidently breed a good deal later, from July to August or even
September and October, though in the north of the Peninsula some
pairs start in April.
The nest is built in holes in trees at any height up to about 20
feet. The hole may be a small natural cavity or one cut out by the
birds themselves, a large hollow in a bough or the old nesting-hole
of a Barbet or Woodpecker. The nest is the usual shapeless pad
of the family, composed of a mass of wool and hair on a foundation
of moss and other miscellaneous materials. It varies in size according
to the circumstances of the hole.
The usual clutch consists of four or five eggs. These vary in
shape from elongated to rather broad ovals and have little or no
gloss. The ground is white and they are moderately thickly speckled
or spotted all over. Some of the spots are large and blotchy, and
in some eggs the markings tend to collect at one end.
The eggs measure about 0-70 by 0-52 inches.
THE CRESTED BLACK TIT
LOPHOPHANES MELANOLOPHUS (Vigors)
Description. — Length 4 inches. Sexes alike. The whole head
including a long pointed crest, neck and breast black, except for a
large white patch on the sides of the face and another on the nape ;
upper plumage iron-grey, the exposed parts of the wings and tail
paler ; two lines of rufous spots across the wing, and the inner
flight-feathers slightly tipped with white ; lower plumage from the
breast downwards iron-grey ; patches on the flanks and under the
wings and tail chestnut.
Iris brown ; bill black ; legs dark bluish-grey.
Field Identification. — Purely West Himalayan form, common at
all hill stations. A small dark Tit with an erect-pointed crest and
conspicuous white patches on nape and sides of the face. Usually
found in flocks and in hunting parties in forest. The two lines of
rufous spots across the wing provide the readiest means of separation
from another larger and darker species (Lophophanes rufonuchalis)
which is locally common throughout the whole length of the Himalayas.
Distribution. — The Crested Black Tit is found from the Sufed Koh
and Chitral along the Himalayas to Garhwal and Naini Tal. It breeds
in a somewhat high zone between 6000 and 12,000 feet but in winter
descends also down to about 4000 feet, and even occasionally lower,
for both the above species L. melanolophus and L. rufonuchalis were
THE CRESTED BLACK TIT 25
'found common at Rawal Pindi in January 1907. It is very common
about Gulmurg, the Galis, Dharmsala, Kulu, and Simla.
Habits, etc. — This Tit is most markedly a forest bird and every
variety of evergreen tree growth is frequented by it. It is always
busy in the search for food, preferably high in some moss-grown oak
or lordly pine, and the soft chee-chee note which forms a running
accompaniment to all its activities will be heard long before its tiny
owner is seen in the branches above one's head. Occasionally it feeds
alone, but more usually two or three join together in a free-and-easy
bond of companionship, while in winter these parties in turn join
together in regular flocks numbering often as many as fifty birds.
These flocks are frequently accompanied
by Gold-crests, and in the area where this
Tit occurs it is a leading spirit in all the
mixed hunting parties.
It is as active and acrobatic in its move-
ments as the Red-headed Tit, and both of
these birds easily surpass the heavier Grey
and Green-backed Tits in this respect. The
Crested Black Tit is seldom seen at rest,
but when the first stirrings of the spring
turn his thoughts towards a mate, he occa-
sionally ceases from the hunt for food and
betaking himself to some lofty twig he
perches there and proclaims his ardour to FlG 7_j-jea(i Of Crested
the world with a loud clear call, want you, Black Tit (\\ nat. size)
need you, want you, need you, a sentiment
that frequently finds an echo in the human heart below. There are
a variety of other cheerful call-notes ; a favourite song-call is chak-
cha-bink or kink-ka-jou and also a loud plaintive tyu-tyu slowly re-
peated. The song is a whirring, reeling trill of the grasshopper type.
The food consists chiefly of insects .
The breeding season commences in March and the majority of eggs
are laid early in April. Nests, however, may be found until June,
and it is probable that there are sometimes two broods in the season.
The nest is invariably built in a hole, either of a tree, rock, or
wall, whether close to the ground or 30 feet up. In the hole a
substantial foundation of moss obtained from adjacent tree-trunks
is first collected so as to close in the cavity to a suitable size ; on
this is built the nest proper which consists of a mass, large and
shapeless or small and closely felted, of wool and fur, occasionally
mingled with a little vegetable down and moss.
The number of eggs is very variable from four to ten, but the
usual clutch consists of six to eight eggs.
The eggs are moderately broad ovals though somewhat longer in
26 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
proportion than those of most Tits ; the ground-colour is white with
a faint gloss, blotched, spotted, and speckled with bright brownish-
red, the markings often tending to form a dense confluent cap or
zone about the larger end of the egg.
They measure about 0-61 by 0-47 inches.
THE RED-HEADED TIT
/EGITHALISCUS CONCINNUS (Gould)
(Plate ii, Fig. 4, opposite page 22)
Description. — Length including tail 4 inches. Sexes alike. Whole
top of the head chestnut ; sides of the head and a large round patch
on the throat deep black ; a broad eyebrow, a broad moustachial
streak, and the chin white ; remainder of lower plumage ferruginous.
Upper plumage and wings and tail bluish-grey, the concealed portions
of the quill-feathers dark brown, and the outer tail-feathers tipped
with white. The tail is long and graduated.
Iris pale yellow ; bill black, gape fleshy ; legs buffy-yellow.
Field Identification. — A diminutive Himalayan species invariably
found in flocks in trees and bushes except when breeding ; very
small, with a longish tail and most conspicuous head markings of bright
chestnut, black and white ; no abdominal band. The flocks utter
a low, harsh churring note.
Distribution. — The Red-headed Tit extends from Chitral and at
xCherat all through the Himalayas across the various ranges of Assam
and Northern Burma into China. There are several races in the
eastern portion of its range, but in India we are only concerned with
two. JE. c. iredalei is found from Chitral eastwards to Sikkim, where it
is replaced by the smaller and more deeply-coloured JE. c. rubricapittus.
The former breeds at elevations between 5000 and 8,000 feet, occurring
in smaller numbers up to 12,000 feet and as low as 3000 feet in winter ;
the latter, however, does not go much above 7000 feet. A resident
species.
The Sultan-Tit (Melanochlora sultanea) is found in small parties
in trees at low elevations in the Eastern Himalayas, Assam and Burma.
It is larger than the true Tits, heavy in build and glossy blackish save
for a bright yellow abdomen and crown with a loose crest.
Habits, etc. — This Tit is purely a hill species, and in the main
occupies a middle zone intermediate between the foot-hills and the
higher ranges. It is more strictly sedentary than most of the other
members of the family, only an occasional party descending in winter
a thousand feet or so lower than the normal zone. It never visits
THE RED-HEADED TIT 27
the ground, but is equally at home in the branches of high trees in
thick forest or amongst the indigo and berberis bushes of open grass-
clad hill-sides.
The leading characteristic of this species is its fussy sociability.
Throughout the year it is found in small flocks, and though while
actually breeding individual pairs leave the company of their fellows,
flocks may be met with throughout the breeding season, consisting
either of late breeders who have not yet settled their domestic
arrangements, or early family parties of young birds strong on the
wing. As they feed they utter incessantly a soft gentle tcheck or a
harsh trree, both notes alternating. And even their own society is
not sufficient for these sociable little birds ; the parties attach them-
selves to the mixed bands of Creepers, Willow- Wrens, Flycatchers,
and other species of Tit which wander through the hill forests,
suddenly filling with busy activity a glen or group of trees that a
moment before was empty of bird-life. In these hunting parties
the Red-headed Tit takes a leading and conspicuous share ; it
is very active and very fussy, and at the least excitement its harsh
churring note of defiance and of warning is uttered and taken up by a
dozen throats ; while its acrobatic feats surpass those of all the other
species, except perhaps the Crested Black Tit. It investigates every
leaf and twig, now circling adroitly round its perch, now hanging
upside down — any angle, any position, all are the same — inaction
only is abhorrent to it. The parties are strangely trusting ; one
has only to stand still and the little gymnasts will climb and
chatter in a bush a yard away, feeding with no apparent recognition
of the stranger at their gates ; then a sudden movement on his part
or a note of warning from a bird and the flock will vanish as quickly
as it came, like a little flight of arrows sped in relays by a fairy archer
through the bushes. They seldom venture into the open, and then
only for short flights between two clumps of trees. The flight is
weak and practically never sustained for more than a few yards at
a time, though when disturbed from the nest this bird can fly down-
hill as fast as any Warbler for a short distance. The food consists
almost entirely of insects in their various stages, but small seeds and
fruits are also probably eaten.
The breeding season commences about the beginning of March
and continues throughout April and May. The nest is placed in a
variety of situations ranging from a tangle of matted grass near the
ground to the bough of a deodar 40 feet up. But the majority will
be found in stunted hill-oaks and bushes within easy reach, though
seldom conspicuous. The nests are most beautiful structures, very
closely resembling and recalling the familiar " bottle " nests of the
Long-tailed Tit in England. They are large, upright, egg-shaped
structures of moss and lichen, studded and bound together with
28 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
cotton-down, cobwebs and similar substances, some 4^ inches in
height and 3^ inches in diameter, with a small entrance high on
one side. The walls are thick and closely woven, and there is a
dense lining of feathers mixed sometimes with seed- down, the whole
forming as cosy a home as it is possible to imagine.
The eggs vary in number from three to eight, but the usual clutch
consists of five or six.
The tiny eggs are broad ovals, sometimes almost globular, and
sometimes somewhat pointed at one end. In colour they are pinkish
or creamy white, almost without gloss, and round the broad end
there is a conspicuous zone of minute reddish and purple spots almost
confluent and clouding into one another.
They measure about 0-56 by 0-45 inches.
THE CHESTNUT-BELLIED NUTHATCH
SlTTA CASTANEA LeSSOn
Description. — Length 5 inches. Male : Upper plumage slaty-blue,
lower plumage uniform dark chestnut-bay, except for the following
markings : a black streak through the eye from the nostril to the
shoulder ; a white patch from the chin below the eye to the ear-
coverts ; middle tail-feathers ashy-blue, the next two black, with
ashy-blue tips and edges, the remainder black with white markings ;
under tail-coverts mixed chestnut and ashy ; under surface of the
wings black with a white patch only visible from below.
Female : Under parts paler chestnut, and the white face markings
less clearly defined.
Iris dark brown ; bill black, slaty-grey at base ; legs dark greenish-
plumbeous.
The hind toe is greatly developed and the inner front toe dwarfed.
The beak is long, stout and pointed.
Field Identification. — A small bird, slaty-blue above, chestnut-bay
below, with a heavy pointed beak. Purely arboreal, running like a
mouse about the bark and twigs of trees, frequently upside-down.
Most Nuthatches appear very similar in the field. Of common
species the Himalayan (Sitta himalayensis) and Kashmir (Sitta
cashmirensis) Nuthatches are much paler, more fulvous below, the
former differing from all Indian species in a white patch on the
central tail-feathers. A more conspicuous species the White-cheeked
Nuthatch (Sitta leucopsis) is found in the higher tree zone of the
Sufed Koh and Western Himalayas. This is dark blue above with
a black crown and creamy-white below with rich chestnut on the
THE CHESTNUT-BELLIED NUTHATCH 29
flanks and has a very harsh loud note rapidly repeated. Its habitat
in rocky nullahs amply identifies the large Rock-Nuthatch (S. iranica)
of Baluchistan, remarkable for its globular mud nest on a rock.
Distribution. — The Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch has a somewhat
wide distribution throughout India, Assam, and Burma to Siam.
It is divided into races, of which we are concerned with four.
Except for the Vizagapatam Hills where S. c. prateri is found, the
typical race inhabits the plains of India from Ferozepore, Ambala,
and Khandesh on the west to Calcutta on the east. It is also found
in the Wynaad and about the base of the Nilgiris. An east (S. c.
cinnamoventris) and a West Himalayan race (S. c. almorce) have
FIG. 8 — Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch (£ nat. size)
heavier bills and differ in slight details of coloration. A resident
species.
Habits, etc. — The habits of this species are typical of all the
Nuthatches. They share with Woodpeckers and Tree - Creepers
the ability to climb about the trunks and branches of trees in
order to search the crevices of the bark for the insects and larvae
that live there — secure from the attentions of most insect-feeding
birds ; but the Nuthatches are by far the most skilful climbers of
the three classes ; they do not need the support of their taik against
the bark, and they are infinitely more agile and lively in consequence,
able to climb in any direction — upwards, downwards, upside-down or
sideways, and they are also able to perch on twigs in the normal
passerine manner. They are very restless and hard-working. This
species is purely arboreal and is found singly or in parties, often
in company with mixed hunting parties, and keeps largely to the
tops of the highest or oldest trees ; it is more often heard than
30 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
seen, as in addition to its sharp note the sound of hammering on
bark and on seeds and nuts, as it breaks into their kernels, betrays
its whereabouts.
The main breeding season of the Himalayan races is in April and
May, and of the typical race in February and March. All races
nest in holes and hollows of trees, and the hill birds also use holes
in walls. A Nuthatch's nest may always be recognised by the habit
of plastering the entrance and sides of the hole with mud and clay
to adapt it to the needs of the bird, such plaster- work sometimes
being of considerable extent. In holes of trees the nest is usually
scanty, consisting largely of flaky material like slips of bark or the
seed-cases of trees, but in the case of nests built in holes in walls the
nest is a much more substantial affair including a moss foundation
and a lining of fur. The nest site is often close to the ground, and
even when robbed is frequently repaired and used again immediately.
The clutch varies from two to six eggs. The eggs greatly resemble
those of Tits ; they are regular broad ovals, fragile and fine in texture
with very little gloss. The ground-colour is pure white and the mark-
ings consist of small spots and speckles of brick-red and reddish-lilac.
In size they average about 0-70 by 0-55 inches.
The word Nuthatch is believed to be a corruption of an older
name Nuthack.
THE VELVET-FRONTED NUTHATCH
SITTA FRONTALIS (Swainson)
(Frontispiece, fig. 4)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Male : A broad band across the
forehead and a narrow streak above the eye to the nape velvet-black ;
the whole upper plumage and wing-coverts blue ; wing black, the
individual feathers more or less edged with blue ; middle tail-feathers
blue, the others blackish edged and tipped with blue ; ear-coverts
lilac ; chin and throat whitish shading into the greyish-lilac of the
rest of the under parts.
The female is similar to the male but lacks the narrow black
eye-streak.
Iris lemon-yellow ; bill coral-red, tipped above with brownish ;
mouth coral-red ; legs brown with an orange tinge.
The hind toe is greatly developed and the bill narrow and pointed.
The body has the same smell as a Woodpecker.
Field Identification. — Outer Himalayas and Peninsular India. A
small bird blue above and greyish-lilac below with a heavy velvet-
black band across the forehead and a coral-red bill. Arboreal in
THE VELVET-FRONTED NUTHATCH 31
habits, running like a mouse about the trunks and branches of trees
in hill forest areas.
Distribution. — The Velvet-fronted Nuthatch has two races in our
area. The typical race is found in Ceylon and in the Indian Peninsula
south of a line from Khandesh, the Central Provinces and Chota
Nagpur, being largely confined to the forests of the Eastern and
Western Ghats. It is particularly common in the Nilgiris. A slightly
smaller race S. f. corallina is found along the submontane valleys
of the Himalayas up to about 3800 feet from Dehra Dun eastwards,
in the hills and plains of Assam up to about 4000 feet and throughout
the whole of Burma up to about 5500 feet. This species is also found
through the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo to Java. A strictly
resident species.
Habits. — The habits of this species are similar to those of other
Nuthatches and like them it is often found in the mixed hunting
parties. The Velvet-fronted Nuthatch is one of the most active birds
imaginable, for ever on the move, nimbly running up and down and
round the trunks of trees, climbing the moss-covered branches,
descending head-foremost and running upside down along the lower
surface of a bough. It does not, as a rule, remain long in one tree
but darts quickly on from one to another, followed by its companions
— for they are usually found in pairs or parties of four or five individuals
— and alights with a trilling little note which although comparatively
weak is audible at a considerable distance. This note which is variously
described as a sharp chick chick chick, rapidly repeated, or a loud
cheeping whistle is constantly uttered and is one of the latest diurnal
bird-calls to be heard in the forest, frequently well after dusk. The
male also utters a short little warble.
This Nuthatch may be found on occasion in most types of forest
but is essentially a bird of the evergreen forest, though it has a decided
preference for the edges of clearings and light patches. Dead trees
are a favourite hunting ground. It may often be seen running along
fallen logs or over small dead wood lying on the ground and sometimes
it even forages in brushwood. Usually, however, it will be seen in
trees and no tree is too high for it, so that the ear will often announce
its presence in the head of some lofty giant where the eye has difficulty
in picking up its tiny shape.
The food consists exclusively of insects.
The main breeding season gf the Himalayan race is in May and
June, but in South India and Ceylon the season is from the middle
of February until May. The nest is built in a hole in a tree at any
height from the ground up to about 40 feet but most nests will be
found below 20 feet. The hole chosen is usually a small natural
one, but the deserted nest-holes of Woodpeckers and Barbets are also
used ; and where necessary the entrance hole is modified with plaster-
32 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
work after the manner of other Nuthatches. The nest is a substantial
pad of moss, green or dry, which is lined with fur and includes a
good many feathers, both amongst the moss and in the lining.
The clutch consists of three to five eggs, which are very similar
to those of the Tits. They are broad ovals, rather compressed towards
the small end, fine and compact in texture but devoid of gloss. The
ground-colour is white and the markings consist of blotches, speckles
and spots of brick-dust red and somewhat pale purple, sometimes
gathered in a sort of irregular zone round the broad end.
The egg measures about 0*65 by 0*50 inches.
THE WHITE-THROATED LAUGHING-THRUSH
GARRULAX ALBOGULARIS (Gould)
(Plate v, Fig. i, opposite page 88)
Description. — Length 12 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
greyish olive-brown, the forehead fulvous, and a black mark in front
of and below the eye ; throat and upper breast pure white, sharply
defined and bordered broadly with the colour of the upper parts
which gradually shades off into the bright rufous of the rest of the
lower plumage ; four outer pairs of tail-feathers broadly tipped with
white.
The tail is rounded and full.
Iris bluish-grey ; bill horny-black ; mouth yellow ; legs slaty-
plumbeous.
Field Identification. — Himalayan form. Medium-sized olive-grey
bird with rufous belly, and conspicuous shining white throat patch.
Found in noisy parties in heavy jungle ; presence first revealed by a
curious hissing note.
Distribution. — Throughout the Himalayas from Hazara to Sikkim,
and in South-west China. The Himalayan birds are divided into
two races. G. a. whistleri is the better known form and extends from
the Hazara country to about Eastern Nepal, being particularly common
at Mussoorie and is very numerous round Naini Tal but rather less so
about Simla. The typical form is more brightly coloured with more
rufous in the plumage and is slightly smaller. It is found in Nepal and
Sikkim and in North Cachar. Both forms are birds of middle
elevations, occurring from about 5000 to 9000 feet. A resident
species.
The closely related White-crested Laughing-Thrush (Garrulax
leucolophus) common along the Himalayas from Garhwal eastwards
is easily recognised by its white-crested head and black band through
THE WHITE-THROATED LAUGHING-THRUSH 33
the eye. In the Eastern Himalayas the Black-gorgetted Laughing-
Thrush (Garrulax pectoralis), an olive-brown and fulvous bird with a
marked black gorget band, is remarkable in having a smaller counter-
part the Necklaced Laughing-Thrush (Garrulax moniliger). Both are
common in the same localities, often joining in a mixed flock. The
only member of this genus found in Southern India is the Wynaad
Laughing-Thrush (Garrulax delesserti\ which is peculiar to the hill
ranges from North Kanara to Travancore.
Habits, etc. — This large Laughing-Thrush is a very sedentary
species and does not move much from its chosen haunts, which
consist of heavy forest in the deeper and more secluded ravines.
In such places it lives in large parties which do not entirely break
up even in the breeding season. They feed a good deal on the
ground, turning up the dead leaves in search of insects, but they are
perhaps more often seen up in the trees, searching the crevices of
the bark and tearing off the lumps of moss which grow on most of
the oKler trees in the areas that they frequent.
While thus feeding they keep' up a low murmuring note, teh.
tehy irresistibly reminiscent of a flock of Tits, though of course
louder. At the least provocation this is changed into a discordant
concert of noisy screaming, hissing and chattering, some of their
calls being of a peculiarly eerie timbre and suited to the gloomy
surroundings in which they are uttered. In fact there is something
peculiarly ghostly about these birds, as a flock of them move about
in the shady recesses of the forest, their white gorgets shining
conspicuously as erratically moving spots of light and their weird
voices breaking in upon the silence. Though not particularly shy
they soon vanish if disturbed, slipping away one by one up the trees
from branch to branch, and so on up the hill-side with some rapidity.
The breeding season lasts from the beginning of April to the
end of June, some birds nesting until August. The nest is a large
wide cup, not as a rule very deep, and is made of coarse grass,
creepers, dead leaves, moss, and roots, with usually a lining of fern
and moss roots. It is built in a bush or small tree, usually about 3
to 10 feet from the ground, and the usual situation is at the end of
a bough or between two or three upright shoots on low, horizontal
branches.
The clutch varies from two to four eggs, but the normal number
is three.
The eggs are long and fairly pointed ovals with a high gloss
They vary from a deep dull blue to a deep intense greenish-blue,
and are darker than the eggs of all other Babblers and Laughing-
Thrushes. They are without markings.
In size they average about 1-22 by 0-83 inches.
34 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE RED-HEADED LAUGHING-THRUSH
TROCHALOPTERON ERYTHROCEPHALUM (Vigors)
Description. — Length n inches. Sexes alike. Upper surface of
head chestnut ; sides of head and throat black, mixed below and
behind the eye with chestnut ; lower plumage pale fulvous, lightly
scaled with black on the throat and breast ; upper plumage olive-
brown scaled with black about the shoulders ; rump slaty-grey ; wings
and tail ashy, the feathers brightly edged with golden olive-yellow ;
a bright ferruginous bar across the wing and behind it a patch of
golden-red.
Iris pale brown ; bill black ; legs pale brown.
The tail is rather long and full.
Field Identification. — Himalayan form. The chestnut crown,
spotted neck and gilded wings and tail are not conspicuous in the
forest where the bird appears nondescript in colour ,with a ver/ dark
head and neck. Very shy, found in thick undergrowth in parties
which utter a peculiar murmuring note.
Mention may here be made of the Rufous-necked Laughing-
Thrush (Dryonastes ruficollis), common along the base of the Eastern
Himalayas, a dusky-looking bird with chestnut patches on the sides
of the neck and under the tail. The Rufous-chinned Laughing-
Thrush (lanthocincla rufogularis), found in the lower Himalayan
ranges, is rich olive-brown and grey squamated with black.
Distribution. — This fine Laughing-Thrush is widely distributed
along the Himalayas and in the various mountain ranges which
extend from them down to the south of Tenasserim. It is divided
into a number of geographical races, which in several cases are very
distinct. Two of these concern us. The typical race is common
in the Western Himalayas from Chamba on the west into Nepal.
It breeds from about 6000 tc 9000 feet, and in winter works down-
hill to about 4000 feet. Eastwards of Nepal to the Daphla and
Miri Hills in Assam it is replaced by T. e. nigrimentum, in which
the ear-coverts are black with pinkish-white edges ; this race is
found at similar elevations to the other. Apart from altitudinal
movements both birds are residents.
Habits, etc. — The Red - headed Laughing - Thrush is a very
common bird in well-forested areas where there is plenty of under-
growth. It is, however, very shy and secretive and is therefore
little known to the majority of people, though once its various
notes have been learnt evidence of its abundance is surprising.
In the breeding season a loud, clear, double whistle, pheeou-pheeou,
a familiar sound in all the thicker forests, is its ordinary call. This
is easily imitated and the bird readily called up. This ceases in
THE RED-HEADED LAUGHING-THRUSH 35
winter, but the presence of a party in the undergrowth is revealed
as one passes along a path by a soft murmur, curious but
distinctly pleasant. If a nest is examined the pair that own
it work backwards and forwards in the bushes a few yards away
but always evading observation, and as they fuss and flirt their long
tails, bowing, bobbing, jerking from side to side, now on one bough,
now on another, they keep up an incessant squeaky murmuring,
chicky-cree-cree-cree-cree, or a harsh, low chatter, queer-que^ queer-quee,
very difficult to describe. Rarely the birds come out into the open,
but when they do so it is only to flutter and skim back into the nearest
cover at the slightest excuse.
The nesting season is extended from May to August. The
breeding zone is that of the Oaks, Q. dilatata and Q. semicarpifolia,
or say between 8000 and 9000 feet. The nest is a large massive cup
composed largely of dead leaves bound round with grass and bents,
fine twigs and long strips of fibrous bark till a very solid wall has
been made ; moss and maidenhair enter also in the construction and
the egg cavity is lined with fine grass and fine roots.
The clutch usually consists of three eggs. These are very long
ovals, fine and compact in texture with a slight gloss. The ground-
colour is delicate, pale greenish-blue, with a few spots, streaks, and
blotches of brownish-red, mostly towards the broad end.
The eggs measure about 1-2 by 0-82 inches.
THE VARIEGATED LAUGHING-THRUSH
TROCHALOPTERON VARIEGATUM (Vigors)
(Plate hi, Fig. i, opposite page 44)
Description. — Length n inches. Sexes alike. Forehead at base
of beak fulvous shading into the ashy olive-brown of the whole upper
plumage ; sides of the face black, broken with a certain amount of
white behind the eye ; chin and throat fulvous with a black mark
down the centre ; lower plumage similar to the upper but paler and
gradually changing into bright tawny-buff posteriorly. Wings brightly
variegated with black, white and grey, and bright golden-yellow or red.
Tail rather long and full ; the middle four pairs of tail-feathers
black for three-quarters of their length, then ashy-grey or ashy-yellow
and tipped with white ; the other feathers ashy on the inner webs,
golden or reddish yellow on the outer and tipped with white.
Iris sage green ; bill black ; legs pale fleshy-brown, claws dusky.
Field Identification. — Himalayan form, found in forest areas ; a
dull-coloured bird, chiefly conspicuous for black and white markings
on the face. Shy and elusive, but rather noisy ; generally in parties.
36 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Distribution. — The Variegated Laughing-Thrush is found on the
Samana and in the Himalayas from Chitral and Gilgit to Nepal. It
is divided into two races. The meeting ground of these two races is
about Chamba and Dharmsala. The Eastern and typical race, common
in the Simla Hills, breeds mainly at higher elevations than the Red-
headed Laughing-Thrush. The silver fir, birch and rhododendron
forests at from 9000 to 11,000 feet constitute the breeding area, but
the two species sometimes overlap in the breeding season in the zone
of the high level oak. In this race the outer webs of the wing and tail-
feathers are very variable in colour, ranging from bright golden-yellow
to crimson. In the Western form, T. v. simile, which is very common
in the Galis and about Murree, these outer webs are pure french-
grey and do not vary. This is a forest-loving bird, of high elevations,
breeding in a zone between 6000 and 11,000 feet ; it is not a migrant,
but in winter the majority move somewhat downhill and may then
be found at any height from 4000 feet upwards.
Habits, etc. — Steep hill-sides covered with dense undergrowth
are the haunts of this bird, and preferably those slopes where the
undergrowth is further shaded and rendered secluded by the presence
of large trees. In such situations the Variegated Laughing-Thrush
is found in small parties or even in flocks numbering about twenty
individuals, whose presence is betrayed by their noisy behaviour.
The call-note of the species is a loud clear whistle pitt-zve-weer,
frequently repeated and ascending in scale, but in addition to this
it has a variety of squeaky notes in a chattering slightly querulous
tone ; a curious sort of drumming note is also occasionally uttered.
The ordinary demeanour of the bird is fairly bold, but as soon as
it has reason to suspect the presence of danger it becomes very shy
and active, skulking in the thickest of the undergrowth, or hopping
rapidly and silently up the branches of some tree, from the top of
which it plunges into further cover. It appears to visit the ground
but seldom, though often in the undergrowth close to it. In Lahul,
where cover is scarce, the Western form simile which occurs there
is found in the willow groves taking shelter in the thick-pollarded
heads of the trees. The food consists both of fruits and berries and
of insects.
The breeding season lasts from April to July, most eggs being
laid in May and June. The nest is a large, massive and rather deep
cup composed of coarse grass, dry stems and fibres, mixed with a
few dry leaves ; it is lined with fine grass, roots, or pine-needles. It
is placed in bush undergrowth or more usually up in some tree,
preferably a fir, often at a considerable height from the ground.
Both sexes incubate the eggs.
The clutch consists normally of two or three eggs but rarely four
or five are laid ; in shape they are rather long ovals, with a fine texture
THE NILGIRI LAUGHING-THRUSH 37
and slight gloss. The ground-colour is a pale rather dingy greenish-
blue, and the markings consist of blotches, spots, and freckles of
liver-red and various shades of brown and purple ; the markings
are generally collected towards the larger end.
They measure about i-n by 0-78 inches.
THE NILGIRI LAUGHING-THRUSH
TROCHALOPTERON CACHINNANS (Jerdon)
(Plate iv, Fig. 4, opposite page 66)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Sexes alike. A broad white line
over the eye, bordered above by a narrow black line and below by a
black line through the eye ; forehead and chin also black ; whole
upper plumage, wings, and tail olive-brown, the crown narrowly
scaled with black, and the back of the head suffused with ashy;
whole under surface bright rufous, duller on the flanks and
posteriorly.
Iris red ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — Only in Nilgiris ; a dull-coloured bird, olive-
brown above, rufous below, with black and white markings on the
face ; noisy and shy, in parties in heavy undergrowth.
Distribution. — Confined to the Nilgiris at elevations over 4500 feet.
A resident species. A very similar species (Trochalopteron jerdoni) is
represented by three hill races which are common respectively in the
Brahmagherries (T. j. jerdoni), North Travancore (T. j. fairbanki) and
South Travancore (T.j. meridionale).
Habits, etc. — This Laughing-Thrush is extremely common in the
Nilgiris at all the higher elevations, as for instance at Coonoor and
Kotagherry. It is found, like most of the genus, in parties which live
in dense undergrowth and spend a large portion of their time on the
ground searching for insects and fallen berries. It is particularly
partial to the berries of the Brazil or Peruvian cherry, which has
been introduced in the Nilgiris in recent times. This bird merits
more than most of the family the title of Laughing-Thrush ; there
is something peculiarly human about the tones of its voice, and its
call is certainly a laugh — a most " maniacal laugh " according to
Hume. In demeanour the bird is very shy and evades observation.
The breeding season lasts from February to June.
The nest is a deep cup composed of fine twigs, moss, grass, dead
leaves, and similar substances, and it is lined with moss roots, fibres,
fine grass, wool, and fur. It is placed in the fork of a bush or tree
at any height from the ground up to about 12 feet.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. They are moderately
broad ovals, somewhat pointed towards the small end, and of fine
C2
38 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
texture with a slight gloss. The ground-colour is a delicate pale blue
which is speckled and blotched, rather sparingly, with reddish- or
pinkish-brown, a few eggs having also blackish-brown spots and hair-
lines, often rather cloudy at the edges.
The egg measures about i-o by 0-75 inches.
THE STREAKED LAUGHING-THRUSH
TROCHALOPTERON LINEATUM (Vigors)
(Plate iii, Fig. 5, opposite page 44)
Description. — Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. Hoary-grey, more
or less streaked throughout with reddish-brown, the shafts of the
feathers being particularly conspicuous ; ear-coverts, wings and tail
bright reddish-brown, the tail with obsolete rayed markings, and each
feather tipped with greyish-white, defined interiorly by a black
line.
Iris brown ; bill dusky, base of lower mandible steely-horn ; feet
fleshy-brown, claws livid-horny.
Field Identification. — Familiar garden bird in the Himalayas ; a
smallish bird with a broad floppy tail ; grey and chestnut in colour,
with pale streaking, appearing dark brown at any distance ; skulks like
a rat amongst low bush growth ; movements jerky ; utters a variety
of squeaky notes. It must not be confused with the Striated Laughing-
Thrush (Grammoptila striata), a bird of very similar appearance but
larger and more arboreal, found throughout the Himalayas from Simla
eastwards.
Distribution. — The Streaked Laughing-Thrush is found from the
mountains of North Baluchistan to Chitral and Gilgit and thence
along the whole of the Himalayas to Bhutan. Within this range it
has been divided into five geographical races. Starting from the
west, the Baluchistan bird, common at Ziarat, is known as T. L
ziaratensis. In Gilgit, Chitral and Northern Kashmir the race is
termed T. L gilgit, and this in turn gives place in Southern Kashmir
to the typical race T. I. lineatum, which extends through the Punjab
Himalayas to Garhwal and Kumaon. The Nepal and Sikkim birds
are known as T. L setafer, while the Bhutan bird has been separated
as T. 1. imbricatum. These races merely differ amongst themselves
in degree of coloration both of the feathers and of their shafts. A
resident species.
Habits, etc. — This familiar bird breeds throughout the hill ranges
that it inhabits between about 5000 and 10,000 feet, occasionally
ascending even a little higher. While not a migrant in any sense of
THE STREAKED LAUGHING-THRUSH 39
the word, it tends to drift downhill during the winter months and then
may be met with down to about 3000 feet and sometimes lower, as
at Kohat. It may be described as a bird of the undergrowth, and
provided that it has tangles of rank grass, thick bushes, or rocks
combined with herbage in which to thread its secretive way, it is
indifferent whether these are situated on open hill-sides or in the
midst of heavy forest.
About the hill stations of the Western Himalayas, from the
Galis and Kashmir across to Naini Tal and Almora, it is one of
the most familiar of the station birds, living in the gardens and
attracting attention by its chattering antics, and along the forest
roads coming to notice by shuffling across the roads and up the
bank sides in front of passers-by ; in Lahul it even intrudes into
the courtyards of houses. Further east it is much scarcer, and on
its status there would not merit inclusion in this work.
This dull-coloured Laughing-Thrush lives both in pairs and in
small parties of four or five individuals. The greater part of its life
is lived within a height of 5 or 6 feet from the ground and it is
practically never away from thick cover. It shuffles freely about on
the ground after the manner of a large Hedge- Sparrow, working
amongst the undergrowth and climbing up into the bushes ;
occasionally it is inspired with ambition and climbs from the bushes
jnto thick and handy trees ; but so ingrained is its parasitic devotion
to Mother Earth that if it desires to proceed from one tree to
another it will not fly across the open, parachuting on open wings to
its foot like other Laughing-Thrushes ; but it hastily drops from the
first tree to the ground and thence works " in rushes, taking cover "
to the base of the second tree and climbs it afresh. A party moving
along or up and down the hill-side has the same tactics ; one by one
the individuals composing it " dribble " from cover to cover, now
hopping rapidly along the ground for a yard or two, then feebly
fluttering for another stretch. An extended flight must be virtually
unknown to the bird. Yet with all these skulking ways and excess
of caution it is in no sense shy until molested, and one may pass
along a hill-path a yard or two away from an individual sitting on
the hill-side and it will not bother to leave. In a bush it dips and
bows, turning this way and that and incessantly flirting the heavy
tail, as it utters a series of harsh squeaky notes chit-chit-chitrr, chit-chit-
chitrr, chicker-chicker or witti-kitti-cree, or a soft murmuring churring
note crrer-r.
The call-note is a loud, clear whistle pitt-wee-are or titty-titty-we-
are much like that of other Laughing-Thrushes. This miscellaneous
assortment of chattering squeaks together with the rustling of leaves
usually indicate the presence of a party in cover where they are quite
invisible ; and these are amongst the most familiar bird sounds of
40 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
the Western hill stations. The food is the usual mixture of insects,
seeds, and small fruits common to most of the family.
The breeding season is very extended, and the bird is probably
double-brooded. Eggs have been taken in every month from March
to September, but most nests will be found in May and June. On
the nest the bird sits very close, almost allowing itself to be caught.
The nest is a large, solid structure of dry grass, stems of
herbaceous plants, fibrous shreds of bark, dead leaves, and similar
materials. It is nearly circular, with a deep cup-like cavity jn the
centre, and this is neatly lined with fine grass roots, pine-needles or
fine grass. It is always well concealed, and is placed in a thick
branch of a tree, preferably perhaps a deodar, in a thick bush, or
in heavy herbage on a steep bank ; but it is very seldom higher than
5 or 6 feet from the ground and usually lower than that. On one
occasion in Simla I found a nest owing to the strange choice of the
birds in lining material. There was a coir doormat at the dining-
/oom door leading into the verandah ; and as we sat at lunch the
birds kept coming and tearing fibres out of the mat in spite of the
fact that the servants waiting on us were continuously passing
backwards and forwards through the door.
Two to four eggs are laid, but the normal clutch consists of three
eggs.
The eggs are regular and moderately broad ovals,' with a slight
gloss and a very smooth satiny texture. In colour they are a perfectly
spotless, delicate, pale greenish-blue, of the tint usually known as
" Hedge-Sparrow blue."
In size they average about i-oo by 0-73 inches.
The nests of this species are often selected for the eggs of the
Indian Cuckoo (Cuculus micropterus) and occasionally the Pied Crested
Cuckoo ( Clamator jacobinus) .
THE JUNGLE BABBLER
TURDOIDES SOMERVILLEI (Sykes)
(Plate x, Fig. 5, opposite page 198)
Descriptwn.—Length 10 inches. Sexes alike. The whole upper
plumage dull earth-brown marked with paler and darker tints of
the same ; tail broad and full, slightly tipped with white and faintly
cross-rayed ; lower plumage paler, mixed fulvous and ashy.
Iris pale yellowish white ; bill flesh-coloured, gape yellowish ;
feet fleshy-white or yellowish-white.
Field Identification. — Found in noisy squeaking parties, usually
on or close to the ground ; a moderate-sized dirty-looking brown
THE JUNGLE BABBLER 41
bird with a pale yellowish eye and a broad longish tail ; all plumage
very loose and untidy. One of the best -known birds of India.
Distribution. — The Jungle Babbler is found throughout the whole
of the Peninsula of India from the Salt Range and Kohat in the
north-west along the foot of the Himalayas to about the valley of
the Brahmaputra in the north-east. It is divided into five races.
T. s. sindianus is a particularly pale race found in the Punjab and
Sind down to Mount Aboo. T. s. terricolor is found throughout
north and east India within a line drawn roughly through Meerut,
Agra, Saugor, and Hyderabad to the Godavari delta. The typical
race with a rufous tail is confined to a strip of the western coast
from Bombay and Matheran to Kanara, below that grading into the
dark T. s. malabaricus of Cochin and Travancore. A paler and
greyer race, T. s. ortentalis, occupies the rest of Southern India. A
strictly resident species.
Habits, etc. — In the Jungle Babbler we have one of the few
Indian birds which possesses a recognised popular name in both
English and Hindustani, in both cases due to the social habits of
the species. The vernacular name is " Sathbhai," the Seven Brethren,
while in English for some reason (possibly their loquacity), the birds
change their gender and become the " Seven Sisters." It is often
wrongly assumed in consequence that the parties always consist of
seven birds ; but " sath " is only a reflection of the phrase " panch
sath " (5 or 7), an approximate phrase like " half a dozen."
This bird is found throughout the plains and the hill ranges up
to about 4000 feet in the north and higher in the south, but it is
usually scarce both in thick forest and in wet marshy country. In
the more desert portions of Sind and Rajputana it does not occur.
With these exceptions it is found in all types of country, and
apparently having a decided preference for the neighbourhood of
man it is a common bird in gardens both in towns and out in the
mofussil.
As indicated above, the Jungle Babbler is an eminently gregarious
species, even to the extent that the parties in which it goes about do
not break up in the breeding season. A sitting bird has only to be
disturbed from its nest and the outcry that it invariably makes at
once brings to the spot the other members of its clan. For in sorrow
and in joy these Babblers are not divided ; nor are they quiet.
Although trees are a necessity for them, for when disturbed they
immediately fly up into the branches, they feed for the most part on
the ground, turning over dead leaves with incessant industry, all the
while moving with a clumsy, hopping gait. As they do so they keep
up a muttered concert of low remarks which at the slightest excite-
ment break into a chorus of noisy, squeaking calls that aptly express
their hysterical temperaments. Yet they are brave birds also, and
42 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
at* once rally to the support of any one of their number that is in
difficulties, attacking his assailant. Although not in this respect
quite as strong as the Large Grey Babbler (Argya malcolmi) they
generally succeed in rescuing any of their party that falls into the
clutches of the smaller hawks, who indeed treat them with respect.
The captured bird grasps the assailant with its big, strong feet, and
the remainder of the party fall on the latter pell-mell in a noisy,
struggling mass till he is glad to let go his promised meal and decamp
with the best grace possible. The flight is clumsy and ill-sustained,
this species having the family habit of flying one by one for short
distances from cover to cover.
The breeding season commences at the end of March and continues
into September. The majority of nests, however, contain fresh eggs
in the first week after the setting-in of the rains, which varies according
to locality and season from ist June to the i5th July.
The nest is built in thick bushes or small trees at almost any
height from the ground, though most will be found 4 to 10 feet up.
Thorn trees are commonly selected, and the nest is usually not
particularly well concealed. It is a fairly deep cup, sometimes small
and compact, but more usually rather loosely put together, of grass
stems and roots. The lining consists of finer roots and occasionally
of horse-hair.
The full clutch consists of three or four eggs.
The eggs are usually rather broad ovals, somewhat compressed
at one end, of fine smooth texture with a high gloss. The colour is
" Hedge-Sparrow blue," varying from a pale shade to a deep intense
colour in different eggs. There are no markings.
The egg measures about i-oi by 0*78 inches.
This bird is a favourite foster-parent for the Pied Crested Cuckoo
(Clamator jacobinus) and the Common Hawk Cuckoo (Hierococcyx
varius), and it is difficult to distinguish between the eggs of host
and parasite, so close is the resemblance.
THE WHITE-HEADED BABBLER
TURDOIDES STRIATUS (Dumont)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Sexes alike. Upper surface of
head and neck dingy greyish-white ; upper plumage ashy-brown,
streaked on the back with brown and white ; wings and terminal
half of the broad full tail dark brown ; ear-coverts brown ; chin,
throat, and breast dark brown, the feathers edged with grey ;
remainder of lower plumage brown, fulvous down the centre of the
abdomen.
THE WHITE-HEADED BABBLER 43
Iris creamy-white ; bill, eye-patch, and legs dead white with a
yellowish tinge.
Field Identification. — Very similar in habits to the Jungle Babbler,
but recognisable by its whitish head and dark brown throat and breast.
Distribution. — This species of Babbler is confined to Ceylon and
Southern India, south of a line drawn through Belgaum, Hyderabad,
and the lower Godavari Valley. The Indian birds are known as
T. s. affiniSy while the typical race from Ceylon differs in having the
head concolorous with the back and the streaks on the back less well
defined. It is a strictly resident species.
Habits, etc. — The White-headed Babbler is a plains species, and
only ascends the various hill ranges up to a height of about 2000 feet.
It is the Common Babbler of Madras, and in habits is very similar
to the Jungle Babbler, going about in noisy, excitable parties that
feed on the ground and fly up into the trees when disturbed. They
hop and climb up the larger branches of the tree to the top, and then
fly off to the next tree singly in extended file, with slow dnd laborious
flight, a few rapid strokes of the short round wings alternating with
gliding on outstretched pinions. The alarm forgotten, one bird drops
again to the ground, followed in succession by the others of the flock,
and once more they are busy turning over the leaves.
The call is a loud sibilant or whispering sort of chatter.
The breeding season is somewhat extended and odd nests may
be found almost any time in the year. The majority of eggs are,
however, laid from March to July. The nest is the usual large,
loosely-constructed cup of the genus, built of roots, fine twigs, and
grass stems, and is built at no great height from the ground in shrubs
and bushes, those of a thorny nature being preferred.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs ; they are fairly regular
ovals, fine and hard in texture and exceedingly glossy. In colour
they are of a deep unmarked greenish-blue.
In size they average about 0-99 by 0-75 inches.
This is a favourite foster-parent for the Pied Crested Cuckoo
(Clamator jacobinus).
THE COMMON BABBLER
ARGYA CAUDATA (Dumeril)
(Plate iii, Fig. 4, opposite page 44)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Sexes alike. Whole upper plumage
pale fulvous-brown, each feather streaked with dark brown ; quills
brown, lighter on the outer webs ; tail long, graduated, and olive-
brown, cross-rayed, and the shafts very dark ; chin and throat fulvous-
white ; lower plumage pale fulvous, albescent on the abdomen, and
the sides of the breast faintly striated.
44 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Iris yellow-brown ; bill light brown, base of lower mandible
yellow ; legs olive-yellow, claws dusky.
Field Identification. — A smallish bird, brown with dark streakings
on the upper surface, and fulvous and whitish below ; tail elongated
and graduated. In flight looks singularly like a miniature hen Pheasant.
Lives in parties in every type of open ground with bushes or grass
clumps ; one of the commonest birds of Northern India.
Distribution. — The Common Babbler extends from Afghanistan,
Baluchistan, and South-east Persia right through India, from the
outer fringe of the Himalayas east to Western Bengal and south
to the Palni Hills and Rameswaram Island. With this wide range
it has been divided into three races. The large and pale form from
Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and South-east Persia is known as A. c.
huttoni ; a dark form with heavy streaking on the upper surface and
brightly rufous under parts named by Hume A. c. eclipes, inhabits
the plateau from Rawal Pindi and the Salt Range to Peshawar ; and
the rest of the range is inhabited by the typical form.
This species does not occur higher than 4000 feet in the Outer
Himalayas and it avoids the higher elevations in all the continental
hill ranges. In Southern India it is less common and very local.
A strictly resident species.
Habits, etc. — This bird avoids swampy ground, where it is
replaced throughout Northern India by a more richly-coloured and
larger species, the Striated Babbler (Argya earlii\ in which the chin
and throat are rufous with dark streaks. It also dislikes heavy
forest and hill areas except those low elevations within easy reach
of their bases. It is essentially a bird of open country, and in
Northern India is one of the most common and familiar of species
found everywhere alike, in cultivation and in gardens, amongst waste
rocky ravines studded with bushes, and in the desolate semi-desert
areas ; ground cover is the only factor that it insists upon, for it is
somewhat of a skulker and prefers the neighbourhood of the ground,
seldom mounting into trees or venturing right out into the open.
It particularly favours those wide open plains where patches of
cultivation shaded with occasional tamarisk and kikur trees alternate
with stretches of waste ground on which clumps of sarpat grass and
bushes of the uck and the wild caper ring their monotonous changes.
This Babbler lives in small parties of six or eight individuals
and such parties may be met with throughout the year, even in the
breeding season. They feed mostly on the ground, hopping rapidly
about with a bouncing gait, and their long tails trailing. At the
slightest alarm they take refuge in the bushes or grass near whose
shelter they have been feeding. When leaving one patch of cover
for another they fly off singly, one after another, with a weak
parachuting flight, the wings extended, and the tail partly spread,
PLATE III
I. Variegated Laughing-Thrush. 2. Yellow-eyed Babbler. 3. Purple Sunbird.
4. Common Babbler. 5. Streaked Laughing-Thrush. (All about *$ nat. size.)
[JPafij.44
THE COMMON BABBLER 45
looking for all the world like a number of miniature hen Pheasants
breaking cover. As they fly they utter a low undertoned warbling
whistle, first one bird and then another in a sort of rippling chorus.
The food consists chiefly of insects.
The breeding season is very extended, and nests have been
found in every month of the year ; but the majority will be found
from March until May and again from July to September, as the
species is double-brooded. The nest is a neat and compact cup,
rather large for the size of the bird. There is usually a deep outer
foundation of fine thorny twigs, coarse roots, bents, grass stems, and
similar materials, while the actual cup is composed of finer grass
stems and roots, often lined with a few hairs or fine mimosa leaves.
It is usually built fairly close to the ground at a height of about
3 feet, in a thick bush or a clump of grass, and is generally well
concealed. An occasional nest, however, may be found in higher
and more open situations, as for instance 8 feet from- the ground
in a fork of a kikur tree.
The usual clutch consists of three or four eggs, but occasionally
only two are laid.
The eggs are a moderately elongated oval, slightly compressed
towards one end. They are glossy, often brilliantly so, and of a
delicate pure spotless somewhat pale blue. There is very little variation
in the colour of these eggs.
They measure about 0-85 by 0-63 inches.
This Babbler is frequently selected as a foster-parent by the Pied
Crested Cuckoo (Clamator jacobinus).
THE LARGE GREY BABBLER
ARGYA MALCOLMI (Sykes)
Description. — Length n inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
dull brown, the feathers of the upper back with dark centres ; forehead
ashy-grey with fine white shaft-stripes ; wings dark brown, the outer
flight-feathers hoary brown on the outer webs, the others edged with
the colour of the back ; entire lower plumage fulvescent grey ; tail
full and graduated, pale brown, the central pair of feathers cross-
rayed, the three outer pairs white and the next pair edged with white.
Iris bright yellow ; bill dark brown, lower mandible fleshy ; legs
fleshy-yellow.
Field Identification. — In noisy squeaky parties in open cultivation ;
a typical sandy-brown Babbler easily recognised from the other species
by its size and the broad white edge to the tail, conspicuous in flight.
Distribution. — This fine Babbler is locally common throughout
46 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
the greater portion of the plains of India from a line roughly through
Ludhiana, Ferozepore, and Mount Aboo in the North-west to the
western boundary of Bengal, and south to the Nilgiris and Salem.
It is a strictly resident species.
Habits, etc. — This Babbler does not differ in any material respect
in habits from the more numerous Jungle Babbler, though it is not
quite so untidy in plumage. It is particularly a bird of cultivated
plains where small groves alternate with open fields and it is never
found away from trees. It appears also in gardens, both in large
towns and about small villages. Half of its time is spent in the
trees, the other half on the ground, where it turns over dead leaves
and investigates low-growing foliage in search of the insect and other
small forms of life that form the major portion of its diet ; seeds and
fruits are also eaten.
This is one of the most gregarious species that it is possible to
imagine. The birds live in small parties of six to a dozen individuals,
and these parties do not break up in the breeding season, even
though members of them may have nests and eggs in the vicinity.
Woe to any enemy that falls foul of one of the party ; the remainder
fall on it tooth and nail, and in this respect the species is more
valiant even than the Jungle Babbler, a fact that the smaller hawks
recognise, generally not attempting to molest them. These Babblers
are very noisy, with the hysterical squeaky calls typical of the family
uttered on the slightest provocation.
The nest may be found in any month in the year, though the
majority of the birds breed from March until August. Possibly
more than one brood is reared. The nest is built at a height of
some 4 to 10 feet from the ground and is usually ill-concealed,
depending for its protection more on the fact that it is generally
placed in some thorny tree of the mimosa type. It is a large,
loosely-woven but fairly neat, cup-shaped structure, made of fine
roots, small sticks, and dry grass, with generally an outer casing of
thorny twigs. The cup is sometimes lined with fine grass and roots
or horse-hair.
Two to five eggs are laid, but the normal clutch consists of four.
The eggs are indistinguishable from those of the Jungle Babbler,
rather broad ovals, compressed at one end, very glossy and smooth
in texture, and an unmarked " Hedge-Sparrow blue " in colour.
They measure about 0-99 by 0-77 inches.
This Babbler is frequently selected as a foster-parent by the Pied
Crested Cuckoo (Clamator jacobinus).
THE DECCAN SCIMITAR-BABBLER 47
THE DECCAN SCIMITAR-BABBLER
POMATORHINUS HORSFIELDII Sykes
(Plate v, Fig. 2, opposite page 88)
Description. — Length 10 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
dark earthy-brown tinged with rufous and darker on the head ; a
white eyebrow-line edged above with black over the eye ; sides of
head and neck and a band bordering the breast and abdomen
blackish-brown ; chin, throat, breast, and abdomen white ; flanks
and a patch under the tail slaty-brown.
Iris brown or crimson ; bill yellow, dusky at base of upper
mandible ; legs greenish-plumbeous.
Bill long, curved and compressed, recalling a scimitar in shape ;
short rounded wings ; long graduated tail ; shape rather ungainly.
Field Identification. — Lower India only. Scimitar-shaped bill,
dark plumage with the conspicuous white eyebrow and white plastron
with its dark edging are distinctive.
Distribution. — Confined to the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon. This
Scimitar-Babbler is divided into a number of races distinguished by
small details of coloration of the plumage and size of the bill. A
greyish form P. h. obscurus is found in Mount Aboo, the Central
Provinces and the area round Khandesh. The typical race is found
from Khandala to Goa, in Mysore and in Orissa and the Upper
Eastern Ghats. The rich olive-brown form P. h. travancoreensis
occupies the Lower Western Ghats from North Kanara to Travancore,
including the Nilgiris. P. h. maderaspatensis is confined to the Lower
Eastern Ghats from the Krishna Valley southwards. P. h. melanurus
of the low country wet zone, S.W. Ceylon, is a bright ferruginous
bird, while P. h. holdsworthi is a more olivaceous brown and inhabits
the dry zone of both low country and hills.
This species occurs both in the plains and in the hill ranges up
to at least 8000 feet. It is strictly resident.
Habits, etc. — This Scimitar-Babbler is common in evergreen
jungle, in bamboo thickets, in thorny scrub or in dense bush jungle
on hill-sides. It is usually found in pairs or in small parties of four
or five birds and sometimes double this number collect together or
join the mixed hunting parties.
Individuals keep in touch with each other by a variety of mellow
bubbling and whistling calls and when excited break into the torrent
of loud shrieks and whistles which are used by all the Scimitar-Babblers.
In the case of pairs the male acts as leader and is followed about
from one bush or tree to another by the female who acknowledges
every one of his musical whistles with a subdued kroo-kroo or kro-kant.
48 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Although very shy and seldom showing themselves they readily
respond to a decoy whistle and may be called long distances by such
an imitation. When disturbed the birds hop along the branches
with great agility as if to get under way before taking to wing.
The food consists of grubs, worms, insects and the like and in
search of it the birds descend a good deal to the ground where they
turn over the dead leaves in typical Babbler fashion. They cut and
dig vigorously with their shapely bills in the earth, cling to the face
of banks and probe the moss and bark of the trees, and when the
cotton-tree is in flower they join the many species that rifle the
blossoms for insects and nectar.
The breeding season extends from December to May.
The nest is a loosely-constructed globular structure, with the
entrance at one side, placed on the ground in thick herbage or low
in a bush. It is composed of grass or moss mixed with leaves, bracken,
and roots, and is so flimsy in build that it falls to pieces on removal.
There is no lining to the egg cavity.
Three to five eggs are laid.
The egg is an elongated oval, slightly compressed towards the
small fend. It is very fragile, smooth, and satiny in texture, with very
little gloss. The colour is pure white.
The egg measures about 1-08 by 0-77 inches.
THE RUSTY-CHEEKED SCIMITAR-BABBLER
POMATORHINUS ERYTHROGENYS Vigors
Description. — Length n inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage,
tail, and the exposed part of the closed wings olive-brown ; centre' of
whole lower plumage white, striped with very pale grey on the chin
and throat ; forehead, sides of head and neck and sides of lower
plumage chestnut, washed with olive on the sides of the breast and
flanks.
Iris yellowish-white ; bill light horny ; legs brownish-fleshy.
Bill long, curved, and compressed, recalling a scimitar in shape.
Tail long and graduated ; wings small and rounded ; general build
rather ungainly.
Field Identification. — Himalayan form. Curved bill, olive-brown
upper parts and chestnut and white under parts distinctive, combined
with shy habits in undergrowth and melodious call.
Distribution. — The Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler has a wide
distribution, being found along the whole length of the Himalayas
through Assam, Burma, and Tenasserim to Yunnan and China.
It is divided into several races, of which two are found in the
THE RUSTY-CHEEKED SCIMITAR-BABBLER 49
Himalayas and come into our area. The Western race is the
typical one and is found from the Murree Hills to about Mussoorie.
The Eastern race is known as P. e. haringtoni and differs in its
slightly smaller size and in having the whole chin, throat, and upper
breast dark ashy mingled with white. It is found from Garhwal to
Sikkim, but the birds from the western edge of this range are very
intermediate in character.
In the Western Himalayas this Scimitar- Babbler is found most
commonly between 3000 and 7000 feet, though it certainly occurs
down to 2000 feet and up to 10,000 feet. The Eastern form
occupies a slightly lower zone between 1000 and 7000 feet. It is
a strictly resident species and appears to change its elevation very
slightly with the season.
The Slaty-headed Scimitar-Babbler (Pomatorhinus schisticeps) is
another Himalayan species found at low elevations from Kangra to
Assam and into Burma. The upper parts are olive-brown with the
top of the head dark-slate ; a white line over the eye and the rich
maroon-chestnut sides with white streaks are distinctive.
Habits, etc. — This bird is a dweller in dense undergrowth, whether
in the form of thick grass and bushes on treeless hill -sides, or forests
with heavy secondary growth. The greater part of its life is spent
in the bushes, but it feeds a good deal on the ground under cover,
shuffling amongst dead leaves, and when disturbed in this occupation
it can make off at a good speed with a succession of long, bounding
hops like a rat. It is a social species, usually found in small parties,
whose presence would not be suspected from their skulking habits
were it not for their noisiness. The call of the male consists of a
pair of notes, the second rapidly following the first and being about
an octave lower. If the female is within earshot, as she usually is, she
replies with a single note immediately after the second note uttered
by the male, so that the three notes together make a mellow whistle
kor-quee-oh, which to the uninitiated sounds like the call of a single
bird. This familiar duet, varied with a clear quoip, is audible some
distance away. They have also a hard, scolding note reminiscent of
that uttered by many of the Babblers and the Tree-Pie. A faint
feeding-note tep-tep is only heard when the birds are close at hand.
These birds respond readily to an imitation of their calls and may
be decoyed in this manner. They seldom leave cover and come
into the open, but when they do take to wing the flight is swift and
strong, though the short wings combined with the heavy bill and
tail give the bird a curious, ungainly appearance. This species is
said to indulge in a habit of dancing like other members of the genus.
The food consists of grubs, beetles, earthworms, and various
insects mostly obtainable on the ground, but berries are also eaten.
The breeding season lasts from April to June.
D
50 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The nest is a domed structurewith a broad opening high on one side ;
it is loosely constructed of coarse grass, dry ferns, dead leaves, and fern
roots, and there is no particular lining. It is placed on the ground in
thick herbage near the edge of clumps of brushwood or scrub-jungle.
Two to four eggs are laid ; they are long, narrow ovals, fine in
texture with a fair gloss and pure white in colour.
In size they average about i • 1 1 by o- 8 inches.
THE RUFOUS-BELLIED BABBLER
DUMETIA HYPERYTHRA (Franklin)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Front half of crown
reddish-brown ; upper plumage, wing, and tail olive-brown, the tail
cross-rayed ; sides of the face and entire lower plumage bright fulvous.
Iris light-brown ; bill livid pale horny ; legs very pale fleshy.
The feathers of the forehead have stiff shafts. The tail is much
graduated, the outer feather only reaching to the middle.
Field Identification. — A small olive-brown bird with bright rufous
under parts ; a white throat-patch in one race. Found in small parties
skulking in thick cover.
Distribution. — Confined to India and Ceylon and divided into
three races. The typical race is found in a wide area east of a line
from the Kumaon Bhabar through Jhansi, Mhow, the Satpuras,
Jalna, and Hyderabad to the Krishna River. It occurs as far east
as Midnapore. To the west and south of this area, from Sambhar
and Mount Aboo on the north down to the extreme south, it is
replaced by D. h. albogularis. This race differs in its lighter coloration
and in having a well-defined white patch on the chin and throat and
a tinge of white on the centre of the abdomen. D. h. phillipsi of Ceylon
is similar to the latter but has a larger bill and paler under parts.
The closely allied Red-capped Babbler (Timalia pileata) is common
in the extensive grass plains along the terais and duars of the north-east,
extending also into Assam and Burma and a considerable part of
Bengal. The deep rufous crown, white streak over each eye, olive-
brown upper parts, deeply-graduated tail, and the white breast with
fine black streaking are distinctive.
Habits, etc. — The Rufous -bellied Babbler is a bird of thick cover.
It may be found in scrub-jungle, in tall grass interspersed with
thorn bushes, or in the patches and hedges of tall euphorbia plants
which are a feature of many parts of Southern India. In such cover
it is found in small parties of four to eight birds, which keep up a
low cheep cheep, varied by harsh tittering notes. It is a most
inveterate skulker, keeping as far as possible out of sight, one bird
THE RUFOUS-BELLIED BABBLER 51
following another from bush to bush. On taking alarm the members
of a party promptly dive into the thickest portions of the undergrowth
and disperse in all directions, though they soon reassemble when the
alarm is over.
The breeding season of the typical race is well defined throughout
its range, being in the monsoon from June to August. Most eggs
are laid in July. In the other Indian race it varies from the middle of
April to the middle of October, irrespective of locality.
The nest is built on, or very close to, the ground, either amongst
dead leaves, in coarse grass, or in small bushes. A favourite situation
is in amongst the roots of a bamboo clump. The nest is a loosely-
constructed ball of bamboo leaves or broad blades of grass, sometimes
incorporating a few dead leaves. It is occasionally unlined. Usually,
however, there is a slight lining of fine grass roots, fine grass stems,
or a few hairs. The entrance is in the side. An unfinished nest is
deserted on very slight provocation.
The usual clutch consists of four eggs, but often there are only
three. The eggs vary in shape from short and broad to moderately
long ovals. The texture is fine with a variable amount of gloss.
The ground-colour is pure white, spotted and speckled with shades
of red, brownish-red, and reddish-purple. These markings vary in
character, but tend to collect in a cap or zone on the broad end.
The egg measures about 0-70 by 0-53 inches.
THE YELLOW-EYED BABBLER
CHRYSOMMA SINENSIS (Gmelin)
(Plate iii, Fig. 2, opposite page 44)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. The whole upper
plumage rufescent-brown, changing to cinnamon on the exposed
portions of the wings ; a patch in front above and below the eye,
and the whole lower plumage white, tinged with fulvous on the flanks,
abdomen, and under the tail. The tail is long and graduated, and
the feathers are faintly cross-rayed.
Iris yellow, eyelids deep orange ; bill black, yellowish behind
nostrils ; legs pale orange-yellow.
Field Identification. — A small rufous bird with white under parts
and a rather long full tail ; orange eyelids are conspicuous. Found
in parties in undergrowth.
Distribution. — The Yellow-eyed Babbler is a bird of very wide
distribution occurring throughout India, Burma, and Siam, and in
China, but is rather local. As is to be expected with this wide range
it has been divided into several races, of which three occur within
our area. They are distinguished by depth and tint of coloration.
52 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The typical race, originally described from China, is found through
Yunnan, Siam, Burma, and Assam to Bengal, and apparently also in
Madras, the Central Provinces, and Belgaum.
A dark form, P. s. saturatior, occurs in Nepal, Sikkim, and the
Bhutan and Buxa Duars.
A pale form, P. s. hypoleucus, is found in Sind, Jodhpur, the
North-west Frontier Province, portions of the Punjab, the United
Provinces, Khandesh, and Kathiawar. While strictly speaking a
plains bird, the Yellow-eyed Babbler is found along the outer
Himalayas to a height of 4000 feet, and in the Nilgiris it is
found up to 5000 feet. A resident species everywhere.
Habits, etc. — While occasionally met with in pairs this pretty
little bird usually goes about in parties. It avoids forest and wanders
about in open country frequenting tall grass, low scrub, and patches
of bushes, being also a familiar garden bird. In habits it is a typical
Babbler, and while rather inclined to skulk in thick cover is apt to be
noisy. It appears to visit the ground very seldom. Some of its notes
are quite sweet, and might almost be dignified by the name of song.
Small birds that live in parties in thick cover have all much the
same habits. The individuals work from stem to stem unseen down
in the thicket, picking insects, caterpillars, and their eggs from the
leaves and twigs. Then one bird works to the top and suns itself
for a few seconds and utters a snatch of song before plunging again
into the cover below, while another bird in turn emerges for his breath
of air and sunlight.
I have seen a bird at the nest feign m a most realistic manner to
be wounded, swaying with wings and tail outspread on a twig, as if
about to topple over and fall at any moment.
The breeding season is from June to September.
The nest is a very compact and beautiful structure, made of broad
blades of grass and long strips of fine fibrous bark, coated exteriorly
with cobwebs and gossamer threads and lined with fine grass stems
and roots. It is generally built in gardens about 4 to 6 feet from the
ground in upright forks in hedges or trees, or suspended in thick grass
sterns after the fashion of a Reed-Warbler's nest.
The normal clutch consists of five eggs.
The egg is a very broad oval, rather obtuse at the smaller end.
The texture is fine and smooth with a slight gloss. The ground-
colour is pinkish-white, and the markings are of two main types ; in
one the egg is so thickly and finely mottled and streaked all over
with brickdust-red that the ground-colour is almost concealed ; in
the other the egg is sparingly and boldly blotched and streaked with
the same colour, besides exhibiting a number of pale inky-purple
clouds. Combinations of both types occur.
The egg measures about 0*73 by 0-59 inches.
THE SPOTTED BABBLER 53
THE SPOTTED BABBLER
PELLORNEUM RUFICEPS Swainson
(Plate xi, Fig. 4, opposite page 220)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head
dull rufous ; a whitish line over the eye ; remainder of upper plumage
including wings and tail olive-brown, the tail-feathers tipped with
white ; sides of the head pale rufous marked with black and brown ;
lower plumage white somewhat tinged with fulvous and becoming
olivaceous on the flanks, boldly streaked with black on the breast
and sides ; a patch under the tail olive-brown and white.
Iris reddish-brown ; bill dark brown, lower mandible whitish ;
legs fleshy-white.
Field Identification. — A small olive-brown bird, whitish below,
with a rufous cap and heavily streaked breast. Very shy and found
skulking in thick undergrowth. Attention usually attracted to it by
the loud call-note.
Distribution. — Widely distributed throughout India, Assam, and
Burma, eastwards to the Malay Peninsula, Annam, and Cochin-China.
It is divided into several races, of which we are concerned with four ;
these vary only in depth and tone of coloration and the boldness of
marking on the sides of the neck. P. r. punctatum occurs in the Western
Himalayas from Dharmsala to Garhwal. It is common in the Tea
gardens and in the ravines around Dehra Dun, where it also breeds.
From Nepal eastwards along the Himalayas into Assam and Burma
there is P. r. mandellii. The species appears to be wanting across
the plains of Northern India, but the typical form is found in Peninsular
India south of Khandesh, Pachmarhi, and the hills of Chota Nagpur,
until in Travancore it is replaced by P. r. granti. All the races are
found at elevations from 1500 to 4000 feet, and occasionally higher,
and are resident birds.
Habits, etc. — The Spotted Babbler is more often heard than seen.
Except in the breeding season it is a social species, and usually goes
about in small parties which keep to low brushwood and bamboo-
jungle. It never ascends into trees, and spends much of its life on
the ground searching for food amongst fallen leaves and tangles of
grass. In such localities it is hard to approach and observe as it
is very shy, and the sound of footsteps sends it hastening away through
the bushes with a harsh, churring alarm note kraa. But feeding at
their ease the parties are rather noisy, and keep up a continuous
chatter, and the loud call is a familiar sound of the jungles where they
live. The call is a clear mellow whistle, wheat-eeer or three-cheeer,
the first syllable short, the second long and emphasised. This call
D2
54 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
may also be expressed by the words pretty-dear. It is easily imitated,
and the bird responds freely to the imitation. There is also a sweet
song in the breeding season consisting of a number of loud whistling
notes rambling up and down the scale. The food consists chiefly
of insects.
The breeding season is from March to May, though second
broods may be found until August. The nest is placed on the
ground under the shelter of a stone or bush, or occasionally 2 or 3
inches above it in the base of a clump of bamboo. It is generally
amongst fallen leaves and similar rubbish, and is a large globular
structure composed of leaves and grass and slightly lined with moss
roots.
The clutch consists of two to four eggs. In shape they are broad
regular ovals, compact and fine in texture, with a slight gloss. The
ground-colour is a very pale greenish- or yellowish-white, profusely
speckled and spotted all over with reddish-brown and with secondary
spots of pale grey and neutral tint.
The average size is about 0-88 by 0-65 inches.
THE QUAKER-BABBLER
ALCIPPE POIOICEPHALA (Jerdon)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. Top of head ashy-
grey ; remainder of upper plumage olive-brown, becoming ferruginous
on the wings and tail ; sides of the head and neck ashy-brown ; lower
plumage creamy fulvous, darker on the breast and flanks and under
the tail.
Iris slaty-grey ; bill horny brown ; legs greyish-fleshy.
Field Identification. — A small olive-brown bird with paler under
parts and a greyer head. Found in small parties in undergrowth
and forest chiefly in the hills of Peninsular India.
Distribution. — Widely distributed in several races through India,
Assam, Burma, and Siam. The typical and most richly-coloured
form is found along the Western Ghats from about Goa down to the
south of Travancore, occurring at elevations from 2000 feet to 600 feet.
A paler and greyer race, A. p. brucet, occurs irregularly in the rest of
the Peninsula south of a line from Kathiawar, Pachmarhi, and Parasnath
Hill at much the same elevations. A resident species.
The smaller Nepal Babbler (Alcippe nepalensis), common in the
lower Eastern Himalayas, Assam, and Burma, is easily distinguished
by a white ring round the eye and a blackish line over it.
Abbott's Babbler (Malacocincla sepiaria) is found in the Eastern
Himalayas and Assam at low elevations. The plumage is dark brown
THE QUAKER-BABBLER 55
with the under parts paler, the throat white and a rufous patch under
the tail. Although a forest bird and a skulker it is confiding and tame.
Habits, etc. — There is very little to say about the habits of the
Quaker-Babbler. It is an undistinguished little bird which goes
about in parties of four or five individuals up to twenty or more
which are confiding enough when undisturbed but shy and wary
once their suspicions are aroused. They keep principally to patches
of forest, but may also be found in bush-jungle, orange groves, and
similar localities. They seldom or never visit the ground, and prefer
as a rule to keep to undergrowth. They frequently, however, climb
higher into the trees, ascending even to the topmost branches. The
members of a party act independently of each other, but keep up a
general communication amongst themselves by continually calling
and answering as they move about. The song is of four or five
quavering whistling notes of the tone-quality of the Magpie Robin's
effort ; it is repeated every few seconds as the bird moves about the
foliage. Little seems to be recorded about their food, but the parties
spend all their time searching the leaves for insects.
The breeding season seems to be very poorly defined, and nests
of the typical race are said to have been found in every month of the
year. The Quaker-Babbler may be double-brooded, as January to
April and again July, August and September are the principal months
in which nests have been recorded.
The nest is usually built in the depths of forest, and in such shady
spots is built in small trees or bushes at a height of some 4 to 8 feet
from the ground. It is deep and cup-shaped, composed externally
of moss and dead leaves, and lined with the fine roots of mosses and
ferns. The nest is usually fixed in a fork or suspended from two or
three twigs, and is as a rule quite conspicuous, little effort at conceal-
ment being attempted.
The clutch consists of two or occasionally three eggs.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, somewhat compressed towards
the small end. The shell is fine and somewhat glossy. The ground-
colour is pale salmon marked with primary blotches and broad smudges
of deep purple-brown or purple-black, with secondary markings of
pale grey, inky-grey or purplish-grey. There is a good deal of variation,
the markings often being reduced in size to specks and spots, while
short lines and hieroglyphs are common.
The egg measures about 0-80 by 0*60 inches.
56 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE BLACK-HEADED BABBLER
RHOPOCICHLA ATRICEPS (Jerdon)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. The whole of the
top and sides of the head black ; the whole upper plumage fulvous
brown ; wings dark brown with the exposed parts fulvous brown ; tail
brown ; lower plumage dull white, changing to olivaceous on the
flanks and under the tail.
Iris yellow ; bill dull greyish flesh-colour, the upper surface black ;
legs pinkish-grey to pale plumbeous.
FIG. 9 — Black-headed Babbler (i nat. size)
Field Identification.—Hilh of South-western India. A small bird,
brown above and whitish below with a more or less black cap, which
is found in parties in dense forest undergrowth.
Distribution. — The typical form with a black head is found along
the Western Ghats from Belgaum to the Nilgiris, being replaced in
the Cochin and Travancore Hills by another race R. a. bourdilloni
which has the black largely replaced by sooty-brown. A third race
R. a. nigrifrons is found in Ceylon. This has the top of the head the
same colour as the back and the black is confined to a broad band
through each eye joining across the forehead. All three races occur
from sea-level up to 6000 feet and are strictly resident.
THE BLACK-HEADED BABBLER 57
Habits, etc. — This quaint little bird must soon be known to all
who spend much time in the forests of Coorg and the Wynaad, the
Nilgiris and Travancore. It is very common in the dense marshy
jungles or in the heavy green thickets that border the streams, in cane-
beds and in bamboo-jungle and it is also a bird of the evergreen forest.
It does not as a rule ascend the trees but keeps to the undergrowth
and no thicket is too dense for it, though it has something of a preference
for the edges of roads and paths and clearings. In such cover the
Black-headed Babbler goes about in parties of five to ten birds or even
in troops of anything up to a couple of dozen individuals. The flocks
are found throughout the year and their members are exceedingly
active. As they move about the birds utter a continual low chattering,
a harsh rather subdued chur-r chur-r and a characteristic habit is for a
bird that has ventured too high in the vegetation to drop perpendicu-
larly like a falling leaf into the thickets below at the slightest hint of
an alarm. The food consists of insects and their larvae.
This species is remarkable for the habit of building " cock-nests "
which are apparently intended for roosting purposes. Dozens of such
nests may be found at all times of the year in the jungles where the
birds are common, for no effort is made to conceal them. They are
very loosely and untidily constructed, thick masses of bamboo leaves
with the entrance at the side and they never seem to be lined.
The true nest is much smaller and more tightly and neatly woven
and it has a lining of black rootlets or fine grass. It is also much more
carefully concealed, being placed in tangles of reeds and grass, in thick
creepers or in bushes, usually only a foot or two from the ground.
These nests also may be found in any month of the year, but the
breeding season proper is said to be from May to July in the Nilgiris
and a little earlier in Travancore.
The clutch consists of two eggs.
The egg is a moderately broad, very regular oval, only slightly
compressed towards the smaller end. The shell is fine and satiny but
has only a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white or faintly greyish-
white, profusely speckled with minute dots of brownish and purplish-
red, the dots being slightly more numerous towards the larger end.
It measures about 0-75 by 0-55 inches.
58 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE BLACK-HEADED SIBIA
LEIOPTILA CAPISTRATA (Vigors)
(Plate v, Fig. 4, opposite page 88)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Sexes alike. Top and sides of
the head black with a bushy crest ; the whole of the body plumage
bright rufous except the back between the wings which is greyish-
brown ; wings variegated bluish-grey, black and rufous with a white
bar across the coverts ; tail long and graduated, black with a broad
sooty-grey tip, all feathers with a rufous base diminishing rapidly
from the centre to the sides.
Iris reddish-brown ; bill black ; legs fleshy-brown.
Field Identification. — Himalayan form. A graceful rufous bird
with dark crest, wings, and tail ; purely arboreal and, except when
breeding, in small parties ; active and noisy.
Distribution. — This species is found throughout the Himalayas
from the Hazara country to the Dafla Hills. It is divided into three
races. The large and pale typical race is found in the western portion
of this range to about Naini Tal. In Nepal it is replaced by L. c.
nigriceps which is more rusty-red in tone and has the back reddish-
brown. It is also somewhat smaller. This form grades through
Sikkim and the Chumbi Valley into L. c. baileyi of Bhutan and Southern
Tibet. This has the back sooty-brown tinged with grey. It is a strictly
resident species except for some seasonal altitudinal movements.
It breeds about 6000 to 9000 feet and in winter wanders down to
4000 feet.
Habits, etc. — The Sibia is a very common bird in portions of its
range, as for instance at Simla and Darjeeling, where its striking
appearance and ringing call attract the attention of many who are
not naturalists. It is a purely arboreal species, spending most of
its time at heights of 20 to 50 feet from the ground, and only rarely
descending to the undergrowth. Out of the breeding season it is
commonly found in parties of half a dozen birds, which usually keep
to themselves but sometimes join the mixed hunting parties temporarily.
They are very active birds, running and gliding through tangles
of creepers, and are also accomplished gymnasts, clinging to slender
stems, head downwards, to probe the blossoms for insects. Super-
ficially they greatly resemble the Laughing-Thrushes. They have
the same habit of flitting very rapidly up a tree from branch to branch,
keeping close to and partly hidden by the trunk, but they are more
ready to fly from bough to bough and tree to tree and are by no means
such skulkers. They come freely into the open and often launch into
mid-air in open spaces amongst the trees to catch insects on the wing ;
but being naturally shy they disappear again into cover at the least
alarm.
THE BLACK-HEADED SIBIA 59
The plumage is not quite so loose and fluffy in appearance as
that of the Laughing-Thrushes. The crest is generally held raised.
The flight is heavy with a hard noisy beat of the wings, and is rather
erratic and jerky as if the bird had difficulty in keeping straight.
There is a characteristic habit of flying to a tree-trunk and clinging
to the bark while picking some insect or larva from it.
The Sibia has a variety of notes. In winter when the birds are
in parties they converse continuously with a faint ti-te-te note, or a
little chittering sound similar to that of a Tit, uttered in concert by
several of the party, some concealed in the foliage, others exposed
to view on open boughs where they perch, jerking their tails suddenly
up and down and occasionally flicking the wings, turning from side to
side, eternally restless. A loud scolding note tchaa-tchaa appears to
be an alarm note. During the breeding season the woods resound
with their loud ringing whistle titter ee-titteree-tweeye, which has an
astonishing thrill of joy and gladness in it.
The breeding season lasts from May to August, but most birds
do not nest till the rains have commenced.
The nest is a neat cup of green moss lined with black moss roots,
grass, pine-needles, or fibres. It is built at heights from 10 to 50
feet from the ground in deodars, hollies, and other trees, and is often
well concealed close to the trunk or in foliage ; a favourate situation
is also in briers and creepers overgrowing a tree.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. They are rather broad
ovals elongated at one end ; the texture is fine and there is very little
gloss. The ground-colour is pale greenish-white or pale bluish-green.
The markings consist of splashes, smears, and blotches of pale
and dark brownish-red with a few defined spots and hair-lines of
reddish-black.
In size they average about 0*98 by 0-68 inches.
THE STRIPED-THROATED SIVA
SIVA STRIGULA Hodgson
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. Head orange-brown ;
upper plumage slate-green ; below bright yellow, the chin pale yellow
separated from the breast by a band of white feathers with narrow
crescentic cross bars ; moustachial streak and patch on either side
of the neck black, wings black, the first primaries edged with yellow
turning to orange near the base, inner feathers broadly marked with
grey on outer edge and tipped with white ; a black patch at base of
the primaries ; tail black, middle pair with chestnut-red at base,
outer feathers edged and broadly tipped with yellow.
60 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Iris reddish-brown ; bill dark brown above, paler below ; tip
white ; legs grey.
Field Identification. — A bird about the size of a Bulbul, frequenting
rather open forest or woodland (not conifers) in small parties or pairs,
in the spring. General colour yellowish with several narrow crescentic
black cross-bars on the throat. These cross-bars are characteristic
of the bird.
Distribution. — The Striped-throated Siva extends from Duala Dhar
in the Kangra district of the Punjab Himalayas to Assam and Yunnan,
south through Burma to Siam and the Malay Peninsula. This species
has been divided into several races and, in addition to the typical
Siva s. strigula of the Eastern Himalayas from Nepal to Assam, there
is a western race, S. s. simlcensis, with paler head, greyer back and the
chestnut on the tail more restricted. Another small babbler of similar
size and habits is the Blue-winged Siva (Siva cyanuroptera) in which
the head is bluish-grey streaked with dark blue, back, wing coverts
and rump ochraceous, wings and tail appear blue and are tipped with
white, throat and breast vinous grey merging into yellowish-white
on belly. It is not so widely distributed, inhabiting the Himalayas,
Naini Tal to the Chin Hills in Burma, breeding between 3000 and
8000 feet and moving rather lower in winter. It nests in thick
evergreen forests of oak, pines and rhododendrons.
Habits, etc. — This beautiful bird breeds from 7000 to 10,000 feet
and possibly even 12,000 feet and in autumn most birds are met with
between 4000 and 9000 feet. They go about in small parties hunting
amongst the tops of broad leaves and shrubs for insects which are their
principal food. There is no song except a three-noted rather
melancholy call note uttered at fairly regular intervals. In the
Eastern parts of the range they are sometimes met with in the pine,
as well as evergreen forests. In autumn, when the leaves of trie
deciduous trees change colour, the yellow plumage of this Siva blends
extraordinarily well with the leaves, and their subdued call notes
are reminiscent of a party of babblers.
The breeding season is May and June, and the nest is generally
placed in a bush or small tree, some 4 to 12 feet from the ground.
It is cup-shaped of moss roots and leaves and lined with roots.
The eggs resemble a miniature Song Thrush's.
The average size is about 0-85 by 0-63 inches.
THE RED-BILLED LEIOTHRIX 61
THE RED-BILLED LEIOTHRIX
LEIOTHRIX LUTEA (Scopoli)
(Plate iv, Fig. 5, opposite page 66)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : The whole upper plumage
dull olive-green, the throat and breast bright orange-yellow ; remainder
of lower plumage mixed olive-green and yellowish ; a ring round the
eye extending to the beak dull yellowish ; the edges of the wing-
feathers are brightly variegated with yellow, orange, crimson, and
black ; tail olive-brown, blackish at tip ; the upper tail-coverts extend
two-thirds of the length of the tail and terminate in a fine white line.
The female is duller in plumage and has no crimson on the wing.
Iris reddish-brown ; bill orange-red, base blackish in winter ;
legs brown.
The tail is slightly forked with the feathers curved outwards at
the tip.
Field Identification. — Himalayan species ; usually in parties in
undergrowth ; dull olive coloration ; coral-red bill, yellow eye-patch
and bright shining yellow patch on throat and breast are conspicuous.
Distribution. — This species extends through the Himalayas and
eastwards into China, and southwards into Southern Burma and
Siam. There are several geographical races, and that inhabiting the
Himalayas from Nepal to Eastern Assam, the Khasias and Chin
Hills and in Arakan is L. 1. callipyga, while it is replaced by L. I.
kumarensis from Kumaon to Simla. This last form is a greyer tinge
of green with more restricted golden colour on the crown and the
red on the outer edge of the primaries reduced or absent. In the
western Himalayas it is not very common, nor does it occur except
at low elevations of 2000 to 5000 feet in the outer ranges ; about
Darjeeling it is common from 3400 to 7400 feet. It is a strictly
resident bird. Of similar size and habits is the Silver-eared Mesia,
Mesia argentauris, a striking bird with a black head, grey back, golden
throat, and a dark red spot on the golden-edged wings. It occurs
from Garhwal eastwards to Assam.
A common garden bird in Darjeeling is the Yellow-naped Ixulus
(Ixulus flavtcollis), a small olive-brown bird with whitish under parts,
a dark brown crest and a fulvous nape. It is found throughout the
Himalayas from Dharmsala eastwards, usually in parties in trees.
Habits, etc. — The Red-billed Leiothrix (or Pekin Robin of the
aviculturists in England) is a bird of the hill forests, found in every
type of jungle, but by preference in fir and pine forests with secondary
undergrowth. It is a very lively, cheerful little bird, and except in the
breeding season is eminently gregarious, going about in small parties
which hunt the undergrowth for insects and occasionally move up
62 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
into the trees. The ordinary call-note is tee-tee-tee-tee-tee. In the
breeding season the cock has a delightful song of some variety and
compass, which is sung from the top of a bush to the accompaniment
of quivering wings and fluffed-out feathers.
The breeding season lasts from early April to September, the
majority of nests being found in May and June ; there are probably
two broods. For breeding, the birds largely affect well- watered and
jungle-clad valleys and ravines.
The nests are cups of varying depth and solidity, and as a rule
they are not well hidden. They are composed of dry leaves, moss,
and lichen, some nests being entirely of moss, others of bamboo
leaves, so that there is a good deal of variety in their appearance ;
there is a lining of fine black hair-like rhizomorphs of a fungus. The
site of the nest is likewise somewhat variable, though all are placed
within 10 feet of the ground. Some are suspended in a horizontal
fork like an Oriole's nest, others in an upright fork such as a Bulbul
would choose ; others again are built between several upright shoots
like the nests of the Reed- Warblers.
The normal clutch consists of three eggs.
The eggs are rather broad and blunt in shape, with a hard and
close texture, and a certain amount of gloss. The ground-colour
varies from white to a very delicate pale green or greenish-blue.
They are speckled, spotted, and blotched, often very boldly, with
various shades of red-brown and purple, mingled with streaks and
clouds of neutral tint and pale lilac. The markings tend to form
a zone round the broad end.
The eggs average about 0-85 by 0-62 inches.
THE COMMON IORA
/EGITHINA TIPHIA (Linnaeus)
(Plate xiii, Fig. 5, opposite page 264)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Adult male in full summer
plumage : whole of the upper plumage black, except the rump which
is greenish-yellow, but the head and back are usually mixed with
yellow to some extent ; two white bars across the wing, and the
quills narrowly edged with yellow ; entire lower plumage deep
yellow, duller and greenish below the breast. In winter the black
on the body-feathers is almost all lost, and the yellow becomes paler.
Female at all seasons : greenish-yellow throughout, yellow pre-
dominating on the lower surface and green on the upper ; wings
dark greenish-brown with greenish-white edges to the feathers and a
broad white bar across the shoulder.
THE COMMON IORA 63
Iris yellowish-white ; bill slaty-blue, black along oilmen ; legs
slaty-blue.
The feathers of the rump are remarkably soft and copious.
Field Identification. — A quiet little greenish-yellow bird, with
dark wings and tail and a broad white bar across the wing, and in
some cases much black on the upper parts, which creeps about in
garden trees. Has a curious breeding flight.
Marshall's lora (/Egithina nigrolutea), common in lower Con-
tinental India from Delhi to Khandesh, may be distinguished by the
bright golden collar and large amount of white in the wings and tail.
Distribution. — The lora is found over a very wide range of country
throughout India, east of a line through the head of the Gulf of
Cambay to Mount Aboo and Gurdaspur, Ceylon, Burma, Siam, and
the Malay Peninsula to Borneo. It is divided into several races, of
which three occur in India proper, JR. t. multicolor, the darkest race
with most black in the plumage, is confined to Ceylon and
Rameswaram Island. JE. t. humei, an intermediate race which also
grades into Marshall's lora, occupies the whole of India south of a
line roughly from Mount Aboo through Central India to Orissa.
The typical race occupies the rest of the Indian range merging into
/E. t. septentrionalis in the Punjab. In this the black on the upper
parts of the male in breeding plumage is largely obsolete, diminishing
in extent from east to west. All races are found in the plains and
lower hills up to about 3000 feet, or locally even to 5500 feet, and
are resident birds.
The lively and acrobatic Red-tailed Minla (Minla ignotinctd)
found in the Eastern Himalayas and the hills of Assam is fairly well
known at Darjeeling. The black and white head, brown back and
yellow under parts are well set off by brilliant scarlet in the wings
and tail.
Habits, etc. — The lora is a familiar garden bird in the greater
part of India, frequenting the outskirts of villages and cultivation
and the edges of forests and scrub -jungle. It is usually found in
pairs, although occasionally two or three may be hunting in the
same tree for the insects that form their food. It has a variety of
notes, of which the most striking is a long-drawn wail we-e-e-e-tu,
with a sudden drop of an octave on the last syllable.
In the breeding season the lora has a striking display in which
it flies up into the air and then spirals down to its perch again, with
all the feathers, especially those of the rump, spread out until it looks
almost like a ball ; while descending it utters a strange protracted
sibilant sound, recalling the note of a frog or cricket. Arrived on
the perch it spreads and flirts the tail like a little Peacock, drooping
its wings and still uttering the sibilant note. Then, too, the rump-
feathers are arched and fluffed-out.
64 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The breeding season is from April to July.
The nest is a very neat, delicate cup of fine, soft grasses, well
plastered externally with cobwebs and spiders' cocoons. It is placed
in a fork, either horizontal or vertical, of a bush or tree at heights
from 3 to 30 feet from the ground.
The clutch varies from two to four eggs.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, slightly pointed towards
the smaller end, fine in texture but with practically no gloss. The
ground-colour is pale creamy or greyish white, with streaky
longitudinal markings of grey and neutral tint, mostly at the broad
end. Some eggs are erythristic in character with the ground-colour
pinkish and the markings reddish.
The egg measures about 0-70 by 0*55 inches.
. JERDON'S CHLOROPSIS
CHLOROPSIS JERDONI (Blyth)
(Plate v, Fig. 3, opposite page 88)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Male, entire plumage bright
green except for the following markings : a black mask extending
from the nostril to the eye and thence to the lower throat broken
by a broad moustachial streak of bright purplish-blue ; forehead
and a broad band behind the black mask greenish-yellow ; a patch
of very bright malachite-blue by the bend of the wing.
The female resembles the male, except that the black mask is
replaced by pale bluish-green with a bright greenish-blue moustachial
streak.
Iris brown ; bill black ; legs pale blue.
Field Identification. — An active arboreal bird, particularly fond of
feeding at the parasitic Loranthus flowers. Bright green, a black
throat-patch broken by a purplish-blue moustachial streak in the
male, a bluish-green throat-patch in the female. In both sexes the
throat-patch is faintly bordered with yellow.
Distribution. — The genus Chloropsis, for which there is no English
name, except the somewhat misleading one of the Green Bulbuls,
contains a number of species of bright plumage, in which green
predominates. They are found in India, Ceylon, Burma, Siam, the
Malays, and China. Except for a large area in North-western India
at least one form is found in every part of India, though no one form
is predominantly familiar. To represent the genus, which is well
known, I have selected Jerdon's Chloropsis. This occurs throughout
the Peninsula of India from Sitapur, Fyzabad, and Basti in the north,
Baroda and the Panch Mahals on the west, the Rajmahal Hills and
JERDON'S CHLOROPSIS 65
Midnapore on the east, down to and including Ceylon. It is a
strictly resident species.
Two other species occur in India. The Gold-fronted Chloropsis
(Chloropsis aurifrons) may be distinguished by the orange-yellow
crown and by having the throat between the blue moustachial streaks
also blue. It is widely distributed along the Outer Himalayas from
the Jumna eastwards, in the Chota Nagpur area, and in Southern
India and Ceylon. The Orange-bellied Chloropsis (Chloropsis
hardwickii), which has orange under parts and most of the wing dark
blue, occurs along the outer Central and Eastern Himalayas.
Habits. — All members of this genus have the same habits. They
are arboreal birds, keeping as a rule to the tops of trees where they
very often frequent the bunches of the parasitic Loranthus, but they
also occasionally descend into low bush growth and even tall grass.
Many of them prefer heavy forest, but Jerdon's Chloropsis is generally
found in open country, in gardens, orchards, and groves, or in the more
open patches of forest. It lives in pairs which often join the mixed
hunting parties and is a very active and restless bird. It is also some-
thing of a bully and drives other birds away from the flowers of the
Coral-tree at which it is a regular attendant. At the nest it is very
watchful and noisy and indeed often betrays the secret of its
whereabouts by over-anxiety.
A particular characteristic of Jerdon's Chloropsis, and indeed of
other members of the group, is a remarkable proficiency in mimicry.
It is said to have a distinct call of its own of several notes, but this is
merely an item in a very varied repertory of other bird call-notes in
which those of the Drongos hold a leading place.
The food consists of fruit, seeds, insects, and the nectar of various
flowers.
The members of this genus are favourite cage birds in the East
and have been successfully kept in aviaries in Europe.
The breeding season is from April to August.
The nest is a small, rather shallow cup composed of fine roots,
grasses, and tamarisk stems without lining, but covered exteriorly
with soft vegetable fibres. It is placed on a bough or in a fork of
the end twigs of a branch of a tree at heights of 15 to 24 feet from
the ground.
The clutch consists of three eggs.
The egg is a rather elongated oval, fine and delicate in texture
with a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white or creamy-white,
sparingly marked with spots, specks, blotches, and hair-lines of
blackish, reddish, or purplish-brown, with a tendency for the markings
to collect at the broad end.
The egg measures about 0-85 by 0-60 inches.
66
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE BLACK BULBUL
MlCROSCELIS PSAROIDES (Vigors)
Description. — Length 10 inches. Sexes alike. Ashy-grey through-
out, darker above, and albescent below the abdomen ; a loose
untidy crest black, with black marks at the base of the beak and
encircling the ear-coverts.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs bright coral-red ; claws horny-
brown.
Tail bluntly forked, with the outer feathers slightly curved
outwards.
FIG. io— Black Bulbul (J nat. size)
Field Identification. — A dark-looking ashy-grey bird with coral-
red beak and black straggling crest ; blunt forked tail creates a rough
resemblance to a King-Crow : a bold, noisy bird with unpleasant
squeaky calls. Purely arboreal in habits.
Distribution. — The genus Microscelis is of somewhat wide distribu-
tion from India to Japan, but only one species is found within the
Indian Empire. This is divided into several races, of which two come
within the area treated in this work. Both are mountain forms.
The typical race is Himalayan, extending from Chitral and Hazara to
Bhutan ; the exact limits of this range are not fully known, but on
the west it has been observed at Kohat in winter, and on the east it
apparently extends into Assam. In Southern India south of Matheran
THE BLACK BULBUL 67
the race M. ps. ganeesa, distinguished by the absence of the black
line round the ear-coverts, breeds in the various ranges at elevations
over 4000 feet. In Ceylon there is a large billed race M. p. humii.
In "the Western Himalayas it breeds from about 4000 to 7000
feet ; in the Eastern Himalayas from 2000 feet ; in both areas a small
number breed up to 10,000 feet. While not migratory in the true
sense of the word, flocks of this Bulbul wander a good deal in the
non-breeding season and may then be found in the plain areas
contiguous to the mountains in which they breed, on occasion
wandering even farther afield.
The Rufous-bellied Bulbul (Ixos mcclellandii) is found along the
Himalayas from Naini Tal eastwards, and in the Assam Hills and
Burma. It has the general build of a Black Bulbul with a similar
crest but is bright olive green above and rufous below. The throat is
untidily streaked with white. Another Bulbul which is not uncommon
but rather local is the Himalayan Brown-eared Ixos flavala. It
extends along the Himalayas from Mussoorie into Assam and North
Burma. The general colour is grey, whiter below, and wings edged
with yellowish- white.
Habits, etc. — The Black Bulbul is a bird of high forest trees,
and except when breeding it is found in parties and large flocks,
consisting sometimes of as many as a hundred individuals. These
never descend to the ground, and seldom even to the undergrowth, but
keep to the tops of the trees and fly from one to the other in loose,
irregular order. They are very restless and seldom remain long in one
place. Owing to its weak feet this Bulbul does not climb or hop about
the boughs, but as compensation it is certainly one of the finest flyers
in the family, being both swift and agile on the wing. In consequence
this Bulbul is often mistaken for a Drongo by the inexperienced.
It is a very noisy, bold bird, and the whereabouts of a party is
invariably revealed by the noise that they make ; their calls are in
consequence amongst the familiar bird sounds of the hills. A
common note is a long-drawn nasal weenk, resembling the distant
squeal of a pig. There is also a pretty whistle which may be
syllabilised as whew-whe or whee-whe, something like the musical
creaking of a rusty gate-hinge ; this is often preceded by a couple
of notes squeaky-squeaky, very similar to a call of the Drongo.
Another less common note is geagluck.
The food consists mostly of berries of various shrubs and trees,
but insects are also eaten ; mulberries and bukain berries are
particularly attractive to them. In the evening the birds may often
be seen fly-catching from the tops of trees. They are said also to
sip nectar from flowers, and certain it is that they may often be seen
at the flowers of the rhododendron and other blossom-bearing trees,
but it is more probable that they are taking insects from the cups.
68 POPULAR HANDBOOK OP INDIAN BIRDS
During the breeding season, from April to the end of June, the
pairs are very affectionate, feeding together, and the male remains in
the vicinity while the female is on the nest.
The nest is a rather neat cup of coarse-bladed grass, dry leaves
and moss, lined with fine grass stems or pine-needles and moss roots,
and bound exteriorly with spiders' webs. It is placed in a fork of a
tree often at a considerable height from the ground.
Three or four eggs comprise the clutch in the Himalayas, and two
in the NiJgiris.
The egg is a rather long oval, a good deal pointed towards the
small end, fine in texture with little gloss. The ground-colour is a
delicate pinkish-white, varying in depth of colour, and it is profusely
speckled, spotted, blotched, or clouded with various shades of red,
brownish-red, and purple ; there is a tendency for a heavy zone or
cap of markings at the broad end.
The egg measures about 1-05 by 0*75 inches.
THE RED-VENTED BULBUL
MOLPASTES CAFER (Linnaeus)
(Plate x, Fig. 2, opposite page 198)
Description. — Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. The whole head
and throat glossy-black ; the whole body and closed wings brown,
the feathers of the wings, upper back, and breast edged with whitish,
giving a scaled appearance, the lower abdomen and upper tail-coverts
so pale as to be almost white ; tail brown at base, darkening till it is
almost black before the white tips of the feathers ; a crimson patch
under the tail.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — Throughout India. A common garden bird,
cheerful and rather noisy in demeanour ; earthy-brown in colour
with a black, slightly crested head, white-tipped tail, and a bright red
patch under the base of the latter.
Distribution. — The Common or Red-vented Bulbul is a very
widely-spread species, occurring throughout the Indian Empire
and extending to the east as far as China. With such a large
and varied range it is inevitably divided up into several races
which with their intermediate forms and areas are somewhat difficult
to define ; but the main difficulties occur in the forms that are
found east of Assam. In the area covered by this work the division
of the races is easily understood so long as it is recognised that the
boundaries of the races about to be mentioned are not clearly defined,
THE RED-VENTED BULBUL 69
and in the intermediate areas between them birds will be found which
cannot be clearly referred to one or other form.
Along the Himalayas together with the plains country about
their base, we have an Eastern and a Western form meeting
somewhere about Kumaon and Western Nepal. The Western
bird is M. c. intermediust found through Kashmir and the extreme
North-west from Kohat down to about the Salt Range and along
the Himalayas to Kumaon ; its range steadily narrows as it pro-
gresses eastwards taking in less and less plains country. It is found
commonly up to about 4000 feet and in smaller numbers a little
higher to 5500 feet.
The East Himalayan bird from Nepal to Assam is M. c. bengalensis,
and this, while not occurring so high in the hills, only exceptionally
above 4500 feet, has a wider distribution in the plains through the
Eastern United Provinces, Northern Bihar, Eastern Bengal, up to
North-west Cachar and Eastern Assam. South of the area occupied
by these two forms, M. c. pallidus extends on the west down to
Ahmednagar and Khandesh, and M. c. saturatus on the east down to
the Godavari. Southern India and Ceylon are occupied by M. c.
cafer, which, while occurring normally up to about 2000 feet, follows
the progress of man higher into the hills, even up to 8000 ftet in the
Nilgiris.
These races are distinguished by the amount of black in the plumage
and also in some cases by size. A strictly resident species.
Habits, etc. — The Red-vented Bulbul is, in its various local forms,
one of the best-known birds of India, as it is very common and very
attached to the haunts of man, being essentially a garden bird. It
is, however, found in all types of country, though by preference
it eschews both heavy forest and barren plains. It is arboreal, the
short weak legs not being adapted to progression on the ground
though the bird sometimes descends to it to pick up food. The
flight is quick and strong, though seldom sustained for any distance,
and the beat of the wings is distinctly audible.
The Bulbul is usually met with in pairs and has a very evident
affection for its mate ; this fact, together with its sprightly demeanour,
boldness, handsome coloration, and cheerful call-notes, contributes
to make it a general favourite. It is one of the birds that everyone
notices, Indian and European alike. Indians frequently tame it
and carry it about the bazaars, tied with a string to the finger or to
a little crutched perch, which is often made of precious metals or
jade ; while there are few Europeans who do not recollect Eha's
immortal phrase anent the red patch in the seat of its trousers.
Occasionally small parties of this Bulbul are met with, and
numbers often collect together at a spot where some particular
food is plentiful or for the purpose of roosting ; but normally the bird
E2
70 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
cannot be described as gregarious. At times, generally in the evenings,
Bulbuls indulge in " fly-catching," sitting on the top of a bush or small
tree, launching out continuously for short flights in the air, and
returning again and again to the same perch.
But our friend has two vices. He is very quarrelsome and a
plucky fighter, and this is part of the secret of his attraction as a pet
for his Indian owners ; for one of the essential ingredients of a pet
in the East is that it should be a vehicle for gambling, and the owner
of a good-fighting Bulbul may pocket many a small bet. Our friend
is also apt to be destructive in the garden, damaging fruit and flowers
and spoiling many a promising row of peas ; though the unseen
good that he does in the way of keeping down insect pests probably
outweighs this more obvious damage.
There is something extremely cheerful and attractive about the
voice of this Bulbul, though he has only one or two call-notes and
no song. Yet for«all time he will be credited with the reputation of
a famous songster owing to the association in Persian literature
between the song of the Bulbul, and the scent of roses, and the
amorous delights of Persian gardens. The Bulbul of Persian literature
is, however, as a matter of fact, another bird, a race of the Nightingale
(Daulias philomela africand).
The breeding season lasts, according to locality, from February
to August, but most nests will be found in May and June. Two
broods are probably reared.
The nest is a neat cup composed of dry grass stems and the finest
twigs and shoots of tamarisk, lined with fine roots and horse-hairs,
and intermingled with dry leaves and scraps of lichen. It is placed
usually in a bush or shrub between 4 and 10 feet above the ground,
but is often found in a variety of unusual situations as high as 40 feet.
Two to four eggs are laid.
The egg is a rather long oval slightly compressed towards the
smaller end ; the texture is smooth and fragile and there is very
little gloss. The ground-colour is pinkish- or reddish- white, marked
with red, brownish-red, and purplish-red, with secondary markings of
pale inky-purple. The markings take every conceivable form of
spot, speck, blotch, and streak, and are usually so thick as practically
to conceal the paler ground, but in many eggs they collect into zones
and caps about the broad end.
The average measurement is about 0-90 by 0*65 inches.
THE WHITE-CHEEKED BULBUL
THE WHITE-CHEEKED BULBUL
MOLPASTES LEUCOGENYS (Gray)
Description. — Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. Forehead and a
long crest, curved forwards, hair brown narrowly edged with white ;
a patch round the eye to the beak, chin, and throat, and portions of
the side of the neck black ; a conspicuous white patch on the ear-
coverts ; the whole btfdy and wings olive-brown, darker and greener
above and paler below, becoming whitish on the lower abdomen ;
tail brown on the basal half, blackish on the terminal half, all feathers
except the central pair Broadly tipped with white ; a bright sulphur-
yellow patch below the base of the tail.
Iris brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — A sprightly, cheerful bird found in gardens
and open country ; appears dull brown with a conspicuous crest,
black markings about the head, and a large white patch on the face
and a patch of yellow under the tail. In the typical race the crest
is long and curved forwards
over the beak like Punch's
cap. Usually in pairs.
Distribution.— The White-
cheeked Bulbul extends
throughout the Himalayas
from Afghanistan to the hills
of Assam, north of the
Brahmaputra River, and in
the north-west of the Pen-
insula down as far as Central
India ; out of India it extends
west to Mesopotamia. There
are three races of the bird in
India. The typical form with
the highly-developed " Punch
cap " crest is confined to the
Himalayas where it occurs
from the foot-hills at about 2000 up to 6000 feet in the east
and from 3000 to 9000 feet in the west. Through the plains of
the Punjab south of the Salt Range, Sind, Cutch, Guzerat,
Rajputana, the North-western Provinces south to Etawah, and Central
India as far east as Jhansi, Saugor, and Hoshungabad, the typical
race is replaced by M. I. leucotis in which the crest is short and black,
the under tail-coverts saffron-yellow, and the olive-brown of the upper
parts is without the greenish tinge found in M. I. leucogenys ; the bill
is stouter and blunter in this form. A third race, M. I. humii, is found
FIG. 1 1 — Head of White-cheeked Bulbul
(] 1 nat. size)
2OOO Up tO
7* POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
connecting these two races in the Salt Range and the elevated plateau
north of it about Rawal Pindi and Campbellpur, and west of this to
Bannu and Kohat. This is a truly intermediate form, the crest in
colour and size and the bill in shape being intermediate between
those of M. 1. leucogenys and M. /. leucotis.
Habits, etc. — Throughout its range and under its different names
the White-cheeked Bulbul has the same characteristics ; it is a bird
of open country not of forest, a dweller amongst bushes rather than
a bird of the trees, a familiar and cheerful companion by the% paths
of man. In the Himalayas it is one of the conspicuous birds of
the hill stations, coming freely into gardens and disporting itself on
the open spaces that fringe the roads ; it is common round the hill
villages with their cultivation. But in Kashmir its sociability reaches
its apex ; there it comes freely into verandahs and rooms, and hops
about in the house-boats with its cheery note and quaintly-cocked
crest, suspecting no harm and receiving none ; and many a picnic
party on the shores of the Dal Lake in the historic gardens of
Shalimar and Nishat Bagh have found their number added to
by a pair of Bulbuls who have hopped about their table-cloth and
gratefully swallowed the crumbs of cake thrown to them.
While not in any true sense a migrant, this Bulbul is subject
to a certain amount of local movement. In the hills, while the
majority are strictly stationary, a small proportion move down a
little from their breeding zone in the winter; and in the plains
leucotis is known to shift its quarters according to season, though
usually not to any great distance.
These Bulbuls are generally met with in pairs or small parties of
five or six individuals, but occasionally numbers are attracted together
into a small area by the abundance of some special food-supply.
They are very lively birds, incessantly bowing and posturing oh
the summit of a bush or flying from tree to tree ; and as they do so
they keep on uttering their cheery call Quick-a drink with you, which
is a pleasant and welcome sound in a land where melodious bird-voices
are scarce, and a sentiment that aptly fits the jovial roysterer that
utters it. For the Bulbul is a jovial soul and companionable, ready
for the fun of the day, whether it be a plentiful hatch of flying-ants
to chase and devour, or a hapless sun-dazed owl to bully and torment.
It feeds chiefly on insects and fruits. It is often seen on the
ground collecting ants, grubs, beetles, and the like, and in the evenings
it has a habit of flying into the air like a clumsy Flycatcher in pursuit
of insects. Of fruits it devours many kinds ; in the hills the Berberis,
in the plains the Ber and the Boquain, furnish it with a plentiful
supply of berries ; and a row of green peas frequently suffers badly
from its attentions.
Attention must be drawn to the fact that these Yellow-vented
THE WHITE-CHEEKED BULBUL 73
Bulbuls hybridise frequently in a wild state with the Red-vented
Bulbuls ; a fine series of these hybrids were collected by the late
Major Whitehead at Kohat, and other cases have been observed at
Rawal Pindi, Jhang, and Karachi.
The breeding season commences both in the hills and plains
towards the end of March and continues until August, though few
nests will be found after June. Apparently two or more broods are
reared in the year.
The nest is a well-constructed cup, light and fragile in appearance
but strong ; it is composed of fine dry stems of herbaceous plants,
generally rather rough in texture, mixed with dry grass stalks and
shreds of vegetable fibres ; there is a neat lining of some finer material,
dry grass stems or grass roots for preference. The usual situation is
in some thick bush at a height of 4 to 6 feet from the ground, but it
is occasionally built in trees at a greater height than this.
The eggs are somewhat variable in shape, size, and colour.
Typically they are a rather long oval, somewhat pointed at one end ; the
ground-colour is pinkish- or reddish-white with little or no gloss, thickly
speckled, freckled, streaked, or blotched with red of various shades, with,
in addition, tiny spots and clouds of underlying pale inky-purple.
They average about 0-88 by 0*65 inches in size, the eggs of M. L
leucotis being slightly smaller than those of M. L leucogenys.
THE RED-WHISKERED BULBUL
OTOCOMPSA JOCOSA (Linnaeus)
(Plate xiv, Fig. 3, opposite page 286)
Description. — Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. A conspicuous
white patch on the sides of the face, above which is a small crimson
tuft springing from the lower eyelid ; crest, top, and sides of the head
and a narrow line below the white patch black, merging into a broad
blackish-brown gorget, which is interrupted in the centre by the white
of the breast ; remainder of upper plumage brown, darker on the
wings and tail, the latter tipped with white except on the central
pair of feathers ; lower plumage white, washed with brown on the
sides of the body ; a crimson patch under the base of the tail.
Iris brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — A sprightly and common garden bird;
appears dark brown above, white below, with a white patch on the
cheeks, and a broken gorget across the breast ; a crimson tuft below
the eye, and a similar patch of colour below the tail.
Distribution. — The Red-whiskered Bulbul is another of those
74 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
common species which have a wide distribution from India to
China. It is, however, local and scarce in some parts of its range.
Within our area there are five races. Three have white tips to the
tail-feathers. These are the typical race, large and dark, which
extends from outside India into the Duars and Sikkim foot-hills :
O. j. provincialis^ a paler form found in the United Provinces, the
valley of Nepal and Bihar ; and O. j. emeria, a small dark form, which
extends from Lower Bengal to Madras and Gingee. The other two
races lack the white tips in the tail. O. j. abuensis, found at tylount
Aboo and in Rajputana, is extremely pale. O. j. fuscicaudata, a
darker bird with the gorget unbroken, extends from the Tapti to
Cape Comorin and Salem district, and also into the Central
Provinces. This Bulbul breeds up to an elevation of 7000 feet ;
but on the whole the northern race is more of a plains bird, while
the southern prefers the hills. Both, however, are strictly resident.
The Black-crested Yellow Bulbul, Otocompsa flaviventrts, is found
along the Himalayas from the Sutlej Valley eastward into Assam
and Burma, and south to the Central Provinces. It is readily
distinguished by the black head and yellow breast.
HabitSy etc. — The Red-whiskered Bulbuls have very much the
same habits as the Red-vented Bulbuls, avoiding thick forest and
preferring the haunts of men, gardens, bamboo clumps, orchards,
cultivation, low scrub-jungle, and the neighbourhood of villages. They
are very cheerful, lively birds with much the same calls as the Red-
vented Bulbuls but louder and more musical in tone. Where they occur
they are often extremely abundant. In the Nilgiris and in the hill
stations of the Bombay Presidency they are amongst the commonest
birds and familiar to everyone. In Port Blair, Andaman Islands,
this Bulbul is common and extremely tame and takes the place to
some extent of the house sparrow, a bird not found in the Andamans.
The flight is strong and well sustained, but slow and jerky in character.
Their diet is both insectivorous and vegetarian ; they are
particularly fond of fruit, attacking the larger kinds while immature,
and the smaller when ripe, and as numbers often collect to the feast
they are responsible for a good deal of damage.
The breeding season is from February to May. The nest is cup-
shaped, loosely but strongly built of grass bents, roots, fibres, and
thin stalks, and is lined with finer grass stems and roots ; a certain
amount of dry leaves and ferns are worked into the bottom and are
characteristic of the nests of this species. They are placed in bushes
at heights below 6 feet from the ground.
Three or four eggs are usually laid in the north and two or three
eggs in the south.
The egg is a broad, somewhat lengthened oval, fine in texture
with a slight gloss. The ground-colour is pinkish- or reddish-white,
THE YELLOW-BROWED BULBUL 75
very thickly freckled, mottled, streaked, and blotched with red of
various shades, and a few secondary markings of pale inky-purple ;
there is a tendency for the markings to collect at the broad end.
The eggs measure about 0-85 by 0-65 inches.
THE YELLOW-BROWED BULBUL
IDLE ICTERICA (Strickland)
(Frontispiece, Fig. 3)
Description, — Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. The whole upper
plumage bright yellowish-olive ; wings dark brown, the outer webs
olive-yellow, the inner edged with yellow ; tail yellowish-olive, the
shafts below and the inner edges of the feathers yellow ; a line through
and round the eye, the sides of the head and the whole lower plumage
bright yellow, the flanks washed with olive.
Iris brownish-red or blood-red ; bill horny-black ; legs and feet
pale blue or slate-blue.
Field Identification. — A very sprightly Bulbul, bright olive above
and bright yellow below with a yellow line over the eye. Found in
melodious parties in the forests of the Western Ghats.
Distribution. — The Western Ghats from Khandala to Travancore,
extending inland to the Nilgiris and Palnis at all heights from the
foot of the hills to 6500 feet ; most numerous about 3500 feet. Also
found in Ceylon.
Another yellowish bird is the White-throated Bulbul (Criniger
gularis) which is found at low elevations in the Eastern Himalayas,
Assam, and extreme South-east Bengal. The upper plumage is
yellowish-olive and the lower parts bright yellow with a white throat.
It is a noisy, gregarious bird found in humid forest with thick
undergrowth.
Habits, etc. — The Yellow-browed Bulbul is one of the commonest
forest birds of the Western Ghats where its normal habitat is the
heavy evergreen forest which covers so many of the slopes of the hills.
Here it keeps much to the undergrowth though it is often found
about the edges of the forest and occasionally ventures into neighbour-
ing gardens ; the shade and solitude of the forest are, however, its
proper home.
This species will be observed both in pairs and in noisy parties
of five or seven birds which often join on to the mixed hunting parties.
It is very restless in character, hopping actively about the boughs
of the trees and then descending to i'he sapling undergrowth and
then again flying on to some bare bough to give out its quiet little
warble. The low-toned varying notes are difficult to describe, but
76 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
the adjectives sweet and soft and mellow will at once occur to the
hearer. Some of them resemble the sounds cty eye, te white up,
te whit up and these three modulations are continuously repeated
for no small space of time. An alarm-note is somewhat harsh and
jarring. In India this Bulbul is said to be largely frugivorous, feeding
not only on the forest berries and fruits but on the more valuable
domesticated guavas, loquats, pears, peaches and the like. In Ceylon,
at any rate, it is also to some extent insectivorous.
The breeding season extends from February to May. The nest is
usually built at a height of 6 to 10 feet from the ground in a small
sapling or evergreen shrub in dense dark forest where the light is
very poor. Occasional nests are higher, even in a branch of a large
tree. The nest is not as a rule particularly well concealed. It is very
distinctive in character, being a shallow cup made almost entirely of
green moss or fine grasses and bents, bound with cobwebs and lined
with black rootlets or fine grass and slung as a rule between two twigs
in a horizontal fork. The construction is firm and compact though
some are so thin that the eggs can be seen through the bottom.
The usual clutch consists of two eggs though three are sometimes
found. The egg is a moderately long and rather perfect oval, almost
devoid of gloss. The ground-colour is dull white or pinkish-white
and sometimes even warm salmon-pink, speckled more or less thickly,
and often heavily, with pale reddish-brown or pink ; these markings
are usually more numerous at the broad end and occasionally form
a cap.
The eggs average about 0-9 by 0^65 inches.
THE WHITE-BROWED BULBUL
PYCNONOTUS LUTEOLUS (Lesson)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
dull brownish olive-green, palest on the head where it is slightly
ashy and brightest on the wings ; rump yellowish ; two dull whitish
streaks from the beak over and under the eye ; chin pale clear yellow ;
lower parts pale asny-whitish tinged with yellow, brightest towards
the tail, the breast faintly streaked with brownish-grey.
Iris red ; bill black ; legs dark plumbeous.
Field Identification. — An inconspicuous but noisy bird, olive-
coloured above and paler below, with a white eyebrow, which skulks
in cactus and bushes in gardens and scrub-jungle.
Distribution. — Confined to Ceylon and India south of a line from
Baroda on the west to Midnapur on the east. While common in
Western Bengal and Orissa, in the Tributary Mahals, along the
THE WHITE-BROWED BULBUL 77
Eastern Ghats and about Bombay, it is rare or absent on the Deccan
tableland and throughout the Central Provinces. A resident species.
The Ceylon race, P. I. inmlce, is smaller and darker.
The Striated Green Bulbul (Alcurus leucogrammicus) is fairly
common in the Eastern Himalayas, the hills of Assam and in Burma.
It is crested, olive-green above with white shaft streaks and yellow
below streaked heavily with olive-brown. The pleasant song will be
familiar to many at Darjeeling.
Habits, etc. — This Bulbul avoids actual forest, and prefers scrub-
and bush-jungle in that netherland which is neither forest nor
cultivation. It frequents the outskirts of villages, and is a great lover
of the thick clumps and hedges of cactus and thorny bushes which
are found round every hamlet. In such cover it is a skulker, and
from the heart of its retreat it is prone to burst into a loud clear
volley of whistling notes which seem to tumble over each other, so
quickly are they produced. The sound is a lively, rowdy chatter
with no attempt at harmony — just a burst of not unpleasing notes,
ending in a frightened whistle. In Bombay and Madras it is a
common garden bird. It is a plains species, and though found in
the lower hills does not ascend those of any elevation. The food
consists of various fruits and berries.
This bird may be found breeding according to locality in almost
every month of the year, but about Bombay the main breeding season
is from April to July. Apparently two broods are reared. The
nest is a loose, rather untidy, and straggling cup of small twigs, lined
with fine grass stems, coir, or hair. It is built in thick bushes at no
great height from the ground, generally from 2 to 4 feet.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. They are decidedly
elongated ovals, fine and smooth in texture, and moderately glossy.
The ground-colour is reddish- white, thickly speckled and blotched
with reddish-brown, these markings mixed with clouds and spots
of pale greyish-lilac. In some specimens these markings coalesce
into a zone round the broad end.
The eggs average in size 0-9 by 0-6 inches.
THE HIMALAYAN TREE-CREEPER
CERTHIA HIMALAYANA Vigors
(Plate ii, Fig. 6, opposite page 22)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
a streaked mixture of blackish-brown and fulvous, the feathers at
the base of the tail strongly tinged with ferruginous ; a short streak
above the eye fulvous ; wings dark brown with a broad fulvous
78 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
band running through all the flight-feathers except the four outer-
most ; tail brown, regularly cross-barred with black ; chin and upper
throat pure white ; remainder of lower plumage pale smoky-brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill black, lower mandible fleshy-white ; legs
fleshy.
The bill is long, slender, and curved ; the toes and claws are very
long ; the tail is graduated and composed of stiff, pointed feathers.
Field Identification. — A very small bird, mottled brown above
and whitish below, with a long, curved beak- and stiff tail, invariably
found climbing up the bark of tree-trunks. This species is
distinguished from all other Indian Tree- Creepers by the black
cross-bars on the tail.
Distribution. — The Himalayan Tree-Creeper is generally dis-
tributed in the mountain ranges that encircle North-western India.
The typical form is found in the Central Himalayas about Simla,
Garhwal, and Kumaon. It is commonly said to occur farther
east to Sikkirn and Bhutan, but this is not the case. In Turkestan
there is a very grey race with a long bill which is known
as C. h. tceniura. Between the areas occupied by these two forms,
in Kashmir and the North-western Himalayas and the ranges running
down south along the North-west Frontier Province in Afghanistan and
Baluchistan, the Tree-Creepers are intermediate in character between
the above two races and have been given the name of C. h. limes.
The best known species in the Eastern Himalayas is the Sikkim
Tree-Creeper (Certhia discolor) a more richly coloured species with
the lower plumage earthy-brown.
Habits, etc. — During the breeding season the Himalayan Tree-
Creeper is found throughout the mountain forests between 5000
and 10,000 feet. It is perhaps most numerous in the areas of the
big spruce firs, but is sufficiently common wherever it is found. It
is an early breeder and very hardy in spite of its delicate-looking
appearance and small size, and as early as March its song is a familiar
sound in the snow-bound forests of the northern slopes at a time
when they are half empty of bird-life. During the winter months
from November to March large numbers drift downhill and wander
into the plains at the foot of the ranges, occurring at that season as
far afield as Jhang, Lahore, and Saharanpur.
The Tree-Creeper cannot fail to be identified by the veriest
beginner in the study of small birds. It is as much a parasite on
the tree-trunks as the vegetable creepers that cover many of them.
Except for an occasional scramble on a rock or the face of a steep
bank the Tree-Creeper spends its entire life in a monotony of
climbing, rather like a jerky brown mouse, from the bottom of a tree-
trunk up to the thicker portions of the boughs, and then sweeping
down through the air with a cicada-like flight to the base of a
THE HIMALAYAN TREE-CREEPER 79
neighbouring tree where it repeats the performance. It invariably
climbs upwards, neither jerking backwards and downwards like a
Woodpecker may on occasion, nor running in all directions and
positions like a Nuthatch, though from its habit of rather preferring
the underside of a bough it is frequently moving with its back
parallel to the ground. It never perches on a twig, though it
sometimes climbs along the thicker ones in continuation of its
progress along a bough, and it is never still longer than the interval
necessary to dislodge some tightly ensconced insect. For its food
is obtained entirely from the bark of the trees that it climbs, picked
out from amongst the crevices and holes with the long, curved beak,
and the progress of the little bird is often interrupted by a parabola
of flight after a small moth which has escaped it for the moment by
taking wing from its diurnal resting-place. The Creeper, while living
solitary or in pairs as regards its own kind, is very social with other
species, and one or two are invariably found with the mixed hunting
parties of Tits and Warblers, working the trunks while they hunt the
leaves and twigs, so that tree after tree undergoes a thorough scrutiny.
The ordinary call of the Tree-Creeper is a long-drawn squeak,
meaningless in tone and ventriloquial in character, which comes
from nowhere in particular amongst the trees, so that the bird is
difficult to locate. The song is loud, but brief and monotonous,
quis-quis-quis-quis uttered now and again in the depth of the forest,
and chiefly remarkable as holding the field alone before most species
in the hills have started their breeding song.
The breeding season is from March to early May.
The nest is a cup composed of fine grasses, dry leaves, moss,
chips, and miscellaneous debris with a lining of feathers and fur ; it
is placed in a hole or crevice in a tree-trunk, and very frequently
behind a loose bulging section of bark and between planks in wooden
buildings. The same site is often used for many years in succession.
Four to six eggs are laid ; they are regular broad ovals, fine in
texture without gloss. The ground-colour is white, profusely spotted
with various shades of red and brown, the markings tending in many
eggs to collect in a zone about the broad end.
They measure about 0-68 by 0-50 inches.
THE WALL-CREEPER
TlCHODROMA MURARIA (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. Summer plumage :
the whole of the body plumage ashy-grey, except the chin and
throat which are black ; a large crimson patch on the wings,
including the coverts and edges of the flight-feathers ; flight-feathers
8o POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
black, the four outer feathers each with two conspicuous white
spots ; tail black tipped with ashy which gradually changes to white
and increases in extent towards the outer feathers.
FIG. 12— Wall-Creeper (i nat. size)
In winter plumage the chin and throat are white and the top of
the head is brownish.
The bill is long and slender, the wings rounded and the hind
claws very large.
THE WALL-CREEPER 81
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — Can be confused with no other species ; a
french-grey bird with a long slender bill and crimson patches and
white spots in the wings, which spends its life climbing on banks,
walls, and rocks.
Distribution. — The Wall-Creeper is found in the mountain ranges
of Central and Southern Europe, and eastwards to Mongolia,
Turkestan, and the Himalayas. Breeding under very similar Alpine
conditions in these widely-distant areas it has not been influenced
by climate towards the formation of geographical races.
In the Himalayas it breeds at great elevations between 12,000
and 16,000 feet, and also apparently in the neighbouring ranges
between the North-west Frontier Province and Afghanistan. In
winter it descends to the outer ranges and the foot-hills, individuals
wandering well out into the plains.
The stumpy little dark brown Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) with
its cocked-up tail is found in the Sufed Koh, Kashmir and the Himalayas
generally in the high forest zone, descending lower in winter. There
are two different races but their habits are the same as those of the
British bird.
Habits, etc. — This beautiful bird can scarcely escape notice
where it occurs. In the Alpine fastnesses, where it breeds, it spends
its life on the faces of stupendous precipices, but in winter when it
comes lower down to the milder haunts of men it may be found
wherever small cliffs, steep-cut banks, walls, rocks, or boulders
provide the vertical surfaces on which it lives. For as the Tree-
Creeper is to the tree, so is the Wall-Creeper to the stone, and it is
equally rare for the one bird to invade the haunt of the other. The
Wall-Creeper progresses up the vertical face of stone in a curious
jerky fashion with a continual downward flick of the outermost
wing-feathers ; occasionally it flutters out into the air and endeavours
on the wing to capture some insect disturbed by its progress, and
the curious butterfly effect of this action has given the name of
" Butterfly-bird " in many languages from Switzerland to Tibet.
Unlike the Tree-Creeper, the Wall-Creeper has perforce to undertake
long flights in the air as it passes from cliff to cliff. Then it is
curiously reminiscent of a Hoopoe, the same hovering, uncertain
flight as if the bird was wondering where to go, the same rounded
spotted wings, the same general build, the long curved beak too, a
curious case of parallelism still unexplained.
In its occasional wanderings into the plains it is often hard put
to find the conditions necessary to its life and is in consequence
sometimes found in curious places. Every winter one or two live
on the structure of the Khalsa College at Amritsar.
The breeding season in the Himalayas is about May and June.
F
82 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The nest is a pad of moss and wool, more or less mixed and lined
with wool, fur, hair, and feathers, placed in some crevice in the face
of a precipice, almost invariably in an inaccessible situation.
The clutch consists of four to six eggs ; they are broad ovals,
compressed and pointed towards the smaller end. The colour is a
rather dull white sparsely freckled with deep reddish-brown, chiefly
towards the broad end.
The egg measures about 0-85 by 0-55 inches.
THE BROWN DIPPER
CINCLUS PALLASII Temminck
(Plate ix Fig. 5, opposite page 176)
Description. — Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. Entire plumage dull
chocolate-brown ; the eyelids covered with white feathers.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs pale brown, soles yellow.
The young bird is paler and greyer with the plumage squamated.
Field Identification. — A sombre dark-brown bird, squat in shape,
with a short tail and sharp beak like a large Wren, found on running
open water in the Himalayas ; flies very swiftly low over the water
with a shrill call.
Distribution. — This sombre species of Dipper is found throughout
the greater part of Northern Asia from Siberia and Manchuria to
the Himalayas and Japan ; it is divided into several races, of which
we are only concerned with one (C. p. tenuirostris). This is found
in Afghanistan and Turkestan, and throughout the Himalayas to
Eastern Assam north of the Brahmaputra. It is a resident species
breeding mainly from the foot-hills up to about 6000 feet, but »it
occurs also at all heights up to 12,000 feet.
A race of the Common Dipper (Cinclus cinclus) of Europe is found
at high elevations of the Inner Himalayas, being best known from
Kashmir to Gurhwal. It is easily recognised by the pure white throat
and breast.
Habitsy etc. — The Brown Dipper is entirely aquatic in its habits,
and is found commonly on all the open perennial streams and
rivers of the Himalayas, both amongst the wooded ranges of their
southern slopes and amid the arid, stony mountains of their central
and inner ranges. It obtains from the water all its food, consisting
mainly of aquatic insects and their larvae, and these it captures
by wading, swimming, and diving, having also the faculty of walking
about on the bed of the stream under water. For these methods
it is admirably adapted in structure. It is short, rotund, and
stoutly built, the plumage is everywhere very dense and incapable
THE BROWN DIPPER 83
of penetration by water, and even the eyelids are clothed with
feathers ; the head is narrowed in front and the feathers of the
forehead are very short and lie flat.
It is a most active bird, never still and always busy. The harsh
call dzchit-dzchit is a familiar sound along hill streams, shrill enough
to be heard easily above the roar of the waters ; it heralds the approach
of the small plump brown bird that flies swiftly along a foot or two
above the surface of the water, swaying from, side to side amongst
the boulders and only making a detour over land to avoid some
intruder at the water's edge ; the wings appear rather small for the
stout body, and to make up for this they are vibrated very quickly
in flight in sustained beats followed by a pause.
Settling on a stone the bird bows and jerks from side to side,
or immediately starts feeding, keeping its foothold easily on slippery
stones and disappearing under water either diving or walking. It
swims freely on the broader pools, looking like a miniature Water-hen,
now and again diving and disappearing for a while.
The breeding season is from December to May.
The nest is a large globular structure of moss and grass, stoutly
constructed with massive walls, and the entrance placed at one side
is comparatively large. The egg-chamber is lined with moss, roots
and leaves.
The situation chosen is always close to or above the water, and
the nests are wedged into hollows and clefts of rocks and boulders
overgrown with mosses and ferns and damp with moisture.
The clutch consists of four or five eggs. In shape they are rather
elongated ovals, very soft and satiny in texture, and almost without
gloss. The colour is pure white, and the average size is about i-oo
by 0*72 inches.
THE INDIAN BLUE-CHAT
LUSCINIA BRUNNEA (Hodgson)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Male : The whole upper plumage,
including the exposed parts of the wings and tail, dull blue, the
hidden parts of the wing- and tail-quills brownish-black ; a conspicuous
white line over the eye ; the sides of the face and neck black ; throat,
breast and sides of the body bright chestnut, paler on the chin ;
thighs ashy-grey ; remainder of lower plumage white.
Female : The whole upper plumage and the exposed parts of
the wings and tail olive-brown, tinged with russet on the sides of
the wings and above the tail ; sides of the face russet flecked with
paler ; middle of chin and throat, the abdomen and a patch under
84 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
the tail white ; remainder of lower plumage warm fulvous-brown or
olive-brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill black in male, dark horny-brown in female ;
legs steely-brown.
Field Identification. — A spry looking bird found on or near the
ground in thick undergrowth in forest in the Himalayas in summer
and in South India in winter. Male looks very dark blue above and
chestnut below with a conspicuous white line over the eye ; female
an inconspicuous olive-brown bird, more fulvous and white below.
Has a characteristic song.
Distribution. — The typical race of the Blue- Chat breeds in a zone
between 6500 and n,ooo feet in the Sufed Koh, through Kashmir
proper and in the Himalayas to Bhutan ; also in the Lichiang Range
of North Yunnan. It winters mainly in the hills of South-west India
between 2000 and 5000 feet from the Wynaad to South Travancore
and in the central hills of Ceylon. On passage from August to October
and from March to mid May it may be found here and there throughout
the Peninsula except west of a line from Delhi to Agra and Baroda.
A slightly smaller race L. b. wickhami breeds in Burma and is apparently
resident.
Habits, etc. — During the breeding season the Indian Blue- Chat
is a common bird in the forests of the Western Himalayas, being
particularly numerous about the hill stations of Murree and the Galis,
in the ranges of Kashmir proper and at suitable elevations about
Dalhousie, Dharamsala, Simla and in the Gahrwal ranges. In these
forests it affects patches of undergrowth and scrub and the sheltered
sides of nullahs. By the ordinary passer-by it is seldom seen, being
a skulker of secretive habits ; but its commonness is vouched for by
the rich though quite short song, and a good way to observe the singer
is to creep quietly into the centre of a patch of cover and sit there
till his alarm has been forgotten. The male may then be seen at
quite close quarters as he hops warbling and whistling through the
cover, or sings from a perch in the undergrowth or on the lower
bough of a tree. The sombre female is still more difficult to observe.
The song consists of three or four rather monotonous notes —
jerri- jerri- jerri or phwee-phwee-phwee — in an ascending scale, followed
by a rapidly repeated trill, tre-tre-tre-tretre, the last rather reminiscent
of an English Robin's song. Once learnt it cannot be mistaken. The
alarm-note is a harsh tack-tack like that of the Stonechat and in
the close neighbourhood of the nest a faint, anxious squeak is uttered.
A very characteristic habit is the fanning of the tail and the jerking
of it slowly downwards from the level of the back, every fifth or sixth
movement bringing it up again.
In its winter quarters the Blue-Chat is still a bird of shady thickets,
marshy spots and banks of streams and it may also be found under
THE INDIAN BLUE-CHAT 85
coffee bushes and cardamum plants. Here it is usually found singly,
flitting about the undergrowth, alighting on the ground and hopping
along easily and swiftly in search of the insects that make up its food.
The alarm-note and the faint squeak may be heard, but the song is
not uttered in the winter quarters.
The breeding season lasts from the end of May till the end of July.
The nest is a cup of lichens and dead or skeleton leaves, lined
with a little wool, pine-needles, hair or a few feathers. It is built
on the ground, either in a hollow on a steep bank or between the
roots and buttresses of trees, particularly large firs.
The clutch consists normally of four eggs. In shape they are
true ovals, fine and close and silky in texture but without gloss. The
colour is a uniform pale blue, unmarked.
They measure about 0-80 by 0-60 inches.
This species is a favourite foster parent for the Common Cuckoo
(Cuculus canorus).
THE PIED BUSH-CHAT
SAXICOLA CAPRATA (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Male : Deep black all over, with
the exception of a large patch at the base of the tail, the lower abdomen,
and a conspicuous wing-patch, which are white. In fresh autumn
plumage the feathers are sometimes margined with rusty-brown.
Female : Upper plumage greyish-brown, with a rufous patch at
the base of the tail ; wings and tail dark brown, the feathers with
pale edges ; the lower plumage brownish-grey, gradually darkening on
the breast and becoming more fulvous towards the tail. In fresh
autumn plumage the feathers have broad grey margins which make
the bird look paler in colour.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — Abundant in the plains and lower hills in
every type of open country ; the male is a conspicuous little black
and white bird, the female dark brown with a rusty patch at the base
of the tail. They perch on the tops of grasses and bushes and at
intervals fly down to the ground to pick up insects.
Distribution. — Transcaspia, Afghanistan, Persia, India, Burma, the
Philippines, and Java. The Pied Bush- Chat occurs practically
throughout India, and three races are found within our limits though
their detailed distribution is not very accurately known. P. c.
bicolor, with the abdomen largely white, breeds in considerable
numbers from the plains up to 5000 feet and locally higher,
from the extreme North-west, Baluchistan, and Sind, along the
F2
86
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Outer Himalayas and the neighbouring plains. It is here largely
a summer visitor, arriving in February and March and leaving in
September and October. In winter it appears as far south as
Hyderabad State. P. c. caprata, with the abdomen black, is found
from Vizagapatam to Salem and across Mysore to Malabar as well as
in Burma and farther afield. It grades through S. c. nilgiriensis
(Nilgiris, Palnis and Travancore ranges) to the huge billed S. c. air at a
which is confined to the higher ranges of central hill zone of Ceylon.
Habits i, etc. — This Bush- Chat is one of the most familiar birds of
the plains of India, the pied plumage of the male and its habit of
perching on the tops of bushes and clumps of grass attracting the
attention of all who are observant of
wild creatures. It avoids heavy forest
but is common about cultivation, in
grasslands and in scrub-jungle, and is
particularly partial to the riverain areas
of Northern India where cultivation
and tracts of tamarisk scrub and grass
alternate.
It takes practically all its food from
the ground, flying down to it from some
favourite vantage point which commands
a view of bare ground in the vicinity, and
to which it returns after the capture of
each morsel with the self-satisfied spread
and jerk of the tail that is common to
most of the family. On occasion it
launches out into the air and captures
flying insects on the wing.
In the breeding season, as a display,
the male drops and quivers the wings and
raises the scapulars to show the white
wing-patches ; there is also a very pretty
love flight in which he flies up singing
from the top spray of a bush with tail outspread and wings slowly
beating the air above the head, and descends again to settle on another
bush. In this flight, also, prominence is laid on the displaying of the
wing-patches.
The ordinary note is the harsh chipping sound of two stones
knocked together, common to the Chats and from which they derive
their name. The song is short but very sweet and pleasing.
The food seems to consist entirely of insects.
The breeding season extends from March until August, but the
majority of nests will be found from April to June.
The nest is a cup of small grass roots, bents, and the like, lined
FIG. 13— Pied Bush-Chat
(J nat. size)
THE PIED BUSH-CHAT 87
with hair, fur, and wool. It is placed in hollows in the ground, either
on the level under tufts of grass and herbage or in the face of banks ;
occasionally holes in buildings and rocks are utilised, but the bird is
normally a ground builder and the nests are always well concealed.
The clutch varies from three to five eggs.
The eggs are short, broad ovals with a fine texture and a faint
gloss. The ground-colour is pale bluish-white or occasionally pale
stone or pinkish-white, and the markings, which tend to collect towards
the broad end, are freckles, specks, and small blotches of pale reddish-
brown.
They measure about 0-67 by 0-55 inches.
THE STONECHAT
SAXICOLA TORQUATA (Linnaeus)
(Plate xiv, Fig. 2, opposite page 286)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Male : Upper plumage including
the wings and tail brownish-black, with a conspicuous white patch
of white on the wings and at the base of the tail ; the sides of the
head and the chin and throat black with a large patch of white
bordering the sides of the neck ; breast orange-rufous merging into
the paler rufous of the under parts. In fresh autumn plumage the
feathers are broadly edged with fulvous, which greatly obscures
the above scheme of coloration, and changes the whole aspect of
the bird ; the edges gradually wear off revealing the true coloration.
Female : Upper plumage, wings and tail brown with smaller less
conspicuous white patches on the wings, and a rufous patch at the
base of the tail ; line over the eye, the chin and the throat pale
fulvous ; remainder of the lower plumage pale orange-rufous. In
fresh autumn plumage the feathers are slightly edged with fulvous,
but not sufficiently for abrasion to change the plumage markedly.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — In open country, in both hills and plains,
perching on tips of grass and bushes. Males recognised by black
head, white collar, reddish breast, and white shoulder-patch. Female,
a small dull brown bird similar to female of Pied Bush-Chat, but
rather paler in colour with the rusty rump -patch less marked, and
with traces of a white shoulder-patch.
Distribution. — The Stonechat is very widely distributed in Europe,
Africa, and Asia, and is divided into a number of races, of which we
are chiefly concerned with the Himalayan breeding form, known as
S. torquata indica. This breeds in Western Siberia, Russian Turkestan
to the South Urals, and throughout the Himalayas ; also in the ranges
88 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
that extend down the North-western Frontier to Baluchistan. In the
Himalayas the majority breed between 5000 and 7000 feet, but a few
nest even higher, and stragglers nest in the foot-hills, and even the
plains of North-western India. In winter, from about September to
April, the Stonechat migrates to the plains of India, and may then
be found everywhere except in the extreme south. A resident race
S. t. leucura, with much white in the tail, breeds in the riverain jungles
and swampy areas of the terais and dunes and the Indo-Gangetic plain.
S. t. przewalskiiy the dark breeding race of Tibet, and S. t. stejnegeri,
the broad-billed race of North-eastern Asia, visit Northern and Eastern
India in winter.
Habits, etc. — The Stonechat is never found in forest country.
During the summer months, whilst breeding in the Himalayas, it is
found on the open hill-sides, either amongst the terraced cultivation
or on the bare waste slopes where rough grazing alternates with
rocky screes. In winter in the plains it is largely a bird of open
cultivation, being particularly partial to fields with standing crops of
cotton, sugar-cane, or the various cereals. Under all circumstances
its characteristics are the same. It invariably perches on some
vantage-point, either a large stone or more generally the topmost
twig of a bush or plant, and thence makes short flights in all directions
on to the ground to capture some insect, either devouring it on the
spot, or taking it back for the purpose to its perch. It is very restless
and fairly shy, and is incessantly flirting its wings and tail. It does
not move about on the ground, but the flight is fast and strong, and
once alarmed the bird is difficult to approach. The alarm-notes, hweet-
chat, hweet-chat, somewhat resemble the noise made by clinking two
stones together, and are responsible for the bird's trivial name ; they
are uttered at the least provocation, as the bird is rather fussy and
suspicious. The song is a short low trill, and is quite pleasant though
it is audible but for a short distance.
The breeding season lasts from March to July, but most eggs will
be found in April and May. Two broods are reared in a season.
The nest is a cup composed of rather coarse grass and roots,
sometimes mixed with moss or dry leaves, and lined with fine grass,
hair, fur, and occasionally a few feathers. It is built in holes in
terrace walls, under rocks and boulders, in banks and under tufts
of foliage, and is well concealed, so that it is best found by watching
the parents with field glasses.
The normal clutch consists of four or five eggs.
They are rather broad ovals with little or no gloss. The ground-
colour is dull pale green or greenish-white, very finely and faintly
freckled with pale brownish-red ; the markings are very delicate in
character and tend to collect towards the broad end.
They measure about 0*70 by 0*55 inches.
PLATE V
. White-throated Laughing-Thrush. 2. Deccan Scimitar-Babbler. 3. Jerdon's
Chloropsis. 4. Black-headed Sibia. (All about T^ nat. size.)
[Face p. 88
THE DARK-GREY BUSH-CHAT 89
THE DARK-GREY BUSH-CHAT
RHODOPHILA FERREA (Gray)
(Plate xi, Fig. 2, opposite page 220)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : Upper plumage dark
ashy-grey mixed with black ; wings black edged with grey, and
with a white patch on the inner coverts ; tail black, the feathers
increasingly margined with white outwards ; a broad white streak
above the eye ; sides of the head black ; entire lower plumage white
sullied with ashy along the flanks and on the thighs. In fresh autumn
plumage the upper parts have rusty margins to the feathers but these
soon wear off.
Female : The whole upper plumage rufous-ashy ; tail brown,
broadly edged with chestnut matching the upper tail-coverts ; wings
brown, the feathers narrowly edged with rufous ; a pale grey streak
above the eye ; sides of the head reddish-brown ; chin and throat
white ; remainder of lower plumage pale rufous-ashy.
Iris brown ; bill black ; legs dark brown.
The tail is rather longer and more graduated than in the true
Chats of the genus Saxicola.
Field Identification. — Common Himalayan form. Male pied black
and white with the under surface white ; female rufous-brown, paler
below with a chestnut tail ; sits conspicuously on bushes and trees
on the more open hill-sides ; tail comparatively long.
Distribution. — This Bush-Chat breeds throughout the Himalayas
from the borders of Afghanistan and Chitral to Eastern Assam at
elevations between 4000 and 10,000 feet. While not migratory in
the true sense of the word, it moves to a lower zone in the winter
months ; at that season it is common along the waterways of Assam
and Eastern Bengal, but in the west only a few straggle to the plains
along the base of the Himalayas.
HabitSy etc. — This is a familiar bird in Himalayan hill stations,
frequenting all types of country provided that they are moderately
open ; it is fond of gardens and the immediate neighbourhood of
man. It has the family habit of perching in conspicuous positions
on the tops of bushes, but differs from the Chats of the genus
Saxicola in its fondness for situations at the tops of trees. In such
places the male sings his rather pretty but unsatisfactory little song,
Tttheratu-chak-lew-titattt — always just that length but with a few
variations, and with a rising inflection that ends suddenly. It captures
insects and caterpillars on the ground, and also sallies into the air to
take insects on the wing. While bold and familiar in an ordinary
way, it develops a very anxious demeanour during the nesting season,
90 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
flirting its long tail and making a noise which has been aptly described
as " geezing," recalling the winding of a watch. The nearer one
approaches to the nest or fledged young the more excited become
the birds, so that their very anxiety betrays the spot on the principle
of the children's game of " hot and cold."
The breeding season lasts from the beginning of April to the
end of July and two broods are reared, occasionally from the same
nest.
The nest is the usual cup characteristic of the Chats, a structure
of coarse grass, fine twigs, and moss, lined with fine roots and grass
stems, horse-hair, and fur. It is placed in a hollow either on some
grassy bank, beneath a stone, amongst the roots of a tree, or occasionally
amongst the stones of a rough terrace wall.
The clutch consists of four or five eggs. In shape they are a
broad oval, with a stout and fine texture and little gloss. The ground-
colour is variable from bluish-white to bluish-green ; the markings
consist of faint reddish speckles which may either cover the whole
egg so completely that it appears rufous rather than blue, or collect
into a zone or cap about the broad end.
The egg measures about 0-72 by 0-57 inches.
This Bush-Chat is commonly victimised by the Cuckoo (Cuculus
canorus), and a large proportion of its nests are destroyed by other
enemies.
THE PIED WHEATEAR
(ENANTHE PICATA (Blyth)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Male : Black throughout except
a patch on the rump and upper tail-coverts, and the lower plumage
from the breast downwards which are pure white ; the tail is white
except for a broad black band across the end, widening on the central
pair to nearly half of the feathers.
Female : Upper plumage brown ; a white patch on the rump
and upper tail-coverts ; wings dark brown ; tail as in the male but
black replaced by brown ; chin, throat, and breast dark ochraceous-
brown ; remainder of lower plumage pale buff y- whitish.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — In dry open country sitting on walls, stones,
and posts ; male black with white rump and under parts, and a white
tail banded with black which is conspicuous in flight ; female brown
with similar tail ; flies low and fast over the ground when disturbed.
Distribution. — Breeds in South - east Persia, Baluchistan,
Afghanistan, the neighbouring areas of the North-west Frontier
THE PIED WHEATEAR 91
Province, and Baltistan. In winter migrates to India where it is
abundant in Sind, Rajputana, and portions of the United Provinces,
and in smaller numbers in the Punjab. Two very closely allied
species, the White-capped Wheatear (OSnanthe capistratd) and
Strickland's Wheatear (CEnanthe opisthokuca) winter in some numbers
in North-west India, the latter breeding along the Suliman Hills.
They closely resemble the Pied Wheatear, and by some writers have
been erroneously considered polymorphisms of that species. The first
named has the top of the head and nape greyish-white. Strickland's
Wheatear has the lower parts black almost to the vent.
Habits, etc. — This handsome Wheatear is amongst the earliest of
FIG. 14 — Pied Wheatear (J nat. size)
the winter visitors to arrive in India, appearing in Sind about the
middle of August ; it leaves again in February and March. This,
like other Wheatears, avoids forest and damp areas. It prefers
open desert, thin scrub-jungle, and the drier stretches of cultivation ;
and in such places is particularly fond of the neighbourhood of
native huts and cattle-folds, attracted no doubt by the insects that
gather in their vicinity. It perches comparatively seldom in trees,
but sits on low mud walls, well-posts, and similar situations where
it watches for food, and thence flies down to the ground to pick up
wandering beetles, ants, and other insect life. The flight is strong
and fast and always low over the ground, and, perching or hopping,
the carriage of the bird is very spry and upright. Each individual
has its own beat with a series of observation-posts, and resents the
arrival within it of intruders of the same species, chasing them
away : it is however rather a shy bird, as regards man. During
the midday heat it rests quietly in some shady spot, and at night it
92 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
roosts in the roofs of buildings by preference. The male has a very
sweet, low warbling song, which is sometimes uttered in winter.
In this species, as in the allied species mentioned, there is a marked
preponderance of males in India in winter, somewhat in the pro-
portion of twenty to one female, and no explanation of the fact is
known.
In Baluchistan and the Kurram it breeds from late April to June
at heights from 5000 to 8000 feet and even higher. The nest is a
large structure of roots, bents, and feathers, the cup being lined
with wool and hair. It is placed deep in a hole in a bank, rock, or
wall. The clutch consists of four or five eggs.
The egg is a blunt, broad oval, fine and close in texture, with a
fair gloss. The ground-colour varies from white to pale skim-milk-
blue, sparsely marked with tiny freckles and a few small blotches of
reddish-brown, the markings tending to gather in a zone round the
broad end.
The egg measures about 0-8 by O'6 inches.
THE DESERT WHEATEAR
(ENANTHE DESERTI (Temminck)
(Plate xiv, Fig. 4, opposite page 286)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : Upper plumage rich
buff turning to a white patch at the base of the tail ; wings black,
the feathers margined with white or buff, and with a patch on the
inner coverts white ; tail black, the basal half of the feathers white ;
a pale buff streak over the eyes ; sides of the head and neck, chin,
and throat black, the feathers edged with buff ; remainder of lower
plumage buff, brightest on the breast.
Female : Resembles the male, but is duller and the black is
replaced by brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — A typical Wheatear perching on the ground
or on low bushes in arid open country ; sandy in colour with dark
wings, and black throat-patch in male ; a white patch in the base
of the tail ; flies low and fast over the ground when disturbed.
Distribution. — The Desert Wheatear has a wide distribution as
a breeding species in Northern Africa, Palestine, Arabia, and South-
western Asia to Tibet. It is divided into several races, of which we
are only concerned with two. CE. d. atrogularis breeds in Western
Central Asia, the Kirghiz Steppe, the South Caucasus to Eastern
Persia and Afghanistan. In winter it migrates to the plains of North-
western India, becoming very common in the North-west Frontier
THE DESERT WHEATEAR 93
Province, the Punjab and Sind, and reaching the latitude of Bombay
to the south and Nagpur in the east. CE. d. oreophila, slightly larger
with more white in the wing-quills breeds in Baltistan, Ladakh and
Lahul but winters south-west of our limits. This species must not
be confused with the Isabelline Wheatear (CEnanthe tsabellina), also a
winter visitor to North-western India, in which both sexes closely
resemble the female of the Desert Wheatear but have the black bar
on the end of the tail narrower.
The Red-tailed Wheatear (CEnanthe xathoprymna), common about
broken land in North-western India, has the tail chestnut with a black
terminal band that is much as in the Blue-throat, but its habits
which are like those of the Desert Wheatear distinguish it from the
skulking Bluethroat.
Habits, etc. — This is a true denizen of the desert, being generally
distributed and common in the wide arid plains of North-western
India, where it prefers the more barren and sandy wastes, though it
comes also into cultivation where this is interspersed with barren
patches. It is particularly fond of broken ground, either sandy or
rocky, and of old cultivation which has reverted to desert. It spends
most of its time on the ground, perching on stones and little eminences
or on the wild caper bushes and uck plants that are common in the
localities it inhabits ; from such spots it hops or flies to the ground
to capture beetles and other insects, occasionally darting up into the
air to take insects on the wing. It arrives in India later than most
of the Wheatears, about the middle of October, and leaves again in
February and early March. It flies well but keeps low above the
ground and practically never perches on trees.
This species, in the race CE. d. oreophila, just nests in Indian terri-
tory in farther Kashmir and Lahul on the barren hillsides and sandy
plains at elevations of 10,000 to 12,000 feet.
The nest is placed in burrows, under bushes, and in holes in
walls. It is a shapeless mass pf grass, fine roots and twigs, wool,
hair, and other materials, in which a shallow hollow is lined with
hair and a few feathers.
The clutch consists of three to five eggs ; these are pale bluish-
green speckled and spotted with rusty-red.
In size they average about 0-80 by 0-56 inches.
94 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE BROWN ROCK-CHAT
CERCOMELA FUSCA (Blyth)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. The whole plumage
dull rufous-brown, redder on the sides of the head and lower parts ;
tail very dark brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — Plains species, frequenting ruins, outskirts
of towns, old brickyards and low rocky hills ; a plain dark-brown
bird familiar in demeanour, coming into occupied buildings.
Distribution. — This is purely an Indian species and is confined
to a patch of country in the centre of the Peninsula, including the
Southern and Eastern Punjab, the United Provinces, Chota Nagpur,
the extreme North-east of the Central Provinces, and Rajputana as
far east as Cutch.
Habits , etc. — The Brown Rock-Chat is a common and /familiar
species found both in arid stony wastes, in deep ravines and earthy
cliffs, on rocky hills, and in and about villages and towns. It is a
great frequenter of buildings, flitting in and out of the empty
chambers and gaping windows of ancient palaces and forts,
perching in the cornices of tombs and mosques, and living even
in the more frequented houses and offices of the work-a-day world,
the friend alike of rich and poor. It comes into rooms even when
there are people moving and talking within ; it is a regular Wheatear
in its habits, flying from ground to roof-ridge, from window to cornice,
with the strong direct flight of those birds ; its food consists of insects,
beetles, ants, and the like, which it captures on the ground, flying down
from the elevated situations where it perches. During the breeding
season it becomes rather pugnacious and readily attacks squirrels,
rats, lizards, and birds in the neighbourhood of the nest.
The breeding season lasts from February to August, but most eggs
will be found in March and April. Two or three broods are reared
in a year, sometimes in the same nest.
The nest is a shallow, loosely-constructed cup of grass-roots,
wool, hair, and similar materials, sometimes separately lined with
wool and hair ; occasionally it is supported by a little heap of small
stones and fragments of -clay. It is built in holes in rocks, buildings,
and stone walls, and when in buildings may be placed on shelves and
rafters without any attempt at concealment.
The normal clutch consists of three eggs, but four or five are
sometimes laid.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, rather pointed towards the
small end ; the texture is fine with a good deal of gloss. The
THE SPOTTED FORKTAIL 95
ground-colour is a most delicate pale pure blue ; the markings
consist of tiny specks and spots of reddish-brown, which tend to
collect in a zone round the broad end.
The egg measures about 0-82 by 0-62 inches.
THE SPOTTED FORKTAIL
ENICURUS MACULATUS Vigors
Description. — Length n inches, including a long, deeply-forked
tail of 6 inches. Sexes alike. A patch on the forehead and crown,
a large patch on the rump, and the lower plumage from the breast
downwards white ; remainder of body plumage black, with round
white spots on the hind neck, and lunate white spots on the back ;
feathers of the lower breast spotted with white ; a broad white bar
across the wing ; the inner flight-feathers marked with white ; tail
black, the feathers white at the base and broadly tipped with white,
and the two outer pairs entirely white.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs white.
Field Identification. — A Himalayan bird with a peculiar loud call,
found on mountain streams in forest ; pied black and white, with a
deeply-forked tail which droops at the end, and is incessantly swayed
up and down. The markings on the upper surface form in life a
white St Andrew's-Cross on a black ground.
Distribution. — The Spotted Forktail is found throughout the
Himalayas, and farther eastwards through Assam and Siam to China.
It is divided into several races, of which two are Himalayan. The
typical race is found throughout the Western Himalayas from 3000
to 12,000 feet from the extreme North-western Frontier to Nepal.
From Nepal eastwards to Sikkim and Assam, and still farther east,
it is replaced by E. m. guttatus which has no white spots on the breast.
This race is found in the Himalayas between 2000 and 8000 feet.
A resident species, though it probably changes its elevation slightly
at different seasons.
The Slaty-backed Forktail (Enicurus schistaceus), common in the
Eastern Himalayas, is of the same type with a long forked tail.
The crown to the lower back are slaty blue-grey. The Little Forktail
(Microcichla scouleri\ however, found throughout the Himalayas, has
a very short tail, but little more than half the wing in length.
Habits, etc. — The Forktail is a water-bird, strictly confined to
running streams in hill ravines, preferably those that flow under
fairly thick forest. It feeds on insects which it obtains from the
water and the stream-bed ; it walks sedately over the stones along
the margins of the water, feeding with a quick pecking motion,
96
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
rather similar to that of a chicken ; and as it goes the black and
white plumage blends marvellously with the glint of flowing water
and the dark shadows amongst the stones so that it is seldom noticed
till it takes to flight. It has a habit of frequently and unexpectedly
turning at right angles or from side to side, and now and again it
advances with little tripping runs, the white legs passing over the
slippery stones with a sure-footed celerity. Standing and moving,
the beautiful forked tail is always a characteristic feature, slowly
swaying upwards and downwards.
The call is a loud, rather plaintive cheeer, uttered both on the
FIG. i ^—Spotted Forktail (I nat. size)
ground and in flight, and it is usually the first intimation of the
presence of the bird that flies up from the bed of a stream that one
is slowly climbing and settles again by the water some fifty yards
or so above ; again one disturbs it and the manoeuvre is repeated.
Then as one reaches the limit of its territory it leaves the stream,
and slipping through the neighbouring forest regains the water below
one and starts to feed again ; occasionally for a few minutes it perches
on a bough of a tree, but this is seldom.
The breeding season lasts from April till June.
The nest is a most compact and heavy cup of green moss mixed
with fine roots and a good deal of clay ; the cavity is lined with
skeletonised leaves. It is placed near the water, in a niche of rock
or a hollow of the bank, or amongst the roots of a tree.
THE SPOTTED FORKTAIL 97
The clutch usually consists of three eggs, but four are sometimes
laid. The egg is a rather elongated and pointed oval, fine in texture
with very little gloss. The ground-colour is pale greenish or pale
stone-colour, and the markings consist of fine spots and freckles of
yellowish- or reddish-brown, evenly and often thinly distributed.
The egg measures about O'68 by 0-75 inches.
THE BLACK REDSTART
PHCENICURUS OCHRURUS (Gmelin)
(Plate viii, Fig. i, opposite page 154)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male in fresh autumn plumage :
Body plumage black, more or less concealed by grey fringes which
wear off as the winter progresses so that the bird gradually becomes
blacker in appearance ; the hinder parts from the rump and abdomen
orange chestnut, except the central pair of tail-feathers which are
brown ; flight-feathers and the larger coverts brown edged with rufous.
Female : Brown tinged with fulvous, paler below and suffused
with orange from the abdomen downwards ; a pale ring round the
eye ; rump and tail chestnut, the central pair of feathers brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — Abundant winter visitor to the plains, easily
distinguished from all other birds by its habit of shivering the reddish
tail at short intervals.
Distribution. — The Black Redstart is a widely-spread species
occurring almost throughout Europe and Asia and in portions of
Africa. In this immense range it is divided into a number of races all
very similar in appearance, of which two are to be found in our area.
P. o. phosnicuroides breeds in Persia, Turkestan, and Afghanistan,
and in the mountains of Baluchistan ; it also breeds in the high
mountain areas, over 10,000 feet, of Kashmir, Ladakh, and Western
Tibet north of the Central Himalayan range, where forest country
has given place to the desolate barren valleys and mountains beyond
the reach of the monsoons. In the winter, from September to April,
it migrates to the plains of North-western India, extending south as
far as Northern Guzerat. P. o. rufiventris occupies a more eastern
range, breeding from Tibet to China and wintering in South-western
China, Burma, Assam, and North-eastern, Central, and Southern India.
This form was noticed as high as 20,000 feet on migration by the
Everest Expedition.
The Blue-fronted Redstart (Phomicurus frontalis), easily recognis-
able amongst the members of its genus by the black terminal band
G
98 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
to the chestnut tail, breeds in a high zone about 10,000 feet in the
Himalayas. In winter it is common about the hill stations.
Habits, etc. — Those who are fortunate enough to travel in the
high Himalayas in summer in the barren uplands of Kashmir and
Ladakh, Tibet, Spiti, and Lahul, will recognise in the Black
Redstart one of the most familiar of the roadside birds — all the
more conspicuous because of the general scarcity of bird-life. They
flit about the stones and boulders and roadside walls, now indulging
in a pleasing song with wheezy jingling notes and trills, now indicat-
ing the neighbourhood of eggs or young by the low anxious alarm
note ; and all the time amongst their restless movements the charac-
teristic shiver of the tail is seen. There up on the breeding grounds
the bird is very shy and cautious, but in the winter when it descends
to the Indian plains this trait is lost and it becomes one of the most
pleasant and friendly of our garden birds ; in fact its whole character
appears to change and only the shiver of the tail remains to recall
our friend of the barren heights. In India it is essentially a bird
of open smiling cultivation and pleasant fertile gardens : it haunts
the shade, not of deep groves and jungles but little patches of shade
amongst the sunshine, perching on the lower branches of trees and
flying down ever and anon to the ground to pick up its insect food.
The call then is a curious little croak.
As in most birds that breed at high elevations the breeding season
is late, eggs being laid in June. The nest is a large substantial cup of
fine twigs, bents, roots, grass stems, moss, and similar materials, lined
with shreds of grass, hair, and feathers. It is placed in walls (which
are built of loose stones and without mortar in countries where this
species breeds) or under stones on the steep hill-sides.
The clutch consists of four to six eggs. The eggs are of two types,
very pale greenish-blue or almost pure white, with a slight gloss but
no markings.
They measure about 0-80 by 0-60 inches.
THE WHITE-CAPPED REDSTART
CHAIMARRHORNIS LEUCOCEPHALA (Vigors)
(Plate viii, Fig. 4, opposite page 1 54)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head
shining white ; rest of the head, neck, back, breast, and wings black ;
the rump and lower plumage from the breast downwards bright
chestnut ; tail chestnut, a black band across the tip.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — A bird of the Himalayan streams and rivers
THE WHITE-CAPPED REDSTART 99
where they are not closed in with trees. Quite unmistakable with
shining white cap, black and chestnut plumage, and chestnut tail
ending in a black bar.
Distribution. — The White-capped Redstart is found from the hills
of Baluchistan and the Afghan frontier right along the Himalayas
and farther east to Western China, occurring in all the higher mountain
systems of this area. It breeds at elevations between 6000 and 16,000
feet, individuals wandering even higher, but the majority of nests
are certainly to be found between 8000 and 13,000 feet. During
the winter it descends from high altitudes and is common along all
the rivers of the foot-hills to the edge of the plains.
Habits, etc. — This lovely Redstart is familiar to all who have
done much travelling in the higher altitudes of the Himalayas. It
is strictly a water-bird dwelling on rivers and mountain streams,
whether they flow amongst the verdant slopes and wooded precipices
of the Outer Himalayas or through the barren valleys of the Inner
and Central Himalayas where stony scree and tortuous glaciers wind
down from the snow-clad peaks. In the desolation of the latter
surroundings the beautiful plumage and the cheerful ways of the
bird readily attract the attention of the traveller.
It is pre-eminently a bird of the boulders amongst rushing water,
and often drifts of snow, flying swiftly from bank to bank or fly-
catching with little erratic flights from stone to stone, its loud plaintive
squeak t-e-e-e-e being easily heard amongst the roar of the waters.
During the breeding season different pairs have their territory defined
along the torrents where they live.
As with most Redstarts, the tail is an expressive organ. Con-
tinuously the bird beats it up and down from well above the line
of the back, almost to touch the stone on which it is sitting, and the
action is frequently accompanied with a low bow ; this is done with
the feathers closed or only partly spread ; but as the bird launches
into flight or settles the tail is spread into a fan for a moment, a glorious
glimpse of chestnut and black.
This species is stronger in flight than the Plumbeous Redstart,
and profits by the fact to leave the stream-beds and pay hasty visits
to wet, mossy cliffs, steep marshy hill-sides, and similar situations.
The breeding season lasts from May till August, but most nests
will be found in July. The nest is a rather deep and massive cup
of moss, leaves, roots, and grass, with a thick lining of wool and hair.
It is placed in a hole of a wall or bank beside the water, or more rarely
under a stone or amongst the roots of a tree.
The eggs vary from three to five in number, but the ordinary
clutch consists of four eggs.
In shape they are broad ovals with only a slight gloss ; the ground-
colour is a pale blue or blue-green, sometimes tinged with pink, and
ioo POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
the markings consist of specks and spots of reddish-brown, with
underlying markings of grey and neutral tint. These markings vary
in number and intensity, occasionally collecting into a cap at the
broad end.
The egg measures about 0-96 by 0*65 inches.
THE PLUMBEOUS REDSTART
RHYACORNIS FULIGINOSA (Vigors)
(Plate viii, Fig. 2, opposite page 154)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Male : The whole plumage dull
plumbeous-slate except the tail which is bright chestnut.
Female : The whole upper plumage dull bluish-brown, the tail
white with a large triangle of brown at the end ; wings brown, edged
with pale rufous ; lower plumage ashy-brown squamated with ashy-
white.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs dark brown.
Field Identification. — Himalayan species. Never seen away from
running water, perching on the boulders and fluttering from them
into the air. Male, blackish-slate with a chestnut tail ; female, grey
with a white tail, tipped triangularly with brown.
Distribution. — The Plumbeous Redstart is found throughout the
whole length of the Himalayas, where it breeds commonly from 4000
to 9000 feet and in smaller numbers up to 13,000 feet, though it is
certainly unusual to find it above 10,000 feet. During the winter
it leaves the higher portion of its habitat and is then found from
6000 feet right down to the foot-hills. Apart from this altitudinal
movement it is a resident species.
Habits, etc. — The Plumbeous Redstart is purely a water-bird,
closely wedded to the streams and rivers of the Himalayas, eschewing
their wider and more placid reaches, and preferring tumultuous waters
rushing down the steeper slopes and broken by large boulders.
These graceful little birds strike the notice of even the least
observant. No stretch of stream is without its pair, which spend
all their time on the boulders in the middle of the rushing water,
with occasional excursions to the bank or to the bough of some
adjacent tree. They flit from stone to stone and continuously make
erratic little fluttering darts into the air after some passing insect, or
snatch some morsel from the water's brim ; as they settle, the con-
spicuously-coloured tail, chestnut in the cock, brown and white in
the hen, is slightly fanned and wagged up and down, the two move-
ments being simultaneous and repeated at intervals until the next
incursion into the air. This movement of the white tail has been
THE PLUMBEOUS REDSTART 101
aptly compared to the scintillations of light on water slightly disturbed.
They are as quarrelsome as restless, and appear to have sharply-
defined territories, for the male with a provocative little snatch of
song is always launching attacks at the intruder from some other
territory, dashing at it regardless of sex and chasing it back to its
own borders. The short song is rather sweet and jingling and may
be heard occasionally in winter as well as in the breeding season.
It is remarkably similar to that of the White-throated Fantail
Flycatcher (L. albicollis) and easily confused with it. It is uttered
either from some rock in midstream or in the air as the little bird
slowly flies with even movement but rapidly vibrating wings in a
short parabola from rock to rock. This species always feeds very
late into the dusk.
The breeding season lasts from April to July and two broods
appear to be raised.
The nest is a neat cup of moss mixed with a few leaves and roots
and lined with fine roots and fibres or wool and hair. It is placed
in any sort of hole or hollow provided that it is close to running
water, in ivy on a tree, in a hole in a trunk, in a hole of a rock or
bank or wall, or on a small ledge. Two nests will occasionally be
found a few inches apart, but these merely represent successive
occupations of a favoured site.
The eggs are three to five in number, but four is the normal clutch.
They are more or less broad ovals in shape, rather pointed towards
the small end, of a fine texture and with a slight gloss. The ground-
colour is a pale greenish-white or sometimes a faint stone-colour,
almost entirely obscured by the markings, which consist of a mottling
and freckling of somewhat pale and dingy yellowish- or reddish-brown.
These markings have a tendency to collect in a cap at the broad end.
The eggs greatly resemble miniatures of the eggs of the White-capped
Redstart.
They measure about 0-76 by 0-60 inches.
THE BLUETHROAT
CYANOSYLVIA SVECICA (Linnaeus)
(Plate ix, Fig. 6, opposite page 176)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Fully adult male in breeding
plumage : The whole upper plumage and wings brown ; tail brown,
a conspicuous chestnut patch in the base broken by the central pair
of feathers ; a fulvous line over the eye ; chin and throat bright blue,
with a chestnut spot in the centre of the blue ; below the blue a
blackish band and below this a broader band of chestnut ; remainder
G2
102 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
of lower plumage buffish-white. The blue and chestnut of the lower
plumage vary according to age, season and race and in some speci-
mens are almost absent. Occasionally the chestnut spot is entirely
absent or is replaced by a white spot.
Female : Differs from the male in having the whole lower plumage
buffish-white with a gorget of brown spots across the breast.
Iris brown ; bill black, fleshy at base of lower mandible ; legs
yellowish-brown .
Field Identification. — A brownish bird, found on the ground in
herbage, preferably in damp localities ; rises at one's feet with a
conspicuous flash of the bright chestnut patches in the tail and dives
into cover again a few yards ahead. Males have a varying amount
of blue and chestnut on the throat and breast.
Distribution. — The Bluethroat is a very widely distributed
Palaearctic species, occurring in different forms through the greater
part of Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa. The exact number of
races and their distribution has- not yet been satisfactorily worked
out, but the majority of birds met with in India belong to the form
C. s. pallidogularis, which certainly breeds from West Turkestan to
East Transcaspia and to the Southern Urals, and in winter migrates
to almost the whole of India and Ceylon. Two other races certainly
occur in India ; the dark Central Siberian bird, C. s. robusta, is a
winter visitor to the north-east, while C. s. abbotti migrates through
the north-west ; this is the form which breeds in Ladakh and is
distinguished by the brilliant blue of the throat and by the fact that
the chestnut throat spot is often lacking or replaced by white. In
this race the female in breeding plumage is similar to the male.
The allied Rubythroat (Calliope calliope) , with the upper plumage
olive-brown and a brilliant patch of ruby-scarlet on the throat, is
common in winter in North-east India down to the Godavari. It '
breeds in Northern Asia.
The much darker Himalayan Rubythroat (Calliope pectoralis) in
which the ruby throat is set in a deep black breast breeds along the
whole of the Himalayas at high elevations. It is common on open
hill-sides in Kashmir.
Habits, etc. — From September until May the Bluethroat is a
common species in India either as a passage migrant or a winter
visitor, but its movements have not yet been properly worked out.
It does not breed nearer than Ladakh. Although extremely
common at certain times and places it escapes observation through
its skulking habits. It is a bird of the ground and heavy cover,
preferring dampish spots, such as reed-beds on the edge of jheels,
tamarisk thickets in river-beds, heavy standing crops and similar
situations. In these it feeds on the ground, only occasionally
ascending to the top of the bushes to look around. Ordinarily it is
THE BLUETHROAT 103
only seen when one walks through cover, as it dashes up at one's
feet and flies a few yards before diving headlong again into obscurity,
where it runs rapidly along the ground in short bursts ; at the end
of each course of running the tail is elevated and slightly expanded ;
the dark brown tail with its bright chestnut base is very conspicuous
in flight and readily leads to identification. The alarm-note and
ordinary call is a harsh tack, but on its breeding grounds this Blue-
throat is a fine songster and mimic.
C. s. abbotti breeds in Ladakh in June and July. The nest is
well concealed on the ground at the base of thorny bushes, and is
a cup composed of dry grass. The usual clutch consists of three
or four eggs.
The egg is a rather broad oval, fine in texture with a slight gloss.
In colour it is a dull, uniform sage-green, with or without pale reddish
freckling, which sometimes almost obscures the ground-colour.
It measures about 0-75 by 0-55 inches.
RED-FLANKED BUSH ROBIN
IANTHIA CYANURA Pallas
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : Head and upper parts,
edges of wings, sides of head and throat down to breast dark blue ;
forehead and a line extending above the eye to the neck, the angle
of the wings and upper tail coverts bright blue ; tail black on inner
webs, suffused with blue on the outer ; middle of the throat and a
line down to the lower breast and abdomen dusky white. A very
conspicuous patch of orange chestnut on either side of the body.
Iris brown ; bill dark brown, paWr at base ; legs brown.
The males at first are indistinguishable from the females and
some breed in that dress.
Female : Dark brown above and on sides of neck, upper tail
covert duller than in the male ; tail brown with blue edges on outer
webs of feathers ; the chin, middle of throat and abdomen white,
breast brownish. An orange chestnut patch on either flank as in male.
Field Identification. — The blue coloration in the male and the
brown back and blue upper tail coverts of the female, together with
the patches of orange chestnut on the flanks in both sexes, are
characteristic of this bird.
Distribution. — This bird has a wide distribution from the Urals
right across Siberia to Japan, and southward to China, the Himalayas
and Indo- China. It has been divided into a number of races and
two occur in the Himalayas. From Gilgit to Garhwal the form is
/. c. palltdiora, and Nepal eastward it is replaced by a darker bird,
/. c. rufilata.
io4 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Habits, etc.— The Red-flanked Bush Robin breeds in the higher
Himalayas in open forest of Kharshu oak, birch, silver and other
firs, from 6000 to 12,000 feet. In autumn most birds move down to
a level from 5000 to 8000 feet, occasionally to the edge of the plains,
but a few pass the winter in their breeding haunts. This is a shy
bird even in the breeding season and its habits are rather similar to
the Continental Robin. In the non-breeding season it delights in
open spaces surrounded by trees or other cover, and scrub jungle
skirting roads. It feeds chiefly on the ground. There is no song,
only a monotonous three-noted call uttered at regular intervals, in
which the middle note is lower than the other two.
It breeds from May to June. The nest is constructed of dry
grass with finer pieces and ofteja Musk Deer hair. It is placed in a
variety of situations, among the roots of a fallen tree, on a steep slope,
in a hole in a bank, or under a fallen tree. At lower levels the nests
are usually in fairly thick cover, but at all times it is well concealed
and protected by herbage or roots.
The clutch consists of from three to five eggs. They are broad
ovals, sometimes rather pointed, pure white with a faint tinge of
green and fine small specks of reddish-brown at the larger end,
occasionally without any markings.
The eggs measure 0-7 by 0-55 inches.
THE INDIAN ROBIN
SAXICOLOIDES FULICATA (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Male : Glossy black with a blue
sheen ; a white patch on the shoulder ; flight-feathers brown ; centre
of abdomen and a conspicuous patch under the tail deep chestnut.
Female : Upper plumage dark brown, the front and sides of the
face paler, the tail much darker, almost black ; centre of abdomen
and a conspicuous patch under the tail deep chestnut.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
The bill is slender and rather curved ; the tail is rather long and
rounded at the end.
Field Identification. — A familiar plains bird, coming freely round
houses and spending most of its time on the ground. Easily identified
by the habit of holding the long tail erect so as to exhibit a bright
Chestnut patch below its base ; the male has a conspicuous white
shoulder-patch and much black glossed with steely-blue in its plumage.
Distribution. — The Indian Robin is found throughout the whole
of India from the Himalayas southwards to Ceylon. The typical
black-backed race with a very dark, almost black female is found
THE INDIAN ROBIN
105
in Ceylon. S. f. cambaiensis occurs throughout Northern India from
the hills of the North-west Frontier Province along the fringe of the
Outer Himalayas to Eastern Bengal and southwards. In this race
the male has the back brown while the female is grey and brown in
colour. Between the two, races connecting them may be recognised.
These are first S. f. intermedia which occurs in a broad belt right
across the centre of the Peninsula, bounded on the north by a line
from the River Tapti to Vizagapatam district and on the south by
the Krishna River ; and secondly S. f. ptymatura which occupies
the rest of South India. They
bridge the colour differences
between the first two forms.
All four races are strictly resi-
dent.
Habits, etc. — Those who like
to dilate on the theme that the
East is topsy-turvy often quote
the Indian Robin amongst their
numerous illustrations, pointing
out that he wears his red under
his tail instead of on his breast ;
for this bird, while in no sense
a- true Robin, somewhat occupies
in India the place of the Robin
in the West. It is a familiar
bird, hanging round the haunts
of men, the outskirts of villages, FIG. 16 — Indian Robin (i nat. size)
buildings both great and small,
brick-kilns and similar situations, and it nests in a variety of curious
places after the fashion of the English bird. In addition it is also
partial to stony, barren hill-sides and dry ravines ; in fact, the
essential conditions for its presence are dryness and open country ;
in damp areas and in heavy forest it is wanting.
In character it exhibits the curious mixture of boldness and
suspicion that is found in so many Indian birds. So long as
unmolested, it hops about in the close vicinity of men and women
busy at their own tasks, apparently heedless of them ; but at the
first hint of danger it becomes shy and unobtrusive. In the same
way, though the nest may be built in a hole in a stable wall or similarly
public spot, it is readily deserted if attention is paid to it.
In demeanour the bird is very sprightly, hopping about with the
head held stiffly high and the tail cocked well forward over the
back ; in fact its normal poise is that of the English Wren, and the
bird being larger with a longer tail the attitude appears more
exaggerated. It feeds for the most part on the ground, and perches
io6 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
by preference on walls, posts, roofs, and large gnarled tree-trunks,
rather than on the boughs of trees. The food consists chiefly of
insects and their larvae.
It has only an apology for a song, which is used while courting
is in progress.
The breeding season is from March to August and two or three
broods are reared, often in the same nest though the lining is usually
replaced. The nest is placed in holes in all sorts of situations on the
ground, in walls and buildings, and in plants. It is a pad of grass
lined with miscellaneous soft materials, roots and fibres, wool and
hair, varying in depth and neatness of construction according to the
circumstances of the hole. A large proportion of nests contain a
fragment of snake's slough.
Three to five eggs are laid. The egg is a rather elongated oval,
more or less pointed towards the small end ; the texture is fine
and strong with a moderate gloss. The ground-colour is white,
faintly tinged with green, pink, or brownish ; the general character
of the markings is a fine close speckling and mottling of different
shades of reddish- or yellowish-brown, underlaid with a few secondary
markings of pale inky-purple ; there is a tendency for the markings
to be thicker about the broad end.
The egg measures about 0-79 by 0-59 inches.
THE MAGPIE-ROBIN
COPSYCIIUS SAULARIS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 8 inches. Male : Head, neck, breast, and
upper plumage glossy black ; remainder of lower plumage white ; '
wing black, a white patch close to the body ; tail long and graduated,
the two central pairs of feathers black, the remainder white.
Female : The whole upper plumage uniform dark brown, glossed
with bluish ; wings and tail dark brown, with white distributed as in
the male. Chin, throat, breast, and sides of the neck and face dark
grey, the last mottled with white ; remainder of lower plumage whitish
washed with fulvous on the flanks and under the tail.
Iris brown ; bill black ; legs dark plumbeous.
Field Identification. — Common plains species, found in gardens
and familiar in habits, with a beautiful song ; the male conspicuously
pied black and white with a longish rounded tail, the female with a
duller version of the same pattern. Carries the tail rather elevated.
Distribution. — The Magpie-Robin or Dayal-bird extends throughout
India and Ceylon to China and the Malay Islands, and in this wide
range is divided into a number of races.
THE MAGPIE-ROBIN
107
Within our area, however (except in the extreme south, from the
Nilgiris and Bangalore to Travancore, where the birds grade into
the Ceylon race C. s. ceylonensis), all birds are referable to the typical
form. '
This bird is found alike in the plains and in the hills up to
about 4000 and occasionally to 6000 feet. It occurs in the Outer
Himalayas, but is virtually absent from Sind, Cutch, and large
FIG. 17 — Magpie-Robin (J nat. size)
portions of the Punjab and desert Rajputana. Although said to be
only a winter visitor to Mount Aboo and Northern Guzerat, it is
usually regarded as a strictly resident species ; except that in the
Himalayas it ascends a couple of thousand feet in the breeding season,
and also penetrates then into some of the inner valleys.
Habits, etc. — While never particularly abundant the Magpie-
Robin is very generally distributed in India, avoiding both dense
forest and open bare plain. It is essentially a bird of groves, and
delights to move about on the ground under the shelter of low trees ;
thick undergrowth it dislikes. Naturally, therefore, it is a familiar
garden bird, delighting in the mixed chequer of sunshine and shade
that is the characteristic of an Indian garden ; it hops about under
io8 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
the orange and pomegranate trees, pauses for a moment to sip the
water running along the irrigation channels, and then flies across
amongst the trees to settle on some lower bough or on the garden
wall before returning to its quest for insects on the ground. It is
both confiding and unobtrusive, and as the lady of the house
moves about her garden in the shade, whether she be Burra-
Memsahib or some humble menial's wife, she will see the little pied
bird watching her from wall or bush with friendly and attentive
scrutiny. And by way of gratitude for shelter and protection (or so
we like to think in spite of prosaic fact), the cock bird early in the
morning and again in the evening mounts to the topmost bough of
one of the garden trees and pours out his delicious song. For the
Magpie- Robin is one of the best songsters in a land where singing
birds are somewhat scarce.
The tail is carried very high over the back, though not usually as
high as in the case of the Indian Robin ; it is frequently lowered and
expanded into a fan, then closed and jerked up again over the back.
The food is obtained for the most part on the ground and con-
sists of insects, grasshoppers, crickets, ants, beetles, and the like ; a
little vegetable matter, and an occasional earthworm vary this diet.
The breeding season lasts from the end of March to the end of
July, but most eggs will be found in April and May. The nest is
placed in holes in tree-trunks, in banks and walls, and in the roofs of
houses. It is a cup composed of roots, grasses, fibres, and feathers,
with very little definite lining, and varying a good deal in depth and
compactness of construction, according to the circumstances of the
hole.
The clutch usually consists of five eggs.
The egg is a typical oval, hard and fine in texture with a fair
amount of gloss. The ground-colour is some shade of green but is*
rather variable. The markings consist of streaks, blotches, and
mottlings of brownish-red, usually densely laid on and with a tendency
to be thicker about the broad end.
The egg measures about 0-87 by o* 66 inches.
THE SHAMA
KlTTACINCLA MALABARICA (Scopoli)
Description. — Length n inches, including a long graduated tail
of 6 inches. Male : A patch above the base of the tail white ;
remainder of upper plumage, wings, and lower plumage to the lower
breast glossy black ; remainder of lower plumage bright chestnut
except the thighs which are whitish ; tail black, all but the two central
pairs of feathers broadly white at the ends.
THE SHAMA 109
Female : Resembles the male, but the black is replaced by slaty-
brown, and the chestnut by rufous ; feathers of the wings narrowly
edged with rufous.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs pale flesh-colour.
Field Identification.— A forest bird, found in thick jungle about
ravines and remarkable for its beautiful song ; the male is black
with chestnut belly and much white about the long graduated tail ;
the female plumage is a duller version of the same pattern.
Distribution. — The Shama is widely distributed in India, Ceylon,
Burma, Siam, the Malays and China, and is divided into various races.
The typical race of the Shama is found along the western side of ,
FIG. 1 8 — Shama (J nat. size)
India, from Bombay to Travancore, and up the eastern side as far as
Orissa and the Rajmehal Hills ; also in the submontane tracts of
the United Provinces as far west as Ramnagar below Naini Tal.
The Burmese race K. m. indica, with a shorter tail, extends through
Assam into the Duars and in the jungles of South-eastern Bengal.
K. m. leggd in Ceylon is very different in that the female is similar
to the male in colour. It is a resident species, occurring in warm
well-watered jungles up to a height of 4000 feet.
Habits, etc. — The Shama is well known by repute and in story
as one of the famous singing birds of India, but owing to its forest
habitat and its shyness it is probably known by sight to
comparatively few people. It lives in jungles and forest wherever
broken ravines and low hills supply a sufficiency of the, small streams
and open glades to which it is partial ; and the spots that it
frequents generally contain a good deal of bamboo growth. It feeds
mostly on the ground, searching for insects, worms and fallen fruits,
but when disturbed flies up into the trees. In short, this species may
be considered as taking in forest the place occupied by the Magpie-
Robin in open and inhabited country.
no POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The song is loud and beautiful with a varied range of notes, and
it is chiefly uttered in the mornings and evenings, continuing late in
the evening until darkness has practically fallen.
This bird has a curious habit, chiefly in the breeding season, of
striking the wings together above the body as it flies across open
ground.
The breeding season is from April to June. The nest is usually
placed in the base of bamboo clumps amidst the mass of rubbish
which collects in such situations and which forms a shelter over the
nest ; the nest itself is a slight cup of dead leaves and moss lined
with grass.
The clutch consists of four or five eggs.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, rather pointed and
compressed towards the smaller end, fine and compact in texture
with a fair gloss. The ground-colour is dull greenish-stone, finely
and densely freckled all over with raw sienna-brown and dull purplish,
the general effect recalling the eggs of the Larks.
The egg measures about 0-85 by 0-65 inches.
THE NILGIRI BLACKBIRD
TURDUS SIMILLIMUS Jerdon
Description. — Length 10 inches. Male : Top of the head black ;
remainder of upper plumage dark ashy-plumbeous ; wings and tail
black washed with ashy ; the whole lower plumage dark ashy-brown,
the edges of the feathers slightly paler.
Female : The whole upper plumage dark ashy-brown ; the whole
lower plumage brownish-grey, streaked on the chin and throat with
dark brown.
Iris brown, eye-rims yellow ; bill reddish-orange ; legs orange-
yellow.
Field Identification. — Abundant in the Nilgiris and Palni Hills.
A typical forest Blackbird but paler in colour than the English birds,
so that a black cap shows up in the male.
Distribution. — Mount Aboo : Peninsular India, south of a line
from Khandesh through Pachmarhi to Sambalpur : Ceylon. The
well-known Nilgiri Blackbird gives its name to a group of five
closely-allied sub-species, which differ chiefly in depth of coloration.
T. s. mahrattensis, in which the pale collar is most conspicuous, is
found at Mount Aboo, perhaps as a summer visitor only, and in the
Western Ghats from Khandesh to Malabar, wandering in winter as
far south as Travancore. The typical form is found in the Brahma-
gherries and Nilgiris, probably extending also to the higher ranges
THE NILGIRI BLACKBIRD m
of Western Mysore. T. s. bourdilloni is found in the Palnis and
Travancore ranges while T. s. kinnisii is confined to Ceylon. The
identity of the form reported in certain areas of the Central Provinces
is still in doubt but a distinct race T. s. spensei is found along the
Eastern Ghats. These Blackbirds occur up to the highest points in
the various hill ranges and are mainly resident birds.
Habits, etc. — The Nilgiri Blackbird, to treat more particularly of
the best-known form, is one of the commonest birds at Ootacamund
and its vicinity, being found chiefly in the Sholas on the tops of the
ranges, but also in other types of country. It enters orchards and
gardens, and on the whole is a tame familiar species though shy
when nesting. It feeds chiefly on the ground, hopping with active
movements and turning over dead leaves for insects, worms and fallen
fruits, but when disturbed flies up into the trees, flitting from tree to
tree with powerful flight. Small berries and fruits are eaten in the trees.
The breeding season is somewhat extended, from March to
August, though most nests will be found in April and May. At this
period the males sing very beautifully, perching high up in the trees :
they may be heard at all hours but especially in the evenings.
In the details of its breeding this bird recalls the familiar English
Blackbird. The nest is a massive, well-built cup made of moss, roots,
grass, and leaves largely plastered together with mud, while the egg-
cavity is neatly lined with grass and roots. It is placed in a fork
of a tree or shrub at any height up to about 20 feet from the ground.
The usual clutch consists of two to four eggs but five are some-
times found. The egg is a broad oval, pointed towards the smaller
end ; the texture is fine with a slight gloss. The ground-colour
varies from bright blue-green to dull olive-green ; the markings
consist of spots, speckles, mottlings, and streaks of brownish-red,
with secondary spots and clouds of purplish-pink or grey.
The egg measures about i- 17 by o»86 inches.
THE GREY-WINGED BLACKBIRD
TURDUS BOULBOUL (Latham)
(Plate vii, Fig. i, opposite page 132)
Description. — Length 1 1 inches. Male : Entire plumage deep
glossy black, paler and duller beneath ; a wide ashy-grey patch
across the upper sides of the wings.
Female : Entire plumage olivaceous ashy-brown, the wing-patch
being pale rufous.
Iris brown, eye-rim orange-yellow ; bill coral-red to deep orange,
dusky at the tip ; legs brownish-yellow.
Field Identification. — Himalayan forest bird with a good song ;
H2 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
resembles the corresponding sexes of the English Blackbird with
the addition of a broad patch on the wing, silvery in the male, rufous
in t her female.
Distribution. — The Grey-winged Blackbird is a common Hima-
layan species extending from Hazara and Kashmir on the west
to the extreme east and south of Assam and Manipur. It breeds
chiefly in an intermediate zone between 7000 and 8000 feet and
in smaller numbers up to 10,000 and down to 4500 feet. It is
in the main a resident species, but during the winter months tends
to leave the higher portions of its range and drift down towards
the foot-hills, stragglers at this season even venturing into the
neighbouring plains districts.
The White-collared Blackbird (Turdus albocincta) is common in
the Himalayan forests, breeding from 7500 to 10,000 feet, lower in
winter. The male is black in colour with a broad white collar round
the neck.
Habits, etc. — This is one of the finest and best -known songsters
of the Himalayas, being frequently caged and sold under the name
of Kastura. It is a typical Blackbird in its habits, and is more
particularly a forest bird, feeding on the ground amongst the under-
growth, and turning over dead leaves and digging with its beak
in places where the soil is soft. From the ground it obtains worms,
grubs, insects, and fallen seeds and fruits, and it is also accustomed
to eat large quantities of the various hill fruits and berries from the
trees. At any time of day in the breeding season, but more particularly
in the mornings and evenings, the males may be heard singing, usually
from the top of a tall tree commanding a wide view around. The
song is very pleasant, recalling that of the English Blackbird, but
individuals vary a good deal in the merits of their performance. It
is otherwise a quiet and rather shy bird, especially in the neighbour-
hood of the nest when it sits motionless on the bough of a tree watching
the intruder.
The normal breeding season is from May to July.
The nest is a rather massive cup of roots and grasses usually
stiffened with mud and liberally coated externally with green moss
and similar materials, and lined with fine dry grass. The majority
of nests are built in trees, some 10 or 20 feet from the ground,
but others are placed on ledges of rock or on steep banks or
amongst the roots of trees.
The eggs vary from two to four in number. They are of the
usual Blackbird type. The ground-colour, where visible, is a pale
dingy green, but it is thickly streaked, mottled and clouded with dull
brownish-red sometimes so heavily as to obscure the ground-colour.
The eggs measure about 1*20 by 0-85 inches.
TICKELL'S THRUSH 113
TICKELL'S THRUSH
TURDUS UNICOLOR Tickell
Description. — Length 9 inches. Male : The upper plumage
including the wings and tail ashy-grey ; lower plumage slaty-grey,
paler on the chin, and becoming white towards the tail, the under
wing-coverts chestnut-brown.
Female : Upper plumage olive-brown, the wings and tail darker ;
chin and throat white, streaked on the sides with black ; breast
olivaceous with a gorget of black spots across the upper part ; flanks
ochraceous ; abdomen to the tail white ; under wing-coverts chestnut-
brown.
Iris brown ; eye-rim greenish -yellow ; bill and legs yellow.
Field Identification. — A quiet, dull-coloured Thrush which feeds
on the ground and flies up into the trees when disturbed. Most
familiar as the bird that feeds on the lawns at Srinagar, where it is
particularly common.
Distribution. — This species is only found in the Indian Empire.
It breeds commonly but locally in the Himalayas from Chitral to
Eastern Nepal. It is migratory, and in winter moves down into
the plains of India, being found at that season as far south as
Khandala, Raipur, and Vizagapatam, travelling eastwards also to
Sikkim, Cachar, and Manipur.
A rather larger species, the Black-throated Thrush (Turdus
atrogularis), in which the male has the chin, throat and breast black, is
a very common winter visitor to the Himalayas and Northern India.
Habits, etc. — This Thrush is known to everyone who has visited
Kashmir, and it is one of those birds which contribute to the very
English atmosphere of Srinagar.
The song may be heard from April to July and it sings at all
hours of the day but more especially in the mornings and evenings,
and on cloudy days with rain impending. This Thrush, in combination
with the Kashmir Golden Oriole, is responsible for the dawn chorus
which is so remarkable in April and May in and around Srinagar in
Kashmir. The song recalls that of the English Thrush though less
full and varied, and is something as follows : — chellya-chellya-chirrali,
chellya-chellya-chellya, chellya-chellya-jalia ; and it further recalls
that familiar bird by its presence round houses and in gardens, and
its habit of hopping about the lawns of the English quarter in search
of worms and snails, uttering often a juk-juk which at other times
is used as an alarm-note. Pairs are to be found in every grove round
the villages, and it is a tame and familiar bird, haunting their neigh-
bourhood in preference to the forests, where also, however, it is found
in smaller numbers. At the nest, on the other hand, it is rathery shy.
H
ii4 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
It breeds in May and June. The nest is a large deep cup, some-
times neat and compact, at other times loose and untidy ; it is
composed of moss, either dry or green, roots, dry grass and a few
leaves, and is lined with fine roots. It is placed usually at heights
between 6 and 20 feet from the ground, in the heads of pollard
willows or in the forks of trees or on branches close to the trunk.
A few nests are found close to the ground in banks.
The number of eggs varies from three to five. They are rather
variable in shape, round, elongated, or pyriform ovals. The texture
is fine but there is very little gloss. The ground-colour is greenish-
or reddish-white, and the whole surface is more or less thickly
speckled or boldly blotched with dull reddish-brown, in some eggs
the ground-colour predominating, in others the reddish tint of the
markings ; in all, however, the markings are thickest towards the
broad end.
The eggs average about 1-06 by 0-78 inches.
THE ORANGE-HEADED GROUND-THRUSH
GEOKICHLA CITRINA (Latham)
(Plate iv, Fig. 3, opposite page 66)
Description. — Length 9 inches. The whole head, neck and lower
parts as far as the vent orange-chestnut, rather darker on the crown
and hind neck ; the rest of the upper parts bluish-grey ; wings and
tail brown, washed with bluish-grey, a conspicuous white spot on
the shoulder and another on the underside of the quills ; vent and
under the tail white.
Female : Similar to the male but the orange-chestnut is paler and
the ashy-grey of the upper parts, wings and tail is replaced by brownis'h
olive-green.
Iris dark hazel ; bill very dark brown, base of lower mandible
flesh-colour ; legs fleshy-pink.
The tail is comparatively rather short.
Field Identification. — A typical Thrush in bearing, bright chestnut
in colour with the back, wings and tail bluish-grey in the male and
olive in the female. In the Southern race the sides of the face are
curiously banded with brown and white and the throat is white.
A forest species usually found feeding on the ground in damp and
shady places.
Distribution. — The Orange-headed Ground-Thrush has a wide
distribution with several races in India, Burma, the Andamans and
Nicobars, the Malay States and Siam. We are concerned here with
two. The typical race breeds throughout the foot-hills and lower
ranges of the Himalayas from Murree to Assam and Burma, and
THE ORANGE-HEADED GROUND-THRUSH 115
still farther eastwards ; also in Lower Bengal. In the Western
Himalayas and Nepal it is a summer visitor. In the Eastern
Himalayas and Assam it appears to be largely resident in the foot-
hills, moving up in summer into some of the inner valleys. The
north-western migrants evidently winter anywhere from the Dun to
Chota Nagpore and Calcutta, stragglers wandering as far afield as
Ratnagiri and Ceylon. G. c. cyanotus has a ring round the eye, the
sides of the face and the chin and throat white ; the white of the
sides of the face is broken by two short oblique dark brown bands
which run down from the lower border of the eye. This race is
found as a resident south of a line roughly from Western Khandesh
through Pachmarhi to Sirguja, occurring up to an elevation of 4000 feet.
Habits. — This Ground-Thrush is essentially a forest-loving species
and it will always be found by preference in damp and shady thickets
or in thick bamboo-brakes. In such places it feeds solitary on the
ground under thick tangles of roots and stems of brushwood. It
rummages amongst the leaves and fallen debris, tossing and turning
them over in a constant search for slugs, insects, snails, caterpillars,
berries, and such like, and so constant is this habit that the beak
is nearly always muddy, a fact remarked by many writers. It is shy
and quiet and when disturbed promptly flies up into a bough where
it sits silent and motionless waiting to resume its quest for food.
Living thus in the shade it is crepuscular in habits and at dusk moves
out to roads and open spaces.
In the breeding season the male has a pleasant and energetic,
though not very powerful, song which is uttered from a perch well up
in a tree. This is only heard in the early mornings and late evenings
and the bird is something of a mimic, introducing the calls of other
species into its song. It has also a peculiar note or loud whistle,
something like the noise of a screeching slate-pencil, which is used
apparently as an alarm-note.
The breeding season in the Himalayas is from the end of April
until nearly the end of June. In Peninsular India it is later, from
June to August and even September.
The nest is a rather broad solid cup of moss, grass, stalks, bents
and similar materials. Inside it is lined with fine roots and the
black hair-like roots of moss and ferns. A good deal of mud and
clay is usually built into the foundations. The nest is placed in a
fork of a moderately sized tree, usually at no great height from the
ground.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs, and five have been
recorded. The egg is a moderately broad oval, a good deal pointed
towards the small end. The shell is fine and fairly glossy, some
eggs having a really fine gloss. The ground-colour is a pale bluish-
or greenish-white and it is thickly freckled, blotched and streaked
n6 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
with brownish- or purplish-red. Some eggs have the markings fine and
very thickly spread over the whole surface. Others have them thick,
bold and blotchy all over the larger half with only a few small spots
scattered over the rest of the egg. Intermediate varieties also occur.
The egg measures about i-oo by 0-75 inches.
THE BLUE-HEADED ROCK-THRUSH
MONTICOLA CINCLORHYNCHA (Vigors)
(Plate ix, Fig. 4, opposite page 176)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Male : Whole head bright cobalt-
blue, divided by a broad black line from the beak through the eye
to the back and shoulders, which are also black ; rump and the lower
plumage chestnut ; wings black washed with blue, and with a con-
spicuous white patch on the inner quills ; tail black washed with
blue.
Female : Upper plumage, wings and tail olive-brown tinged with
ochraceous ; chin and throat whitish ; lower plumage whitish, tinged
with ochraceous on the breast and largely barred with dark brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill black, gape yellow ; legs dusky brown.
Field Identification. — Familiar song bird in summer along the
lower Himalayas in light open forest, perching on trees and railings ;
male easily recognised by the blue head and throat, chestnut rump
and lower plumage and white patch in the wings ; female brown
with a scaled appearance, and a rather conspicuous dark eye.
It must not be confused with the larger Chestnut-bellied Rock-
Thrush (Monticola rufrventris\ also found throughout the Himalayas,
whose male lacks the chestnut rump and white wing-patch.
Distribution. — This bird breeds in the hills along the boundary
of the North-western Frontier Province and throughout the Himalayas
to East and Southern Assam and the Chin and Kachin Hills. The
majority breed between 3500 and 6000 feet, but a few range up to
9000 feet.
It is a migratory species, passing down from about October to
April into the plains and continental ranges of India and portions
of Burma. It avoids Sind and the plains of the Punjab and becomes
most common in winter in the hill ranges of the Western Ghats from
Khandala to South Travancore.
Habits, etc. — The Blue-headed Rock-Thrush is in the breeding
season a bird of the more open hill forests, being especially typical
of the areas in the lower Himalayas which are clothed with the
Cheel pine (Pinus longifolid). Here the song of the male is a very
familiar and pleasant feature ; it is a pretty three-note warbling
THE BLUE-HEADED ROCK-THRUSH 117
song of tew-ti-di, tew-ti-di, tew-ti-di, tew (the tew descending in
the scale and getting louder at each repetition), and it is commonly
sung in the mornings and evenings. The bird itself is by nature
secretive and not often seen until one is familiar with the alarm-note
ee-tut-tuty a low, pleasant sound which soon gives away its where-
abouts on a tree bough ; then the bird is found to be confiding and
to allow a near approach. It feeds both on insects and on berries,
and in pursuit of the former sometimes flies out from a tree into
mid-air, hovering with wings outstretched, after the capture gliding
down again to its post amongst the branches. Similarly, it often
floats with wings outstretched, singing as it goes, from the top of a
tall tree down to a lower one. In winter it is a solitary species.
The breeding season proper is from April to June, but occasional
nests may be met with until August. The nest is a neat shallow
cup of moss, grass, fir-needles and dead leaves, and is lined with
fine roots or a little hair. The favourite situation for it is in a hollow
in a bank by the side of a road or path, but it is also placed in hollows
amongst the roots of trees.
The clutch consists of four eggs. The egg is a rather long oval,
very blunt at the small end, of slightly coarse texture with a little
gloss. The ground-colour is pinkish-white, very closely and minutely
freckled and mottled all over, but most densely at the large end, with
pale dingy salmon-colour.
The eggs measure about 0-92 by 0-72 inches.
THE BLUE ROCK-THRUSH
MONTICOLA SOLITARIA (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Male : Whole plumage dull dark
blue, rather brighter over the eye, on the sides of the head and on
the throat, the feathers of the upper parts with brown fringes and the
feathers of the lower plumage more or less barred with blackish and
fringed with white ; wings and tail dark brown washed with dark
blue, most of the wing-feathers tipped with creamy white.
In summer the wearing off of the fringes on the body makes the
plumage a brighter, more uniform blue with the wings dark in contrast.
Female : Whole upper plumage, wings and tail similar to the male
but the colour is much duller, almost ashy-brown in tint ; chin,
throat and upper breast creamy-buff the feathers margined with
sooty-black, giving a scaled appearance ; remainder of lower plumage
creamy-buff barred with sooty-black.
Iris hazel ; bill blackish-horn, mouth yellow ; feet black, claws
dark horn.
H2
n8 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Field Identification. — A dark looking bird, the male bluish, the
female speckled with buff and brown, invariably found perching
solitary on rocks, brick-kilns or buildings and rather shy if approached.
Distribution. — A widely distributed species found in South Europe,
Africa and the greater part of Asia. It is divided into many races.
Of these we are chiefly concerned with the Central Asian and Hima-
layan race M. s. pandoo which breeds in our area from Chitral and
Gilgit along the Himalayas to Sikkim at all elevations from 4500 to
15,000 feet. From September and early October until April it spreads
over the greater part of India and Burma, stragglers also reaching
Ceylon. It also winters in Siam, Indo-China, the Malay States
and Sumatra. A greyer race M. s. longirostris breeds along the North-
west Frontier of India from the Samana to North Baluchistan and
winters in Africa. Another form M. s. affinis with faint traces of
chestnut on the lower plumage of the male is a winter visitor to the
Eastern Himalayas and Assam.
Habits, etc. — The Blue Rock-Thrush is one of those birds that is
strongly attached to a particular type of terrain. In the breeding
season in the hills it is very much a bird of the rocks, frequenting
boulder-clad hill-sides, open rocky ground or if it is breeding down in
the tree zone, rocky screes, gorges or cliffs in open ground between the
forests. With this insistence on the letter of its needs it is able to occupy
a very much wider altitudinal range for breeding than most species.
In winter, too, its special propensity is to the fore. Rocks it must
have to live on and if they are not available in the shape of hills and
boulders it finds a substitute in quarries, ruined forts and unoccupied
buildings, rocks on the sea-shore or even at the worst it takes refuge
on brick-kilns and piles of stone. In all these places the habits and
demeanour of the bird are the same. It perches up on a point of
vantage — be this boulder or cornice — sitting very erect and solitary,
reminding the observer that it is the Sparrow that sitteth alone on
the house-top as Canon Tristram pointed out long ago in his studies
of the Holy Land. Always shy and wary, if approached it bows and
flirts the tail nervously before flitting to another vantage point some
distance away. In winter it frequently roosts under the roof of a house.
The male has a fine song, a soft melodious but rather short whistle
reminiscent of that of an English Blackbird, which is uttered both
from a perch and on the wing and this may be heard occasionally
also in the winter. When courting the male indulges in slow vol-
planing flights which show off his blue plumage to advantage in the
sunlight.
As to food the bird is fairly omnivorous. Insects are taken from
the ground and on the wing ; larvae, worms, snails, lizards, berries
and seeds all are grist for its mill.
The breeding season is from April to July.
THE BLUE ROCK-THRUSH 119
The nest is placed in a hole or cleft of the rocks on steep precipitous
ground and is usually partly screened from view, difficult to reach
and often inaccessible. It is a shallow cup of roots and dry grass,
lined with fine roots.
The clutch consists of four or five eggs. The egg is a regular oval
very smooth in texture with a fine gloss. The ground-colour is an
excessively pale, slightly greenish-blue, sometimes unmarked, at other
times speckled mostly at the large end with very minute brownish-red
spots.
It measures about i- 10 by 0-75 inches.
THE WHISTLING-THRUSH
MYOPHONUS C^ERULEUS (Scopoli)
(Plate vii, Fig. 2, opposite page 132)
Description. — Length iz inches. Sexes alike. Entire plumage
deep blue-black, becoming brighter and bluer on the wings and tail,
and duller and browner on the abdomen ; a velvety black patch in
front of the eye ; all the body-feathers more or less tipped with deep
shining blue ; some of the wing-coverts tipped with white.
Iris dark brown ; bill yellow, blackish along top ; legs black.
Field Identification. — A large, strong " Blackbird," bright prussian-
blue in favourable lights, found near water in the Himalayas ; noisy
with harsh whistling calls ; bold and conspicuous ; black legs and
black eye-rim at once distinguish it from the true Blackbirds, which
have those parts yellow.
Distribution. — This Whistling-Thrush, found in Turkestan, China
and southwards, is represented in our area by the race M. c. temminckii,
which extends throughout the Himalayas from the hills of Baluchistan
and the Afghan Frontier to the extreme east of Assam and to the
neighbouring hill tracts, being replaced by another (M. c. eugenei)
from Eastern Burma to Cochin-China. It breeds from the foot-hills
at about 2000 feet up to "12,000 feet, though the majority of nests
will be found between 5000 and 9000 feet. Although strictly
speaking a resident species, its fine powers of flight tend to make
it wander a good deal, and in the winter months numbers move
down into the foot-hills while stragglers even appear in the plains
far out of sight of the hills. There are records from as far south as
Jhang and Rhotak.
An allied species, the Malabar Whistling-Thrush (Myophonus
horsfieldii)y which has a bright blue forehead and a brilliant patch of
cobalt-blue on the wing, is common in the vicinity of Pachmarhi in
Central India and in South-western India, especially in the Nilgiris,
and it is known as the " Whistling- Schoolboy."
120 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Habits, etc. — This very common and typical Himalayan bird may
be considered in some senses as a water-bird, a bird of rivers and
mountain streams. True it is that it may be found anywhere in the
mountains, dashing across the face of some precipitous crag, flitting
through the trees of the gloomiest pine forest or feeding on an open
hill-side, but a little observation will invariably show that its head-
quarters are in some gorge watered by purling stream or rushing
torrent. And further proof may be found in its song and calls ; the
call is a loud, melodious whistle, and the song is loud and[ well
sustained, of the type of most of the Thrush family ; but in both
call and song there is something of harshness and unpleasantness,
a squeaky, eerie timbre, which prevents either from being beautiful,
but which are clearly intended to carry them above the roar of
rushing waters ; in this they succeed, and the voice of this bird
heard in some deep nullah where the water's roar stills all lesser
sounds is appropriate in the extreme, and matching its surroundings
attains to beauty.
There is something very tight-trussed and neat about the Whistling-
Thrush as it hops and flies from boulder to ledge, from wall to branch ;
its hard, shiny feathers are pressed close to the body, and as the long
tail sways slowly upwards above the long legs the bird seems the
living embodiment of all the qualities of vitality and fitness that
one associates with nature and the hills.
The bird lays commonly from the end of April to June, but nests
may be found until August, as apparently two broods are often reared.
The nest is a very massive and heavy cup of moss dragged up by
the roots with mud still adhering to them ; there is a thick lining
of fine grass roots and moss.
It is placed in the near vicinity of water, and is generally well
protected, either by concealment or by difficulty of access ; for the
bird is very cunning in its arrangements. Sometimes it builds in
a mossy bank or in some rocky crevice where the structure of the
nest and overhanging foliage protect the site from wandering eyes ;
at other times the nest stands out patent to view, conspicuous in the
extreme, on the face of some precipitous cliff, or in a hollow on a
giant boulder encircled by rushing water or otherwise inaccessible.
An occasional nest may be found in a tree.
The clutch consists of three to five eggs.
The eggs are typically very long and pointed, fragile, and rather
rough in texture. The ground-colour is french-grey, greyish-white
or pale greenish, speckled and freckled with minute pink, pale
purplish-pink or pinkish-brown markings. These markings are
generally rather thin, and there is a curious faded appearance about
these eggs which is most unusual.
They measure about 1-40 by i-oo inches.
THE RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER 121
THE RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER
SIPHIA PARVA (Bechstein)
(Plate ii, Fig. 3, opposite page 22)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Adult male : Upper plumage
brown, ashy on the head ; sides of the head bluish-ashy with a
white ring round the eye ; wings dark brown ; tail blackish-brown,
the basal two-thirds of the feathers white, except of the central pair ;
chin, throat and breast reddish-buff ; remainder of lower plumage
white washed with buff on the sides.
Female and immature male : The whole upper plumage brown,
the wings and tail darker brown, the basal portions of all the tail-
feathers except the central pair white as in the adult male ; a whitish
ring round the eye ; whole lower plumage dull white, washed with
buff on the sides.
Iris dark brown ; bill brown ; legs blackish-brown.
Field Identification. — A small brown bird with whitish under parts,
and in some individuals with the throat and breast red, which fly-
catches in trees ; easily recognised by the habit of jerking the tail
upwards at intervals, thus exhibiting the white patches in its base ;
quiet in demeanour.
Distribution. — The Red-breasted Flycatcher is widely spread as
a breeding species throughout Europe, Siberia, and Northern and
Central Asia generally, and is divided into two races which migrate
southwards in winter. Both races are winter visitors to India and
differ merely in slight details of coloration. The typical race breeds
in Europe and Western Siberia, and is a most abundant winter
visitor to India from October until May. It arrives in India, via
the north-west corner, and extends down to Malabar and the Nilgiris
in the south, and east as far as Behar and Assansole in Bengal. The
breeding bird of North-eastern Asia (S. p. albicilla) winters mostly
in North-eastern India, Burma, and China, but has occurred also as
far as Belgaum, the Nallamallais, and Travancore.
The Kashmir Red-breasted Flycatcher (Siphia hyperythra) of very
similar coloration, but with a more chestnut-red breast bordered with
black, breeds commonly in Kashmir between 6000 and 8000 feet
and winters in Ceylon.
Another Flycatcher with white in the tail is the Orange-gorgeted
Flycatcher (Siphia strophiatd). It has the throat and breast sooty
with a central orange patch. Common in the Sikkim area from 9000
to 1000 feet.
Habits, etc. — The main requisite of the Red-breasted Flycatcher
is trees, and provided that there is a sufficiency of such cover it is a
matter of indifference to it whether it is in forest, in open cultivation,
122 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
or in the neighbourhood of towns and villages. Although often
descending to the ground to capture an insect it is an arboreal
species and a true flycatcher in its habits, frequenting chiefly the
shady places within the boughs of large trees in which it sedately
hawks and flits from bough to bough. It is rather shy and secretive,
and is jerky and restless in its movements, constantly flirting the tail
over its back so that the white patch in the base of the feathers
catches the eye sooner even than the red breast of the adult male.
There is a very distinctive, harsh, jarring note which is commonly
uttered, while a plaintive piping call, phwee-phwee-phwee, repeated at
short intervals, is used to express anger or alarm. It has a sweet
and rather varied song in the breeding season, but this is not heard
in India. For its size this is a very pugnacious little bird, and fights
freely with others of its own species.
The Red-breasted Flycatcher does not breed in our limits, but
the breeding season in Kashmir of the allied species, S. hyperythra,
is in May and June. The latter nests in holes in trees at any height
from 6 to 40 feet from the ground. The nest is a neat little cup of
moss and dead leaves mixed with grass, chips and hair and lined
with hair and feathers. The clutch consists of four or five eggs.
These are rather broad ovals, pale sea-green or pale pinkish-stone
in colour, freckled closely with rusty-brown.
They measure about 0*65 by 0-50 inches.
TICKELL'S BLUE FLYCATCHER
MUSCICAPULA TICKELLI;E (Blyth)
(Plate vi, Fig. 4, opposite page no)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : The whole upper plumage
dark blue, still darker on the sides of the face, and brighter in a
line from the nostril over each eye ; wings and tail black, washed
with blue ; throat, breast and upper abdomen bright ferruginous ;
remainder of lower plumage pure white.
Female : A duller replica of the male.
Iris brown ; bill black ; legs greyish-brown.
The bill is wide and flattened at the base and fringed with long
hairs.
Field Identification. — Peninsular India. A dark blue bird with
the throat and breast reddish and the rest of the lower parts white.
No white line over the eye. Flits about the inner side of trees and
bushes in shady woods and groves and continually sings a merry
little song.
Distribution. — Widely distributed through India, Ceylon, Burma,
TICKELL'S BLUE FLYCATCHER 123
Malay Peninsula, Siam, and Annam. The typical race is found
practically throughout India at all elevations except north-west of
a line through Mussoorie, Sambhar, Mount Aboo, and Kathiawar.
It extends eastwards into Assam and Burma. In Ceylon it is replaced
by M. t. nesea which is decidedly darker above. A resident species
except for short local migrations.
This species may very easily be confused with the Blue-throated
Flycatcher (Muscicapula rubeculoides) which breeds throughout the
Himalayas and wanders into many parts of the Peninsula and to Ceylon
in winter. The male has the chin and throat dark blue, whereas in
Tickell's Blue Flycatcher the ferruginous of the breast comes up to those
parts, leaving only a tiny patch on the chin at the base of the beak
blue. Another and very common Himalayan species breeding from
7000 to 9000 feet, which also winters down in India as far south as
the Deccan, is the White-eyebrowed Blue Flycatcher (Muscicapula
super ciliaris). The male has the whole of the upper parts and an
interrupted collar across the breast blue, and in the West Himalayan
race there is a conspicuous white line above the eye and a white patch
in the side of the tail. Lower parts white.
At a higher level — 9000 to 10,000 feet — is yet another common
Himalayan species, best known in Kashmir, the Slaty-blue Flycatcher
(Muscicapula tricolor). The upper parts are slaty-blue, lower parts
whitish and there is a white patch in each side of the tail.
Habits, etc. — Tickell's Blue Flycatcher is another forest-loving
species which is found in thick cover and shade, and particularly
haunts the banks of wooded streams. In such localities it flits
about amongst the boughs and hunts for insects, particularly in the
network of aerial roots and creepers which are a feature of some of
the southern jungles. It is a wary bird and not always easily observed.
When one is walking quietly througn the jungle this Flycatcher will
usually, when first met, come up close within a few yards and give
vent to its short song as if challenging the intruder. Then it disappears
and is not easily approached again.
The short metallic song is quite pleasing. It consists of a couple
of sharp " clicks," followed by a little tune of five or six notes, which
recall the song of the White-browed Fantail-Flycatcher, but are
harsher and not so loud. The song is incessantly repeated.
The breeding season lasts from March to August, but the majority
of nests are to be found in June and July.
The nest is a small cup of moss or dry leaves lined with fine
roots and a little hair placed in a small hole or hollow in a variety
of situations — in banks or rocks, in brickwork, on the window-ledges
of ruined houses. A very favourite situation is one of the numerous
hollows formed by the roots of a wild fig-tree, banyan, or peepul,
where they have anastomosed with the trunk of some enclosed tree.
124 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The usual clutch consists of three or four eggs. The egg is a
moderately elongated oval, somewhat blunt at the small end. The
texture is fine with a slight gloss. The ground-colour is dingy
greyish-white, freckled with dingy olive-brown. The freckling is so
excessively fine that the egg appears a dull olive-brown, rarely tinged
with rufous or reddish, more especially towards the broad end.
In size the egg measures about 0-75 by 0*56 inches.
THE VERDITER FLYCATCHER
EUMYIAS THALASSINA (Swainson)
(Plate vi, Fig. i, opposite page no)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : A black patch in front of
the eye ; the whole plumage bright verditer-blue, concealed portions
of the wings and tail blackish-brown ; under tail-coverts broadly
fringed with white.
Female : Resembles the male, but is duller in colour throughout,
and the chin and sides of the throat are mottled with white.
Iris brown ; bill and legs black.
The bill, which is flat, and viewed from above almost forms an
equilateral triangle, is fringed with hairs.
Field Identification. — Familiar summer bird about houses and
gardens in the Himalayas ; a conspicuous verditer-blue in colour,
perching on exposed situations and hawking insects in the air with
active flight.
Distribution. — The Verditer Flycatcher breeds throughout the
Himalayas, in Assam, the Burmese Hills, Yunnan, Shan States,
Siam, Annam, and Western China. It is divided into races, of which
only the typical one concerns us. This breeds in the Himalayas from
4000 to 10,000 feet, and during the winter migrates down into
Peninsular India, missing out most of the Punjab, Sind, and desert
Rajputana, and extending as far as Travancore.
The small and very dark looking Sooty Flycatcher (Hemichelidon
sibiricd) is common throughout the length of the Himalayas. It
perches higher than most species, often at the tops of the largest trees.
Habits, etc. — The Verditer Flycatcher in summer is one of the
few birds of the Himalayan hill stations which attract the notice of
even the least observant. It is a bold and confiding bird, frequenting
jungle and garden alike, and perching in open exposed positions,
where its brilliant colouring catches the sunlight and renders it
conspicuous. Like other Flycatchers, it swoops into the air from
its perch to take insects on the wing ; but while other species often
return to the same perch with the captured insect, the Verditer
THE VERDITER FLYCATCHER 125
Flycatcher continues its flight and perches in a new place, thus
continually changing its ground and bringing itself more to notice.
The flight is very strong and swift. During the breeding season it
affects forest areas rather than the more open hill-sides ; during the
winter it appears in any type of country where there are large trees.
Its usual perch is a bare twig at the top of a tree, but it is also
partial to telegraph wires ; it does not as a rule perch on buildings,
though it enters verandahs and porches in search of a nesting site.
Normally it is found solitary or in pairs, but small parties collect on
migration.
There appears to be no call-note, but the male has a loud and
fairly good song.
It breeds from April till the middle of July, and probably two
broods are reared.
The nests are remarkably true to type, fairly solid cups of green
moss, lined with fine black moss roots. The majority are built
under the overhanging crests of banks where the action of water
and the binding qualities of tree-roots combine to form a gloomy
hollow, in the side of which the nest placed in a hole is distinguished
with difficulty. Banks by the side of roads and paths are especially
affected. Other sites are under the small hill bridges, amongst the
timber-work, or in the rafters and eaves of buildings. As the bird
is very shy at the nest and always dashes out of it at the approach
of passers-by and in front of them, it continually brings itself and
its nest to notice.
The normal clutch consists of four eggs, though three or five
may occasionally be found. The eggs closely resemble those of
the English Robin. In shape they are a moderately broad oval,
somewhat compressed towards the smaller end. The shell is
fragile and with little gloss. The ground-colour is pinky-white, in
some entirely devoid of markings, in others with a more or less con-
spicuous reddish-pink zone or cap of mottled or clouded markings,
not defined specks or spots, which are generally nearly confluent.
In size the egg averages about 0-78 by 0-57 inches.
THE NILGIRI BLUE FLYCATCHER
EUMYIAS ALBICAUDATA (Jerdon)
(Plate iv, Fig. 2, opposite page 66)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : The whole plumage dull
indigo-blue, becoming ultramarine-blue on the forehead and above
the eye and duller and whiter towards the vent ; a black spot in
front of the eye ; wings and tail dark brown, all feathers edged with
blue, and the tail-feathers, excepting the central pair, pure white at
the base.
126 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Female : The whole upper plumage dull greyish-olivaceous with
a dull blue patch above the base of the tail ; wings dark brown, all
feathers edged with rufescent ; tail blackish edged with blue, all
feathers, except the central pair, pure white at the base ; lower
plumage dull bluish-grey, tinged with olivaceous on the throat and
with white about the vent.
Iris dark brown ; bill horny-black ; legs blackish-brown.
The bill is rather wide at the base and slightly flattened and fringed
with hairs.
Field Identification. — A rather sombre-coloured Flycatcher with
white patches in the base of the tail, found commonly in forest in the
hills of extreme South-west India. The male has a good song and is
dull dark blue in colour, rather brighter on the crown.
Distribution. — A resident species, confined to the hills of extreme
South-west India where it is common in the Nilgiris, Biligirirangams,
Nelliampathies, Palnis and Travancore ranges. It is most common at
an elevation of 4000 to 7000 feet but may be found somewhat lower.
Habits, etc. — The Nilgiri Blue Flycatcher is essentially a forest-
haunting species and is abundant enough in those hills where it is
found. It frequents overgrown hill streams and nullahs, the under-
growth which flanks paths and tracks through the sholas and cardamum
plantations and the edges of forest clearings. It also often visits gardens.
This species ordinarily perches in a somewhat upright position on
a twig and utters the typical Flycatcher click click as it twitches its
tail up and down. The song is very sweet, somewhat feebler than
but very similar in character to that of the Pied Bush-Chat. Heard
in a shola it has a somewhat penetrating quality. It lasts from five
to ten seconds and is constantly uttered from some exposed twig on
the top of a tree and it may be heard in most months of the year.
The female also sings on occasion. The food consists almost entirely
of insects but a certain amount of small fruit is also apparently eaten.
The breeding season lasts from March till June but most eggs
will be found about April. The nest is usually built in a cavity in a
bank, more particularly on the inner sides of the paths which intersect
the hill-jungles and sholas ; but it may also be found in holes in rocks
and walls and trees, under the eaves of houses and in the wood-work
of bridges. The nest itself is a soft mass of fine moss on a slight
foundation of coarse moss and lichen or a few twigs. The egg-cavity
can hardly be said to be lined, but a greater proportion of very fine
black moss-roots enter into the composition of the nest here than
elsewhere. One or two feathers are occasionally added.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. These vary a good deal
in shape, size and colour, but are normally an elongated oval in shape
with little or no gloss. The ground-colour varies from creamy-white
to a pretty, warm cafe-au-lait colour. In some eggs there are no
THE NILGIRI BLUE FLYCATCHER 127
discernible markings ; only the tint grows deeper and brighter towards
the large end, becoming pale reddish-brown, brownish-red or red as
the case may be. In other eggs there is a regular zone of minute
spots, or very rarely blotches, round the broad end. Taken, however,
as a series the eggs of this species average a rather deeper, warmer
salmon-pink colour than those of the Verditer Flycatcher.
In size they measure about 0-8 by 0-6 inches.
THE BLACK AND ORANGE FLYCATCHER
OCHROMELA NIGRORUFA (Jerdon)
(Frontispiece, Fig. i)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Male : Top and sides of the head
and hind-neck black ; wings black ; remainder of plumage rich
orange-chestnut, somewhat paler on the throat and abdomen.
Female : Similar to the male but the black of the head and neck
is replaced by greenish-brown, mottled with rufous in front of the eye.
Iris brown ; bill blackish-brown ; legs greyish-brown.
The coarse broad bill is fringed with long hairs.
Field Identification. — Hills of South-west India. A small orange-
coloured bird with blackish head-cap and wings but tail also orange.
Found flitting about near the ground in the undergrowth of shady
woods where its presence is revealed by an incessant chirruping note,
easily mistaken for that of an insect.
Distribution. — Confined to the hill ranges of South-west India
and resident at elevations from 2500 to 7000 feet and probably most
common about 5000 feet. It is recorded from the Wynaad (scarce),
the Nilgiris and Biligirirangams, the Palnis and the Travancore ranges,
but is curiously local and patchy in its distribution.
Habits, etc. — The Black and Orange Flycatcher must very soon
become well known to all observers at Ootacamund and Kodaikanal.
It is a bird of dense woods and thickets, preferring the most retired,
shady and damp, swampy patches in the breeding season though at
other times it ventures into the lighter woods and sholas. In such
places it flits about the undergrowth singly or in pairs, reminding the
English observer of a Robin in its ways. At one moment it is seated
motionless on the low branch of a tree or a fallen stump or some thick
tangle of dead branches. The next it makes a short swoop at an insect
in the air or descends to the ground for a second to pick one up ; but
whatever it does or wherever it goes you will notice that it seldom
leaves the neighbourhood of the ground, usually keeping within a
foot or two of it. In spite of its preference for dark woods and secluded
spots this Flycatcher is by no means a shy bird and it does not resent
observation from close quarters provided that one keeps motionless.
128 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
There is no true song, but the male is far from silent, uttering a
somewhat metallic high-pitched chirrup chiki-riki-chiki or chee-r-ri-ri
every few seconds which gives away its whereabouts, though the
chirrup might easily be mistaken for that of an insect.
The breeding season proper is from March to May and a few eggs
may still be found in June. The nest is a very remarkable structure for
a Flycatcher, a large and regular ball of dry sedge and coarse grass,
with a small entrance hole at one side near the top. It is entirely
devoid of lining but is placed on a foundation of dead leaves. These
are usually wedged into the centre of a small bush or clump of foliage,
but the bird is also fond of building in the cluster of new shoots that
rise from the stump of a tree that has been felled. The nest is normally
built at a height of two to three feet from the ground and occasionally
lower.
The clutch consists of two eggs.
The egg is a long oval in shape and the shell is very fine and
delicate with little or no gloss. The ground-colour is pale greyish-
white or buffy-white, faintly but profusely freckled all over with pale
pinky-grey or reddish and these markings sometimes form indistinct
caps or zones on the large end of the egg.
The egg measures about 0-70 by 0*52 inches.
THE GREY-HEADED FLYCATCHER
CULICICAPA CEYLONENSIS (Swainson)
(Plate vi, Fig. 2, opposite page no)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Head, neck and
breast ashy, darker on the crown ; remainder of plumage greenish-
yellow, duller and greener above and brighter and yellower below ;
concealed portions of wings and tail dark brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill brown ; legs yellowish-brown.
The bill, viewed from above, is triangular in shape and thickly
fringed with long hairs.
Field Identification. — A forest bird ; very small, greenish-yellow,
with an ashy head and neck ; very active and erratic in its movements
amongst shady trees and rather noisy.
Distribution. — Generally distributed throughout India, Ceylon,
and Burma, extending also eastwards to Siam, Cochin-China, Java,
and Borneo, this common Flycatcher is divided into several races.
We are concerned only with two of these, which breed in the
Himalayas and other hill ranges from 3000 to 8000 feet and are
locally migratory, moving down into the plains after the breeding
season. C. c. pallidior breeds along the Himalayas from Hazara to
THE GREY-HEADED FLYCATCHER 129
Bhutan, and is found in winter in the North-west Frontier Province,
Punjab, United Provinces, Central Provinces, and the Bombay
Presidency as far as Northern Kanara. It is only a straggler in the
dry and more open plains of the North-west. In the Nilgiris and
Travancore ranges it is replaced by the more richly-coloured typical
race, also found in Ceylon.
The Brown Flycatcher (Muscicapa latirostris), a small brown and
white species with a spotted breast, will catch the eye of anyone
who knows the English Spotted Flycatcher, which it much resembles
in habits and appearance. It is found throughout the whole of India
except the Punjab plains, North-west Frontier Province, Sind, and
Rajputana, being known to breed at low elevations in the Himalayas,
in the Vindhyan Hills, and North Kanara.
Habits, etc. — On its breeding grounds this Flycatcher is a bird
of heavy forest, preferring those ravines and hill-sides where the age
and the size of the trees provide wide shady arcades chequered with
occasional patches of sunlight ; in such places as it hawks insects
in the air it flits incessantly from bough to bough, now catching
the gleams of sunlight, now hidden in the gloom, eternally restless,
eternally cheerful. Its call or song is a long, loud, clear trill,
che-tut-tut-teee or wit-tweet-chitat-chitat, which sounds through the
glades, occasionally becoming harsher and louder with something
in it of the " stone on ice " note of the common Indian Nightjar,
though rather hurried and different in tone ; or it might be described
as tyu-jit followed by a prolonged twittering note. Except when in
family parties after breeding it is solitary in disposition, though one
or two individuals invariably accompany the mixed hunting parties
of small birds which are such a feature of the hill jungles.
The breeding season lasts from April to June. The nest is a
most charming little structure of bright green mosses, lichens, and
cobwebs, in shape half a cone or quarter of a sphere, and it is applied
to the perpendicular side of a tree-trunk or rock on which there is
plenty of moss with which it assimilates. The cavity is usually unlined,
but occasionally moss roots are used. It is placed at all heights from
the ground.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, very blunt in shape with very
little gloss. The ground-colour is white or dingy yellowish-white,
and the markings consist of spots and blotches of grey and yellowish-
grey, the majority being collected in a zone round the larger end.
In size the eggs average about 0-60 by 0-48 inches.
130 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE RUFOUS-BELLIED NILTAVA
NlLTAVA SUNDARA Hodgson
Description. — Length 6*5 inches. Male : Head, rump, patch on
either side of the neck and in the angle of wing shining blue ; rest
of upper parts very dark blue ; throat black, and the remainder of
the lower surface chestnut. Wings dark brown edged with purplish
blue ; tail black edged blue. Female : Olive brown with an ochraceous
tint ; tail and under tail coverts rufous ; foreneck white with a small
patch of brilliant blue on either side.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs brown.
Field Identification. — A rather unobtrusive bird, the size of a
robin, frequenting moderate dense jungle. The male is easily
recognised by the beautiful bright blue of the upper plumage and
chestnut under parts. The glistening blue spots on either side of
the neck in both sexes make it impossible to confuse it with Tickell's
Blue Flycatcher or the Blue-throated Flycatcher.
Distribution. — From the Murree Hills in North-west Himalayas, east
to Szechuan and south through Yunnan and Burma to South China
and Siam . In the Himalayas there is an eastern and western race. The
former, N. s. sundara, ranges from Nepal to Assam, ascending the
hills as high as 8000 feet, while in the Outer Himalayas between 5000
and 9000 feet. From Kumaon to Murree it is replaced by a paler form,
N. s. whistleri. Both these forms move lower down in the autumn to
the foothills and in some localities to the adjoining plains. Closely
allied, but two inches larger, is the Large Niltava, Niltava grandis, in
which the male lacks the chestnut on the breast and the back is a
dull bluish ashy, while the female is a reddish olivaceous brown with
the usual brilliant blue neck spots. It inhabits the Himalayas from
Nepal to Burma and Yunnan at altitudes from 3000 to 7000 feet.
Habits, etc. — Although this Flycatcher is by no means uncommon,
it is apt to be overlooked in spite of the gay plumage, since it keeps
to a great extent to thick evergreen undergrowth and, as a rule, rather
damp spots. It does, however, frequent in some parts of its range
pine forests, but only where there are damp nullahs with plenty of
undergrowth on the banks of streams running through them.
The breeding season is from April to July. The nest is usually
in a crevice in rocks or the trunk of a tree, sometimes amongst the
roots ; and occasionally in the long grass on the rocky banks of
streams. It is well concealed, constructed of grass and lined with
fern stems, and closely resembles that of the common Robin.
The eggs are blunt ovals varying from three to four, and they too
are similar to those of the Robin, but often more densely mottled
with pale pinkish-brown.
They measure 0-85 by 0-63 inches.
THE PARADISE FLYCATCHER 131
THE PARADISE FLYCATCHER
TCHITREA PARADISI (Linnaeus)
(Plate ix, Fig. 2, opposite page 176)
Description. — Length 9 inches, exclusive of the sharply-graduated
tail ; in older males the central pair of feathers form ribbon-like
streamers up to 10 inches in length.
Adult male : Pure white ; the head, neck and crest glossy bluish-
black ; the upper parts faintly streaked with black, the wing- and
tail-feathers heavily lined with black.
Female and young male : Head, neck and crest glossy bluish-
black ; a collar round the neck, chin, throat and upper breast dark
ashy merging into white on the abdomen ; remainder of upper parts,
wings and tail bright chestnut.
The plumages of the male are not yet fully understood and
individuals will be found in various stages intermediate to the
extremes above described. A phase in which the long streamers
and the upper parts are chestnut instead of white may be dimorphic
to the fully white adult.
Iris dark brown ; bill and rim round the eye bright cobalt-blue ;
legs plumbeous-blue.
The bill is flattened and swollen and fringed with coarse hairs.
Field Identification. — Older males cannot be confused with any
other species owing to the central pair of tail-feathers being elongated
into ribbon-like streamers 10 inches long, white or chestnut in colour.
These droop gracefully in rest or stream out behind the bird in
flight. Females and younger males have a crested, glossy black
head and bright chestnut upper parts, wings and tail, and ashy or
white under parts. Purely arboreal, active and lively.
Distribution. — The Paradise Flycatcher occurs from Turkestan,
Afghanistan and Baluchistan, through India and Burma, and still
farther eastwards. It is divided into several races, of which we are
concerned with three. The typical race occurs throughout the
Peninsula from the Western United Provinces to the Brahmaputra,
southwards to Cape Comorin and visiting Ceylon in winter. In that
island there is a resident race as well, T. p. ceylonensis, which has
always had the adult male chestnut instead of white. The paler race,
inhabiting Afghanistan, Turkestan, Kashmir, and the Himalayas to
Eastern Nepal is known as T. p. leucogaster. A third race nicobarica,
with the head, neck and breast ^.shy-grey and the cap and a short
crest only black, is found in the Duars and Upper Assam, migrating
in winter to the Nicobars and Andamans.
Very little is definitely known about the status and movements of
this common and widely-spread bird, but it is undoubtedly migratory
132 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
to a large extent. In the North-western Himalayas and Salt Range
it is a summer visitor, only arriving about March and April and
departing about September ; in most of the Punjab it is purely
a passage migrant in those months. To Sind it is a scarce winter
visitor ; in many other localities it is undoubtedly a resident.
Habits, etc. — The Paradise Flycatcher has been aptly named ;
the long waving tail plumes recall the ornaments of the true Birds
of Paradise, and for sheer beauty of contrast and purity of colora-
tion and for grace of form and movement, the adult male must be
without a rival in India. If Paradise is the home of perfection,
there indeed must this bird find a place. In nature its beauty is
enhanced by its surroundings ; for it is a bird of pleasant groves
and well-watered shady nullahs, where stray gleams of sunshine
strike through the boughs, bringing into colour sprays of foliage and
illuminating patches of the ground and throwing them into relief by
contrast with mysterious shadows. In such a spot the Paradise
Flycatcher delights to dwell, perching on the sprays, and disappear-
ing into the shady depths, now hidden from sight, now caught in
the rays of sunshine as he flies across the intervening spaces. The
long streamers give a curious effect to the flight ; the bird appears
to float softly along without particular volition or ability to direct its
course, moving in a series of dreamy impulses ; though the younger
birds with short tails show themselves possessed of strong and
decided flight. All food is taken on the wing, and that the bird
is capable of speed and skill in the air is proved by the fact that
dragon-flies are sometimes captured.
This species is purely arboreal, its feet being too short and weak
for progress on the ground. It is a very lively and cheerful bird,
incessantly on the move ; males often flirt their tails about, opening
and closing the feathers and making play with the long streamers.
When sitting on a twig the carriage is very upright.
The ordinary call-note is harsh and disappointing, a sharp grating
note ; but the song is a low pleasant warble of distinct merit, though
it is not very often heard.
The breeding season differs according to locality. In Northern
India it lasts from April to June ; in the south it is earlier, com-
mencing about February. Probably more than one brood is raised.
The nest depends for protection on its position rather than on
concealment ; though at first sight it escapes notice by its ridiculous
conspicuousness ; it is too easy to see, the eye and brain are looking
for something more difficult to find. It is a very neat and compactly-
built cup, either shallow and rounded or a deep inverted cone ; it is
built of soft grass, scraps of leaf and moss, all very firmly plastered
together with spiders' webs and studded with small cocoons and
pieces of lichen ; there is a neat lining of fine grass and hair, the
PLATE VII
.9
TS
I
O
. 132
THE PARADISE FLYCATCHER 133
whole forming a Structure worthy in its beauty of the architect. It
is placed on a twig or stem, growing at any angle or at any height
from the ground from 5 to 40 feet. The branch of a tall mango
tree in the plains, and a thick brier stem in the hills are favourite
situations. Both sexes incubate, and the male may be seen on the
nest with the long streamers drooping over the side. In different
pairs the males may be found in every stage of plumage, as they
commence to breed when a year old.
The eggs are in shape a rather long oval, somewhat pointed
towards the small end, and they are usually dull and glossless.
The ground-colour varies from pale pinkish-white to a warm salmon-
pink and is more or less thickly spotted with rather bright brownish-
red spots which tend to form an irregular cap or zone at the broad
end. A few tiny, pale, inky-purple blotches occur also about the
broad end. The eggs resemble in miniature one of the types of egg
laid by the Common King- Crow.
They measure about 0*80 by 0*60 inches.
THE BLACK-NAPED FLYCATCHER
HYPOTHYMIS AZUREA (Boddacrt)
(Plate xi, Fig. i, opposite page 220)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : Head, neck and breast
brilliant lilac-blue, a minute patch about the base of the bill, a large
patch on the back of the head and a crescentic bar on the throat
deep velvet-black ; remainder of upper parts dark blue ; wings and
tail sooty-black, washed with dark blue ; remainder of lower parts
white.
Female and immature birds : Head, neck and breast dull ashy-
blue ; remainder of upper parts, wings and tail dark ashy-brown ;
remainder of lower parts white.
Iris dark brown ; bill dark blue, edges and tip black ; leg
plumbeous, claws horny.
The bill is broad and flattened at the base and fringed with long
hairs ; legs weak.
Field Identification. — A slender, rather elongated bird of which
the male is blue throughout except for the white abdomen. The
blue of the head and neck is very brilliant and emphasised by the
black velvet skull-cap, set well back, and the black crescent on the
throat. The female lacks these velvet patches and is much browner,
with only a wash of blue about the head and neck. Usually solitary,
catching flies about trees.
12
134 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Distribution. — A widely-distributed species, occurring in India,
Ceylon, Assam, Burma, Yunnan, Siam, and Indo-China across to
the Philippines. There are several races. The Indian race, H. a.
styaniy which also extends eastward to Hainan, occurs throughout
the whole country except north-west of a line from Lucknow, Sehore,
and Western Khandesh. H. a. ceylonensis, restricted to Ceylon, lacks
the black on the throat. It is largely confined to the various hill
ranges, but apparently does not occur much over 4000 feet. A resident
species with slight local movements.
Habits, etc. — This beautiful Flycatcher is found in well-wooded
parts of the country where it frequents patches of thick jungle and
is particularly fond of shady nullahs overhung by lofty trees. It is
also fond of bamboo jungle and may be found in open country in
clumps of tiees or in single trees near villages. It is usually solitary,
flying from tree to tree, remaining a short time in each, capturing
insects on the wing. Now and again it flits actively amongst the
branches, spreading its tail after the fashion of a Fantail-Flycatcher.
It never descends to the ground. The food consists of a variety of
small insects and as it captures these it utters a sharp little call which
resembles one of the calls of the Grey Tit. At times several individuals
join the mixed hunting parties and travel with them through the trees.
The breeding season lasts from the latter half of April until
August, most nests being found in June and early July. The season
is somewhat earlier in the north than in the south.
The nest is a deep little cup composed internally of fine grass
stems well woven together. Externally it consists of rather coarser
grass and vegetable fibres and it is practically coated with cobwebs
by which numerous small white cocoons and tiny pieces of dry
leaves and lichen are attached to the nest. Sometimes some green
moss is mingled with the cocoons. It is very neat and rather massive'
in construction. The nest is usually placed in a slender fork of an
outer branch of a tree at no great height from the ground or fastened
to some pendant bamboo spray.
The clutch consists of two to four eggs, three being the usual
number. The egg is a miniature of that of the Paradise Flycatcher.
It is a moderately broad and very regular oval, slightly compressed
towards the smaller end. The shell is very fine and smooth, with
little or no gloss. The ground-colour varies from almost pure white
to pale salmon-pink ; the markings consist of minute specks or small
spots of red or reddish-pink, varying much in intensity and mingled
with a few small pale purple spots. As a rule the markings are most
plentiful towards the larger end of the egg, tending to form a zone
or cap.
The egg measures about 0-69 by 0-53 inches.
THE WHITE-BROWED FANTAIL-FLYCATCHER 135
THE WHITE-BROWED FANTAIL-FLYCATCHER
LEUCOCIRCA AUREOLA (Lesson)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike, except that the
female is rather browner above. Forehead and a very broad stripe
above the eye white ; remainder of head black, the feathers of the
cheeks, chin and throat edged with white ; remainder of upper
plumage, wings and tail brown, the wing-coverts tipped with white, and
all but the central pair of tail-feathers tipped with white, progressing
more broadly outwards, till the outermost feather is almost entirely
white ; sides of the breast black ; remainder of lower plumage white.
Iris brown ; bill and legs black.
The bill is large and flat and fringed with long hairs. The tail
is very ample and rounded, spreading into a fan.
Field Identification. — Common throughout the plains. A small
black and white bird, with a charming bar of song, which pirouettes
about the shady branches of trees incessantly fanning its tail.
Distribution. — This Fantail- Fly catcher is found practically through-
out India, Ceylon, Assam, Burma and South-west Siam. In India
it is found from the plains up to about 4000 feet in the Outer
Himalayas. It is divided into races, of which we are concerned
with two. The typical race is found throughout Northern India
though it does not occur in Kashmir, the North-west Frontier
Province or Baluchistan. The southern boundary is not well-defined
but all birds from the Madras Presidency belong to the darker
Cingalese race (L. a. compressirostris) in which the white tips to the
tail-feathers are shorter and two central pairs are without white tips.
Mention must be made of two closely-allied species which are
locally common. The White-throated Fantail (Leucocirca albicollis),
which frequents shady ravines and may be easily distinguished by the
sooty-brown colour of the lower parts, is found along the Outer
Himalayas up to about 7000 feet from Murree on the west (and with a
wide distribution east of our area). The White-spotted Fantail
(Leucocirca pectoralis) is resident in Central and Southern India from
Mount Aboo and Goona to the Palnis, being particularly well known
in the Nilgiris. It is somewhat similar to the White-browed Fantail
in appearance but may be distinguished by having a brown pectoral
band across the white under parts. All are resident species though
slight local movements may be detected.
Habits, etc. — The various Fantail-Flycatchers are all very much
alike in their habits and characteristics. The White-browed Fantail
is a bird of open country, frequenting groves of trees in cultivation,
gardens and roadside trees, being strictly arboreal, and only descending
to the ground for occasional momentary visits. For liveliness and
136 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
grace it is not to be surpassed. It is never still, and the whole livelong
day it dances and pirouettes, filled with an inimitable joie-de-vivre.
It flits amongst the leafy boughs of some giant mango tree with a
short jerky flight, and where it settles there it postures ; it turns
from side to side with restive, jerky movements ; like a ballet-dancer
before her mirror it tries new steps and attitudes ; down drop the
wings, up jerks the head, and all the time the dainty round fan of the
tail is opened and closed and flirted with all the coquetry and grace
of a beauty of Andalusia. Never was bird better named ; wa\ch it
for the first time and within the first few seconds the name of Fantail
rises unbidden to the mind. Now and again the bird leaves the
shelter of the branches and launches into the air, seeming to tumble,
bent on suicide ; a rapid snap at some tiny insect invisible to human
FIG. 19 — White-browed Fantail-Flycatcher (| nat. size)
eye, a swift recovery, and it has returned to the cool shelter of the
leaves, and is once more bowing and dancing. Now and again the
happy little dancer breaks into song, a few notes in a regular scale/
which seem more a human melody than the song of a bird, and break
off just as groping memory has almost remembered their source.
The song stops suddenly in the middle of the scale (it is always the
same and always stops in the same place), and with a sharp twittering
note the bird is off to another tree where the minuet begins afresh.
Amongst the other attractions of this dainty bird is its boldness ;
song and dance go on in spite of human presence, and I have seen
one fly down and snap an insect off the shoulder of a servant who
was talking to me. The food consists entirely of insects, mostly of
the minutest size, and throughout the whole of the bird's movements
can be heard the snapping of its beak as it feeds.
Eggs may be found from the end of February to the early part
of August ; though the majority will be found in March and July.
Two broods are reared, and this often from the same nest.
The nest is a most beautiful structure. It is a tiny cup, small,
THE WHITE-BROWED FANTAIL-FLYCATCHER 137
even for the size of the bird, and is attached to the upper surface of
a twig or small branch, often at the junction of a fork. Viewed from
the ground it has much the appearance of a small hornet's nest.
It is made of fine fibres and grasses closely welded and bound
with cobwebs and sometimes studded with small cocoons or spiders'
egg-bags. There is a neat lining of fine grass stems. It is built at
any height from 4 to 40 feet from the ground. Even in the nest the
bird is restless, often turning about, spreading her tail, or flying off
for a minute or two. The male remains very faithfully in the vicinity,
and without the least hesitation launches out to attack passing Crows
or other possible enemies.
The eggs vary from two to four in number, while three is the
usual clutch. They are moderately broad ovals compressed towards
the small end. The ground-colour varies from pure white to very
pale yellowish-brown or dingy cream colour ; and the markings are
generally largely confined to a broad irregular zone near the large end
of greyish-brown specks and spots, with secondary markings of neutral
tint and pale grey or faint inky-purple. They are rather like miniature
Shrikes' eggs.
They measure about 0-66 by 0-51 inches.
THE GREAT GREY SHRIKE
LANIUS EXCUBITOR Linnaeus
Description. — Length 10 inches. Sexes alike. A very broad band
from the beak through the eye black ; upper plumage bluish-grey,
merging into white over the wings ; wings black, variegated with
grey and white ; tail black, the feathers growing increasingly white
outwards ; the whole lower plumage white.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Beak strong and hooked, with a deep notch at the tip of the upper
mandible ; tail rather long and graduated.
Field Identification. — Plains of Continental India. A grey and
white bird with a heavy head marked with a conspicuous black band
through the eye and with much black in the wings and tail ; solitary
or in pairs, in open country sitting on the tops of large bushes.
Distribution. — The Great Grey Shrike in various races has a very
wide distribution through Europe, Africa, Asia, and Northern America.
In Northern India it is represented by a resident form named L. e.
lahtora, which is common and generally distributed. It is found from
roughly the line of the Indus and from the foot of the Himalayas to
the Rajmahal Hills, Manbhum and Lohardaga in Bihar, southwards
to Belgaum and Chanda. It is not found in the hill ranges.
Habits, etc. — This Shrike is a familiar species in open country,
138 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
preferring the more barren stretches of semi-desert country or wide
open plains to cultivation, though it is found also in the latter.
Forest areas it avoids. It is found solitary or in pairs and is very
conspicuous from its white, black and grey plumage and its habit
of perching on the tops of bushes and small trees. It captures
most of its food on the ground, leaving its vantage-point from time
to time to fly down after a toothsome morsel and in returning to
the perch it flies low over the ground and then turns sharply up to
settle ; the flight is undulating but strong. Each bird or pair% have
their own beat and resent the intrusion of other species. The alarm-
note is a harsh grating call, but the bird is capable of considerable
powers of mimicry which serve it as a song. The food consists largely
v
FIG. 20 — Great Grey Shrike (J nat. size)
of beetles, crickets, lizards, and ants, and like other Shrikes this species
has the habit of impaling surplus food on thorns to form a larder.
The breeding season extends from January to October, but the
majority of eggs are laid in March or April. Two broods are
sometimes reared.
The nest is a large bulky cup, solid and well constructed, and
placed at moderate heights from 4 to ra feet up in a thick bush or
small tree, preferably thorny in character. It is composed of thorny
twigs, coarse grass roots and the like, thickly lined with wool, fibres,
cotton and other miscellaneous materials soft in character.
The eggs vary in number from three to six. In shape they are
a broad oval, somewhat pointed towards the smaller end. The
texture is fine and close and there is a slight gloss. The ground-
colour is delicate greenish-white, moderately blotched and spotted
with various shades of brown and purple, the markings in nearly
every case collecting into a wide zone round the broader end.
The eggs measure about 1*05 by o»8o inches.
• THE BAY-BACKED SHRIKE 139
THE BAY-BACKED SHRIKE
LANIUS VITTATUS Valenciennes
(Plate ix, Fig. i, opposite page 176)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. A broad band
through the eye joined by a broad band across the base of the beak
black ; crown and upper neck grey, divided from the black by a
whitish area ; back and shoulders deep chestnut-maroon ; rump
white ; wings black, with a white patch at the base of the outer
flight-feathers ; tail black with much white on the outer feathers ;
lower parts white except for the breast and flanks which are fulvous.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
The bill has a notch at the tip of the upper mandible ; tail rather
long and graduated.
Field Identification. — Common in cultivation ; a small bird with
a longish tail, broad grey and white head with heavy black marking,
maroon back and black and white tail, the markings sharply defined
and conspicuous ; perches in exposed positions.
Distribution. — This Shrike is a purely Asiatic species, occurring
from the west in Afghanistan and Baluchistan right across the whole
Peninsula of India to Darbhanga, the Rajmahal Hills and Midnapur.
It occurs in the Himalayas, but sparingly at heights up to 6000 feet,
extending often far into the valleys as in Chitral. In the south it
reaches Cape Comorin but it avoids the rain areas of the south-west.
In portions of its range it is migratory, but for the most part it is a
resident species.
Habits, etc. — This charming little Shrike is a bird of open country
and cultivation with groves of trees, and it avoids both desert country
and thick jungle. It perches on telegraph-wires and the lower boughs
of trees, and on large bushes some 6 to 10 feet from the ground, and
watches thence for insect life to stir in the vicinity ; a desirable morsel
spied, it flies down to secure it, and after a meal upon the ground
returns to its perch. It has a fixed territory, and seldom stirs far
from its established perch. The food consists of insects, caterpillars,
beetles, and the like.
The ordinary call is a harsh churring note, but the bird has a
pleasant little warbling song and is something of a mimic, imitating
the notes of other birds.
The breeding season lasts from March to September, and it is
possible that two broods are often reared. The nest is a rather
massive, compactly woven and very beautiful cup composed of fine
grass, rags, feathers, soft twine, and a few fine twigs, the exterior
being neatly plastered with cobwebs ; it is lined, as a rule, with fine
140 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
grass. The situation chosen for the nest is in the fork of a small
tree, at heights usually about 6 to 10 feet' from the ground. The
nest is seldom well concealed, and though the bird generally comes
close to an intruder and feigns readiness to attack, its attention is
easily distracted by the sight of a caterpillar or other succulent morsel.
The clutch consists normally of four eggs, but as many as six
may be found. The eggs are very typical of the genus, broad rather
blunt ovals, fine in texture with a slight gloss. The ground-colour
is dull white tinged with stone, greenish or grey ; near the middle
of the egg towards the broad end is a wide, conspicuous but broken
and irregular zone of feeble spots and blotches of pale yellowish-brown
and pale lilac, a few of these specks and frecklings being also dotted
about the rest of the surface of the egg.
The eggs measure about O' 83 by o- 66 inches.
THE BROWN SHRIKE
LANIUS CRISTATUS Linnaeus
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
reddish-brown, brighter on the crown and nape ; a faint white line
over and a broad bladkish line through the eye ending with the ear-
coverts ; wings dark brown, the feathers margined with rufous ; tail
reddish-brown with pale tips to the feathers ; lower plumage fulvous,
whiter on the throat and belly and usually with the breast and flanks
barred finely with black.
Iris brown ; bill horny-brown, paler at gape and base of lower
mandible ; legs bluish-grey, claws brown.
The bill has a notch at the tip of the upper mandible ; tail fairly
long and graduated. -^
Field Identification. — A typical Shrike, reddish-brown above with
a dark line through the eye and fulvous white below. Found sitting
on- bushes and fences in open country and the possessor of a very
harsh voice.
Distribution. — This Shrike breeds over a great part of Central Asia
and Siberia and Northern China and in winter migrates south to
North-east Africa and southerr; ^\sia generally. We are concerned
with two races. The typical race winters in India east of a line from
Cawnpora to Mhow and also in Ceylon and Burma. The Turkestan
race L. c. phoenicuroides which is more brightly coloured and has a
small white patch in the wing breeds in Baluchistan and passes on
passage through the North-west Frontier Province, the Punjab and
Sind to its winter quarters in North-east Africa.
A very similar' species is the Pale-brown Shrike (Laniiis isabellinus)
THE BROWN SHRIKE 141
which is a common winter visitor to the more barren areas of North-
west India. The upper parts are sandy-brown and there is a small
white patch at the base of the wing- quills.
Habits, etc. — This Shrike may be found in the cold weather in
every type of country ranging from cultivation and dry scrub or mixed
bamboo jungle to the fringes of forest and often for considerable
distances within forest where cart-tracks and clearings encourage it
to enter. In such terrain the bird is found singly, sitting on a telegraph-
wire or a fence or a bush or small tree from which it keeps a keen
lookout for its insect prey, launching out to capture it either in the
air or on the ground. It is apt to be shy and difficult* to approach
and is always an active bird except when \ sheltering from the heat of
the day.
The voice is singularly harsh, chr-r-r-ri, comparable with but easily
distinguished from the call of the Rufous-backed Shrike.
This species is one of the earliest to arrive and one of the latest to
depart of the winter visitors to India. The first arrivals may be noted
at the end of August, even as far south as Ceylon, and some birds wait
into May. A few non-breeding birds also seem to linger in the plains
throughout the hot weather.
In Baluchistan the race'L. c. phoenicuroides breeds in May and June
m a zone between 5000 and 7000 feet. The nest is a massive cup of
the usual Shrike type built of grass and bents and lined with seed-
down, wool and scraps of cloth. They are placed in trees or more
usually in low thorn bushes.
The clutch consists of four to six eggs.
The eggs are rather variable in shape, some being long ovals and
others more broad. The ground-colour varies from pale cream to
warm salmon-pink or less commonly pale stone-colour or various
shades of pale greenish. The markings are spots and blotches, mostly
in a zone round the broad end, and they vary also according to the
ground-colour from chestnut red to grey-brown and olive-brown with
secondary markings of lavender and grey.
* The egg measures about 0*75 by 0*65 inches.
THE RUFOUS-BACKED SHRIKE
LANIUS SCHACH Linnaeus
Description. — Length 10 inches. Sexes alike. Forehead and a
broad band through the eye black ; crown to the centre of the back
clear pale grey merging on the shoulders and rump into bright-rufous ;
wings black with often a small white patch at the base of the outer
flight-feathers ; tail black and brown, the feathers tipped with rufous ;
142 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
the whole of the lower plumage white, washed with rufous on the
flanks and vent.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
A notch at the tip of the upper mandible; tail rather long and
graduated.
Field Identification. — Perches conspicuously in open country ;
slender build with heavy head and long tail, conspicuous black
mark through eye, grey back with rufous edging, dark wings and
tail and pale under parts very distinctive ; distinguish from Bay-
backed Shrike by larger size, less black on face, and grey not maroon
back.
Distribution. — Lanius schach is a common and widely-distributed
form of Shrike which occurs throughout India to China, and is
divided into several races. Four of these occur within our area.
The best known is L. s. erythro-
notusy with pale grey upper
parts and much rufous on the
lower back and scapulars,
which breeds in Turkestan,
Gilgit, Kashmir, the Outer
Western Himalayas, North-
west Frontier Province,
Baluchistan, Sind and the
F,G. 2I-Head of Rufous-backed Shrike Pu,nJab> *nd winters in Pfnin'
(11 nat. size) sular India. L. s. nepalensis,
with the upper parts dark
bluish-slate and the rufous confined to the rump, breeds in Tibet,
and is a common winter visitor to the Nepal Valley and the Outer
Eastern Himalayas. L. s. tephronotus, breeding in Suru and Lahul,
and visiting Upper India in winter, is intermediate between those
two races. L. s. caniceps, very similar to erythronotus but with less
rufous on the upper parts, is resident in Central and Southern
India and Ceylon, breeding abundantly in the hill ranges of the
south-west. The Tibetan and Lahul races breed up to 10,000 to
12,000 feet, and the other races up to 7000 to 8000 feet.
A species of similar type, but at once recognised by the black
head, is the Black-headed Shrike (Lanius nasutus) which is found in
some numbers throughout the north-eastern quarter of India from
Kumaon down to Nagpur and Vizagapatam district, breeding locally
in parts of this area.
Habits, etc. — This bird is a typical Shrike, avoiding both forest
areas and desert, and preferring fairly open ground about cultivation
where a conspicuous perch on top of a bush or tree gives it a view
all around. The southern form, caniceps, is apparently strictly resident,
but the northern races are largely migrants, and their movements
THE RUFOUS-BACKED SHRIKE 143
remain to be worked out, the situation being obscured by the fact
that in some areas a proportion of individuals are resident and winter
where they breed. This Shrike has the ferocity and boldness which
is a characteristic of the larger members of the genus. It sits up
on its perch motionless, its sharp eyes watching the ground intently
for moving life, cricket or mouse, grasshopper or newly-fledged bird,
and all alike succumb to the sudden dash and the strong-hooked
beak. And its hunting never stops, for even if its voracious appetite
is satisfied it has the family habit of maintaining a " larder " in which
the surplus prey is stuck on to thorns. It is this habit which has
given to Shrikes the popular name of " Butcher-bird." Small birds
and mammals, bumble-bees, grasshoppers, dragon-flies, beetles,
butterflies, and the like may all be found firmly lodged in a favourite
tree, often eight or ten of them together. On occasions, when feeding,
the Shrike holds its food up in one foot after the fashion of a Parrot.
The ordinary call-note is harsh and scolding, gerlek-gerlek or
julek-julek, followed by a yapping yaon-yaon. The song is short
and pleasant but not often heard, while the bird is an excellent mimic,
often reeling off a regular repertory of other birds' notes.
The breeding season is somewhat irregular. Nests may be found
in different areas from February to August, and probably more than
one brood is raised ; but most nests will be found from April to
July whatever the locality.
The nest is a large, massive cup, sometimes neat and well built,
at other times a most disreputable structure. It is composed of a
medley of materials, twigs, roots, bents, grass, rags, and lumps of
wool, and the lining consists of fine grass or wool and hair. It is
placed in a tree or bush, preferably a thorny one, at heights varying
from 4 to 20 feet from the ground. The nest of the Tibetan race
may, however, be found in small bushes, only a foot from the ground,
but often there is not much choice of site in the barren hill-sides
where it breeds.
The clutch consists of three to six eggs.
In appearance they are typical of the genus, broad heavy eggs,
with very little gloss. The ground-colour is a delicate greenish-
white, in some eggs pale stone-colour or creamy ; the markings
consist of small specks and larger blotches of brown or reddish-
brown, with secondary markings of neutral tint and dark grey. They
are never very thickly distributed and generally tend to form a zone
about the broad end.
They measure about 0-92 by 0-70 inches.
144 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE PIED-SHRIKE
HEMIPUS PICATUS (Sykes)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Male : Top and sides of the head
and neck and the back glossy black, the feathers of the rump broadly
tipped with white ; wings black, a white line running through the
centre of the closed wing ; tail black, all but the middle feathers
broadly tipped with white, the whole outer edge of the outer feather
white ; cheeks and sides of the neck white, produced to form an
indistinct half-collar ; lower plumage pale vinaceous-grey shading into
white on the chin and under the tail.
Female : Similar to the male but the black is replaced by sooty-
brown.
Iris yellowish-brown ; bill black ; legs blackish-brown.
The bill is broad and flattened like that of a Flycatcher.
Field Identification. — A small black and white or brown, black
and white bird found in parties in trees, hopping about the branches
like Woodshrikes or flying into the air to catch insects like Flycatchers.
Largely confined to hill jungles.
Distribution. — The typical race as described above is found in
Saugor district ; along the west coast of Peninsular India from the
Satpuras to the Travancore Hills ; in parts of the Eastern Ghats ;
in Lower Bengal and Lower Assam and into Lower Burma and
Tenasserim. It extends also further east to Sumatra and Borneo.
It occurs from 500 to about 6000 feet.
In the Sub-Himalayan ranges up to 5000 feet from Simla (very
rare) eastwards, in Upper Assam and Upper Burma to Northern
Yunnan and North Siam it is replaced by H. p. capitalis in which
the male differs in having the back and rump smoky-brown instead
of glossy black. The females are indistinguishable. There is also
an island race, //. p. leggei, in Ceylon. In this the male and female
are exactly alike and indistinguishable from the male of the typical
race. The racial differences in this species thus form a most interesting
evolutionary sequence. A resident species.
Habits, etc. — The Pied- Shrike is a strictly arboreal bird. It is
found in many types of tree-growth, in lofty trees, in the fringe of
evergreen jungle, in the foliage of secondary growth in thin jungle
and even on occasion in roadside bushes and mere scrub. Except
in the breeding season it is found in small parties of about half a
dozen individuals and these often join the mixed hunting parties.
In habits these birds resemble both the Flycatchers and the Wood-
shrikes and between the latter and the true Shrikes they form a very
definite connecting link. Like the Woodshrikes the members of a
THE PIED-SHRIKE 145
party follow each other from tree to tree, searching the twigs and leaves
for the insect life which forms their food. Like the Flycatchers they
capture winged prey by launching graceful sallies after it into the
air, turning and twisting in mid-air with great agility. The notes,
frequently uttered, are a little trill — whi-ri-riy whi-ri-ri, whi-ri-ri-ri,
etc. — very reminiscent of a cheap squeaky cracker whistle.
The breeding season of the typical form is from March to May
in Western India, but that of the brown-backed race capltalis is
apparently somewhat later, about May and June. The nest is a very
beautiful structure ; it is composed of grass and fine roots covered
externally with cobwebs and pieces of grey lichen and moss, taken
apparently from the tree on which it is built, so that it corresponds
almost exactly with the branch or fork in which it is placed. This
is usually at a considerable height from the ground and the branch
chosen is often a bare one. In shape the nest is a shallow cup with
a cavity i£ inches across and J inch deep, and it is so small for the
size of the bird that when the latter is sitting the whole of the tail
and the body down to the lower part of the breast is visible to the
observer below. The bird, in fact, merely appears to be sitting on a
small lump of moss and lichen.
The nestlings have a remarkable habit of sitting motionless with
their eyes shut and their heads raised together in the centre of the
nest, so that they and the nest together appear to form a dead spur
of the branch on which the nest is built.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs.
The eggs are very Shrike-like in appearance, rather elongated
ovals somewhat obtuse at both ends and entirely devoid of gloss.
The ground-colour is a pale greenish or greyish-white, profusely
blotched, spotted and streaked with darker and lighter shades of
umber-brown and dull inky-purple. These markings are usually in a
zone at one end. In some specimens the markings are sparse and small.
In size the eggs average about 0-65 by 0-5 inches.
THE COMMON WOOD-SHRIKE
TEPHRODORNIS PONDICERIANUS (Gmelin)
(Plate ix, Fig. 3, opposite page 176)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. The whole upper
plumage ashy-brown, the feathers of the wings edged paler ; tail
dark brown, the central pair of feathers tinged with ashy, the two
outer pairs almost entirely white ; a broad whitish streak over the
eye, and a broad dark band below it ; lower plumage ashy, paler
down the centre.
Iris yellowish-brown ; bill dark horn ; legs dark plumbeous-brown.
K
146 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Field Identification. — Common plains species ; arboreal, in parties ;
a quiet grey bird with a pale eyebrow and a dark band through the
eye, and white outer feathers in the tail.
Distribution. — The Wood-Shrike is found almost throughout India,
Burma, Ceylon, Siam, and Annam, and is divided into races. The
typical race is found from the base of the Himalayas to Cape Comorin,
and on the east to Burma ; on the west it is replaced by T. p. pallidus,
a paler bird, which is found from the line of the River Indus through
the Punjab and Sind to about Kalka, Ambala, the Western United
Provinces and Khandesh. The race found in Ceylon, T. p. affinis,
which is darker below. It is a resident species.
A very similar but larger species, the Nepal Wood-Shrike (Tephro-
dornis gularis), is found in the Eastern Himalayas and has another race
on the Western Ghats from Belgaum southwards. In the latter the
adult has the upper parts a bluish-ash colour.
Habits, etc. — The Wood-Shrike is a very quiet, unobtrusive little
bird which is almost entirely arboreal, hopping about the branches
of trees and searching the stems and leaves for insects and their
larvae. Occasionally it descends to the undergrowth and even to
the ground in its search for food, but this is unusual and it normally
moves from tree to tree, never leaving their cover. Forest is avoided,
the trees preferred being those of gardens, hedgerows and cultivation,
wayside trees and small groves. It is generally met with in pairs,
but in winter small parties collect and hunt in company.
The males have a very sweet and distinctive call of several whistling
notes, wheel wheel, followed by a quick repeated interrogative whi-whi-
whi-whi, besides which some low trills are uttered in the breeding
season.
The breeding season lasts from February to June, but most eggs
will be found in March and April. The nest is a very beautiful
structure, and rather small for the size of the bird. It is a broad,
shallow cup, composed of fine bents, fragments of bark and grass
stems, bound together with silky fibres and smeared exteriorly with
cobwebs, the whole being very compact and neat. The interior is
lined with wool and hair. The nest is built in a small horizontal
fork of a tree from 5 to 30 feet from the ground and is difficult to see
until the bird betrays it.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. They resemble the
eggs of the true Shrikes and are broad, regular ovals, of fine texture,
with very little gloss. The ground-colour is cream, stone, or pale
greenish-white, spotted and blotched with yellowish- and reddish-
brown ; many of these markings are gathered into a conspicuous
but ill-defined zone round the broad end, in which are intermingled
clouds of pale and dingy purple.
The eggs measure about 0-75 by 0*6 1 inches.
THE SCARLET MINIVET 147
THE SCARLET MINIVET
PERICROCOTUS SPECIOSUS (Latham)
Description— -Length 9 inches. Male: Upper plumage to the
middle back, chin and throat glossy black; remainder of body
plumage scarlet ; wing black with a very broad band of scarlet
running through it, and with large round scarlet spots on the later
secondaries ; tail scarlet, the central pair of feathers black.
Female : Forehead yellow, fading on to the crown ; upper plumage
deep grey ; rump and upper tail-coverts olive-yellow ; lower plumage
yellow ; wings blackish-brown, with a broad band of yellow running
through them, and with round yellow spots on the later secondaries ;
central pair of tail-feathers black ; the next pair black with the end
of the outer web yellow ; remaining tail-feathers yellow with a black
patch at their bases.
Iris brown ; bill and legs black.
The tail is long and very deeply graduated.
Field Identification. — Hill species ; purely arboreal ; found in
flocks which immediately attract attention by the scarlet and black
plumage of the males and the yellow and dark plumage of the females.
The larger size and oval spots on the secondaries distinguish it from
the Short-billed Minivet.
Distribution. — The Scarlet Minivet has a wide distribution through
the Himalayas, part of Peninsular India, Assam, and Burma to China
and Hainan, as a resident species, though it appears to move
altitudinally according to season. It is divided into several races,
of which two concern us. The typical race is found throughout
the Lower Himalayas, below about 6000 feet from the Sutlej Valley
eastwards. P. s. semiruber, with the central tail-feathers largely red,
is found in Lower Bengal, Orissa, the Central Provinces, and the
Vizagapatan Ghats.
Another similar species, the Orange Minivet (Pericrocotus
flammeus), is common and resident along the forests of the Western
Ghats from Khandesh to Cape Comorin, occurring also in the
Shevaroy Hills and Ceylon. It is found up to 6000 feet. In this
the male has the lower parts orange-red.
Habits, etc.— This Minivet keeps to well-wooded country, and is
a purely arboreal species, never descending to the ground. Out of
the breeding season it is found in small flocks which travel through
the tops of the trees searching for insects, usually alone, but some-
times in company with other species of insectivorous birds. Like
other Minivets, these birds flit from tree to tree in follow-my-leader
fashion, the red and yellow of the two sexes glinting in the sunlight,
while their cheery pleasant calls still further enhance the pleasure of
meeting with a flock.
148 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The breeding season of the Himalayan race is from the end of
April to early June.
The nest is a shallow, massive little cup composed of fine twigs,
roots and grass-stems, bound together exteriorly with spiders' webs,
and studded with lichens, mosses and scraps of bark. It is placed
on a bough of a tree, and is well concealed, appearing to be merely
an excrescence of the wood.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. These are moderately
broad ovals, fine in texture and with practically no gloss. The ground-
colour is pale sea-green, and the markings consist of spots and blotches
of dark brown and lavender.
They measure about 0-90 by 0-67 inches.
THE SHORT-BILLED MINIVET
PERICROCOTUS BREVIROSTRIS (Vigors) l
(Plate XIH, Fig. 3, opposite page 264)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Male : Upper plumage to the
middle back, chin and throat glossy black ; remainder of body
plumage scarlet ; wing black with a broad band of scarlet running
through it ; central tail-feathers black ; the next pair black with the
greater portion of the outer web scarlet ; the others all scarlet with
a black patch at their bases.
Female : Forehead greenish-yellow, fading on to the crown ; upper
plumage light grey tinged with olive ; rump and upper tail-coverts
olive-yellow ; lower surface yellow ; wing blackish-brown with a broad
band of yellow running through it ; central tail-feathers black ; the
next pair yellow with some black on the inner webs ; the others ajl
yellow with a black patch at their bases.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
The tail is long and very deeply graduated.
Field Identification. — Purely arboreal ; found in flocks which
attract attention by the scarlet and black plumage of the males
and the yellow and dark plumage of the females. Distinguished
from the Scarlet Minivet by the smaller size, by the greater amount
of black in the tail, and by the absence of the scarlet (in female yellow)
round spots on the secondaries.
Distribution. — The Short-billed Minivet has a wide distribution
through Northern India, Assam, and Burma to Eastern China. It is
divided into races, of which we are concerned with two. The typical
1 Some years ago it was pointed out that two distinct species were included
under the name brevirostris, but as the question of the correct name has not
beeri definitely decided it is considered advisable to leave the scientific name
as it appeared in the previous editions.
THE SHORT-BILLED MINIVET 149
race breeds between about 3000 and 10,000 feet on the Sufed Koh
and all along the Western Himalayas from Gilgit and Murree to
Nepal, moving in winter, from about November to the end of March,
into the plains of the Punjab, Rajputana, United Provinces, Central
Provinces, and Lower Bengal. From Sikkim eastwards to Assam and
Northern Burma it is replaced by P. b. affinis, which is a more darkly-
coloured bird in both sexes.
The Rosy Minivet (Pericrocotus roseus) in which the colours of
the male are rose-pink and brown is found throughout the Lower
Himalayas, as far west as Hazara, and also locally in the Peninsula.
Habits, etc. — Except when actually breeding the Short-billed
Minivet is an essentially gregarious bird, living in family parties
which join with others to form flocks that sometimes number as
many as thirty or forty individuals. These are strictly arboreal,
frequenting the tops of trees and not descending even to the under-
growth. They are, however, by no means shy, and feeding in the
trees or flitting one by one across a patch of open the scarlet and
black of the males and the yellow of the females is so conspicuous
and so attractive in the sunlight that the Short-billed Minivet is one
of the best-known birds of the Himalayas and Northern India. There
is something particularly cheerful, too, about the pleasant call, a
Tit-like chatter, swit-swit-switi-tatity or swisweet-sweet-sweet, though
the bird has no proper song. The food consists chiefly of insects and
their larvae.
The breeding season lasts from April to July. The nest is a
shallow but massive little cup of fine twigs, bents and roots, matted
with cobwebs, and studded with lichens to resemble the twig on
which it is placed. It is placed on a bough of a tree usually at a
great height from the ground.
The clutch consists of two to four eggs. They are moderately
broad ovals of fine texture ; the ground-colour is white tinged with
cream or greenish, and the markings consist of blotches and spots
of brownish-red, with secondary markings of grey and neutral tint.
The egg measures about 0-75 by 0-60 inches.
THE LITTLE MINIVET
PERICROCOTUS PEREGRINUS (Linnseus)
(Plate vi, Fig. 5, opposite page no)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : Entire upper surface
grey except the rump which is flame - coloured ; wings blackish-
brown with a slight central patch of flame-colour ; tail long and
deeply graduated, blackish - brown, all but the central pair of
feathers broadly tipped with flame-colour ; sides of the head, chin
K2
ISO POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
and throat blackish-grey ; breast flame-colour, gradually paling into
the white of the vent.
Female : Paler throughout ; the whole lower plumage is white
tinged with yellow.
Iris brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — Plains bird ; common in small parties,
fluttering about trees ; small with long tails, dull coloured with a
conspicuous flame-coloured patch on the rump and wing, and in
the males also on the breast.
Distribution. — The Little Minivet is found throughout India,
Ceylon and Burma, extending on the east to Siam and Cochin-
China ; it is divided into several races. This species is unusually
susceptible to climatic and geographical influences. In Sind and
the South-west Punjab it is a pale desert bird, P. p. pallidus. On
the humid west coast from North Kanara to Travancore, P. p. mala-
baricus (with a black throat in the male) is as richly coloured as
any tropical species. In Ceylon an island race, P. p. ceylonensis,
approximates to another richly coloured race, P. p. vividus (with a
grey throat) in the Duars, Assam, and Burma. Whilst in the greater
part of India the typical form, itself strictly speaking an intermediate,
connects these variations, remaining unchanged through the immense
area of the Peninsula from the Cauvery to the Sutlej, and on the
edges of their ranges grading into them. A strictly resident species.
Another small species, the White-bellied Minivet (Pericrocotus
erythropygius), is found practically throughout India, except the
extreme north-west. The male is glossy black and white with a
red rump and a beautiful rosy flush on the breast.
Habits, etc. — This Minivet is a plains bird, and only ascends
those lesser ranges whose elevation and character cause them scarcely
to differ from the plains. It is, like other Minivets, a purely arboreal
species, frequenting trees in open but well-timbered country, particu-
larly in the neighbourhood of cultivation ; forests it avoids. Except
in the breeding season it goes about in parties which flit gracefully
amongst the branches, uttering a low, pleasant note and occasionally
fluttering and hovering to reach those insects or their eggs and larvae
which cannot be picked with ease from a perch on the twigs.
The breeding season of this species is very extended, lasting,
according to locality, from March to September, earlier in the north
than in Central India and the south. The nest is a very beautiful
little structure which is almost impossible to find, except by watching
the birds, owing to its situation, size and character. It is a tiny
shallow cup, about two inches in diameter and one inch in depth, and
is built in a horizontal fork or on a small bough of a tree usually at a
considerable height from the ground. It is composed of very fine
twigs or grass stems, with sometimes also a few feathers, carefully
THE LITTLE MINIVET 151
bound together with cobwebs and coated with scraps of bark, lichens
and dead leaves, so that viewed from the ground it is virtually impossible
to distinguish from an excrescence of the branch on which it is built ;
the cavity is sometimes lined with fine down and cobwebs.
The normal clutch consists of three eggs.
In shape the egg is a rather blunt, broad oval, fine in texture and
without gloss. The ground-colour is a pale delicate greenish-white or
creamy-buff, and the markings consist of brownish-red specks, spots
and blotches, always more numerous towards the large end where
there is a tendency to form an irregular cap.
They measure about 0*67 by 0-53 inches.
THE BLACK-HEADED CUCKOO-SHRIKE
LALAGE SYKESI Strickland
Description. — Length 7 inches. Male: Entire head, neck, and
upper breast deep black ; upper plumage dark grey ; wings black,
the smaller coverts and inner flight-feathers grey or margined with
grey and white ; tail black, the outer feathers broadly tipped with
white, the central pair entirely ash-grey; lower breast ashy-grey
fading into the white of the rest of the lower plumage.
Female : Upper plumage ashy-grey, most of the feathers faintly
barred with paler and darker grey ; wings dark sooty-brown, the
smaller coverts and inner flight-feathers grey or margined with grey
and white ; tail as in male ; lower plumage white, finely barred with
black fringes to the feathers except towards the tail.
Iris brownish-red ; bill and legs black.
The feathers are very stiff, downy and loosely attached, recalling
the plumage of Cuckoos and Doves. Tail graduated.
Field Identification. — Male : Grey above, white below with black
head and neck and largely black wings and tail. Female : Ashy-grey
with the lower parts barred black and white. An arboreal species
found in small parties. In the breeding season remarkable for the
whistling call.
Distribution. — Confined Jo India, Assam, and Ceylon. Distributed
very generally throughout India except north-west of a line through
Kangra, Sambhar and Mount Aboo. Occurs at all elevations up to
rarely 7000 feet. Birds from Kangra have been separated as L. s.
eximia on their darker colour. Evidently a local migrant, but the
movements have not yet been worked out.
Another species, the Large Cuckoo-Shrike (Graucalus javensis),
length 10 to 12 inches, is found throughout India, with the exception
of the Punjab plains, Sind and desert Rajputana. The plumage is
152
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
largely grey with more or less grey barring on the white lower parts.
It keeps to the tops of trees and attracts attention by its loud, querulous
and rather Parrot-like cry. A rather larger bird is the Dark-grey
Cuckoo- Shrike, Lalage melaschista, found from Murree to Eastern
Assam and extending into the peninsula. It is a uniform dark grey
with black wings and tail, the latter tipped with white.
FIG. 22 — Black-Headed Cuckoo-Shrike (jj- nat. size)
Habits, etc. — The Black-headed Cuckoo- Shrike is found in well-,
timbered open country rather than in heavy forest, and is very partial
to large trees surrounding villages or the avenues of large trees which
line so many of the roads of India. It also enters gardens and
orchards and feeds along hedgerows. It never descends to the
ground. Except in the breeding season this species is usually found
in small parties which fly from tree to tree, slowly and carefully
examining the foliage for the insects and larvae which form its food.
The search is continued from bough to bough until the tree has been
thoroughly inspected when the flock flies off to another tree. It is
THE BLACK-HEADED CUCKOO-SHRIKE 153
usually a -silent bird, but during the earlier part of the breeding
season the male may frequently be heard repeating for minutes
together three loud and clear whistling notes in a descending scale.
Each time,, that he flies from tree to tree the song is repeated. The
flight is easy and somewhat undulating and the strokes of the wing
fairly rapid.
The breeding season in the greater part of the bird's range is
from June to August, but in the extreme south it is said to be somewhat
earlier, in April and May.
The nest is a very shallow rather broad cup of slight construction.
It is made of thin twigs and roots arid the exterior is lightly covered
with spiders' webs. The situation chosen is on a branch of a tree,
either in a fork or at the junction of the branch with the trunk, usually
at a height of 10 to 20 feet from the ground.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. The egg is a moderately
broad oval, rather blunt at both ends. The shell is fine in texture
and slightly glossy. The ground-colour is pale greenish- white, thickly
blotched and streaked throughout with rather pale brown. The
markings tend to be most numerous towards the broad end.
The egg measures about 0-85 by 0-65 inches.
THE ASHY SWALLOW-SHRIKE
ARTAMUS FUSCUS Vieillot
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. Entire body plumage
dull ashy, greyer on the head and paler from the breast downwards,
a blackish mark in front of the eye. Wings and tail deep blue-grey,
the latter tipped with white ; the longer upper tail-coverts white ;
the lower tail-coverts whitish, finely barred with ashy.
Iris dark brown ; bill clear pale blue, brownish at tip ; legs slate.
Bill curved, conical and pointed ; tail short and square and the
long wings when closed reach to its end.
Field Identification. — Social, found in flocks ; a dull grey bird
that looks like a large heavy Swallow, soaring continuously into the
air from a perch and incessantly uttering a harsh cry.
Distribution. — This interesting bird is found in the whole of India
east of a line drawn from about Simla to Godra in the Panch Mahals.
It is a resident in the plains and foot-hills up to about 2000 feet, and
in summer ascends the Himalayas up to about 5000 feet. It is also
found in Ceylon and eastwards through Burma towards Siam and
Western China. There are no races.
Habits, etc. — The Swallow- Shrike is a gregarious bird, breeding
in colonies and spending its time in large flocks which feed and
rest together. It is specialised for the purpose of feeding on the
154 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
wing, and in the air looks like a large grey Swallow, though easily
distinguished by the constantly uttered harsh cry and by the slow-
sailing flight. The flocks settle in rows on some lofty bough or the
top of a tall bamboo and thence sally into the air in pursuit of
passing insects ; they fly round in a wide circle, though seldom for
more than a minute or two at a time, and then return to the perch
where they huddle closely together. During the heat of the day
they are quiescent, and they feed mostly in the early mornings and
late evenings, being partly crepuscular in their habits. They are
very bold when breeding, and attack passing Crows and Hawks, and
at times even swoop at the climber who essays to take their nest.
They never visit the ground.
FlG, 23— Ashy Swallow-Shrike (£ nat. size)
The breeding season is in April, May and June. The nest is
usually placed on the top of broken projecting stumps of branches
or occasionally in holes; a favourite site is in palm trees, on the
bases of the leaves or the rough projections whence leaves have fallen. *
The site is usually 30 to 40 feet from the ground.
The nest is a shallow, loose cup of fine grass, roots, fibres,
feathers and similar miscellaneous materials, with, as a rule, no
definite lining. The clutch consists of two to four eggs, which
rather resemble those of the Shrikes. In shape the egg is a rather
narrow oval, a good deal pointed towards one end, fine in texture
and with a slight gloss. The ground-colour varies from white to
buffy-cream colour. The markings which tend to collect in a zone
round the broad end consist of spots and clouds of reddish-brown
and deep purple-brown, with secondary markings of lavender and
purplish-grey.
In size the eggs average about 0-95 by 0*65 inches.
PLATE VIII
i. Black Redstart. 2. Plumbeous Redstart. 3. Starling. 4. White-capped
Redstart. 5. Brahminy Mynah. (All about £ nat. size.)
[Face p. 154
THE KING-CROW 155
THE KING-CROW
DlCRURUS MACROCERCUS Vieillot
Description. — Length 13 inches, including the tail 6 inches long.
Sexes alike. The whole plumage black, glossed with blue ; a small
white spot sometimes present at the base of the bill.
Iris red ; bill and legs black.
The tail is long and deeply forked, the outer feathers curling,
slightly upwards at the ends.
Field Identification. — One of the commonest birds throughout
India, perching on trees and telegraph-wires ; noisy and pugnacious ;
deep black with a long, gracefully-forked tail.
Distribution. — The common Black Drongo or King-Crow is a
widely-spread species occurring throughout India and Ceylon and
eastwards to China and Java. In this wide range it is divided into
several sub-species, based entirely on the variations in size and
relative lengths of wings and tails, so that individual specimens are
not easily identified. In India there is a progressive diminution in
size as one travels southwards. The longest-winged and largest-
tailed race, D. m. albirictus, is found throughout northern India from
the Lower Himalayas roughly to the southern fringe of the Indo-
Gangetic plain. All birds south of that area to Cape Comorin may
be treated as one form, D. m. peninsularis, whilst the smallest race
from Ceylon is known as D. m. minor. A resident species with some
local migrations. Found from sea-level up to about 5000 feet.
The much smaller and more highly burnished Bronzed Drongo
(Chaptia tened), and the heavily-built Hair-crested Drongo (Chibia
hottentottd), with an almost square tail and a tuft of long hairs
springing from the forehead, share a somewhat similar distribution
along the Outer Himalayas, near the eastern border of the Central
Provinces and in South-west India.
Habits, etc. — In the King-Crow we have another of the most
familiar birds of India, attracting attention by its graceful shape, its
fearlessness and pugnacity, its abundance, and the wideness of its
distribution. This bird has no connection with the family of Crows ;
it belongs to a very highly-specialised and distinct family, the Dicruridce,
which appears to occupy a position between the Shrikes and the
Birds of Paradise. The familiar name is due partly to the colour " as
black as a Crow " and partly to its pugnacity and fearlessness in defence
of the nest, which leads it to attack all predaceous enemies. It is a
common sight to see a pair of these birds chasing a Crow through
the air, stooping at and around it with a mastery of flight and power,
like that of a Falcon, accompanying the performance with a series
of angry calls that attract the attention of the least observant ; verily
156 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
it is King of the Crows, who, otherwise, are a match for bird and
mammal, even including the arch-mammal man. And if necessity
arises it does not hesitate to attack Eagle, Falcon or Hawk with the
same courage.
But the King-Crow is not a mere bully : harmless species it
does not molest, and it has long been noticed that a tree containing
a King-Crow's nest usually also contains the nest of a Golden
Oriole, a Red Turtle-Dove, or some other equally gentle bird, and
FIG. 24 — King-Crow (J nat. size)
it is difficult to resist the conclusion that these species recognise
the fact that the presence of the King-Crow's nest above their heads
is a guarantee of protection from all ordinary marauders.
The King-Crow is found in eveiy type of country, though it
certainly prefers the neighbourhood of open cultivation. Its chief
need is a vantage-point on which to perch, swaying and flicking its
long tail, and watching ceaselessly for every insect that stirs in the
air or on the ground. It seldom perches on buildings, but prefers a
bare dead bough at the summit of a tree or a telegraph-wire. One
may travel for days on an Indian railway and the King-Crows
dotted along the wires will be one of the unchanging sights of the
THE KING-CROW 157
journey. And from the chosen perch they are incessantly flying
either to capture an insect on the wing, returning to eat it on the
perch, or down to the ground to settle there and eat some more
sluggish quarry. Their whole build, however, precludes any
progression on the ground or about the branches of a tree and their
movements are entirely aerial. Herds of grazing cattle are generally
accompanied by one or more of these birds which travel with them,
perching on the back of one of the animals and hawking the
grasshoppers disturbed by the progress of the herd through the
grass. The bird also attends ploughing operations, perching on small
bushes and clods of earth in the vicinity and watching for larvae
exposed in the furrows. At times the King-Crow is somewhat of a
pirate, robbing Mynahs and Hoopoes as they search industriously for
tasty morsels on the ground. The food consists entirely of insects,
dragon-flies, crickets, grasshoppers, moths, bugs, etc., and their larvae.
The call-notes are loud and cheerful though somewhat metallic
in tone. The Punjabi names of Kalcheet and Kalkalichi are
onomatopoeic and fairly represent the more common calls, but it is
impossible to represent the evident fury imported into the bird's
tones when it is driving an intruder from the vicinity of the nest.
The song is short but not pleasing.
While undoubtedly in the main a resident species, the King-Crow
is certainly migratory to some extent ; but, as is almost inevitable,
with so abundant a species in which a large proportion of individuals
are sedentary, the extent and meaning of these movements is difficult
to observe and has not yet been worked out.
The breeding season extends from April to August. The nest
is a broad, shallow cup of tiny twigs and fine grass stems and roots
neatly and strongly woven together and exteriorly bound round
with a good deal of cobweb ; some nests are lined with fine grass,
horse-hair or roots. The side of the nest is thicker than the bottom
through which the eggs are often visible against the sky. It is suspended
in a horizontal fork of a tree, for the most part at a considerable height
from the ground and a little way in from the extremity of the chosen
bough. A second clutch of eggs is often laid in a nest that has been
robbed.
Three to five eggs are laid, but the usual clutch consists of
four. The egg is a rather long oval, somewhat pointed towards the
smaller end ; the shell is fine and rather fragile and usually without
gloss. The coloration is very variable. Some eggs are pure white
and spotless ; others are white with fine black spots ; while a third
type is pale salmon-colour spotted with rich brownish-red, blackish-
and purplish-brown ; there are infinite variations on these types,
but the markings are never very large or densely distributed.
The egg measures about 1*05 by 0-75 inches.
158 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE INDIAN GREY DRONGO
DICRURUS LONGICAUDATUS Jerdon
Description. — Length 12 inches, including tail 6 inches. Sexes
alike. The whole upper plumage indigo with a high gloss ; the
lower plumage dark grey ; a blackish patch in front of the eye.
Iris red ; bill and legs black.
Tail long, slender and widely forked at the end, the outer feathers
curling upwards.
Field Identification. — In the field appears black with a long,
slender forked tail, and is only distinguished from the King-Crow
with difficulty, by the more slender build, unless close enough for
the lighter duller colour of the under parts to be recognisable.
Distribution. — The Grey Drongo is a very widely-spread species
in India, Burma, Ceylon, and still farther east, and has been divided
into a number of races based on differences of measurements and the
comparative darkness or lightness of the plumage, but several of
these are probably unnecessary. D. I. longicaudatus is found, as a
summer visitor from March to September, in the Himalayas from
Hazara to somewhere in Assam, being replaced in Lower Burma and
the Malay Peninsula by D. L intermedius. D. I. longicaudatus is found
also as a winter visitor throughout the greater part of Continental and
Peninsular India, avoiding Sind, Punjab, Guzerat and portions of
Rajputana. It also reaches Ceylon in winter.
The Grey Drongo is particularly a hill species, for the most part
breeding at altitudes between 4000 and 7000 feet, but also lower and
up to 10,000 feet.
The White-bellied Drongo (Dicrurus ceerulescens) is widely dis-,
tributed and locally common throughout the greater part of India,
except in the Punjab, Sind, and Rajputana. The brownish-grey
throat and breast and white belly distinguish it easily from all other
species, though it must be remembered that the young of the King-
Crow have the lower abdomen largely marked with white. The song
of this King-Crow is almost meruline in character, and is superior
to the songs of all other species of Drongo.
Habits, etc. — The Grey Drongo is typically a resident of well-
wooded hills, preferring those of more open character to the
neighbourhood of dense forest. It has the same habits as the
Black Drongo, perching on high trees and hawking insects in their
vicinity. But as its favourite tree is usually on the side of some
afforested mountain-slope it normally flies at greater heights from
the ground than its Black cousin, and seldom descends actually to
the ground. It is a magnificent flier, turning and twisting with
extreme speed and skill, and it has the pugnacity of the family,
THE INDIAN GREY DRONGO 159
hunting larger birds from the vicinity of its nest with great courage.
It is usually found singly or in pairs, but the pairs do not object
to the vicinity of others of their own species, and several birds
often collect together to mob a common foe or to work some
desirable feeding ground. During migration small parties travel
together.
The Grey Drongo has much the same range of musical calls as
the Black Drongo, some harsh and scolding, others sweet and
cheerful ; a common call may be given as drangh-gip or gip-gip-
drangh. There is a short but pleasant song, and in addition the bird
is something of a mimic.
The food consists entirely of insects, the majority of which are
taken on the wing. A bird has been seen to settle by a bee-hive and
deliberately pick up and eat the bees.
The breeding season is in May and June.
The nest is a strong shallow cup, placed in a horizontal fork of a
tree at any height fiom 12 feet upwards, and often quite inaccessible.
It is built of fine grass stems, slender twigs and roots, plastered with
cobwebs and lichens and lined with finer grasses and hairs. The
bottom of the nest is usually thin enough for the eggs to be visible
through it against the sky.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, fine in texture and without
gloss. There are two main types of coloration. The first is pinkish-
salmon colour, streaked, blotched, and clouded with reddish-pink of
a darker shade. In the other the ground-colour is pale pinkish-white
boldly blotched and spotted, mostly in a zone round the broad end,
with brownish-red and faint inky-purple.
The egg measures about 0-95 by 0-74 inches.
THE LARGE RACKET-TAILED DRONGO
DISSEMURUS PARADISEUS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length to end of central tail-feathers 14 inches ;
outer tail - feathers up to 13 inches extra. Sexes alike. Entire
plumage black, glossed with blue except on the inner webs of the
wing-quills, throat and lower abdomen ; some white spots under
the wing.
Iris crimson ; bill and legs black.
An erect crest of long hackle-like plumes on the forehead falling
backwards over the nape ; the outer pair of tail-feathers greatly
elongated, the middle portion of the shaft webless, the terminal four
inches having the outer web very narrow and the inner web broad
and twisted upwards ; a twist in the shaft reverses the apparent
position of these webs.
160 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Field Identification. — A glossy black bird, immediately identified
by the plumed crest and the extraordinary development of the outer
tail-feathers into rackets on the end of the wire-like shafts.
Distribution. — Throughout the greater part of India, Burma, and
Ceylon to Siam and the Malay Peninsula. It has been divided into
a number of races differing in the size and
quality of the crest and tail. D. p. grandis
breeds along the Himalayas from Kumaon
to Eastern Assam and through to Yunnan,
from the plains up to 3000 and occasionally
4000 feet ; it extends east of a line
roughly from Kumaon to Mount Aboo
southwards to Sambalpur, Raipur and the
northern reaches of the Godavari River.
D. p. malabaricus, an altogether smaller
bird, occupies the rest of India south of
the above range. In Ceylon there are two
races, both still smaller, one D. p. ceylon-
ensis confined to the dry zone, and the
other with different outer tail feathers,
D. p. tophorhinuSy restricted to the wet
zone. It is a resident species.
This species must not be confused with
the Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo (Bhringa
remifer) of the Eastern Himalayas, Assam
and Burma which has the rackets fully
webbed on both sides, lacks the crest and
has the feathers of the forehead produced
in a curious flat pad over the base of the
beak.
Habits, etc. — This wonderful Drongo,
known familiarly as the Bhimraj, is a forest
species, inhabiting by preference the
FIG. 25 — Large Racket-tailed densest and dampest of the Indian forests,
Drongo ( \ nat. size) though it is also found in any well-wooded
country and even comes into gardens.
It appears to have a special partiality for bamboo jungle and is entirely
arboreal in its habits. It is more sociable than other Drongos, often
going about in parties of four and five. These parties appear to wander
a good deal in search of food, flying from tree to tree, swooping at
insects on the wing or capturing them from the branches. The bird
also hunts from a fixed station, returning again and again to the same
tree. Its food consists of a variety of insects, wasps, beetles, butter-
flies, locusts and their larvae, and it is accustomed to devour quantities
of bees.
THE LARGE RACKET-TAILED DRONGO 161
The call is very striking, beginning with a harsh chuckle and
ending in a peculiar metallic creaking cry, expressed by the syllables
tse-rung, tse-rung. It has in addition a number of musical calls and
whistles and is justly celebrated as a very fine mimic, imitating all
the birds of the locality. It makes a delightful pet, fearless and most
amusing with its imitations of noises about the house and garden.
The breeding season is from March to May, and, when nesting,
the bird is accustomed to harry passing birds of prey. The nest
is the usual cup-cradle of the Drongos, slung in the fork of a small
outside branch of a tree, usually at a great height from the ground.
It is composed of fine twigs and grass stems well interlaced
and firmly attached to the fork and strengthened with cobwebs ;
the outside is usually decorated with lichen, moss and scraps
of bark.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs. They are rather long
and pointed, fine in texture and with little gloss. The ground-
colour varies from white to rich cream, marked with blotches, spots
and specks of reddish-brown or purple and secondary markings of
lavender and pale neutral tint. The markings tend to collect towards
the broad end.
The egg measures about 1-15 by 0-83 inches.
THE INDIAN GREAT REED- WARBLER
ACROCEPHALUS STENTOREUS (Hempr. and Ehrn.)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
olive-brown ; an indistinct fulvous buff line over the eye ; wings
and tail dark brown, washed with olive-brown ; chin and throat
creamy-white ; remainder of lower plumage fulvous buff, paler about
the vent.
In worn plumage the upper parts become much greyer and the
lower parts whiter.
Iris yellow-brown ; bill blackish-brown, base of lower mandible
fleshy-livid ; legs steely plumbeous. Inside of mouth salmon-red.
The tail is somewhat graduated.
Field Identification. — One of the largest of the Warblers. A dull
olive-brown bird with fulvous under parts, chiefly remarkable in the
hand for the rich salmon-red mouth. Normally found in dense
reed-beds where it is very noisy.
Distribution. — This species is widely distributed from Egypt and
Palestine through Western and Central Asia to India, Ceylon and
Burma. It is divided into races. Indian birds belong to the race
A. s. brunnescens which also breeds in Transcaspia, Persia and
Turkestan. In our area it is known to breed in suitable jheels in
L
i6z POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Sind, Baluchistan, North-west Frontier Province, Kashmir, the
Punjab and the United Provinces, and possibly also in Khandesh
and Bombay. It is largely migratory and is found in winter or on
passage throughout India. A smaller and more richly coloured race,
A. s. meridionalis, is resident in Ceylon.
Habits, etc. — The Great Reed-Warbler is normally a bird of dense
reed-beds though it may also be found in any other thick cover
over water, such as the mangrove swamps along the tidal creeks
of the Bombay and Sind coasts. In such places it is more often
heard than seen. The call and alarm note is a harsh chack chack,
while the song is very distinctive, never forgotten when once heard.
It is very loud and variable, hard and metallic for the most part, but
also interspersed with pleasant bars. But the essential burden of
the refrain, constantly recurring, is the loud karra karra karreet
karreet karreet or prit prit pritik which suddenly bursts out of a
reed-bed with astonishing vehemence. It is to be heard everywhere
in the lakes of the Kashmir Vale even amongst the house-boats by
the Dal Darwaza in Srinagar. The singer himself usually keeps out
of sight, climbing about the reed stems and the heaps of debris a
few inches above the surface of the water. Although such a skulker
the bird is not particularly shy and allows a close approach, while at
intervals it climbs to the tops of the reeds or even into neighbouring
trees, singing a few bars of the song from such a vantage-point before
returning to the shady depths of the reed-bed. The food consists
of the various aquatic larvae and insects, small snails and slugs and
aquatic seeds to be found in such situations.
On migration the Great Reed-Warbler may be found almost
anywhere, skulking in garden bushes, hopping about in the boughs
of trees. It is then silent, save for the call-note.
The breeding season, which is of course dependent on the growth
of reeds, is from late May to August, most eggs being found in June
and July.
The nest is a very deep massive cup, which is woven round the
stems of four or five reeds usually at a height of about 2 feet above
the water. The nest is built of coarse water grass, shreds of leaves
and bark of the reeds, the fibrous roots of water-plants and similar
materials, and it is lined with finer materials of the same sort.
The clutch varies from three to six eggs, but four is certainly the
normal number. The egg is a moderately elongated oval with a fine
shell but no gloss. The ground-colour varies from greenish- or
bluish-white to creamy stone-colour. The markings consist of very
fine stippling overlaid with fairly bold and well-marked spots and
blotches of greyish-black, inky-purple, olive-brown, yellowish-olive,
and reddish-umber-brown, with here and. there pale underlying
clouds of pale inky colour. The markings are usually most dense
THE INDIAN GREAT REED-WARBLER 163
towards the broad end, and there is a great deal of variation, not all
the above markings and colours always appearing in one specimen.
The egg measures about 0-90 by 0-60 inches.
BLYTH'S REED-WARBLER
ACROCEPHALUS DUMETORUM Blyth
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. An indistinct fulvous
streak over the eye ; the remainder of the upper plumage and the
sides of the face and neck brown distinctly tinged with olivaceous ;
wings and tail brown, the feathers edged with olivaceous ; the whole
lower plumage pale buff, paler on the chin, throat and abdomen.
Iris light brown ; bill brown above, flesh-coloured below ; gape
and mouth yellow ; legs brown, soles yellowish.
Tail somewhat graduated.
Field Identification. — A miniature edition of the Great Reed-
Warbler with the mouth yellow instead of salmon-red ; much less of
a marsh bird, being found in any sort of cover except in heavy
forest.
Blyth's Reed- Warbler is usually confused with two other Warblers
of similar size and appearance. The differences from the Booted
Warbler will be found under that species (p. 164). The Paddy-
Field Warbler (Acrocephalus agricold) has the upper plumage russet
in tint instead of olivaceous and is normally found near water in
reed-beds or similar cover.
Distribution. — Blyth's Reed- Warbler breeds in Russia and Western
Siberia from Esthonia to Irkutsk and southwards to Northern Persia
and Turkestan. It is a very common passage migrant from August
• to October and again from March to May through the Himalayas
and in the plains north-west of a line from the Rann of Cutch to
Lucknow and a more or less common winter visitor to the rest of
India and Ceylon. It also occurs in Assam and parts of Burma.
Habits, etc. — The observer in India must not be deceived by the
name of Blyth's Reed-Warbler, for on passage and in winter quarters
the neighbourhood of water has no special attraction for this species.
In winter it is a bird of thick cover, found in any type of country
other than thick forest. All that is essential to it is concealment, and
whether this be found in the hedgerows of village cultivation or the
scrub of the barren plains on the Deccan plateau, in the tamarisk
of a river-bed in the plains or the dense bracken thickets or water-
logged patches of the South Indian hills, it is content. It hops about
the hidden stems in search of insects, solitary by habit though numeri-
cally abundant ; and the observer is lucky who learns much more
164 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
of it than the single harsh note tschuk uttered at intervals of a few
seconds, varied occasionally by chur-w or chr-chr.
On passage in Northern India this Warbler may be found anywhere,
in the trees of shady gardens and orchards, in isolated bushes on
barren hill-sides and of course in any patch of thick cover. On spring
passage the song is freely uttered. It is a vigorous and rather pretty
song of a rambling character and would remind an English naturalist
rather of a Linnet than of the Reed- Warblers of his own reed-beds.
The food consists chiefly of insects and their larvae.
Blyth's Reed- Warbler does not nest within our limits.
The breeding season in the northern part of its range is about
June. The nest is built both in marshy and dry localities — reed-beds
are rarely chosen — in varied types of undergrowth and is a deep
cup of bents and grasses, lined with hair, slung by the sides to the
supporting vegetation.
The clutch usually consists of four or five eggs. They are said
to be very variable. The ground-colour is bluish- or greenish-white
or suffused brownish-grey, scantily but rather boldly spotted and
blotched with olive-brown and ashy-grey.
The average size is about 0-7 by 0*5 inches.
THE BOOTED WARBLER
HIPPOLAIS CALIGATA (Lichtenstein)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. A pale buffy-white
line over the eye ; upper plumage brown with a pale olivaceous
tinge ; wings and tail dark brown, the feathers edged with olive-brown,
the outer tail-feathers faintly tipped and the outermost feather also
edged with whitish ; whole lower plumage very pale buff, the throat
and middle of the abdomen whitish.
Iris brown ; bill blackish-brown above, yellowish-brown below ;
gape and mouth yellow ; legs steely blue-grey.
Tail slightly graduated.
Field Identification. — A very indefinitely coloured little Warbler,
brown above and pale buffy-white below with a pale streak over
the eye. Usually found creeping about in bushes uttering a clicking
note.
Distribution. — This species is divided into two forms which were
formerly ranked as two separate species. The typical race (or Booted
Warbler of literature generally) breeds in Central and Eastern Russia
and Western Siberia, occurs on passage (March-May and August-
September) in Persia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and North-west India
and winters from Central India to Ceylon. It does not occur east
THE BOOTED WARBLER 165
of the Duars and the Lower Brahmaputra. The other race H . c. rama
(or Sykes' Tree-Warbler of literature) breeds in Persia, Turkestan,
Afghanistan, Baluchistan, the Punjab and Sind and winters in India
and Ceylon. It has not been recorded east of Moghulserai and
Assensole.
In fresh autumn plumage caligata is a darker and more fulvous
brown and rama is more of a uniform mouse-grey brown in tint,
but these differences are soon obscured by wear and bleaching and
the two races are most easily separated by the length of tail measured
from the base between the two central feathers. This is below 50
millimetres (z inches) in caligata and above that figure in rama In
other details, more particularly the bill, rama is correspondingly
larger. The two forms cannot be separated in the field. Both these
races require to be distinguished from Blyth's Reed-Warbler (Aero-
cephalus dumetorum). In the first place, their general coloration is
much greyer.1 In both the minute first primary or flight-feather of
the wing is 3-5 to 10 millimetres longer than the primary coverts,
whereas in Blyth's Reed-Warbler and the allied Paddy-field Warbler
(Acrocephalus agricola) this feather is usually shorter than or equal
to the primary coverts and never exceeds them by more than 3 milli-
metres. In the Booted Warbler the bristles that line the base of the
beak are small and weak ; and finally the tail is much less deeply
graduated and the white edge to the outer tail-feather is distinctive.
Habits, etc. — In the cold weather the Booted Warbler is a bird
of any kind of dry country where bushes abound, save actual forest.
It frequents gardens, scrub-jungle and babool trees in open fields
and in such places it will be found skulking in the undergrowth or
creeping about the branches of the babool trees. In the latter case
its movements are very reminiscent of those of the Willow-Warblers
and like the Siberian Chiff- Chaff it often flies out from the extremity
of a bough to take insects on the wing. In general, it is very
unobtrusive and seldom shows itself, but a subdued chuck or chick or
chur-r, incessantly uttered at intervals of a second or two, records its
gradual progress. Although solitary by nature, these Warblers are
often numerically so abundant, especially on passage, that numbers
will be found in suitable localities.
The song is said to be sweet and powerful and uttered both by
night and day. It is not heard, however, on passage or in winter
quarters and is confined to the breeding ground. In Baluchistan
this species breeds in every orchard and garden of the Quetta Valley
and particularly in the thick rose-hedges which surround the lucerne
fields. In the Punjab and Sind it is a bird of the grass-jungles and
1 This species differs in tint according to wear and race. If I have
appeared inconsistent in describing the exact shades of brown, it is due to that
fact and also the necessity of emphasising the varied contrasts of colour.
L2
166 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
tamarisk-beds of the riverain tracts. In some areas it is so numerous
that the breeding appears to be almost colonial.
The breeding season lasts from the second half of March to the
beginning of July. The nest is a neat, compact little cup of grass,
bits of rotten bark, hair, string and other soft material, built on a
framework of grass and lined with fine grass stems, feathers and
cotton. At Quetta it is usually placed in the heart of a rose-bush.
In the Punjab and Sind it is built either in a tamarisk or in a thick
tuft of grass and in the latter situation it is usually a foot or less from
the ground.
The clutch varies from three to five eggs. The egg is a broad
blunt oval, of fine and close texture without gloss. There is much
variety, but the ground-colour is generally a very pale grey-white
tinged with greenish or pinkish and marked with spots and speckles,
blotches and fine hair-lines and scrawls of black, purple, red-brown
or pinkish-grey.
In size the egg measures about 0-6 by 0-5 inches.
THE TAILOR-BIRD
ORTHOTOMUS SUTORIUS (Pennant)
(Plate xiii, Fig. 6, opposite page 264)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. A rufous cap on
the forehead ; remainder of top and sides of head ashy-brownish,
shading off into the shining but sullied white of the entire lower
surface ; there is a concealed dark spot on each side of the neck,
and the thighs are rufous ; remainder of upper plumage yellowish-
green, the concealed parts of the wings and tail brown.
Iris reddish-yellow ; bill dark horny, lower mandible pale flesh
colour ; legs straw colour to pale fleshy-red.
Bill rather long and sharp ; in the breeding season the male
acquires very long and pointed central tail-feathers, two inches longer
than in winter.
Field Identification. — A familiar small garden bird of the plains,
green above, white below with a rufous cap ; carries the tail (which
is long and pointed in summer, short and rounded in winter) erect
over the back like a Wren ; has a loud, strident call.
Distribution. — In the Tailor-bird we again have a common bird,
of wide distribution from India to China, which is divided into
several races. The typical race, small, with a large bill and no
difference between the summer and winter plumage, is confined
to the low-country in Ceylon, and in the hill zone a darker race, O. s.
fernandonis. The Indian race, O. s. guzerata, is larger, and in the
breeding season develops the long tail-feathers. It is found through-
THE TAILOR-BIRD 167
out the country except in the more extreme desert areas, and from
about Eastern Bengal and the Duars it is replaced by a more richly
coloured bird, O. s. patia. The Indian form occurs in the Outer
Himalayas up to 4000 feet, stragglers even ascending to 7000 feet, and
in the southern ranges it also is found up to 4000 feet. The Tailor-bird
is a most strictly resident species, neither migrating nor moving about
locally.
Habits, etc. — By name and repute the Tailor-bird is certainly one
of the best-known birds of India, yet the number of people who can
identify it by sight or sound or give any idea of its appearance is
probably very small indeed. Like many other famous persons, the
Tailor-bird is insignificant in appearance, a small, rather gawky, green
bird, with a pointed tail and a rufous crown, which climbs about in
undergrowth and is mostly hidden from sight. It is a bird of
gardens and even verandahs, of the outskirts of villages, of patches
of low evergreen undergrowth. Forest and bare desert areas are
alike abhorrent to it. Where man has settled and made his home
there will the Tailor-bird be found. Although seldom seen by the
unobservant it is not shy, but with endless activity hops about the
bushes and creepers round a house, investigating the flower-pots
in the verandah and willingly feeding within a few feet of people,
provided that they are not moving about. And as it goes it con-
stantly utters the loud, discordant, strident call, loud for so small
a bird and unmistakable when known, which is a familiar sound in
every garden though known to few as the note of this species.
When the note is uttered the throat swells and reveals the concealed
black spots on the sides of the neck. The head and tail are held
stiffly over the back after the manner of the English Wren. The
flight is very curious ; it seldom lasts for more than a yard or two
from cover to cover, and the bird flies with obvious effort, the long
tail flicking upwards over the back in a manner that can only seem
a hindrance. The food consists entirely of insects.
But all the fame of the Tailor-bird is of course centred in its
nest, and with the unfairness of the world it undoubtedly receives
alone in popular estimation the credit as an architect which should
be distributed amongst several species. For certain of the Wren-
Warblers build nests on exactly the same principles as the Tailor-bird,
and in addition build other beautiful types of nest, which it does not.
The nest itself is a deep, soft cup of cotton-wool and down, with
a slight lining of a few horse-hairs, and occasionally a few fine grass
stems. For it the bird prepares an aerial cradle by sewing two or
more leaves together, the nest being placed within the cavity so
formed. There is a good deal of variety in the method of sewing
the leaves together ; two large ones may be joined down their edges,
several smaller leaves may be sewn together, or the nest may be
168 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
slung between two or three leaves which are sewn to it and not to
each other. The sewing is done with threads of cobweb, silk from
cocoons, wool or cottons ; the bird pierces a hole in the leaf with
its sharp beak and draws the thread through, contriving in some
manner to make a knot on the outside sufficient to prevent the
thread slipping back ; except that each stitch is made separately
it would pass well for the work of human hands. It is frequently
stated that dead leaves are picked up and sewn to the side of the
nest, but this is an error, and the explanation is simple. These
leaves were green and fresh when the work began, but they are
injured and die from the effect of the stitches, and curling in the
heat break loose from their parent stem.
The nest is placed at all elevations, either in low bushes, in the
hanging boughs of loquat and similar trees, or high up in some lordly
mango tree. The only essential condition is a tough large type of
leaf ; but most nests will be found within 6 feet of the ground.
The principal breeding season is in May, June, and July, but
occasional nests may be found in other months. The bird is very
suspicious of interference, and readily deserts a half-built nest which
has been found and looked at.
Three to six eggs may be found, but the normal clutch is certainly
three or four. They are rather long and pointed in shape, very thin
and delicate, and with but little gloss. They fall into two types of
coloration, with the ground-colour either reddish- white or pale bluish-
green ; the former is more common. The markings consist of bold
blotches or sometimes ill-defined clouds, mixed with speckles, spots,
and dashes of red, reddish-brown, brown, black, or purplish-black.
These are seldom dense in character and there is a tendency for the
larger markings to collect towards the broad end of the egg.
The eggs measure about 0-64 by 0-46 inches.
THE FANTAIL-WARBLER
CISTICOLA JUNCIDIS (Rafinesque)
Description. — Length 4 inches. Sexes alike. Winter plumage :
The whole upper plumage, including the wings, dark blackish-brown,
the feathers broadly edged with fulvous ; rump plain rufous ; a broad
eyebrow, the sides of the face, except for the brownish ear-coverts,
and the whole lower plumage buffy-white, becoming buff on the
breast and flanks ; tail dark brown, central feathers edged with fulvous
and remainder with white tips and a black subterminal bar.
The male in summer has the top of the head and heck plain brown
and the tail a quarter of an inch shorter with rufous patches above
the black bar.
THE FANTAIL-WARBLER i6g
Iris yellow-brown ; bill fleshy, darker along the top ; legs fleshy.
The tail is rounded and expands into a perfect fan.
Field Identification. — Plains species ; a minute, streaked black
and brown bird, with pale under parts, found in thick herbage ;
skulks until disturbed, then has a curious mounting flight in the
air, accompanied by a loud clicking note.
Distribution. — The Fantail- Warbler has an immense range in
Southern Europe, Africa, and Asia, and is divided into several races.
Of these, C. j. cursitans occurs throughout practically the whole of
India from the North-west Frontier Province and Sind, but not
Baluchistan, to Assam, Burma, Siam, and Yunnan. It occurs here
FIG. 26 — Fantail-Warbler (•§- nat. size)
and there in the various hill ranges up to about 6000 feet, but is,
properly speaking, a plains bird. In the main resident, it is also locally
migratory. A darker bird, C. j. salimalii, is resident in Travancore,
and replaced in Ceylon by the larger-billed C. j. omalura.
Habits, etc. — The Fantail-Warbler is typically a bird of low, thick
cover in wide open spaces, and it is found therefore in stretches of
grassland, in patches of reeds and tamarisk thickets, or the raised
grassy bunds of rice cultivation. In such cover it skulks and is
very retiring, seldom climbing above the stems, and would not come
to notice save for its curious habits of flight. When disturbed
the bird jerks itself high into the air, and after flying some distance
falls headlong again into cover. During the breeding season the
male soars in the air in a most erratic fashion, rising and falling in
jerks but keeping roughly above the area of which the centre is the
nest site, and towards this he falls very quickly at intervals as if
intending to settle ; just, however, as he nears the ground he shoots
up into the air again and resumes his soaring jerks. All the time
he utters a creaking, clicking note which rises to its climax as each
aerial jerk reaches its highest point, coinciding with it. When feeding
170 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
young the parent approaches the nest in somewhat similar fashion,
flying well up in the air though not to the height of the male's
display ; as it comes it utters a note which is softer and more level
in tone than the display song, but the whole approach rather resembles
the above display and may easily be mistaken for it. The young in
the nest when disturbed utter a menacing, hissing note.
The breeding season lasts from April to October, but is connected
with the rains, the birds never breeding when the weather is dry.
The nest is built in a tuft of green grass near to the ground, and
is a very delicate and beautiful affair, being composed of white cobwebs
with a lining of vegetable-down, the green blades of growing grass
being incorporated in the sides of the structure. In shape it may
be oval with the entrance near the top, a long deep purse narrowing
towards the top, or a cup with a canopy woven over it.
The clutch varies from three to seven eggs, but five is the usual
number.
The eggs are rather short ovals in shape, fine and delicate in
texture with a fair amount of gloss. They are pure white, faintly
tinged with blue, or even very occasionally a definite pale blue, finely
spotted and speckled with reddish-brown ; there is a tendency for
these markings to collect into a cap or zone.
In size the egg averages about 0-59 by 0-46 inches.
THE RUFOUS-FRONTED WREN-WARBLER
FRANKLINIA BUCHANANI (Blyth)
(Plate xii, Fig. i, opposite page 242)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
including the wings reddish-brown, brighter on the head ; a mark
over the eye and the whole lower plumage white, sullied with fulvous
on the sides of the head and towards the tail. Tail brown, rather
long and graduated, all except the central pair of feathers tipped with
white preceded by a dark spot.
In winter the tail is half an inch longer.
Iris reddish-yellow ; bill brown, lower mandible pale fleshy ; legs
pale fleshy-brown.
The Wren- Warblers of the genus Franklinia have twelve tail-
feathers, which readily distinguishes them from the genus Prinia
with ten tail-feathers.
Field Identification. — A small plains bird found in scrubby bushes
in open arid country ; brown above with a reddish crown and whitish
below, a long full tail edged with white. Wren-Warblers of the genus
THE RUFOUS-FRONTED WREN-WARBLER 171
Franklinia are found in parties, while those of the genus Prinia are
found usually singly or in pairs.
Distribution. — A purely Indian form. It occurs in the plains of
the whole of the north-west corner of India, from the North-west
Frontier Province and the Upper Punjab through the United
Provinces, Sind, and Rajputana down to the Central Provinces,
the Deccan, and Western Bengal and Behar as far as Ranchi and
Hazaribagh. A purely resident species.
Habits, etc. — This quaint little bird avoids damp and well-
timbered localities, and is by preference a bird of semi-desert
localities. It is in its element in the bare sandy plains of the
Lower Punjab, Sind, and Rajputana, where the most conspicuous
vegetation is the wild caper, whose tight thorny bushes rise in little
mounds all over miles of open country. Here this Warbler is
abundant, and one of the most noticeable birds, living in energetic
little troops which are always on the move, creeping in and out of
the bushes and running like mice on the ground at their base.
It is also addicted to dry, stony hills with low bush-jungle, and
ventures into the lighter crops such as cotton and mustard.
During the breeding season its very cheerful little song is a
marked feature of the plains that it inhabits.
The breeding season extends from March to September, and
probably two broods are reared.
The nest is usually an oval domed structure, with the entrance
near the top at one side. It is built of fine grass stems and tow-like
vegetable fibres, and the egg cavity is softly lined with vegetable-
down and a felt-like substance formed of dry portions of the ber
bush. A few nests are cup-shaped or purse-like and suspended.
The site chosen is generally very close to the ground, a matter of
inches, but it may be occasionally 3 or 4 feet above it. It is built
in bushes, a favourite situation being either a low close caper bush,
or in a heap of dead thorn loppings overgrown with grass. The
clutch varies from three to six eggs, but the usual number is five.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, the shell very delicate and
fine with a fair gloss. The ground-colour is white, slightly tinged
with greyish or greenish ; it is thickly and finely speckled all over
with somewhat dingy- or purplish-red, and there is a slight tendency
for the markings to collect towards the broad end.
The average measurement is 0-62 by 0-48 inches.
172 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
FRANKLIN'S WREN-WARBLER
FRANKLINIA GRACILIS (Franklin)
Description. — Length 4 inches. Sexes alike. Summer plumage :
Upper plumage dark ashy-grey, the wings and tail washed with
brown ; lower plumage white, a broad ashy band across the breast
and the flanks washed with ashy.
Winter plumage : An indistinct white streak over the eye ; upper
plumage brown, the wings and upper tail-coverts washed with
chestnut-brown, the tail washed with grey ; whole lower plumage
white, washed with grey and fulvous. In winter plumage the tail is
half an inch longer and the indistinct spots towards the ends of the
tail-feathers are more pronounced.
Iris brownish-yellow ; eye-rims orange ; bill dark brownish-black ;
legs yellowish-orange, claws dark horny.
Tail sharply graduated, of twelve feathers.
Field Identification. — A small bird with a longish tail found in
parties in low open scrub. Summer plumage ashy-grey above, white
below with a broad ashy band across the breast. Winter plumage
warm brown above, sullied white below with no breast band, the
two plumages so different that they would never be taken for the
same bird.
Distribution. — Ceylon, India, Assam, Burma to Tenasserim, Siam,
Annam, and Laos. Found throughout India except the Punjab
Plains, North-west Frontier Province, Sind, and desert Rajputana.
Occurs up to about 4000 feet, both in the Himalayas and in the
ranges of the Peninsula. A strictly resident species with the following '
races : —
The typical race has sharply defined summer and winter plumages
as already described. It is found in Rajputana, the United and Central
Provinces, the Bombay Presidency and in North Hyderabad as well
as in Arakan. F. g. hodgsoni is found along the Outer Himalayas
from Murree and Kashmir to the Duars, in Assam and in the Kachin
Hills in Burma. This race has a more rusty tint in winter plumage.
F. g. albogularis of South India has the upper parts darker in summer
plumage and is whiter on the lower parts in winter plumage. F. g.
pectoralis in Ceylon is also a dark bird but is more remarkable for having
summer and winter plumage alike, both of the summer type. In this
it agrees with the three species of Wren- Warblers of the genus Prinia
found in Ceylon.
Habits, etc. — Franklin's Wren-Warbler is a bird of all the more open
types of country. By preference it is found in open scrub-jungle
where low bushes grow amidst coarse grass and scattered small trees,
FRANKLIN'S WREN-WARBLER 173
but it is also met with in hedgerows, fairly light forest, in cultivation
broken by patches of cover and even in reed-beds and mangrove
swamps. In such localities it is met with in small parties which
lead a life of great activity, hunting incessantly for insects in the
grass and bushes or running on the ground at their base. It seldom
ventures into trees at any height above the ground. It is a very
poor flier, proceeding by curious little jerky flights, the tail jerking
awkwardly as it goes. There is a feeble little twittering song.
The main breeding season is in the rains from July to September,
but in the hills the birds are said to breed earlier from about April
to June.
The nest is a small cup of fine dry grass and vegetable fibres,
felted here and there on the outside with small lumps of woolly
vegetable-down. It is carefully sewn with cobwebs, silk from
cocoons or wool into one or two leaves which often completely
envelop it, leaving no part visible. It thus closely resembles the
nest of the Tailor-bird, but as compared with that species the
situation chosen is normally closer to the ground at a height of 2
or 3 feet, and more nests are sewn to a single leaf only.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs, the latter being usual.
The eggs vary considerably. They are typically rather slender ovals,
a good deal compressed towards one end ; the shell is exquisitely
fine and glossy. The colour varies from pure white or pure bright
blue, unspotted, to almost any shade of pinky-white, pale grey-green
or greenish-blue, speckled all over or in a zone or cap at the broader
end with reddish-brown.
The egg measures about 0*58 by 0-42 inches.
THE LESSER WHITETHROAT
SYLVIA CURRUCA (Linnaeus)
(Plate xii, Fig. 2, opposite page 242)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
earthy-brown, the whole top of the head contrasting brownish-grey ;
a broad band through the eye dark brown ; wings dark brown, edged
paler ; tail dark brown, a large portion of the outer feathers white ;
the whole lower plumage greyish-white.
Iris yellow-brown ; bill dusky, lower base slaty horn ; legs
plumbeous.
Field Identification. — Brown above, dirty white below, with a
darkish cap and a white edge to the tail ; a very quiet, shy bird, which
creeps about in trees and is particularly .partial to acacias.
174 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Distribution. — The Lesser Whitethroat is a widely-distributed
breeding species in Europe and Northern Asia, migrating southwards
to Africa and Southern Asia in winter. There arc several races, of
which we are concerned with two. S. c. blythi differs from the typical
European form in having the second primary always shorter than
the sixth, usually between it and the seventh in length. It breeds
in Siberia and Manchuria, and is a very abundant winter visitor to
the plains of India, extending on the south to Ceylon, and on the
east to Behar and Western Bengal. S. c. minula differs from S. c.
blythi in its smaller size and considerably paler upper parts. It breeds
in Transcaspia and Eastern Turkestan, and in winter appears in
North-western India in the North-west Frontier Province, Punjab,
Sind, and Rajputana. Both races, therefore, are to be found on the
same ground in North-western India, and the identification of some
individuals is a matter of difficulty. Both races commence to arrive
about September and leave about April, though blythi stays a little
later than minula. The typical race does not occur in India. A
darker allied species with a larger bill, Hume's Whitethroat (Sylvia
althcea), which breeds in Kashmir and winters in Southern India, is
easily confused with these two races.
The Orphean Warbler (Sylvia hortensis) is a winter visitor to
the greater part of India except the extreme north-east. It breeds
in Baluchistan and the North-west Frontier Province. Of the habits
and general appearance of the Whitethroats it is larger with a marked
cap, grey in females and black in males.
Habits, etc.— Both the races of Lesser Whitethroat that arrive in
India are very similar in their habits in winter; they spend their
time creeping about in small bushes and trees looking for insects
and caterpillars, and are very silent except for an occasional tack
note. While blythi, however, living in any type of country except
deep forest, prefers trees, and more especially the various species of
acacia, with whose pollen its head is often stained yellow, minula
is usually found in the low-stunted bushes and scanty tree growth
of semi-desert country.
The breeding habits of both races are very similar in their respective
ranges, where they lay about May and June. The nests are neat but
rather fragile cups of grass and roots, lined with horse-hair or fine
grass stems ; they are built in bushes within a few feet of the ground.
The clutch consists of four to six eggs ; these are rather broad
ovals, creamy-white in colour, rather boldly but sparingly marked
with sepia-brown and grey.
They measure about O'66 by 0-5 inches.
THE CHIFFCHAFF 175
THE CHIFFCHAFF
PHYLLOSCOPUS COLLYBITA (Vieillot)
(Plate xii, Fig. 3, opposite page 242)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
brown, faintly tinged with green ; a distinct buff line over the eye,
with a darker line through the eye ; wings and tail dark brown, finely
edged with olive-yellow ; lower plumage buff, darker on the breast
and flanks ; wing-lining primrose-yellow.
Iris dark brown ; bill dusky brown ; legs brownish-black.
Field Identification. — A very small brown bird, with pale buff under
parts and a buff line over the eye, which creeps about in trees and in
herbage near water, often in small parties, uttering a plaintive note.
Distribution. — The Chiffchaff is very widely distributed throughout
Europe, Africa, and Asia in a number of races. The typical form does
not occur in our area, but two others are found as winter visitors.
P. c. sindianus breeds in Kashmir territories and Central Asia and is a
somewhat local winter visitor to the North-west Frontier Province,
Punjab, Sind, United Provinces, and Rajputana. The Siberian Chiff-
chaff, P. c. tristis, which breeds in Northern Asia, is found from about
September to the end of April in India, over the whole of the northern
and central plains as far south as Bombay and Orissa, often in great
numbers. In freshly moulted plumage it can be distinguished from
P. c. sindianus by the tinge of green in the upper plumage, and from
the typical English Chiffchaff by the absence of yellow in the lower
plumage.
Habits, etc. — There are in the Indian Empire about thirty forms
of the genus Phylloscopus, which includes the well-known English
Chiffchaff and Willow- Wren. Their distribution is very variable, but
as far as India is concerned, it may be stated that none breed any-
where in the country except in the Himalayas and on the higher
ranges on the frontiers of Afghanistan and Baluchistan, and there is
no part of India where several forms may not be met with either as
passage migrants or as winter visitors. Their identification is a
matter of great difficulty, based on minor points of size and wing
formula and slight differences of plumage, which in practically every
case ring the changes on greens, browns, and yellows ; though in
the field this is assisted by slight differences in habits and voice.
The Siberian Chiffchaff is a very common winter visitor to
Northern India wherever trees in leaf or cultivation exist. It is
met with both singly and in small parties, which search for insects
up in the trees, in hedges, or in various crops, and it often flies out
from the extremity of a bough to take an insect on the wing. It is
176 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
particularly fond of cotton fields, lucerne, tamarisk, and acacias, and
it has a characteristic habit, seldom shared by others of the genus, of
hunting in reed-beds and other vegetation low over water. The call-
note is a very plaintive tweet. Passage migrants in March on their
way north freely sing a typical song, chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff, like that
so well known in England.
P. c. sindianus breeds in Gilgit, Baltistan, Ladakh and Lahul from
May to July.
The nest is a large structure of dry grass and bents, domed with
the entrance at one side ; it is profusely lined with feathers on a layer
of fine vegetable-down. The situation chosen is on or close to the
ground in herbage, low bushes or thorny hedges.
The usual clutch consists of four eggs. They are rather broad
ovals, very fragile with a slight gloss ; the colour is white, spotted
with chestnut-red, chiefly towards the broad end.
The average size is 0-65 by 0-48 inches.
THE YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER
PHYLLOSCOPUS INORNATUS (Blyth)
Description. — Length 4 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
dull olive-green, with obscure traces of a pale streak down the crown ;
a broad buffy-white line over the eye ; sides of the face mottled with
buffy-white ; wings and tail dark brown edged with greenish, two
buffy-white wing-bars, the upper rather obscure ; entire lower plumage
sullied white.
Iris dark brown ; bill dark brown, base of lower mandible
yellowish ; legs greyish-brown.
Field Identification. — This is another of the minute green or
brown birds which hunt for insects in the foliage of trees, and are
only to be discriminated with much practice and knowledge both in
the field and in the cabinet. The greenish colour, dirty white below,
the double wing-bar and the call-note tiss-yip are guides to the identity
of this particular species.
Distribution. — Breeds throughout a large portion of Siberia and
Central Asia, migrating southwards in winter. It is divided into
three races. The typical form breeds in Siberia, migrates through
the greater part of Asia and winters in Bengal, Assam, Burma, and
eastwards to Southern China. P. i. humii, differing in the brighter
olive-green of the upper parts, breeds in the Western Himalayas
between 7000 and 12,000 feet, and in Turkestan, Tian-Shan, and
Afghanistan. Starting at the end of August it spreads in winter
through India southwards to Travancore and eastwards to Bengal
PLATE IX
i. Bay-backed Shrike. 2. Paradise Flycatcher. 3. Common Wood-Shrike.
4. Blue-headed Rock-Thrush. 5. Brown Dipper. 6. Bluethroat. (All
about ^ nat. size.)
[Face p. 176
THE YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER 177
and Orissa, but curiously enough avoids Sind. The return migration
takes place about April. P. i. mandelii, which breeds in Kansu and
Szechwan and is found in Bengal and Lower Assam in winter, has
the head darker than in the other races.
Habits, etc. — In India the Yellow-browed Warbler is always
solitary and spends its time in the boughs of trees searching for
insects and uttering as it goes a note which is best described by the
syllables te-we-ut or tiss-yip, rather sibilant and plaintive. In the
breeding season the only song is a loud, double chirp uttered by the
male, really only an elaboration of the above note.
It has a trick of nervously flirting its wings as it feeds and moves
about the boughs. This species in winter seldom comes down low
near the ground, nor is it found in bushes by water like the Siberian
Chiffchaff.
The breeding season in the Western Himalayas is in May and
June. The nest is built on the ground on some sloping bank or
ravine-side, either in open ground or at the edge of forest. It is a
rather large globular structure, with the entrance at one side. The
materials consist of rather coarse grass, with an inner lining of fine
grass roots or hair ; feathers are not used.
, Three to five eggs are laid, but the usual clutch is four. The
egg is a broad oval slightly compressed towards one end, fine in
texture with very little gloss. In colour it is pure white, speckled
and spotted with reddish-brown or purple, the markings tending to
form a cap or zone round the broad end.
The egg measures about 0-56 by 0*44 inches.
THE GREENISH WILLOW-WREN
PHYLLOSCOPUS TROCHILOIDES Sundevall
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
dull olive-green, the concealed portions of the wings and tail dark
brown ; a pale yellow bar across the greater wing-coverts ; a broad
pale yellow streak above the eye with a darker line below it ; lower
plumage dull white washed with primrose-yellow.
Iris dark brown ; bill brown, lower mandible horny yellow ; legs
greyish-brown.
Field Identification. — Olive-green above, yellowish-white below,
with one pale wing-bar, and a pale eye-streak ; a quiet, un-
demonstrative species creeping about in the foliage of trees.
Distribution. — Breeds from Eastern Europe to Eastern Siberia
southwards to Persia and the Himalayas being divided into several
races of which the following concern us. P. t. viridanus (as described
M
178 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
above) breeds from Pomerania and the Baltic Provinces to Western
Siberia, Altair, North-western Mongolia and Dzungaria to Gilgit and
Kashmir. It winters in India below lines from Meerut to Bombay and
from the Sikkim Tera to Calcutta. On passage it is very common in
parts of the Himalayas, Punjab and North-west Frontier Province.
A greyer race, P. t. ludlowi, breeds in Baltistan and winters in the
upper Eastern Ghats. This race intergrades through Gahrwal and
Kumaon into the much darker P. t. trochiloides which breeds in the
Eastern Himalayas and South-western China and winters in North-
eastern India.
P. t. nitidus breeds in the Caucasus, Transcaspia and Persia,
passes in considerable numbers through North-western India on
passage and winters in South-western India and Ceylon. It is a much
brighter green above, bright primrose-yellow below and has two pale
yellow wing- bars.
Habits, etc. — This Willow- Wren spends its whole time in the
winter in creeping about the foliage of trees collecting insects and
their larvae and eggs ; it is more silent than most of the other common
species, but has as call-note a penetrating chi-wee. During the spring
and autumn passage it often swarms in North-western India, every
tree containing one or more individuals.
In the Himalayas it breeds from May to July. The nest is a
large, untidy ball of grass and moss, mixed sometimes with a few
roots and dead leaves, the cavity being lined with wool and hair.
The entrance is on one side. It is always placed on steep ground,
either in the open or amongst scrub and herbage.
Four eggs are laid, pure white, very fragile and soft in texture
with practically no gloss.
They measure about 0-6 by 0-45 inches.
THE LARGE CROWNED WILLOW-WREN
PHYLLOSCOPUS OCCIPITALIS (Blyth)
(Plate xii, Fig. 4, opposite page 242)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
olive-green, the crown of the head darker and with a broad irregular
streak down the centre ; a well-defined yellowish line above the eye
and a dark line through it ; concealed portions of the wings and tail
dark brown ; two yellowish wing-bars, the upper less distinct, and both
tending to disappear in worn plumage ; lower plumage white suffused
with pale yellow.
Iris dark brown ; bill brown, lower mandible yellow ; legs greyish-
brown.
THE LARGE CROWNED WILLOW-WREN 179
Field Identification. — The common breeding Willow- Wren of the
Western Himalayan stations ; green above, white below, with a
marked eye-streak and a pale streak on the top of the head ; rather
bold and noisy in demeanour.
Distribution. — A purely Asiatic Willow- Wren, which breeds very
commonly in Turkestan, Afghanistan, and the Western Himalayas
as far east as Nepal. In the Western Himalayas it breeds at elevations
between 6500 and 9000 feet, being the common breeding Willow-
Wren of all the hill stations. In winter it migrates through or winters
in the whole of India (except Sind), extending to Travancore, Orissa
and Bengal.
Habits, etc. — This Willow- Wren spends most of its time in trees
when in the plains, but in the hills it feeds a good deal in bushes
where it wanders with the mixed hunting parties of small insectivorous
birds. Its call-note is a loud sharp tit-wheet or chip-chip, chip-chip.
When breeding it has a loud song, the most monotonous repetition
of a rather shrill whistling note seven times repeated, and at that
season is much addicted to flirting its wings ; then, too, the males
become combative and quarrelsome.
In the Himalayas the breeding season is in May, June, and July.
The nest is placed in holes, either amongst the roots of trees, in
banks and walls, or even under the eaves of houses. It varies in
shape according to the circumstances of the hole, being either a
well-made domed structure or a mere pad, and is composed chiefly
of moss ; grass, hair and wool are sometimes added as a lining.
Four to six eggs are laid ; they are rather elongated ovals, often
sharply pointed at the smaller end, fine in texture and pure white
with a slight gloss.
They measure about 0-65 by 0-50 inches.
THE GREY-HEADED FLYCATCHER-WARBLER
SEICERCUS XANTHOSCHISTOS (Gray)
(Plate iv, Fig. i, opposite page 66)
Description. — Length 4 inches. Sexes alike. Top and sides of
the head and neck and the upper back pale ashy-brown ; a paler
streak down the centre of the crown and another above the eye ;
remainder of upper plumage yellowish-green, the concealed portions
of the wings and tail brown, the two outer pairs of tail-feathers white
on the inner webs ; the whole lower plumage bright yellow.
Iris dark brown ; bill dark brown, lower mandible yellow ; legs
olive-brown ; soles yellow.
Field Identification. — Abundant Himalayan form, of the Willow-
i8o POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Wren type in appearance ; upper parts grey and green, with pale
stripes on the head, lower parts bright yellow ; white outer tail-
feathers conspicuous. Noisy and bold in trees and undergrowth.
Distribution. — A Himalayan species, extending from the hills of
the North-west Frontier Province on the west into Assam and the
Chin Hills in the east. It is divided into Eastern and Western races
which meet about Nepal The Eastern race is the typical one, while
the Western race, S. x. albosuperciliaris, is considerably paler through-
out, especially about the head. It breeds between 3500 and 7000 feet,
and while some birds winter in this zone the majority move lower,
and numbers of the Western race penetrate into the plains in portions
of the Punjab and United Provinces.
Another common species in this genus is the Black-browed
Flycatcher- Warbler (Seicercus burkii) in which the lateral bands on
the head are blackish. A marked yellow ring round the eye. It is
found throughout the Himalayas as far west as Dharmsala.
Habits, etc. — This pretty little Warbler is a very familiar species
about the Himalayan hill stations. It is found in all types of wooded
hills, coming freely also into cultivation and gardens. Except when
nesting it is purely arboreal and it hunts incessantly for insects through
the leaves and twigs of trees and bushes, both singly and in the
mixed hunting parties. Its song is a loud and rather monotonous,
though not unpleasing, trill of several notes, which is one of the
most familiar sounds of the Lower Himalayas. The call-note is a
rather plaintive pritt-pritt or tyee-tyee.
The breeding season lasts from March to June in the Western
Himalayas and from April to August in the east.
The nest is a large, globular-domed structure, with a rather large
entrance high on one side. It is composed chiefly of moss with
which are mixed dry leaves and grasses and other miscellaneous
rubbish. The cavity is thickly lined with hair and wool in the
Western race, and more sparingly with vegetable downs and roots in
the Eastern race. The nest is usually placed on a grassy bank at
the foot of a bush and is well concealed and difficult to find unless
the bird is watched to it.
Three to five eggs are laid, but the normal clutch consists of
four eggs. The egg is a moderately broad oval, of fine texture, with
a fair amount of gloss. The colour is pure white.
The egg measures about O' 60 by o- 5 inches.
THE BROWN HILL-WARBLER
THE BROWN HILL-WARBLER
SUYA CRINIGERA HodgSOH
(Plate xii, Fig. 6, opposite page 243)
Description. — Length 7 inches, including tail of 4 inches. Sexes
alike. Winter plumage : Upper surface fulvous-brown, streaked
with black except on the rump ; wings brown, edged with rufous ;
tail long and graduated, brown, obsoletely cross-rayed, the feathers
with indistinct pale tips preceded by a darker spot ; lower plumage
fulvous, slightly flecked with blackish on the throat and breast, and
whitish on the middle of the abdomen.
Summer plumage : Upper surface dark brown, the feathers edged
with olivaceous ; lower plumage uniform pale fulvous, the feathers
of the breast showing their dark bases ; wings and tail as in winter
except that the tail is shorter.
Iris yellow-brown ; bill, summer black, in winter brown, lower
mandible fleshy ; legs fleshy-pink.
Field Identification. — Northern hill form ; a small brown bird,
paler below and usually streaked above, with a very long graduated
tail ; usually skulks in grass and bushes, but sits in elevated and
exposed positions to utter a loud, reeling song.
Distribution. — The Brown Hill- Warbler has a wide distribution
in the hills that bound the whole of Continental India, through
Assam and Burma, reaching on the east as far as China. It is
divided into several races, of which two concern us. The typical
race is found from the North-west Frontier Province, along the whole
of the Himalayas, as far as North-western Assam, at elevations
from 2500 to 7500 feet and sometimes higher. S. c. striatula,
which is much colder and greyer in coloration, is found from plains
level up to about 3000 feet in the Punjab Salt Range and the hills
running from the western limit of the typical form along the North-
western Frontier down to Baluchistan. It is a resident species.
Habits, etc. — This hill bird avoids forest and keeps either to
grassland and the neighbourhood of cultivation, or else to scrub -
jungle on bare stony hill-sides, often in the most barren and desolate
hills. It is capable of bearing great extremes of temperature. It is
rather a skulker and spends most of its time clambering about like
a mouse in the interior of bushes and tangles of vegetation, threading
its way deftly amongst the stems and often descending to the ground.
The flight is rather weak and jerky, and the bird seldom flies far at
a stretch. The long tail is an expressive feature, freely jerked in
response to the bird's emotions. The bird is, however, best known
to people through the medium of its song, a wheezy, scraping series
M 2
i8z POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
of notes repeated to monotony like the sound of a saw ; this song
is very commonly heard on open hill-sides round the hill stations
of the Himalayas, and the little bird utters it from the top of a bush
or tall plant, or from a telegraph-wire often high above a nullah.
The breeding season lasts from May to July, but the majority of
birds lay in May.
The nest is a flimsy, oval-domed structure, with the entrance
towards the top at one side ; it is composed of grass-blades, felted
with grass down, the bottom of the interior being lined with fine
grass-stems. It is built within 4 or 5 feet of the ground, in small
thorny bushes, in herbage or in the grass.
The normal clutch consists of four eggs. The egg is in shape
a regular but somewhat elongated oval with a fair amount of gloss.
The ground-colour varies from white to pale salmon-*pink ; the
markings consist of fine speckles, spots and blotches of reddish-
brown, sometimes scattered over the whole surface but more usually
tending to collect in a marked zone or cap round the broad end.
In size the eggs average about o- 70 by o- 50 inches.
THE STREAKED WREN-WARBLER
PRINIA GRACILIS (Lichtenstein)
Description. — Length 5 inches, half of which is tail. Sexes alike.
Upper plumage fulvous-brown streaked with dark brown ; sides of
face mottled brown and white ; wings brown edged with fulvous ;
tail, long and graduated, brown, distinctly cross-rayed, the feathers
tipped with white preceded by a dark spot ; the whole lower plumage
very pale fulvous.
Iris yellow ; bill black in summer, in winter brown, the lower
mandible horny-yellowish ; legs fleshy-white, claws brown.
This and the following species of the genus Prinia have ten tail-
feathers as opposed to twelve in Franklinia.
Field Identification. — A minute bird with a long graduated tail,
streaked light and dark brown above and pale below ; chiefly found
in coarse sarpat grass in riverain tracts. A miniature of the Brown
Hill- Warbler. Distinguished from the other Wren-Warblers by the
streaks on the upper plumage.
Distribution. — This Wren-Warbler has a wide distribution through
Northern Africa, Palestine, Southern Arabia, Persia, and Northern
India generally. It is divided into several races, of which we are
concerned with two. P. g. lepida is found in Afghanistan, North-west
Frontier Province, Punjab, Sind, the United Provinces, and Rajputana.
THE STREAKED WREN-WARBLER 183
A rather darker race, P. g. stevensi, is found in Assam and Eastern
Bengal and in the Ganges delta. A strictly resident species.
Habits, etc. — This, the smallest of the Wren- Warblers of the
genus Prinia, is essentially a bird of riverain areas, frequenting the
low sandy-ground, studded with clumps of sarpat grass and thickets
of tamarisk, which is found in the wide and partly dry beds of the
great rivers of Northern India. Where similar conditions are
reproduced along the sides of canals and in the neighbourhood of
j heels there also will the bird be found. In such localities it creeps
about the stems of the grass and tamarisk, at a height of two or
three feet from the ground, venturing into the open occasionally to
fly from clump to clump, no light task to so clumsily-balanced and
weak a flier. It constantly makes a curious snapping noise with
its bill.
When nesting the cock bird chooses a high stem of grass in the
vicinity of the nest, and from it untiringly pours out a feeble
monotonous song, which betrays the site to those who know his
habits.
The breeding season lasts from March to August, and it is
probable that two broods are reared. The nest is a tiny oval-
domed structure with the entrance hole high on one side ; it is built
of fine grasses and shreds of grass-blades, the inside being softly
lined with the pappus of grass seeds. It is placed about 2 feet from
the ground in the centre of the thick clumps of sarpat grass, which
by then have usually been cut off about 3 feet from the ground for
village purposes.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs.
The egg is a broad oval, rather pointed towards the smaller end,
and fine in texture with a decided gloss. The ground-colour is
greyish-, greenish- or pinkish-white, and the markings consist of a
fine and thickly distributed freckling of brownish-red and purplish-
grey, with a tendency to form a cap or zone at the broad end.
In size it averages about 0-53 by 0-44 inches.
THE ASHY WREN-WARBLER
PRINIA SOCIALIS Sykes
(Plate vi, Fig. 3, opposite page no)
Description. — Length 5 inches, of which half is tail. Sexes alike.
Summer plumage : Whole upper plumage dark ashy, sometimes with
a white line over the eye ; lower plumage including sides of face
pale buff ; wings rufous ; tail long and graduated, rufous, the feathers
tipped with white preceded by dark spots.
184 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Winter plumage : Top of head ashy with a rufous tinge ; a short
white line over the eye ; remainder of upper plumage including
wings and tail rufous-brown, the tail having the same markings as in
the summer plumage, but being one inch longer ; lower plumage
buff, except the chin, throat and central abdomen which are white.
Iris yellow-brown ; bill black ; legs fleshy.
Field Identification. — A very small bird with a long tail ; upper
parts dark ashy, lower parts warm buff. Found singly or in pajrs in
rank herbage, particularly in gardens, attracting attention by its sharp
call-note.
Distribution. — The Ashy Wren-Warbler is one of the commonest
birds of India and is widely distributed throughout the whole
continent from the Outer Himalayas to Ceylon, though it is not
found in Kashmir, the North-west Frontier Province, Baluchistan,
or Sind. On the east it reaches Eastern Assam. There are four
races : P. s. brevicauda of Ceylon and the typical race, found through-
out the Peninsula south of a line between Mhow and Lohardugga,
have their winter plumage similar to the summer plumage. The
former is, however, smaller with a shorter tail. P. s. stewarti of
Northern India assumes the very distinct winter plumage described
above. In the Duars and Upper Assam it is replaced by P. s. inglisi,
a darker bird with a fine short beak. All races are strictly sedentary.
Habits, etc. — This little bird is found both in the hills and the
plains. But while in the north it is only found up to about 4000
feet in the hills, in the warmer south it occurs up to about 7000 feet,
literally swarming in suitable places in the Nilgiris. It is a bird of
open country, avoiding forest, and preferring cultivation, whether in
the shape of gardens or arable land. It is perfectly at home in the
close vicinity of houses and villages, and may equally be found in
open, rolling grassland. In all these localities it requires cover in
the shape of bushes, tangles of weeds and other herbage or crops
and it is very fond of fields of sugar-cane. As in the case of the
Indian Wren-Warbler, therefore, this species is compelled to move
its ground slightly according to the state of the crops in which it
lives. Its habits are the same as those of that species, but it is perhaps
more excitable and noisy during the breeding season, its very anxiety
often betraying the nest which it is anxious to preserve from
marauders. The call-note is very loud and sharp, and the song is
less of a jingle than that of the Indian Wren-Warbler.
This bird appears often to be double-brooded and nests may be
found from March till September ; but the majority are undoubtedly
built with the commencement of the rains in June or July and the
growth of the bush vegetation in which the little bird delights to
have his being.
The nest is very variable and falls into three types. The first
THE ASHY WREN-WARBLER 185
type closely recalls the nest of the Tailor-bird, sewing entering largely
into its composition. Either the nest is placed within the orifice
formed by sewing together the edges of two or three leaves, or else
it is attached to a single large leaf whose edges are drawn about it,
and partly enclose it ; large soft leaves, such as those of the sunflower,
fig and bindweed, are preferred for the purpose. The actual nest in
this type is a deep cup of fine dry grass stems and roots, mixed and
lined with a few horse-hairs, all visible portions of the outside and
the corners of the cavity between the stitches being plastered and
stuffed with a rough felting of vegetable cotton and fibre and similar
materials. The sewing is either a genuine in-and-out stitch used to
draw the edges of leaves together, or else the mere pushing of rough
knots of cotton through punctured holes in the leaf.
The second type of nest is an oval-domed structure of varied
shape and size, with the entrance on one side. It is composed of
fine shreds and stems of grass, fibres and threads, the result being
a drab-coloured ball ; it is built in thick bushes and occasionally
is steadied by the sewing of a leaf or two to the outside.
The third type of nest is a rough shapeless ball of roots or grass
thrown together between the stems of a plant and hardly attached to
them.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs, and occasionally as
many as six. The eggs are very handsome. They are a rather
perfect oval with a tendency to vary to a globular shape ; there is a
high gloss. In colour they are a rich brick-red, sometimes paler and
yellower, sometimes deeper and of a mahogany tint. There is occa-
sionally a clouded zone of deeper coloration about the broad end.
They average about 0-64 by 0-47 inches in size.
In the Deccan this bird is a common foster-parent for the Indian
Plaintive Cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus).
THE JUNGLE WREN-WARBLER
PRINIA SYLVATICA Jerdon
Description. — Length 6 inches, female rather smaller. Sexes alike.
Summer plumage : The whole upper parts greyish-brown, a pale buff
line over the eye ; wings dark brown, the edges of the feathers washed
with fulvous ; central tail-feathers greyish-brown, the others growing
progressively paler and whiter until the outer pair is almost entirely
white ; lower plumage pale whitish-buff.
Winter plumage : Upper plumage warm ruddy fulvous, a pale buff
line over the eye ; wings dark brown, the edges of the feathers washed
with ruddy fulvous ; tail dark brown, all but the central pair of
i86 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
feathers with pale fulvous tips, preceded by dusky subterminal spots ;
lower plumage white washed with ochraceous on the breast and flanks.
Iris and eye-rim orange ; bill black in summer, in winter horny-
brown, lower mandible fleshy ; mouth black in summer, brownish-
pink in winter ; legs pale fleshy brown, claws darker.
Field Identification. — A small brown Warbler with a fairly long
graduated tail, in summer showing white in the outer feathers ; it
chiefly comes to notice from its habit of sitting on the top of a bush
and persistently uttering a triple note.
Distribution. — Throughout India from the Himalayas to Ceylon.
It is divided into two races in India and a third in Ceylon.
The northern race, P. s. gangetica, is found across Northern India
from Gurdaspur and Jodhpur to the Duars and Midnapur. In this
race there are distinct summer and winter plumages as described
above. The Ceylon race, P. s. valida,on the other hand, has the summer
and winter plumage alike, a darker brown above and a more yellowish
fulvous below without white on the lateral tail-feathers. This is
correlated with a breeding season that lasts the year round in the
island. The typical race (Hyderabad, Mysore, Madras Presidency)
lies between the two both in coloration and in the degree of difference
between the two plumages. All these races are strictly resident.
Habits, 'etc. — This Wren- Warbler is more particularly a bird of
broken boulder covered hills dotted with sparse and stunted vegetation
of the cactus and thorn-bush type. It is also found in bush and scrub-
jungle, in light forest interspersed with grass or in grass on the edge
of heavier forest. In such terrain it comes to notice from its habit
of perching on a large boulder, on a dead bough, or on the top of an
isolated bush or tree and there uttering a soft melodious but ventrilo-
quistic call for some minutes at a stretch, repeating it again after a
pause of two or three seconds. This call is a warbling pretty or tissip,
reminiscent of a Tailor-bird's call but louder and easily distinguished
from it. Each pretty is preceded by a curious subdued ventriloquistic
pit, uttered in a different key so that the song is really formed by a
succession of triple notes. As soon as the bird has finished its song
it descends hurriedly into the cover below with a quick jerky flight,
It also has a peculiar habit of rising into the air for a short distance
and making a noise (with the wings or beak I am not certain
which) like a diminutive cracker, returning afterwards often to the
same perch, sometimes to a fresh one. This habit is shared by Prinia
inornata and socialis. The alarm- note at the nest is a loud pit pit pit
pit pit. This species is wary and difficult to approach and the nest
is readily deserted.
The breeding season in India is from July to the end of August.
The nest is comparatively large and is placed in the centre of a thorn
bush, usually on rocky ground, or in the middle of a tussock of coarse
THE JUNGLE WREN-WARBLER 187
grass. It is a dome-shaped ball of grass with the entrance on one side
and is often fairly conspicuous, as the outside is smeared over with
white vegetable-downs and fibres or with cobwebs.
The clutch consists of four or five eggs. They are somewhat
elongated ovals, of hard and fine texture with a fair amount of gloss.
The ground-colour is a greenish or greyish stone-colour finely and
often rather sparsely freckled with faint reddish-brown. In some eggs
these markings are almost invisible. They are, however, usually
gathered into a conspicuous zone round the broad end.
The egg measures about 0-75 by 0-50 inches.
THE INDIAN WREN-WARBLER
PRINIA INORNATA Sykes
(Plate xii, Fig. 5, opposite page 242)
Description. — Length 5 inches, including tail 2 inches. Sexes
alike. Summer plumage : Upper plumage dull earthy-brown, the
wings and tail edged with pale fulvous ; the tail long, graduated and
cross -rayed ; dark subterminal spots on the feathers are hardly visible
except from below. A ring round the eye, and a line above it dull
whitish ; the whole lower plumage pale buff.
In winter plumage the whole of the upper parts, wings and tail
are more rufous in tint, and the tail is an inch longer.
Iris yellow-brown ; bill black in summer, in winter brown with
the base of the lower mandible fleshy ; legs flesh colour.
Field Identification. — A plains bird, common in cultivation ; very
small, with a long tail ; dark brown above, buff below, appearing rather
dingy in the field ; black beak noticeable in summer ; makes a curious
snapping noise in flight. To be distinguished from the Ashy Wren-
Warbler by its dingier plumage and by having the crown brown
instead of bluish-ashy.
Distribution. — The Indian Wren-Warbler is found throughout
the Indian Empire south of the Himalayas, in the outer fringe of
which it occurs up to about 4000 feet, and it also extends farther
to the east. It is divided into several races : P. i. frankliniiy in
the Nilgiris, Palnis and probably also the Travancore range, and
P. i. insularis, Ceylon, are very dark in colour, the latter having a
very large beak, and showing no difference between the summer and
winter plumages. In the typical race, found in Central and Western
India, the summer and winter plumages differ as described above.
This race grades on the one hand into the paler and more brightly
coloured P. i. terricolor of the North-west Frontier Province, Punjab,
Sind, and the United Provinces, which has also a much longer tail
i88 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
in winter. P. i. fusca of the Nepal and Sikkim Terai, the Duars
and Upper Assam, is more saturated in colour with a more pronounced
fulvous wash on the lower parts.
The Pale Bush- Warbler (Homochlamys pallidus Brooks). — Is here
mentioned on account of its very remarkable song which attracts
attention in spring, and although common the bird itself is difficult
to see as it is a great skulker in low dense bush jungle. The song,
which is loud and clear for such a small bird, consists of two phrases,
the first of five notes and the second of three only, the two phrases
separated by an interval of about five seconds. The second part is,
moreover, in a different and higher key than the first. Each phrase
begins with a long-drawn note and the whole song may be syllabised
as follows : " You . . . mixed-it-so-quick," then an interval of five
seconds, followed by : " He'll . . . beat you."
This little bird is similar to many of the other small Warblers,
is of an olive-brown with pale yellow supcrcilium and the lower
plumage dull greyish. It is found in the breeding season from Kashmir
and Hazara to Garhwal and Kumaon at from 7000 to 9000 feet, but
its winter quarters are unknown, though some pass through Dehra
Dun on passage in spring and autumn. A nearly allied species,
but rather smaller and with the upper plumage tinged rufous, is the
Strong-footed Bush -Warbler, Homochlamys fortipes, found from Nepal
to the Burmese Hills. It has the same striking song as the Pale
Bush-Warbler but with a very slight difference.
Habits, etc. — This quaint little bird is one of the commonest of
Indian resident birds, though from its small size and skulking habits
it does not attract much attention. It is particularly a bird of
standing crops, sugar-cane, wheat, millet, and the like, and it is
also partial to long grass ; in bushes and other low cover it is
sometimes found but not so commonly. Bare ground and forest
are abhorrent to it. Like others of the Wren-Warblers, it is a poor
flier, its top-heavy labouring flight being almost laughable. As is
indicated by the large strong legs, its chief mode of progression is on
foot, and it spends its life climbing about the stems of the cover
in which it lives, threading its way about with dexterity ; when
disturbed in the crops it rapidly progresses from stem to stem, then
takes to flight over the top of the seed-heads, flies heavily for a yard
or two, and finally plunges back into the midst of the cover, where
it again commences to climb and hop rapidly along. As it flies
it makes a snapping noise almost like the crackle of an electric spark.
While in no sense a migrant, its dependence on crops for cover
necessitates a certain amount of local movement according to season.
Its skulking habits render it indifferent to the presence of man, and
it occurs commonly in the vicinity of houses and villages and in
gardens. The food consists of insects.
THE INDIAN WREN-WARBLER 189
The song of this bird is a familiar sound in the cultivation,
where it lives. It makes up in vigour for what it lacks in beauty,
consisting merely of a series of loud jingling wheezy trills, that
rather suggest the shaking of a bunch of keys.
The breeding season lasts from March to September.
The nest is a very elegant and distinctive structure, globular or a
long purse-shape, domed, with the entrance high on one side ; it is
semi-transparent, being made of a regular lace-work of fine strips
torn from the blades of green grass, woven in and out, and anchored
here and there with similar grass-work to the surrounding stems
and leaves. There is no lining. It is placed from 3 to 6 feet from
the ground in standing crops or clumps of sarpat grass or thorny
bushes.
The eggs, too, are very distinctive and beautiful. They are a
moderately long oval, with a strong shell, fine in texture and highly
glossy. The ground-colour is pale greenish-blue (or rarely pinkish-
white) marked boldly with blotches, clouds and fine hair-lines of deep
chocolate and reddish-brown.
The egg measures about 0-61 by 0-45 inches.
This bird is a favourite foster-parent for the Indian Plaintive
Cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus).
THE FAIRY BLUE-BIRD
IRENA PUELLA (Latham)
(Frontispiece, Fig. 2)
Description. — Length 10 inches. Male : Deep velvet-black except
for the top of the head and neck, the whole upper plumage, the lesser
wing-coverts and a faint bar on the wing and a patch under the tail
shining ultramarine blue with lilac reflections.
Female : Dull peacock-blue, the feathers with dark shafts ; wings
and tail blackish-brown washed with peacock-blue.
Iris crimson ; eye-rims pinkish ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — Eastern Himalayas and the hills of Assam
and South India. Male quite unmistakable, deep black with shining
blue upper parts. Female dull peacock-blue throughout. Found in
parties in high trees. Has a very characteristic call.
Distribution. — The species is found in Ceylon, India, Burma, the
Andamans and Nicobars, the Malay Peninsula and Siam, Annam
and Cochin-China. In India we are concerned with two races. The
typical race is found in Ceylon and in the Western Ghats from
Travancore to Belgaum and in the Chitteri Hills of the Eastern Ghats.
IQO POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
In these hills it is found from their bases up to about 5000 feet. A
slightly larger form, /. p. sikktmensis, is found at the edge of the plains
in the lower ranges of the Himalayas from Sikkim to the Miri Hills
and in the Khasia Hills, Cachar and Manipur in Assam.
Habits, etc. — The Fairy Blue-Bird is a forest-haunting species and
it is more particularly a bird of the evergreen forest. Except in the
breeding season it collects into small parties of five or six individuals
and more rarely into flocks of anything up to thirty or forty birds.
These frequent the tops of high trees though they occasionally come
down into the undergrowth and in the middle of the day habitually
descend to the banks of streams and small rivers in order to drink
and bathe. They are very bright and lively birds always on the move,
hopping from branch to branch and flying from tree to tree, uttering
a very distinctive call as they go. This is variously described as a
pretty bubbling whistle, a pleasant musical weet-weet or a rich mellow
percussive what$-it repeated every few seconds.
This lovely bird is by no means as conspicuous as one would
imagine from looking at a stuffed specimen. Indeed in shady forest
the male generally looks as black as a Drongo or from its movements
might be mistaken for a Thrush and its satin-blue back is only con-
spicuous for a few moments as the bird flutters across some sunlit
piece of open jungle. Females and the similarly coloured young males
compose many of the parties and these are tame enough, allowing
a close approach as they feed quietly on berries regardless of the
observer. Adult males are rather shyer.
The food is said to consist almost exclusively of wild fruits and
berries. When the various fig-trees are in fruit numbers of Blue-
Birds congregate to feed there in company with Hornbills and Pigeons
and other fruit-eating birds. The nectar is also sipped from Erythrina
trees and the pollen from the flowers will often be seen on the faces
of the birds.
The breeding season ranges from January to May, but most eggs
will be found in March and April.
The nest is usually built in a sapling between 10 and 20
feet from the ground and the sapling chosen is in the depth of damp
forest where tall trees exclude the sun. The nest is a shallow
saucer of roots, twigs and bents, usually intermixed with green moss
and with an outer cover of the same.
The normal clutch consists of two eggs. The shape is a blunt
oval and the texture is close-grained and fine with a moderate gloss.
The ground-colour is greenish-white, streaked, spotted and blotched
with reddish-brown and inky-grey and underlying paler shades of
the same. The blotches are usually heavy and often are almost
entirely confluent over the larger end.
The egg measures about r 10 by 0-75 inches.
THE GOLDEN ORIOLE 191
THE GOLDEN ORIOLE
ORIOLUS ORIOLUS (Linnaeus),
(Plate x, Fig. 3, opposite page 198)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Male : Rich golden-yellow except
a broad line through the eye, practically the whole of the wings and
the central portions of the tail, which are black.
Female : Upper parts yellowish-green ; wings brown, the feathers
tipped and edged with greenish ; tail brownish-black tipped with
yellow ; under parts whitish, washed with yellow and streaked with
dark brown.
Iris dark crimson ; bill dark pink ; legs dark slate.
The tail is slightly rounded.
Field Identification. — Shy and purely arboreal species, concealing
itself in thick foliaged trees, its presence revealed by the liquid
whistle wiel-a-wo. Male, a glorious golden-yellow, with black wings
and tail ; female greenish with dark wings and tail.
Distribution. — The Golden Oriole is widely spread over Europe,
Africa and Asia. The typical race just skirts Sind and Baluchistan
on passage, but within our area we are really concerned with only
one form, O. o. kundoo, which differs chiefly from the typical race in
the fact that in the adult male the black of the lores, i.e., the eye-
stripe, extends behind the eye. This form breeds in Turkestan and
Gilgit, in Southern and Eastern Afghanistan, in the hill areas of
Baluchistan, throughout Kashmir and the Western and Central
Himalayas, and in the plains from Rajputana to Western Bengal and
south to Mysore. It winters also as far south as Cape Comorin.
In the mountain areas and in the northern part of the plains of
India the Golden Oriole is merely a summer visitor, moving farther
south in August and September and returning to its breeding grounds
in April and May.
In the Himalayas it is found up to 10,000 feet, though in the
outer ranges it is scarce at over 6000 feet.
Habits, etc. — With the ripening of the mangoes in spring the
Golden Oriole arrives in Northern India. To that circumstance,
combined with the resemblance of the greens and yellows of the two
sexes to the fruit and leaves of their favourite tree, is due the popular
Anglo-Indian name of Mango-bird. Orioles are strictly arboreal,
descending, as a rule, neither to undergrowth nor to the ground,
and by nature they are very shy and secretive, keeping to the thickest
portions of the boughs and being better known as disembodied
voices than as birds ; for the loud mellow whistle pee-ou-a or
wiel-a-voo is one of the pleasantest and most familiar of Indian
bird sounds, being heard alike in garden and forest, greeting the
192 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
dawn and saluting the parting day. There is, in addition, a faint
but very sweet and plaintive song, though from its very faintness it
is little known. The flight is strong and dipping, though seldom
long sustained, as the bird prefers to travel from tree to tree.
The food consists of insects, caterpillars, berries and fruit.
The breeding season ranges from May to August, but the great
majority of eggs are laid in June and July.
The nest is built in some large tree, usually at a height of over
20 feet from the ground. It is a moderately deep cup, suspended
invariably within a slender fork towards the extremity of one of the
boughs, and often in a situation where no climber can reach. From
below it looks like a round ball of grass wedged into the fork, and
the sitting bird within is completely hidden ; but in the hand it
proves to be a most beautifully woven cup, hung from the fork of
two twigs and secured to them, much as a prawn net is to its
wooden framework. The cup is deep and rounded to prevent the
eggs rolling out in a high wincl. It is composed of fine grass and
slender strips of tenacious bark fibres, and the ends of these are
wound round and round the supporting twigs. Some nests contain
no extraneous matter, but others have all sorts of odds and ends
woven into the fabric, scraps of newspaper, rags, shavings, snake-
sloughs, thread, and the like. There is always a neat lining of fine
grass stems. There is some variation in the thickness and size of
the nests.
The clutch consists of two to four eggs. These vary a good
deal in shape and size, some being pyriform, and others long and
cylindrical ; the texture is fine and with a high gloss. In colour
they are a pure china-white ; the markings consist of well-defined
black spots and specks more or less thinly sprinkled over the surface
of the egg, chiefly at the large end. In some cases the spots are
pale yellowish-brown or deep reddish-brown, often surrounded with
a nimbus of the same colour.
The eggs measure about i- 10 by 0-80 inches.
THE BLACK-HEADED ORIOLE
ORIOLUS XANTHORNUS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Sexes alike. Bright golden-
yellow except the following parts which are black, the head, chin
and throat, the greater portion of the wings, the shafts of the tail-
feathers and a patch on the tail formed by the ends of the two
(or three) central pairs of tail-feathers.
THE BLACK-HEADED ORIOLE 193
In immature plumage bpth sexes have the black of the chin and
throat replaced by black and white striping.
Iris crimson ; bill deep pink ; legs plumbeous.
Field Identification. — Arboreal ; abundant in well- wooded plains.
A bright golden bird with black head, wings and tail, which is very
active and noisy in the trees.
Distribution. — The Black-headed Oriole extends through the
greater part of India, Ceylon, and Burma eastwards to Cambodia
and Siam. We are concerned with three races which differ in size
and the amount of yellow edging to the wings and to the feathers
of the forehead and crown of immature birds. The typical race
inhabits the sub-Himalayan ranges from Kangra to Upper Assam,
as well as the Gangetic plain. O. x. maderaspatanus inhabits India
south of the Gangetic plain with a western limit of Mount Aboo
and Kathiawar. O. >x. ceylonensis is confined to Ceylon. Resident
everywhere.
Along the Himalayas from Kulu eastwards is found another
handsome species, the Maroon Oriole (Oriolus traillii), the colours
of which are sufficiently suggested by its name.
Habits, etc. — This Oriole is a common bird in fairly well-timbered
but open country, being specially partial to groves, avenues and
gardens. It is an arboreal species, though occasionally it descends
to the ground to capture insects, on which it feeds freely, though its
chief food must be considered the fruits of the various species of
wild figs. It is found solitary or in pairs, though the family parties
keep together for a short time after the young are fledged.
These Orioles are very active creatures, full of the joy of life, and
they delight to indulge in aerial games, following each other from
tree to tree, darting through the foliage with their bright plumage
flashing in the sun. They have a range of melodious notes, freely
uttered on such occasions, and the pairs call to each other incessantly
yii-hu-a-yu, answered by tii-hu-ee or te-hee. In addition to their
varied range of melodious calls they sometimes utter harsh cawing
notes, and the newly-fledged young have a churring cry rather like
that of a young Starling.
The breeding season lasts from April to the end of August. The
nest is a deep cup, carefully suspended between two twigs, and is
composed chiefly of tow-like vegetable fibres, thin slips of bark and
similar materials ; externally it is decorated with scraps of lichen and
bark, and there is a lining of fine grass or fine twigs of tamarisk. It
is suspended near the end of a bough at heights of 20 to 35 feet
above the ground.
The normal clutch consists of three eggs, but two to four are
found. The egg is a somewhat elongated oval, fine in texture and
moderately glossy. The ground-colour varies from creamy- or
N
194 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
pinkish-white to pale salmon-colour. The markings consist of
spots and streaks of dark brown and inky-purple, sparingly
distributed, and generally towards the broad end ; some of the
spots are surrounded by a reddish- pink cloud.
The average size of the egg is about i- 14 by 0*82 inches.
THE INDIAN CRACKLE
GRACULA RELIGIOSA Linnaeus
Description. — Length 10 inches. Sexes alike. The whole plumage
black glossed with green and purple, a patch of white in the base of
the wing-quills.
Iris brown ; bill orange-red with a yellow tip ; wattles and facial
skin bright yellow ; legs orange-yellow, claws blackish-brown.
The sides of the face and the nape are ornamented with bare
fleshy wattles which differ in shape in the various races.
Field Identification. — A large black Mynah with yellow bill and
legs, yellow wattles behind the eyes and a white patch in the wing.
Noisy and tree-haunting, usually seen in parties in large trees.
Distribution. — A resident species with some local movements.
This Crackle is widely distributed in India, Ceylon, Burma, the Malay
Peninsula, Sumatra, Java and Borneo. It is divided into several
races of which we are concerned with the following. G. r. intermedia
is found at low elevations, 1000 to 2000 feet, along the Himalayas
from Kumaon eastwards, as well as in Eastern Bengal and Assam.
In this form the wattle ends on the nape in a broad pendant lobe ;
the patch of feathers in the middle of the wattle below the eye is small
and narrow and does not reach to the lower edge of the wattle. G. r.
indica is found along the Western Ghats from North Kanara to the
extreme south at ail heights up to 5000 feet and also in Ceylon in the low
country. This is a smaller bird with a weaker bill. The wattle ends in a
small inconspicuous lobe and then turns upwards on to the nape in a
tongue about a quarter of an inch long ; the patch of feathers in the
middle of the wattle is rather larger than in intermedia and reaches the
bottom edge of the wattle. G. r. peninsularis is a connecting link found
in Sambalpur and in the Northern Circars from Gumsoor to Bastar.
From indica it is immediately distinguished by the absence of the tongue
of wattle from the nape to the crown. It is smaller than intermedia
with a finer and shorter bill. G. r. andamanensis which is common
in the Andamans and Nicobars used to be exported to Calcutta in
large numbers as cage birds.
THE INDIAN CRACKLE 195
G. r. ptilogenys, which has no wattle on the side of the face, only
a long pendant lobe on either side of the neck, is an inhabitant of
the hill zone in Ceylon. Owing to the destruction of forests it is now
also in the low country alongside G. t. indica.
Habits, etc. — This Crackle is a tree-haunting species found in all
types of forest, whether evergreen or deciduous, in the shade trees
of coffee and other plantations and in trees near cultivation. Out of
the breeding season it is found in small parties and flocks which
keep very largely to the tops of the trees unless curiosity brings them
to the lower boughs to investigate some local movement or phenomenon.
FIG. 27 — Indian Crackle
They do also occasionally visit the ground and there they progress
not by walking like other Mynahs and Starlings but by Sparrow-like
hops. The flight is straight and powerful. The chief characteristic
of these Crackles is, however, their voices ; they are very noisy, using
a great variety of notes, some melodious, some wheezing and some
harsh and shrieking. They are first-rate mimics, too, and in captivity
can be easily taught to talk, so that, with their tame and confident
demeanour, they make favourite cage-birds and are to be found in
all the good bird markets.
The food consists of insects, fruits and berries collected upon the
trees, but termites are captured on the wing. This species is very
partial to the nectar obtainable from the flowers of trees like Bombax,
Erythrina and Grevillia and in such trees will be found in loose
association with Hornbills, Barbets and Green Pigeons.
The breeding season is mainly from February to May but a few
nests may be found later until October. The nest is a miscellaneous
collection, sometimes very small, of grass, feathers, dirt and touchwood
in the bottom of a hole in a tree from 10 to 40 feet from the ground.
The tree chosen is by preference a dead one, too rotten and unsafe
for a man to climb, and it is usually in open ground either in a clearing
ig6 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
in a forest or in cultivation. The nest hole is generally in the trunk
and may be excavated by the Crackle itself.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. In shape these are
very regular ovals, the shell being very close and fine but with little
gloss. The ground-colour is a delicate pale sea-green or greenish-
blue, more or less profusely spotted and splashed with pale purple,
purplish-brown and chocolate-brown.
The size of the egg is rather variable, but it averages about 1-30
by 0-90 inches.
THE ROSY PASTOR
PASTOR ROSEUS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Sexes alike, except that the
female is duller and with a shorter crest. The whole head, long bushy
crest, throat, upper breast, wings, and tail glossy black, the feathers
lightly tipped with buff ; thighs, a patch on each flank and under the
tail black tipped with white ; remainder of the plumage rose-colour.
Iris brown ; bill pink with the basal half of the lower mandible
black ; legs pink.
Field Identification. — A handsome crested bird, rose-pink with
black head, wings and tail ; found in flocks which behave like and
in the distance look like flocks of Common Starlings ; very abundant ;
the flocks feed on the ground and perch in trees.
Distribution. — The Rosy Pastor breeds through a wide area in
South-eastern Europe, occasionally as far west as Italy and Hungary ;>
and in Asia from Asia Minor to Turkestan. It winters in India, and
wanders also irregularly through the greater part of Europe. In
India it is found as a winter visitor through the whole of the plains
to as far east as Manbhoom in Bihar, being especially abundant in
the north-west. It arrives early in July and leaves about May, being
absent as a species, therefore, for a very short time, though doubt-
less the latest birds to depart are far from being the earliest to
return.
The Spotted-wing Stare (Psaroglossa spilopterd) found along the
base of the Himalayas is common in Assam. The silvery upper parts
with brown scale marking, dark chestnut throat, bright rufous under
parts and white spot in the wing are distinctive.
Habits, etc. — The Rosy Pastor greatly resembles the Common
Starling in its habits while in winter quarters in India. It collects in
flocks which feed on fruit and berries, grubs, insects, grasshoppers,
and locusts (being particularly useful in the destruction of the last)
THE ROSY PASTOR
197
in every type of open country, though cultivation and grassy lands
are chiefly preferred. These flocks associate with the flocks of
Common Starlings and Mynahs, roosting and feeding in company
with them, though as a rule the three species do not join into a
common flock ; and these flocks may be seen flighting between the
roosting places and feeding grounds in the morning and evening very
regularly. When light and distance do not allow of the distinguishing
of colour it is impossible to recognise apart the flocks of Starlings
and Pastors, the build, size and flight of the two species being
identical. Pastors feed largely on the ground, and when a field of
FIG. 28 — Rosy Pastor (i nat. size)
grass is being irrigated a pink and black cloud of these birds will
often be seen in pursuit of the flooded-out insect life, quarrelling
and chattering and jumping into the air as they move along.
On their first arrival numbers of the birds are in the brown
juvenile plumage, and at all seasons the flocks contain not fully adult
birds, whose plumage is sullied and dull in tint.
From March onwards the birds are affected by the approach of
the breeding season (as the state of their internal organs testifies),
and the flocks spend miich of their time in tall trees, enjoying the
sun and singing a typical Starling song, a jumble of discordant
grating noises mixed with some melodious warbling notes. At this
season' they become very fat in preparation for migrating and are
eagerly pursued by native sportsmen, whose aim is to secure as many
as possible with a single shot.
N2
ig8 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The breeding season in Europe and Asia is in May and June.
The birds breed in huge colonies on rocky ground or in old ruins,
wherever they can find a sufficiency of holes in which to place the
untidy masses of grass, twigs and straw which form the nests ; the
egg cavity is lined with roots and feathers. Such breeding colonies
move about in the most capricious manner, occupying a suitable
locality one year and abandoning it the next, their -movements being
probably dependent on the food-supply.
The clutch consists usually of five or six eggs. These are Very
pale bluish-white, unmarked, similar to but paler and more glossy
than those of the Common Starling. In shape they are rather
pointed ovals, hard in texture with minute pores.
They measure about i- 10 by 0-80 inches.
THE STARLING
STURNUS VULGARIS Linnaeus
(Plate viii, Fig. 3, opposite page 154)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Sexes alike, except that the
female is generally duller and more spotted. Winter plumage :
Black, the feathers lightly tipped with buff ; wings and tail brown,
edged with velvety black. The whole plumage is irridescent, with a
high gloss of red, purple, green, and blue. The feathers of the
head, neck and breast are developed into hackles. In summer the
buff tips wear off, leaving the plumage more completely black.
Iris : male dark brown, female pale yellow ; bill brown, base of
lower mandible steely or yellowish-horn, in breeding plumage lemon-
yellow ; legs reddish-brown, claws darker.
Field Identification. — Gregarious, and collecting in large flocks in
winter, which feed on the ground in cultivation and perch in trees.
A glossy black bird, looking rather as if oiled, and more or less spotted
finely with buff.
Distribution. — The Starling is a bird of very wide distribution in
Europe, Asia and Africa, the typical race being one of the best
known of English birds. It is divided into a number of closely
allied forms, whose differences lie in the distribution of the colours
of the brilliant gloss which gives the bird a curious highly-oiled
appearance. The distinctions are small, but must be recognised as
they are correlated with distinct breeding areas. The winter ranges
of several forms, however, overlap, with the result, as the birds are
highly gregarious, that several forms may then often be found in one
flock, a fact which causes the uninitiated to believe that the
THE STARLING 199
differences exhibited by different specimens are purely due to
individual variation.
The identification of Starlings is normally a matter for the
expert, and many intermediate specimens occur which cannot be
definitely attributed to any particular form ; while no two authorities
agree on the number of forms to be recognised. But for general
purposes the majority of Starlings met with in India belong to four
races. They may be distinguished as follows (the colours refer to
the gloss ; the wing is measured in millimetres closed from the bend
of the shoulder to the tip of the feathers) :
S. v. minor. — Small form, wing 110-118 mm. ; head, throat and
ear-coverts green ; mantle and rump reddish-purple.
S. v. humii. — Medium form, wing 119-125 mm. ; head deep
purplish-blue ; reddish-purple on the throat, chin and hind neck ;
ear-coverts deep metallic green ; mantle coppery-red to bronze ;
rump bronze-green.
S. v. poltaratskyi. — Large form, wing 124-135 mm. ; head, throat
and ear-coverts purple ; mantle and rump green.
S. v. porphyronotus. — Large form, wing 125-137 mm. ; head and
throat green, ear-coverts more or less purple ; mantle and rump
red-purple.
S. v. minor is a local and resident form in Sind. S. v. humii is
the breeding bird of the Valley of Kashmir ; in winter it appears in
the bordering districts of the Punjab. S. v. porphyronotus breeds at
Yarkand and neighbouring areas, and in winter visits Afghanistan,
Kashmir, Punjab, Sind, and the United Provinces. S. v. poltaratskyi
breeds in Siberia, and in winter extends through the plains of India
from the north-west to Bengal and south to Baroda, being the
commonest of the Indian Starlings.
In the plains of India these Starlings may be looked for from
October to March, but occasional parties occur a little earlier and later.
Habits, etc.— Apart from the fact that the little Sind Starling
may be recognised by its smaller size, and both it and S. v. humii
can be recognised by inference on their breeding grounds, it is quite
impossible to distinguish the various forms of Starling in India in
winter until they have been shot. They are highly gregarious, and
collect into common flocks which feed in cultivation on the open
plains, sometimes also in company with Mynahs and Rosy Pastors.
The chief characteristic of the flocks is hurry ; they feed on the
ground, digging their bills into the crevices of the soil and extracting
the various harmful grubs and insects on which they feed ; and all
the time the flock advances with a bustle and hurry, not hopping
but with a quick purposeful step, the birds in the rear frequently
flying over to settle in front of the leaders. Fruit, berries and grain
are also eaten.
300 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
When disturbed the flock flies up and settles on the tops of
trees, where, if no danger threatens, the birds at once commence to
warble in the sunlight and preen their feathers, soon flying down
again to continue their progress on the ground. The flight is swift
and strong, short, sharp beats of the wings alternating with periods
of gliding, the flocks flying in close order as if drilled, the mass
wheeling and turning with remarkable precision. Some of the
flocks are very large and by their flight and density can be identified
from a considerable distance.
The breeding season of S. v. humii in Kashmir is in April and
May. The males then indulge in the peculiar wheezy, squeaky song,
sitting on a roof or top of a tree in an exposed position, flirting the
wings uneasily at intervals as they sing.
The Starling builds in holes of trees (particularly affecting pollarded
willows), in river-banks and in buildings, constructing a loose nest of
grass roots with a few feathers. The clutch consists of five or six
eggs. These are somewhat elongated in shape, a good deal compressed
towards the short end. The shells are strong and glossy, with the
surface a good deal pitted. In colour they are a very uniform pale
sea-green-blue.
The average measurement is 1-13 by 0-83 inches.
THE GREY-HEADED MYNAH
STURNIA MALABARICA (Gmelin)
Description.— Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. The whole upper
plumage dark grey, the feathers of the head and neck long and
pointed with whitish shafts giving a hoary appearance ; wing blackish,
all but the flight-feathers, which are merely so tipped, edged with
silvery-grey ; tail blackish tipped broadly with ferruginous, the central
pair of feathers silvery-grey ; entire lower plumage rufous, palest
towards the chin and throat which are streaked with whitish-grey and
deepest towards the tail.
Iris light blue ; bill blue at base, green in the middle, and yellow
at the tip ; legs brownish-yellow.
Field Identification. — A rather silvery-looking bird with finely-
hackled head and neck, rufous under parts, and dark wings and tail.
In chattering flocks on the tops of trees.
Distribution. — A widely-distributed species in the plains of India,
extending eastwards to Siam, the Malay Peninsula, and the islands of
the Bay of Bengal. It is divided into several races, of which we are
concerned with two. The typical form is found east of a line drawn
THE GREY-HEADED MYNAH 201
approximately from Mount Aboo to Dehra Dun, ascending the
Himalayas to a height of about 5000 feet. S. m. blythii, which has
the whole head white, is found down the west coast of India from
Belgaum to Travancore. This species appears to be locally migratory
and at Ranchi and in South-west Bengal is a common winter visitor,
but there is not much information regarding other parts of the country.
Habits, etc. — This little Mynah is more purely arboreal than most
species of Mynah and Starling, and is shyer and more difficult to
observe. It is usually found in parties and small flocks which frequent
the tops of trees and indulge in a good deal of squabbling and
chasing about from branch to branch especially when the attraction
is the flowers of the coral-tree or the silk-cotton tree. From these
they extract the nectar and they are also fond of the figs of the banyan
and peepul trees, the berries of lantana scrub and a number of other
fruits as well as insects. At times the flocks descend and feed on the
ground. The usual note is a sort of chatter, but there is also quite a
pleasant song.
The breeding season lasts from April to June.
The nest is built in a hole of a tree, either dead or living, at any
height from 20 to 50 feet from the ground, and there is rather a
preference for trees growing in open patches cleared in the midst of
forest. Natural hollows and old Barbet's nest holes are used, but in
some instances the birds enlarge holes for themselves by pecking
away decayed wood round an existing small hole. The nest is a
small pad of grass or green leaves.
The clutch consists of three to five eggs.
The egg is a moderately elongated oval, rather pointed towards
the small end. The shell is fine and delicate with a distinct gloss.
In colour it is a very delicate pale sea-green without markings.
The average size is about 0-95 by 0-70 inches.
THE BRAHMINY MYNAH
TEMENUCHUS PAGODARUM (Gmelin)
(Plate viii, Fig. 5, opposite page 154)
Description. — Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head,
including a long bushy crest, black ; the sides of the head, the whole
of the neck and the entire lower plumage rich buff, except the thighs
and a patch under the tail which are white ; the feathers of the neck,
throat and breast are elongated into hackles. The remainder of the
upper plumage grey except the outer flight-feathers which are black ;
tail rounded, brown, all but the central pair of feathers broadly tipped
with white.
aoz POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Iris greenish-white ; bill blue at the base, greenish in the middle,
yellow at the tip ; legs bright yellow.
Field Identification. — Common plains species. A rather small,
sprightly bird, grey above, warm buff below, with the top of the head
black and crested ; the rounded tail is conspicuously edged with
white in flight.
Distribution. — This is a familiar bird throughout India and
Ceylon, extending on the west to the Valley of the Indus and on the
east to the longitude of Calcutta. It is locally common everywhere
except in the more arid and barren portions of the Punjab, Sind,
and North-west Frontier Province, and in the more humid and over-
grown localities of Lower Bengal. In the Outer Himalayas it extends
ordinarily as a summer visitor up to 4500 feet, but in Gilgit and
Chitral it is common even to higher elevations. In the main a resident
species, but also locally migratory.
Habits, etc. — The Brahminy Mynah is partial to open, well-
cultivated localities with plenty of trees, and is tame and familiar in
its habits, neither avoiding nor seeking the neighbourhood of man,
but rather being indifferent to his existence. It feeds for the most
part on the ground, often in company with other species of Mynahs
and Starlings, retiring when sated to the trees in which it normally
lives. It is found singty, in pairs and in small parties. It is quite a
good songster, with a pleasant warbling song and makes a charming
pet ; it is also a good mimic, learning the songs of other birds with
ease.
Under the name of " Pawi " or " Papaya " it is familiar to Indians
and comes a good deal into their folk-lore.
The breeding season lasts from May to August, but in Upper India
the majority of eggs are laid in June.
The nest is placed in holes in trees at heights of from 15 to 30
feet above the ground, and also in Southern India in holes in the
roofs of buildings. The cavity is roughly lined with feathers and dry
grass, or dead leaves and similar soft materials. Nest-boxes affixed
to trees are much favoured by this species.
The clutch consists of three to five eggs.
The egg is a rather elongated oval, fine and hard in texture, and
rather glossy ; in colour it varies from very pale bluish-white to pale
blue or greenish-blue. There are no markings.
In size the eggs average about 0-97 by 0*75 inches.
THE COMMON MYNAH 203
THE COMMON MYNAH
ACRIDOTHERES TRiSTis (Linnaeus)
(Introduction, p. xxviii)
Description. — Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. Whole head,
neck, and upper breast black ; remainder of body plumage rich
vinous-brown, darker above and paling into whitish on the lower
abdomen. Outer flight-feathers dark brown, with a large white patch
at their base ; tail strongly rounded, blackish, all but the central pair
of feathers broadly tipped with white.
Iris reddish-brown, flecked with white ; bill and a fleshy wattle
below and behind the eye bright yellow ; legs yellow, claws
horny.
Field Identification. — One of the most general and abundant birds
of India ; to be seen walking about in pairs on the ground everywhere
in the plains. Rich vinous-brown in colour, with a conspicuous
yellow face-wattle ; in flight the rounded white-edged tail and a large
white patch in the wings are conspicuous.
Distribution. — The whole of the Indian Empire except Northern
Kashmir, Baluchistan and Tenasserim, south of Mergui. A darker
form found in Ceylon is separated under the name of A. t. melanosternus.
The Mynah occurs in the Himalayas up to 8000 feet and is a strictly
resident species.
Of late years this species has been introduced into South Africa,
Mauritius, New Zealand, and other countries, but not with happy
results, as it has proved destructive to more interesting indigenous
species.
Habits, etc. — The Mynah shares with the House-Crow the dis-
tinction of being the commonest and best-known bird in India, being
found wherever man is found, in populous city or in lonely jungle
village. But the House-Crow, with all his audacity, has an uneasy
conscience and is ever in expectation of the moment when his sins
will find him out. The Mynah, on the other hand, has no such
feelings. He is always perky and self-confident, secure in his
occupation of some particular beat and ready to wage war on all
who dispute it with him ; and the appearance of a snake, mongoose
or bird of prey is sufficient to collect all the Mynahs of the neighbour-
hood, whose harsh scolding reveals the presence of the intruder and is
always worth investigation ; many a dangerous snake has lost its life
through the information given to man by the Mynahs.
Normally these birds live in pairs and there is a very obvious
affection between them. They feed together on the ground, striding
along with rapid, determined paces, stopping occasionally to preen each
zo4 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
other's feathers or to indulge in a few quaint remarks or gesticulations
expressive of extreme self-satisfaction. The voice is a strange
mixture of harsh gurglings and liquid notes, keeky - keeky - keeky,
churr - churr, kok - kok - kok, and the last notes are invariably
accompanied by a quaint, stiff bobbing of the head, generally close
in front of the mate. If disturbed when feeding on the ground
the birds rise with a querulous note of alarm.
Several often collect into small parties, and at the roost these
parties collect into large flocks which sleep in groves of trees after
the most noisy and quarrelsome proceedings as they take up their
places for the night. At intervals during darkness short bursts
of chattering are to be heard. Such favourite roosting places are
shared with House-Crows and Green Parrakeets, often, too, with
Bank Mynahs and Starlings.
The Mynah is very omnivorous in its tastes ; I have known them
carry away the carcasses of small birds that I had skinned ; house
scraps, fruit, grain, earthworms, insects of all kinds, grasshoppers,
crickets, caterpillars, and grubs are all eagerly devoured. Flocks
of grazing cattle and the various agricultural operations are invariably
attended by a pair of these birds ; and their services in the destruction
of locusts and grasshoppers must be very valuable to the Zamindar.
The normal breeding season lasts from June to August, and the
nests being usually in a very hot position the birds leave much of
the incubation of the eggs to the temperature of the air. They
themselves feel the heat a good deal and may constantly be seen
walking about, with their beaks gaping.
The nest is built in roofs of houses, and in holes in walls, trees
and wells ; and the birds readily adopt nest-boxes or chatties which
may be hung up for their use. Occasionally the old nest of a Kite
or Crow or squirrel is adopted and relined, and instances are on
record of their building nests in a creeper or on the bough of a tree.
The nest is a shapeless and often large mass of miscellaneous
material, straw, feathers, fine twigs, bits of cotton, strips of rag, pieces
of rope and string, snakes' sloughs, and the like.
Three to six eggs are laid, but the normal clutch consists of
four or five. They are rather long, oval, pear-shaped eggs, hard and
glossy in texture, varying in colour from pale blue to pure sky-blue
or greenish-blue, without markings. The small black spots that are
sometimes found on these eggs are the work of parasites.
They measure about 1-20 by 0-86 inches.
THE BANK MYNAH 205
THE BANK MYNAH
ACRIDOTHERES GINGINIANUS (Latham)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Sexes alike. The top and sides
of the head black ; the whole body plumage slaty-grey except the
centre of the abdomen which is pinkish-buff ; wing black, a patch of
pinkish-buff at the base of the outer flight-feathers ; tail strongly
rounded, black tipped with buff.
Iris deep maroon-red ; bill gamboge ; a naked wattle beneath and
behind the eye brick-red ; legs yellow.
Field Identification. — Plains of Northern and Central India ;
gregarious ; strongly resembles the Common Mynah in demeanour
and general effect, but the wattle is red instead of yellow, the body
plumage slaty-grey instead of vinous-brown, and the wing-patch and
tips of the tail-feathers pinkish-buff instead of white.
Distribution. — A purely Indian species, found throughout the
whole of the northern half of India from the Himalayas southwards
to a line between Bombay and Orissa, and from the North-west
Frontier Province and Sind to Eastern Bengal. Normally a plains
species it ascends the Outer Himalayas locally, venturing into the
sheltered valleys. A resident species, but wandering locally in
obedience to the food-supply.
Habits, etc. — The Bank Mynah is often found in company with
the Common Mynah and is very similar to it in habits, but differs
in one or two important particulars. Although sometimes found
in crowded market-places, scavenging on the ground amongst cattle
and people, or wandering about busy station platforms, it is more
a bird of cultivation and the open country-side, and is in particular
addicted to the neighbourhood of water, feeding about the banks of
rivers, in old water-logged brick-kilns and borrow-pits. It is also
much more social in its habits, not merely flying, feeding and roosting
in flocks, but also breeding in very definite colonies with a breeding
economy quite different to that of the common species.
The breeding season lasts from the middle of April to the middle
of July, but most eggs will be found in May.
It builds almost exclusively in earthen banks and cliffs, in holes
which it excavates for itself, always in the vicinity of water and
generally over running water. A few small colonies also breed
below the surface of the ground in the sides of wells, in holes in
the brickwork or in tunnels driven into the sandy soil. The nest
chamber is situated at the end of a tunnel some three inches in
diameter and anything up to seven feet in length, and these tunnels
usually twist about in all directions and also communicate with each
206 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
other, so that a large colony may be a regular warren. In the nest
chamber a loose nest of feathers, roots and grass is constructed, and
it also often contains pieces of snake's slough.
The normal clutch consists of four eggs, but five are often laid.
The eggs are short and broad ovals, hard in texture with a high
gloss. They are unmarked, of various shades of very pale sky-blue
or greenish-blue, generally slightly darker in tint than the eggs of
the Common Mynah.
In size they average about 1*05 by 0*82 inches.
THE JUNGLE MYNAH
^ETHIOPSAR FUSCUS (Wagler)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Sexes alike. Top and sides of
the head black ; remainder of upper plumage ruddy cinerous-brown ;
wings black with a large white patch at the base of the outer flight-
feathers ; tail broadly rounded, the feathers tipped with white ; lower
plumage dark ashy-brown, whitish under the tail.
Iris bright yellow or blue ; bill basal half bluish-black, remainder
orange-yellow ; legs orange-yellow.
There is a curious erect tuft of feathers above the nostrils.
Field Identification. — A shy forest Mynah, chiefly found in hill
ranges ; to be recognised from the Common and Bank Mynahs by
the darker plumage, the absence of a bare face wattle and by the tuft
of erect feathers above the nostrils.
Distribution. — The Jungle Mynah is widely spread in the
Himalayas, in portions of India and through Assam and Burma
to Siam and the Malay Peninsula. It is divided into races, of which '
we are only concerned with two.
The typical race, slate-coloured above with a yellow iris, breeds
throughout the Himalayas, from Hazara eastwards, from the foot-
hills up to about 7000 feet. It is also found in Lower Bengal and
the Chota Nagpur area to Bundelkund and Raipur.
A browner race, IE. /. mahrattensis, in which the iris is grey,
bluish-white or pale blue, occurs in the Shevaroys and down the
Western Coast, chiefly on the Ghats, from Ahmedabad to Cape
Comorin. Though abundant in many localities it is rather a local
species. A resident bird in the main, but also a local migrant.
Habits, etc. — As its name denotes, this Mynah is properly a bird
of the forest, though it often associates with the Common Mynah,
and frequents the neighbourhood of houses. Except when actually
paired for breeding it is found in parties and flocks that feed mostly
on the ground, taking to the trees when disturbed. In flight, habits,
gait, and behaviour it greatly resembles the Common Mynah, except
THE JUNGLE MYNAH 207
that it is neither so bold nor such a scavenger, and it is probably
mistaken by most people for that species.
The breeding season lasts from March to July, but most eggs will
be found in April.
The vast majority of the nests of this species are built in holes
in trees, generally in large trees at a considerable height from the
ground ; but nests may be found in holes in other situations, in walls
and ruins, in chimneys, and in the thatch of old houses. The nest is
FIG. 29 — Head of Jungle Mynah (-} -i- nat. size)
merely a lining to the hole selected, and varies in size and materials,
being a collection of fine twigs, dry grass, feathers, moss, wool, and
the like.
There is a distinct tendency for the birds to nest in colonies.
The clutch varies from three to four eggs, but the majority of
nests contain five eggs.
The egg is in shape rather a long oval, usually somewhat pointed
towards the small end ; the texture is hard and glossy. It varies in
colour from that of skim milk to pale blue or greenish-blue, and
there are no markings.
The average measurement is about 1-20 by 0-83 inches.
THE PIED MYNAH
STURNOPASTOR CONTRA (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length ' 9 inches. Sexes alike. The entire head
and neck black, except for an elongated white patch from the base
of the beak through the eye backwards ; upper plumage, wings and
tail black or blackish-brown, except for the lower rump and a broad
line along the shoulders white ; remainder of lower plumage pale
vinaceous-grey.
208
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Iris yellowish-white, eyelids and a bare patch in front of the eye
orange ; bill basal half deep orange, remainder white ; legs yellowish-
white, claws horny.
Field Identification. — Common plains species in cultivation. A
conspicuously pied black and white bird found in parties feeding on
the ground and flying up into a tree when disturbed ; an obvious
Mynah in habits and bearing.
Distribution. — The Pied Mynah is common and widely distributed
in India and the Burmese countries to Java, being divided into several
races, of which two are found within our area. The typical race is
found in Eastern Bengal
and Assam. A paler bird,
S. c. dehrce, is found in
continental India east of a
line through Ludhiana,
Hissar and Sehore, extend-
ing down to Hyderabad in
the Deccan and eastwards
to Western Bengal, Bihar
and Orissa. It is a resident
species, though there are
signs of small local migra-
tions.
Habits, etc.— The Pied
Mynah differs from the
Common Mynah in the fact
that it is a bird of open
cultivation, never entering in or perching on houses, though it may
frequently be found in gardens. Wherever found it is common,
living generally in small parties that spend their time hunting over
grassland where the pied plumage renders them conspicuous. Like
the Common Mynah, this species is a frequent attendant on cattle,
and on the grazing grounds of the Northern Circars vast flocks of
several hundreds collect together.
In diet it is undoubtedly chiefly insectivorous, catching grass-
hoppers, crickets, and beetles on the ground, and extracting caterpillars,
ants, worms, and other insects from amongst the roots of grass. But
it feeds, too, on fruits and berries, being very partial to the fruits
of the genus Ficus, and it also does a certain amount of damage to
crops. Like the Common Mynahs, and indeed often in company
with them, the Pied Mynahs roost in huge vociferous mobs in
groves of trees.
The breeding season lasts from May to August, but the majority
of eggs are laid in June and July.
This species builds in trees, generally out in open fields, at
FIG. 30 — Pied Mynah (J nat. size)
THE PIED MYNAH 209
heights of 10 to 30 feet from the ground ; sometimes the nests are
in colonies, numbers being placed in one large tree. The nest is a
large clumsy lump of material, variable in shape, but usually domed,
depending for safety not on concealment but on its position in the
midst of thorns or towards the extremity of a bough ; it is built
of straw, grass and twigs, and roots and rags, the last often trailing
in streamers below the nest. The egg cavity is thickly lined with
feathers. Very rarely the nest is placed in a hole in a tree.
The eggs are four to six in number, but most clutches consist of
five eggs. They are moderately broad ovals, a good deal pointed
towards the small end, and there is a high gloss. In colour they vary
from a delicate bluish- white to a pure though somewhat pale sky-blue,
the blue being often tinged with green. There are no markings.
They measure about i- 10 by 0-82 inches.
THE BAYA WEAVER-BIRD
PLOCEUS PHILIPPINUS (Linnaeus)
(Plate xiii, Fig. 2, opposite page 264)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male in breeding plumage : A
mask, including the sides of the head, chin and throat dark blackish-
brown ; remainder of the head and the breast bright yellow ; upper
plumage brownish-black, the feathers broadly margined with bright
yellow ; rump and remainder of lower plumage fulvous ; wings and
tail dark brown, edged with fulvous.
Male in winter plumage, and female : The whole upper plumage
is fulvous, streaked with blackish-brown, the streaks dying away on
the rump ; wings and tail dark brown edged with fulvous ; a clear
fulvous line over the eye ; remainder of plumage clear fulvous, darker
on the sides of the head, breast and flanks.
Iris brown ; bill yellowish-horn, becoming in the breeding male
dark horny-brown, yellowish about the base ; legs flesh-colour.
Bill rather heavy and conical.
Field Identification. — Abundant plains bird, found in flocks ;
majority are fulvous birds streaked heavily with blackish on the
upper parts, but males in the breeding season have a conspicuous
dark brown mask emphasised by surrounding yellow ; yellow on the
breast distinguishes this from other species of breeding Weavers.
Will usually be noticed in connection with long woven grass nests
hanging in colonies from boughs of trees.
Distribution. — This Weaver is found in India, Ceylon, and Burma,
extending eastwards to Siam, the Malay Peninsula, Java, and Sumatra*
It is divided into several races.
O
210 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The typical race is found throughout Ceylon and the greater
part of India, extending in the north-west to about the line of the
Sutlej. In the Eastern sub-Himalayas and Bengal it is replaced by
P. p. burmanicus, which differs in the smaller extent of yellow on
the throat and breast and in Travancore by the darker P. p. travan-
coreensis. While largely a resident this Weaver is also locally migratory.
Habits, etc. — As in the case of the Tailor-bird, our common
Indian Weaver-bird is known by its nest to thousands who jvould
never recognise the owner thereof. Out of colour the parties of
Weavers would pass with most people as parties of Sparrows, and
never be given a second thought, but when the male dons his
yellow breeding plumage and dark mask he is a handsome bird and
easily recognised. This species avoids heavy forest and is really
a bird of open cultivation where babool trees and palms stand in
the midst of grasslands and arable fields, damp and well-watered
localities being rather preferred. It feeds on seeds of various
kinds, and does a good deal of damage in certain crops, though,
like the Sparrow, it largely compensates for this by the caterpillars,
grasshoppers, and various insects on which the young are fed. A
colony of Weavers' nests is one of the most familiar and typical of
Indian country scenes. The nests are long, graceful structures of
woven grass, retort shaped, with the mouth of the retort pointing
downwards to the ground. These nests hang in groups of ten or a
dozen on a tree, suspended by short plaited ropes from the ends of
the outer boughs, or in vacant spaces in the centre of the tree, and
the soft greens and browns of the nests, the rounded swelling lines
of their construction, contrasting with the hard yet feathery foliage
of an acacia, form a picture of nature hard to beat. Large colonies
may consist of fifty to a hundred nests, occupying several adjacent
trees ; while many colonies are built in lofty palm trees, hanging
like tassels from the crown of leaves.
The nests are built of strips of sarpat grass, rice-grass, plantain
leaf, coir, jowar leaf or coco-nut fronds. These strips the bird
prepares for itself by cutting a notch in the side of a blade of grass
and tearing off the strip above it, a foot or two long. They are cut
when green, and new nests may be recognised from old by their
colour, and the same difference of colour betrays old nests which
have been repaired and used again.
The construction of the nest has often been described, but
Mr Salim Ali appears to be the first observer who has correctly
unravelled the economy of a breeding colony. According to his
account, the colony is founded by a number of fully adult males in
breeding condition but still ui mated. Each bird selects a suitable
twig and winds a number of strands about it until a firm support
for the intended nest is secured. From this depends a mass of
THE BAYA WEAVER-BIRD 211
strips which are worked up into a pendant loop to form the skeleton
of the structure. Porches are built over the upper part on each
side, one developing and broadening out later into the egg-chamber,
the other which is not so bulgy being produced into the entrance
tube. About the time that the egg-chambers are complete hen-birds
begin to arrive in the colony and though the various cocks press
their attentions on them it appears that each hen deliberately makes
choice amongst the nests, accepting later the cock whose nest has
pleased her fancy. Henceforth the female occupies herself with
making the interior of the nest to her liking whilst the male
completes the entrance tunnel. The egg-chamber is left unlined,
but small pellets of mud are often worked into the walls, a habit of
which the original significance if any appears to be lost. As soon
as the nest is completed, the eggs laid and incubation started by the
hen, the cock proceeds to build a second nest which in due course
is chosen by another prospecting female and the whole process is
repeated till she too is safely on her eggs. If circumstances are
favourable a third hen may be similarly provided for.
It will be seen that this account explains the fact, often recorded, that
males are apparently considerably in excess of females in the colonies,
and also accounts for the unfinished " cock- nests, " second or third
nests abandoned by males in which the reproductive fervour is waning.
When entering the nest the bird flies straight up the tunnel without
perching at the entrance.
The breeding season is rather extended, from April to November,
but most colonies are occupied during the rains.
Two is the normal clutch of eggs, but three or four are sometimes
laid. The egg is a rather long oval, somewhat pointed towards the
small end ; the texture is fine, and the colour is a dead glossless
white, unmarked.
It measures about 0-82 by 0-59 inches.
THE STRIATED WEAVER-BIRD
PLOCEUS MANYAR (Horsfield)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. Winter plumage :
Upper plumage blackish-brown, the feathers edged with fulvous ;
a yellow line over the eye and a short transverse yellow line on each
side of the neck ; wings and tail blackish-brown the feathers edged
with fulvous becoming greenish on the edges of the quill-feathers ;
chin and throat white washed with pale yellow, the bases of the feathers
blackish-brown ; remainder of lower plumage pale fulvous white, the
212 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
feathers of the breast and flanks with broad blackish-brown shaft-
streaks and the breast washed with buff.
Summer plumage : In both sexes wear removes the fulvous edges
of the feathers so that the upper plumage and sides of the head become
dark brown, the chin and throat brown and the breast and flanks
more harshly streaked ; the yellow transverse line on each side of
the neck disappears. In the male the crown becomes bright shining
golden yellow by moult.
Iris brown ; bill brownish-horn, blackish in summer ; legs pale
fleshy-brown, claws dusky.
Bill rather heavy and conical.
Field Identification. — Plains of India. A streaked brown Sparrow-
like bird with a yellow line over the eye and another behind the ear.
In breeding plumage the male has a golden crown. Found in flocks
usually in reed-beds.
Distribution. — India, Ceylon and Burma south to about Moulmein
in Tenasserim : also in Java. The typical race is found in Java.
Birds from India and Ceylon all belong to the race P. m. flaviceps
which gives place in Burma to the dark richly coloured P. m. peguensis.
In India this Weaver is found throughout the whole area south of
the Himalayas, but owing to its dependence on water and reed-beds
the distribution is very local and the bird will not be found at all
through considerable tracts of country.
An even more locally distributed species is the Black-throated
Weaver-bird (Ploceus bengalensis) which is found here and there
throughout Northern India down to Bombay and Bastar. It is very
similar in plumage to the Striated Weaver-bird, but lacks the dark
streaks on the lower plumage and has a black band across the breast.
Habits, etc. — There is little to say of the habits of the Striated
Weaver-bird in distinction from those of the Common Baya except
to emphasise that it is much more of a water-haunting species. As
a rule, it only breeds where large stretches of water are choked with
reed-beds or where rivers and canals exist whose banks are fringed
with reed and rush or bordered with thickets of high grass. In such
places it is often very numerous indeed, living and nesting in the reeds
and feeding in flocks on the grass seeds or on insects found in the
grass. Each individual colony is, however, small, consisting of some
half dozen nests, and the colonies, though sometimes near to colonies
of the other two species, are separate from them.
The breeding season is from July to September.
The nest is very similar in shape, materials and construction to that
of the Baya. It differs from it, however, in one important particular.
The nest of the Baya tapers above to a point and is suspended by
that point alone from one twig or other support. The nest of the
Striated Weaver is, on the other hand, suspended from some forty or
THE STRIATED WEAVER-BIRD 213
fifty ends of the grass or rushes which are bent over by the birds and
incorporated in the top of the nest, giving it a cluster of supports
and a clumsier and more massive appearance as regards the upper
part. The tubular entrance is usually snorter in this species. Some
nests have acacia flowers cemented to the nest with cow-dung.
The usual clutch is of two eggs, but three, four and rarely five may
be found. The egg is a moderately broad oval, a good deal pointed
at the small end and of a perfectly pure, almost glossless white. The
texture is fine and compact and the shell though thin is firm and
strong.
The egg measures about 0-80 by 0-58 inches.
THE WHITE-THROATED MUNIA
UROLONCHA MALABARICA (Linnaeus)
(Plate xi, Fig. 3, opposite page 220)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
and wings dull earthy-brown, except the outer flight-feathers which
are black ; upper tail-coverts white ; tail dark brown, margined with
rusty ; remainder of plumage pale buffy-white, flanks faintly cross-
barred with rusty.
Iris dark brown ; bill plumbeous-horn, tinged with lavender
below ; legs pale purplish-pink.
Bill heavy and conical. Tail rather long, graduated and pointed.
Field Identification. — A small, rather elongated brown bird,
whitish below and on the base of the tail ; found in cheeping parties
in thorn scrub or feeding on the ground ; rather tame and stupid ;
several together are often disturbed out of big grass nests.
Distribution. — The White-throated Munia is found in Afghanistan
and Baluchistan, and it extends from the Himalayas (in Hazara and
Gilgit) across to Eastern Bengal and south to Cape Comorin and
Ceylon. It ascends the Himalayas up to 4000 or 5000 feet, and is
a sedentary species.
Several other Munias are locally common. The best known is
perhaps the White-backed Munia (Uroloncha striata) which is found
along the Western Ghats, parts of the Madras Presidency, the Chota
Nagpur area and much of the Outer Himalayas. This is blackish in
colour with the rump and the lower parts from the breast white.
The Rufous-beHied Munia (Uroloncha kelaarti) is a familiar bird
in the Nilgiris.
Habits, etc. — The White-throated Munia has always seemed to
me one of the dullest of our Indian birds ; it has no migrations,
02
214 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
no changes of plumage, no habits of interest, and in its breeding
arrangements it has some of the failings that one generally expects
to find amongst domesticated birds.
It is a bird of open country, rather preferring arid spots and the
neighbourhood of thorny scrub. It is found in small parties which
are tame and dull, taking to flight in close order when disturbed and
uttering a small cheet-cheet-cheet or tee-tee note. The bird lives on
small seeds which it gathers often from the ground, though it is
very partial to feeding on the heads of pampas grass and various
crops like millet and dari. Some of these birds are generally to
be found in a Weaver colony, showing a disposition to trespass in
the nests and affording a hint as to the origin of the parasitic habits
of other members of this family in Africa.
The nest is a large globular structure, composed entirely of
grasses of various sorts, particularly their flowering heads. A small
circular entrance, moderately well concealed and rather difficult to
find, leads into the egg chamber, which is lined with finer grasses
and vegetable downs. It is usually built in thorn bushes, about
5 to 10 feet from the ground, but occasional nests are placed in
creepers or about the walls of houses.
The ownership of these nests seems somewhat loosely defined, as
it is no uncommon thing for more than one hen to lay in the same
nest. I have myself found twenty-two eggs in one nest,' ranging from
fresh to hard set, and twenty-five have been recorded ; while four to
eight eggs appears to be the normal clutch. Even when the structure
is not being used for its proper purpose it is often tenanted as a
dormitory, and six or eight of these small birds may be disturbed
from it in the evenings. Both birds of the pair frequently brood
the eggs together.
The main breeding season apparently commences with the rains
and continues till the end of the year, but nests may be found in every
month, and the species probably is very irregular in its breeding habits ;
young birds on occasion breed before they are a year old.
The eggs are pure white, spotless, and devoid of gloss ; typically
they are rather broad and perfect ovals, but there is a good deal of
variation in their shape.
They average about 0-60 by 0*47 inches in size.
THE SPOTTED MUNIA 215
THE SPOTTED MUNIA
UROLONCHA FUNCTULATA (Linnaeus)
(Plate ii, Fig. i, opposite page 22)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Wings and upper
plumage dull chocolate, barred on the rump with brown and yellowish
and giving place to glistening yellow on the upper tail-coverts ; tail
fulvous yellow ; sides of the head, chin and throat rich chestnut ;
lower plumage white, all the feathers except on the abdomen banded
with fulvous brown, giving a scaled appearance.
Iris deep reddish-brown ; bill bluish-black, paler below ; legs
plumbeous.
Bill heavy and conical. The tail is rather long, graduated and
pointed.
Field Identification. — A small bird, easily identified by the white
under plumage with dark scale markings, the chocolate upper plumage
with yellow above the tail and the chestnut of the face and throat.
Found in pairs and flocks perching in bushes and hedges.
Distribution. — This Munia is found throughout the greater part
of India, Ceylon, and Burma, extending eastwards to China. It is
divided into two races, of which we are only concerned with U. p,
lineoventer. This is found throughout the Himalayas as far west
as Dalhousie up to a height of about 6000 feet and in the continental
ranges and the Nilgiris to their summits. It is found also throughout
the plains except in the North-west Frontier Province, the Punjab,
Sind, and portions of Rajputana. This race also extends to Western
Assam. It is a local migrant.
Two species of Munia have black heads and chestnut upper parts
and a black patch in the middle of the belly. The Chestnut-bellied
Munia (Munia atricapilla) has the lower parts chestnut and is found
along the base of the Himalayas, in Bihar and Orissa, South-east
Bengal, and in Assam. The Black-headed Munia (Munia malacca)
has the lower parts white. It is found locally in South India up to
the Central Provinces.
Habits, etc. — The Spotted Munia avoids heavy forest and the
more barren plains, and is most numerous in open country where
scrub-jungle alternates with cultivation, and the vegetation is luxuriant.
In such places it is found in flocks which feed largely in low-seeding
herbage and settle in the bushes, flying when disturbed in close order
like a swarm of bees, with a curious petulant little note of kitty-kitty-
kitty. They are fairly tame and familiar and come freely into gardens.
The breeding season is usually during the rains in July and
August, but in the Nilgiris it is more extended from February to
September.
216 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The nest is a big clumsy structure, shaped liked a melon, and very
large for the size of the bird. The entrance hole is placed on one
side and is often difficult to find, so untidy are the walls of the nest.
It is wedged into the fork of a tree or bush at heights from 5 to
7 feet from the ground and occasionally higher, and the site is
often prepared with a rough platform of the same materials as those
of which the nest is constructed. These consist of coarse blades and
stems of grass, rice, and barley straw, and leaves of bajera and jawar.
The egg cavity is lined with fine grasses and roots.
The situation chosen is generally a thick thorny tree or bush, but
creepers on houses and trellis-work in gardens are also favoured.
The clutch varies from four to ten eggs.
The egg is pure white, a somewhat elongated oval, fine in texture
and without gloss.
It measures about 0-65 by 0-46 inches.
THE RED AVADAVAT
AMANDAVA AMANDAVA (Linnaeus)
(Plate n, Fig. 2, opposite page 22)
Description. — Length 4 inches. Male in breeding plumage : The
whole body plumage, except a black patch from the abdomen to
under the tail, crimson more or less mottled with the ashy-brown
bases of the feathers showing through ; a patch above the base of the
tail, and the sides of the neck, breast and body spotted with white ;
wings brown, the feathers nearest the body tipped with white ; tail
blackish, the outer feathers tipped with white.
In winter plumage the male resembles the female, but has a greyer
throat and upper breast.
Female : Upper plumage brown ; upper tail-coverts dull crimson
with minute white tips ; wings and tail as in the male ; a blackish
mark in front of the eye ; chin and throat whitish ; sides of the head
and neck and the breast ashy-brown ; remainder of lower plumage
dull saffron, flanks washed with ashy.
Iris orange-red ; bill red, dusky about nostrils ; legs brownish-
flesh.
Bill short and conical.
Field Identification. — A tiny bird found in flocks in damp areas
with reeds or in pampas grass ; males are reddish, females brown
and yellow, both sexes much spotted with white. Well known under
the name of " Lai " as a cage and aviary bird, netted in numbers
for sale.
THE RED AVADAVAT 217
Distribution. — The Red Avadavat is found from India, through
Burma to Siam, Cochin-China, Singapore, and Java. It is divided
into two races, but only the typical form occurs within our
limits. In India it is found practically throughout the country
from the foot of the Himalayas, which it ascends to about 2000 feet,
down to Cape Comorin, and from Baluchistan and the North-west
Frontier Province eastwards. It is, however, wanting in the more
dry and barren plains of the North-west. In the Nilgiris it ascends
to 6000 feet. A resident species.
A closely allied species is the Green Munia (Sticospiza formosa),
in which green and yellow are the dominant colours, whilst the flanks
are strongly barred. Widely distributed in a broad belt across the
centre of the Peninsula.
Habits, etc. — This Avadavat is chiefly found in well-watered and
well-wooded localities, and it is very partial to heavy grass jungles
and patches of reeds and grass on the outskirts of jheels. In such
localities it is found in flocks which perch on the heads of the tall
flowering grasses, whence they fly in a cloud with their shrill little
call-note when disturbed. They are very bright and lively in their
demeanour, and being tame and confiding are easily captured in
numbers, and make delightful pets. They are to be seen in dozens
in the cages of the bird-catchers, and are exported in large numbers
to Europe for sale to aviculturists.
The breeding season is very irregular and varies according to
locality, so that nests may be found in every month of the year.
The greater number, however, nest in the rains and early winter.
Two broods a year appear to be raised.
The nest is a large melon-shaped structure with the entrance at
one side ; it is built of grasses of various types and the cock bird
often continues to add material to it after the eggs are laid and the
female is sitting. The cavity is lined with fine grass, downs, and
sometimes with feathers. It is well concealed as a rule, being built
in the bases of thick bushes or clumps of grass or reeds, never higher
than 3 feet from the ground and often practically on it.
The normal clutch consists of five or six eggs, but various numbers
up to fourteen have been recorded, and probably sometimes two
females lay in one nest.
The eggs are very fine and delicate in texture, without gloss, a
regular oval in shape, often rather pointed at one or both ends. The
colour is pure white.
In size they average about 0-55 by 0-43 inches.
2i8 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE BLACK AND YELLOW GROSBEAK
PERISSOSPIZA ICTEROIDES (Vigors)
(Plate xv, Fig. i, opposite page 308)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Male : The whole head, chin and
throat, the wings and tail and the thighs dull black ; remainder of
plumage bright yellow, tinged with orange on the hind neck.
Female : The whole head and neck and the upper parts dull ^shy-
grey, becoming more fulvous above the tail ; quills of the wing and
tail black, the inner wing-quills and the central tail-feathers washed
with ashy-grey ; breast ashy-brown ; remainder of lower plumage
bright tawny fulvous.
The bill is very heavy and conical in shape.
Iris brown ; bill olive-green in male, horny-green in female ;
legs fleshy-pink, claws dusky.
Field Identification. — West Himalayan form. A large heavily built
Finch with a heavy conical greenish beak. The male is bright yellow
with black head, wings and tail, the female dull ashy-colour with
fulvous under parts. Conspicuous when feeding on the ground but
difficult to see in trees and usually found through its distinctive call-
note tre-ter tre-ter.
Distribution. — A resident species in the Western Himalayas from
Naini Tal to Hazara and Chitral ; also in the Sufed Koh. It breeds
in the spruce and silver fir forests between 7500 and 9000 feet, and
in winter some drift lower to about 4000 feet.
It must not be confounded with the very similar Allied Grosbeak
(Perissospiza affinis) which is found in the Himalayas from Hazara
to Bhutan. This species frequents the high level silver fir and birch
forests between 10,000 and 11,000 feet. Its call notes are quite
Distinct from those of P. icteroides. In this the male has the thighs
yellow and the yellow of the upper parts more orange. The female
is a greener bird.
Both these Grosbeaks are easily distinguished by the bill from
the Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus xanthornus) which many people
confuse with them in spite of the different distribution (see p. 193).
Habits, etc. — This Grosbeak is a bird of the Himalayan forests
where it is found in all types of forest both deciduous and evergreen,
but more particularly in stretches of silver firs and deodars. It
feeds a good deal in the undergrowth and on the ground, often
venturing on to the roads, but otherwise keeps mostly to the highest
trees so that it is more often seen than heard. For the call-note,
tre-ter tre-ter or trekatree trekatree, trekup trekup, uttered by both
sexes, is one of thefamiliar sounds of a Himalayan forest or a Himalayan
sanatorium. The song note of the male is a pretty whistle, tre-truit
tre-trui or tra trui-tree. The feeding note is chuck chuck.
THE BLACK AND YELLOW GROSBEAK 219
The food consists of the fresh shoots of conifers and the seeds from
their cones as well as the fruits of shrubs and plants in the undergrowth.
Out of the breeding season the birds collect into parties and small
flocks.
The breeding season begins in April and continues until July
and perhaps even until September, but most eggs are certainly to be
found in June.
The nest may be built at any height from 1 8 to 60 feet from the
ground and the usual situation is against the main trunk of a conifer,
preferably a spruce, deodar or silver fir. It is, however, on occasion
built on a horizontal bough and also in a non-coniferous tree such as
a yew, lime or wild cherry. The materials of the nest, which is a wide
cup, are fine twigs, lichens and silvery, plant-stems with often a certain
amount of moss. The cup is lined with dry grass and rootlets.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs.
The egg is broad in shape and rather pointed towards the small
end ; the texture is smooth and hard with a slight gloss. The ground-
colour is pale greenish-grey marked with numerous blackish-brown
tangled lines, some thick and bold, some very fine twisted and inter-
twined, in a zone round the broad end and more or less underlaid
by faint inky-purple clouds. A few blackish-brown spots and odd
streaks are also found on the rest of the egg's surface.
The egg measures about I'oo by 0-08 inches.
THE RED-HEADED BULLFINCH
PYRRHULA ERYTHROCEPHALA Vigors
Description. — Length 5-5 inches. Male: A broad band of black
round the base of the bill and extending round the eye ; head and
neck rich reddish-brown, paler on the throat and breast ; back ash-
grey ; rump white margined in front by a black band. The upper
tail coverts and tail glossy black ; wings black with a band of greyish-
brown ; abdomen greyish-white. In worn plumage the red of the
head is tinged with yellow. Female : Similar to male, but the head
and neck are yellowish-green and the lower parts brown or drab.
Iris light brown ; bill black ; legs pale fleshy-brown.
Field Identification. — A low monosyllabic call note. The black
'wings and tail and white rump are characteristic of all bullfinches.
The white rump especially catches the eye at once when the birds
are in flight. The red head in the male and yellowish-green of the
female are characteristic of this species.
Distribution. — Himalayas from Kishtwar to Bhutan. In the
breeding season this Bullfinch is found in silver fir, spruce, and
deodar forests from 9000 to 12,000 feet where some birds remain
220 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
throughout the year, while others in the autumn wander down to the
valleys to about 6000 feet and occasionally as low as 3500 feet. It is
common in winter in the vicinity of Simla, Naini Tal, Mussoorie and
Darjeeling. Another species is the slightly larger Brown Bullfinch
(P. nipalensis) ranging from Kangra to Bhutan at an elevation of
from 6500 to 11,000 feet in summer ; at other seasons between 5000
and 7000 feet. The general colour is ashy-brown with black wings,
tail and rump ; this last has a white cross-band. The sexes are^alike,
except that in the male the outer edge of the innermost feather of
the wing is crimson, while in the female it is yellow.
Habits, etc. — In the non-breeding season this Bullfinch is found
in small parties, not infrequently of one sex. Its food consists of
seeds and fruits of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. Small parties
may sometimes be seen feeding on the seeds of rank nettles on the
hillsides. At the end of April or May the birds pair and at this
season frequent willows, attracted by the catkins. It is very tame
and utters a low musical whistle similar to the British bird.
The Red-headed Bullfinch is a late breeder and the eggs are laid
as a rule in August. The nest is built on a branch of a tree some
distance from the ground, and is the usual Bullfinch type ; thin twigs
and moss, lined with fine roots.
The eggs vary from three to four in number, and resemble those
of a Greenfinch more than the common Bullfinch. They are a dull
grey- white with a faint tinge of green, marked with small specks
and blotches of brown or red-brown, some almost dark grey.
The egg measures about 0-8 by 0-6 inches.
THE COMMON ROSE FINCH
CARPODACUS ERYTHRINUS (Pallas)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Adult male : Entire body-plumage
dull crimson, largely mixed with brown on the back and sides, and
brightest on the rump, chin, throat, and breast ; the lower parts
grow paler posteriorly till under the tail they are whitish ; wings
and tail brown, edged with rufous.
In breeding plumage the margins wear off the feathers and so
leave the bird a brighter crimson.
Female and immature male : The whole plumage olive-brown
streaked with brown, wings and tail margined with ochraceous ; a
double whitish bar across the wing-coverts.
Iris dark brown ; bill horny-brown ; legs dusky brown.
Bill rather heavy and conical.
Field Identification. — Found in flocks in trees and crops ; a dull
brown bird, the size of a Sparrow, streaked with dark brown and with
PLATE XI
i. Black-naped Flycatcher. 2. Dark-grey Bush-Chat. 3. White-throated Munia.
4. Spotted Babbler. 5. Red-winged Bush-Lark, (f nat. size.)
[Face p. 220
THE COMMON ROSEFINCH 221
a pale double wing-bar ; a small proportion of individuals consist of
adult males in a dull scarlet dress.
Distribution. — Widely distributed over Eastern Europe and Asia,
the Common Rosefinch is divided into several races differing in the
extent and brightness of the red colour of the males : opinions differ
as to the validity of some of these races, but the majority of Indian
birds certainly belong to the form C. e. roseatus. This breeds
throughout the higher Himalayas and the mountains of Central
Asia generally at heights of 10,000 feet and upwards. It is
migratory, and after breeding spreads over almost the whole of
India and Northern Burma, going as far south as the High Range in
Travancore ; it is most abundant in the central and western half of
the Peninsula, while the South-eastern Punjab and Sind lie out of the
main line of migration and only stragglers reach those parts. More
data is required about the movements of this species, which arrives in
the northern plains about September, and reaches Southern India at
the end of November, and moves north again from March to May.
Habits, etc. — During migration and in the winter months in India
the Common Rosefinch is generally met with in flocks which aie
quiet and unobtrusive in behaviour, feeding as a rule in undergrowth
or in millet and similar crops. They avoid heavy forest and are
found in any type of open country, visiting gardens and the neighbour-
hood of villages. The flocks are sometimes of some size and they
feed very largely on the ground, flying up into trees when disturbed.
The full-plumaged males are always in a minority, as first-year males
breed in the female dress.
The food consists of wild cherries, mulberries, and a variety of
other seeds and fruits ; buds and shoots are also eaten. The bird
is very fond of the watery nectar contained in the flower of the coral-
tree, and particularly frequents that tree when in blossom.
Ordinarily in India the bird is very quiet, but on the spring
migration the males commence their loud pleasant song, which,
albeit somewhat monotonous, is such a feature of the barren wastes
of Gilgit, Ladakh, Spiti, and other Tibetan areas. There, during the
summer months the birds frequent and breed in the scanty patches
of scrub usually in the vicinity of water.
The breeding season is from June to August. The nest is a cup-
shaped structure of grass lined with finer roots and stems and
occasionally hair. It is placed in low bushes and the bird is a very
close sitter, allowing itself almost to be caught rather than leave the nest.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs. They are rather broad
ovals, pointed towards the smaller end, and fine and smooth in texture.
In colour they are a beautiful deep blue, with a few scrawls and spots
of chocolate colour, some pale, some almost black.
They measure about 0-80 by 0-60 inches.
222 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE HIMALAYAN GREENFINCH
HYPACANTHIS SPINOIDES (Vigors)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Male : A broad line over the
eye, some markings on the sides of the face, an indistinct collar
round the neck, the rump and the whole lower plumage bright
yellow ; remainder of upper plumage greenish-brown mixed 'with
black and darkest on the head ; wings dark brown, variegated with
yellow, black and a little white ; tail dark brown, all but the two
central pairs of feathers largely mixed with yellow increasing externally.
The female resembles the male, but is slightly duller with less
yellow in the wing-coverts.
FIG. 31 — Himalayan Greenfinch (i nat. size)
Iris brown ; bill fleshy-horn, tipped dusky ; legs brownish-flesh.
The beak is conical, sharp and pointed.
Field Identification. — Himalayan species ; usually gregarious when
breeding and gathering into flocks in winter ; recognisable in the
field by the pleasant twittering note, the habit of flying high in the
air, and the yellow under parts, eye-streak and wing-markings.
Distribution. — A Himalayan species, found throughout the whole
of that range. It breeds commonly but locally at heights from
4000 to 9000 feet, and occasionally higher to 11,000 feet, and in
winter it wanders down into the foot-hills and the plains at their
base. On the west it is common in winter in the Peshawar Valley,
and even appears in the Afghan Hills down to the Samana. On
the east it has been found in Manipur, and is replaced by a darker
race in the Shan States and Yunnan.
The well-known Goldfinch, conspicuous with its crimson face
and golden wing-bar, is common in the Western Himalayas, Kashmir,
THE HIMALAYAN GREENFINCH 223
and Baluchistan, coming down to the North-west Frontier Province
and Northern Punjab in winter. It lacks the black head marking of
the English species and belongs to the Asiatic species Carduelis
caniceps.
Habits, etc. — The Himalayan Greenfinch avoids heavy deciduous
forest, and while breeding prefers to frequent patches of open
deodar forest on hill-sides in the neighbourhood of cultivation.
Several pairs breed more or less together in such suitable localities.
Out of the breeding season the birds collect into flocks, often of
some size, and these flocks wander about the lower hills in a very
erratic manner, so that no regular calendar of their movements can
be worked out* When in flocks they very definitely prefer open
cultivation studded with trees, and their favourite food is the seed
of the wild hemp which grows in large patches where buffaloes have
been kept. They are easily attracted to gardens by planting sunflowers,
as they are very fond of the seeds of that plant.
The ordinary call-note is a cheerful twitter, twit-it-it or teh-teh-
tahy rather reminiscent of the call of the English Goldfinch ; it has
also a very sweet-toned note, twee-ah. The song, on the other hand
is more like that of the English Greenfinch, a very amorous sounding
screeee or treeee-tertrah. The love flight also resembles that of the
latter bird. I have seen a bird flying past suddenly descend in a
circle to a tree, with the wings spread and extended high above the
head and the tail partly open.
The breeding season is late, compared with most Himalayan
birds, from July to early October, and this is correlated with curious
features in the moults of plumage.
The nest is a neatly-constructed cup of the familiar Linnet type,
composed of fine grass roots, with a good deal of hair interwoven in
the interior as lining, and the exterior is often blended with moss to
assimilate it to its surroundings. It is usually placed in a deodar or
spruce fir at a considerable height from the ground, and may be in
a fork or clump of foliage close to the trunk or on the top of a vertical
bough near its extremity.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs.
The eggs are regular ovals, slightly pointed towards the smaller
end ; the texture is fine and delicate without gloss. The ground-
colour is a very delicate pale sea-green, and the only markings are a
number of fine black spots and specks, usually most numerous towards
the broad end.
The eggs measure about 0*70 by 0*52 inches.
824 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE YELLOW-THROATED SPARROW
GYMNORHIS XANTHOCOLLIS (Burton)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : The whole upper plumage
ashy-brown ; wings brown, darker on the quills, with two wing-bars,
the upper whitish the lower buff, a chestnut patch above the upper
bar; tail brown, narrowly edged with paler; chin dull white; a
conspicuous yellow patch on the throat ; remainder of lower plumage
pale ashy, becoming whitish on the abdomen.
FIG. 32 — Yellow-throated Sparrow (f nat. size)
The female has a less conspicuous yellow patch on the throat,
and the chestnut patch on the wings is replaced with rufous-brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill black or brown ; legs greyish-plumbeous.
The beak is rather long, conical and pointed.
Field Identification. — Plains and lower hills. A slim bird, dull in
plumage, with a chestnut patch on the wing and a bright yellow
patch on the throat ; arboreal and rather noisy in the summer ; in
winter collects into flocks which feed on the ground, flying into
trees when disturbed.
THE YELLOW-THROATED SPARROW . 225
Distribution. — The Yellow-throated Sparrow extends from Iraq,
Persia and Afghanistan almost throughout India. It is divided into
two races. The Persian and Afghan race, G. x. transfuga, distin-
guished by its pale coloration, extends into Sind and the South-
western Punjab, while the birds of the remainder of the Punjab are
somewhat intermediate in character. The typical race is found
throughout the rest of India down to Travancore, and on the east
to about Midnapur in Bengal. In the Himalayas and other ranges
it ascends to about 4500 feet. While resident in the main it is also
partly migratory.
Habits, etc. — The Yellow-throated Sparrow is a common and
generally distributed species in all open country, cultivation and
barren land alike, but it avoids heavy forest, and is not a house
bird, though it will nest in trees in gardens, and readily use nest-
boxes placed for the use of bir4s. It is essentially a Tree -Sparrow,
and spends most of its time in the upper branches of trees, where its
monotonous chirping note recalls, but is different from, the chirp of
the Common House-Sparrow. Out of the breeding season it collects
into large flocks, and these feed on the ground, searching under trees
fSr their fallen seeds and for the seeds of grasses and weeds. It is
very fond of the flowers of the wild caper, and its forehead is often
stained with their pollen.
It breeds from April to July and is probably double-brooded.
The nest is usually a mere pad of dry grass thickly lined with
feathers, but, as with many species that breed in holes, it varies a
good deal according to its site, and is sometimes quite a pretentious
structure built neatly of a variety of materials. It is placed in holes
and hollows of trees, usually at a height of 15 to 20 feet from the
ground, but sometimes much lower. The old nest-holes of Wood-
peckers and Parrots are often appropriated.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs. They are moderately
elongated ovals, rather dull and glossless in texture. The ground-
colour is greenish-white, very thickly streaked, smudged and
blotched all over with very dingy brown of a tint between sepia and
chocolate.
In size they average about 0-74 by 0-55 inches.
226 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE HOUSE-SPARROW
PASSER DOMESTICUS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : Top of head ashy-grey,
bordered from above the eye with chestnut which gradually encroaches
until the whole hind neck, back and shoulders are chestnut streaked
with black ; rump ashy-grey ; wings variegated chestnut and dark
brown with two conspicuous pale bars ; tail dark brown edged paler ;
a patch from the beak to the eye and a broad patch from the chin to
the upper breast black ; cheeks and remainder of the lower plumage
white, tinged with ashy on the flanks.
In fresh autumn plumage the colours are somewhat obscured by
ashy fringes to the feathers, but these gradually wear off.
Female : A pale rufous-white streak over the eye ; upper plumage
pale earthy-brown, streaked with black and rufous on the upper
back ; wings dark brown, variegated with rufous and with two
whitish bars ; tail dark brown edged paler ; whole lower plumage
ashy- white.
Iris brown ; bill brown, black in the male in summer ; legs
brown.
The bill is short and stout.
Field Identification. — Well known to everyone and almost universal,
but it may be noted that the Indian bird differs from the European in
the white cheeks of the male.
Distribution. — As is well known, the House-Sparrow is very widely
spread through Europe, Northern Africa and the greater part of Asia ;
it has also been introduced into America and Australia, and many other
places.
It is divided into a number of sub-species, of which we are
concerned with two : P. d. griseigularis is the large, brightly-coloured
breeding bird of the Inner Himalayas and Tibetan areas from 5000
to 15,000 feet. It is partly migratory, and large numbers visit the
plains of North-western India in winter. P. d. indicus is smaller and
from its haunts often a dirty looking bird. This race is found through-
out India to Ceylon, Assam, and Burma. The birds of the Outer
Himalayas are intermediate between the two races.
In the stations of Quetta and Darjeeling the Tree-Sparrow
(Passer montanus) is common about houses. It is distinguished
by the black spot in the middle of the white cheeks and the fact
that the female doeS^npt differ from the male.
Habits, etc. — There can be no bird that is more universally
known and recognised than the House-Sparrow. It avoids heavy
forest, but is otherwise found everywhere, sometimes scarce but more
THE HOUSE-SPARROW 227
usually abundant, dependent only on food-supply : and its food-
supply is generally connected in some way with man, on whom it
has virtually become a parasite. The larger and more prosperous a
city or village the more the Sparrow flourishes, and in the open shops
and houses of the East it is only considered less of a pest than rats
and mice, because it is less offensive to eye and nose. In the food
shops it pilfers every variety of grain and cake, pattering over the
floors, delving into the dishes and sacks, ejected one moment and
returning again the next with undiminished ardour. In private
houses it comes in more for shelter than for food, searching for
nesting places in the rafters and on the walls, littering the whole place
with a selection of the varied assortment of rubbish that in its eyes
is the most suitable nesting material possible. And in private
houses, having more leisure and inclination for song, it makes a
further nuisance of itself with the noisy and incessant chirruping
which serves it for that purpose. For the breeding note is a rather
shrill chissicky differing but little from the ordinary tchirp of
daily life.
But, like all true townsmen, the Sparrow likes an occasional
holiday in the country, and it times its holidays to coincide with the
opportunities of visiting ripening corn or fruit in huge flocks which
often do a considerable amount of damage. But in fairness credit
must also be given for the considerable number of insect pests which
are certainly destroyed by the Sparrow, who feeds its callow chicks
to a large extent on insects and caterpillars.
Nests may be found in any month in India, and more than one
brood is certainly reared in the year ; but the main breeding season
is apparently from April to June.
The nest is a large, shapeless structure, based on an oval and
domed plan with an entrance on one side, stuffed into any sort of
hole or cavity available, provided that it has some connection wkh
the works of man. Trees are on the whole seldom used in India.
Grass, straw, rags, wool, and any other materials available are used
in the construction of the nest, and the egg chamber is thickly lined
with feathers.
The clutch usually consists of four or five eggs. They are rather
elongated ovals, fine in texture with a slight gloss. The colour is
very variable, and the eggs in one clutch often vary amongst them-
selves, one egg usually being much lighter than the rest. The
ground-colour is greyish- or greenish-white, generally finely and
uniformly spotted with dark and light shades of ashy-grey and brown.
In some eggs these markings are replaced by big blotches and spots.
In size they average about O'8o by 0-50 inches.
228 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE CINNAMON SPARROW
PASSER RUTILANS (Tcmminck)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Male : Upper plumage and
lesser wing-coverts bright cinnamon-rufous, streaked with black on
the back ; wings black edged with rufous and fulvous and \\ith a
white wing-bar ; tail brown with narrow greenish margins ; a small
black patch from the bill to the eye ; a patch behind the eye pale
yellowish-white ; chin and throat black, with a bright yellow patch
on each side of the throat ; lower plumage greyish-yellow, growing
yellower towards the tail.
Female : Whole upper plumage ruddy-brown, streaked on the
back with black and fulvous and reddish on the rump ; wings and
tail dark brown edged with fulvous, a white bar across the wing ; a
broad conspicuous fulvous line above the eye, with a broad dusky
band through the eye ; lower plumage pale ashy-yellow.
Iris reddish-brown ; bill brown, black in male in summer ; legs
dark reddish-brown.
Field Identification. — Himalayan species, common about hill
stations ; smaller than the House- Sparrow ; male easily distinguished
by cinnamon-red upper plumage and yellow lower plumage, female
by the broad conspicuous pale band above the eye.
Distribution. — The Cinnamon Sparrow is a widely-spread species
occurring throughout the Himalayas and farther eastwards to China,
Japan and Formosa. It is divided into races, of which P. r. cinna-
momeus breeds along the Himalayas from Chitral and Hazara to
Kumaon and is replaced in the Eastern Himalayas by the larger
P. r. schaferi and in Assam, Burma and Yunnan by the darker
P. r. intensior. In the Himalayas it breeds at elevations between
4000 and 8000 feet, and in winter collects into a lower zone along
the foot-hills, on the east coming right down into the Duars.
Immense flocks of dark Sparrow-like birds are often found swinging
along the open hill-sides of the Inner Himalayas, both east and west,
and feeding on the ground. These are usually Stoliczka's Mountain-
Finch (Fringillauda nemoricola).
Habits, etc. — The pretty little Cinnamon Sparrow is really a
forest Sparrow, though it lives mostly in oak and rhododendron
forest in the near vicinity of houses and often frequents gardens.
In winter it collects into large flocks which move down into the
cultivation in the foot-hills and feed on the ground, picking up stray
grains of rice and corn in the deserted fields, and flying up when
disturbed into neighbouring trees. These flocks are often of con-
siderable size. The call-note and pretence of a song are very similar
THE CINNAMON SPARROW 229
to those of the House- Sparrow, but they are distinguishable in tone
and slightly more melodious.
The breeding season is from April to August, and probably two
broods are reared. The nest is a large, loose structure of dry grass,
lined warmly with feathers, and it is usually built in holes in trees
at no very great elevation from the ground. Some nests are built
under the eaves of houses and in verandahs and old Swallows' nests.
The clutch consists usually of four eggs, but five and six are
sometimes laid.
The egg is a moderately elongated oval, fine in texture and with
a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white, with a greyish or greenish
tinge, speckled, spotted, streaked, and blotched with various shades of
brown, sometimes thinly with a tendency for the markings to collect
at the broad end, at other times closely and thickly over the whole
surface of the egg, almost concealing the ground-colour.
The egg measures about 0*75 by 0-55 inches.
THE WHITE-CAPPED BUNTING
EMBERIZA STEWARTI Blyth
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : The top of the head and
the ear-coverts pale grey ; a broad black line over the eye ; chin and
upper throat black, produced down the sides of the lower throat
which with the fore-neck is white ; sides of the head streaked with
fulvous and rufous ; upper plumage chestnut, the concealed portions
of the wings dark brown ; tail brown margined with rufous, the two
outer pairs of feathers white ; a broad gorget over the breast chestnut ;
remainder of lower plumage pale fulvous.
In fresh autumn plumage the colours are obscured with dull
fringes to the feathers but these gradually wear off revealing the
colours.
Female : Upper plumage ashy-brown streaked with blackish
except on the sides of the face ; a patch above the base of the tail
chestnut with blackish feather-shafts ; wings brown, the feathers
edged with fulvous ; tail brown margined with rufous, the two outer
pairs of feathers almost entirely white ; lower plumage pale fulvous
streaked with brown.
Iris brown ; bill brown, paler below ; legs pinkish-fleshy.
Bill conical and sharply pointed, the edges of the two mandibles
not completely in contact.
Field Identification. — Western Himalayas, extending to North-west
India in winter; a quiet, unobtrusive little bird, often in parties in
P2
230 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
bushes and trees ; male, chestnut above with a chestnut band across
the breast, greyish-white top to the head and blackish face markings ;
female, dull-brown streaked darker ; in both sexes the flash of white
feathers at the edge of the tail is conspicuous.
Distribution. — Breeds in Turkestan, Afghanistan, Baluchistan,
Kashmir, and the Western Himalayas as far as West Nepal, at heights
from 4000 to 10,000 feet. From September to April it moves down
into the foot-hills and extends into the plains of the Punjab .and
Western United Provinces, Rajputana and Central India.
A smaller and duller species resident in the Peninsula is the
Striolated Bunting (Emberiza striolatd), which is found, usually in
dry stony hills, in North-west India as far as Etawah, Saugor, and
Cutch. It is a brownish-looking bird with a grey head, streaked
with black.
Habits, etc. — This Bunting is somewhat local in its distribution,
but when and where it occurs it is usually very numerous, avoiding
thick forest and barren plains and preferring scrub-jungle on the
edges of cultivation. It feeds mostly on the ground, collecting
minute seeds, and except in the breeding season is generally found
in loose scattered flocks, which when disturbed fly up and take
refuge in the trees. When not feeding the flocks sit stolidly in trees
and bushes. The call-note is a twitter, rather like that of a Linnet,
and the breeding song is of the usual dull, reeling note of the genus.
The breeding season in our area is from May to July.
The nest is a cup composed of roots, dry grass, and fibres, and is
situated in a hollow in the face of a bank or rock, generally fairly
well screened with hanging grass. The clutch varies from three to
five eggs.
The egg is a short, broad, regular oval, fine in texture but with
only a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white, mottled and clouded
all over with pale purple-grey or slaty-grey, and superimposed are
a few small dark brown spots.
The egg measures about 0-78 by 0-59 inches.
THE MEADOW-BUNTING
EMBERIZA CIA Linnaeus
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. Head, throat and
upper breast pale bluish-grey, marked with two broad black lines
along the crown, a black line through the eye, and one passing from
the base of the beak below the ear-coverts and circling behind them
up to the crown ; remainder of body plumage chestnut-brown, on
THE MEADOW-BUNTING 231
the back darker and streaked with black ; wings blackish-brown,
the feathers edged with rufous and chestnut ; tail blackish-brown,
the central feathers edged with chestnut, the three outer pairs with
conspicuous white tips.
In fresh autumn plumage the colours are obscured by pale fringes
to the feathers which gradually wear
off.
Iris dark brown ; bill plumbeous-
slate darker above ; legs fleshy-yellow.
Beak conical and sharply pointed,
the edges of the two mandibles not
completely in contact.
Field Identification. — North-western
India. A chestnut-brown bird with FIG. 33 — Head of Meadow -
a pale head, conspicuously lined with Bunting (nat. size)
black, which shows a white flicker in
the tail as it moves ; usually feeding on the ground, and abundant
in open country round all hill stations of the Western Himalayas.
Distribution. — The Meadow-Bunting has a wide range through
Southern Europe, North-western Africa, Transcaspia, the Himalayas,
Northern China, and Eastern Siberia, and has in consequence been
divided into a number of geographical races. E. c. stracheyi breeds
throughout the Western Himalayas from 4000 to 11,000 feet from
the Hazara country and Gilgit to about Kumaon. It is a resident
species, though it undergoes a certain amount of seasonal elevational
movement. Numbers of Meadow-Buntings appear in winter on the
northern and western parts of the Punjab ; they, however, belong to
a paler race, E. c. par, which breeds from Transcaspia to Chitral.
Habits, etc. — In the Western Himalayas this strikingly-marked
little Bunting is one of the commonest birds. It avoids thick forest
and is found on all the more open hill-sides in cultivation and grass-
land alike, searching the ground and herbage for seeds and insects,
or creeping about the roads and paths, where its tameness contrives
to bring it into universal notice. It is very partial to the more
open patches of deodar forest, isolated on otherwise bare hill-sides.
Although almost entirely a ground-feeder, it flies up into the trees
when disturbed, and its note, a slow, melancholy squeak, is one of the
most familiar sounds of the Western Himalayas. The song is very
poor, a mere jangle of odd notes and squeaks, uttered either from a
tree or on the ground.
The breeding season is very extended, lasting from April to
September, and two or three broods are probably reared.
The nest is a rather large but loosely built cup of dry grass, bents,
roots, and similar materials, lined with fine roots and hair. It is
usually placed on the ground under a large stone or in herbage at
232 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
the foot of a bush or bank or between the rough stone blocks of the
terrace walls of hill cultivation ; but occasionally it is built in the
thick foliage of a tree, 2 or 3 feet from the ground.
The clutch consists of three to five eggs, but the normal number
is probably three. The egg is a moderately elongated oval, close
and delicate in texture with very little gloss. The ground-colour
is pale greenish-white, grey, or pale stone-colour. The markings
consist of the most delicate and intricate tracery of blackish-brown
lines drawn over faint and pale inky-purple streaks and marbling.
These markings tend to be confined as a cap or zone to the broad
end of the egg. Here and there a dark spot, like a fly caught in a
spider's web, is seen amongst the network of lines, which are so
characteristic of the eggs of the Bunting family, and are familiar to
all through the English Yellow-hammer.
The egg measures about 0-83 by 0-63 inches.
THE BLACK-HEADED BUNTING
EMBERIZA MELANOCEPHALA Scopoli
Description. — Length 7 inches. Male : Top and sides of the
head black ; a yellowish collar on the hind neck connected with
the deep yellow of the entire lower plumage ; remainder of upper
plumage and lesser wing-coverts deep orange-chestnut ; the upper
tail-coverts brown ; wings and tail dark brown edged with ashy-
fulvous.
In fresh autumn plumage the colours are much obscured with
dark fringes to the feathers which gradually wear off.
Female : Upper plumage fulvous-brown streaked with dark
brown ; wings and tail dark brown edged with fulvous ; entire lower
plumage delicate fulvous, washed with ochraceous on the breast and
becoming yellow towards the tail.
Iris dark brown ; bill pale greenish-horn, browner above ; legs
fleshy-brown.
The bill is conical and pointed and the edges of the mandibles
do not entirely meet.
Field Identification. — Winter visitor to the plains in flocks, often
particularly abundant. Females are streaked brown birds ; males
are chestnut above, yellow below, with black heads ; yellow is the
dominant impression given by the flocks which are usually found in
crops, flying up into trees when disturbed,
Distribution. — This bird breeds in South-eastern Europe, Asia
Minor, Palestine, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, and Persia, but not
within our limits, where it is only a winter visitor. It crosses to and
THE BLACK-HEADED BUNTING 233
from India by a route over the western boundary of Sind, passing
through Sind in August and September and again in March and
April ; thence it spreads into the plains generally as far east as Delhi,
Nagpur and Chanda, and as far south as Belgaum.
The Red-headed Bunting (Emberiza bruniceps) is another species
with much yellow in the plumage, the males being distinguished by
a chestnut head. It is also found in flocks as a winter visitor to the
greater part of India. The wide breeding range includes Baluchistan.
Habits, etc. — As we know it in India, this Bunting appears in
very large flocks, sometimes in company with the allied Red-headed
Bunting. It affects cultivation and scrub-jungle and feeds chiefly on
grain and seeds.
On the spring passage vast clouds of these birds may be seen in
the ripening crops ; on being flushed they fly into the nearest tree,
making it appear a yellow mass, and it is noteworthy that these
flocks then consist almost entirely of males. These flocks are very
bold and are only driven with difficulty from a field where they have
decided to feed, and owing to their numbers they can be responsible
for a good deal of damage. In the autumn they also do a certain
amount of damage to jowar and similar crops, but on that passage
they are not usually so noticeable.
The breeding season is about May in Western Asia and South-
eastern Europe. The nest is a cup of straw and grass lined with
hair and roots and it is usually placed in a vine, a bush or a small
tree. The clutch consists of four to six eggs, and these are pale
greenish-blue, spotted throughout with ashy-brown and grey, but
mostly towards the broad end.
They measure about 0*87 by 0-62 inches.
THE CRESTED BUNTING
MELOPHUS LATHAMI (Gray)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : Entire plumage including
a pointed crest black, except the wing, tail and thighs which are
chestnut, some of the feathers being tipped with black.
In fresh autumn plumage the feathers have ashy fringes which
gradually wear off.
Female : Crest less conspicuous ; upper plumage dark brown,
the feathers edged paler; wings and tail dark brown much marked
with cinnamon ; lower plumage dull buff streaked and mottled on
the throat and breast with dark brown and growing more rufous
under the tail.
234
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Iris dark brown ; bill blackish, fleshy at lower base ; legs fleshy-
brown, toes darker.
Field Identification. — A solitary bird, found about bushes on rocky
hill-sides ; conspicuous pointed crest ; male black with chestnut
wings and tail; female much paler, brownish with cinnamon-tinged
wings and tail.
Distribution. — The Crested Bunting
is found along the Outer Himalayas
from Hazara to Bhutan, at elevations
up to 5000 or 6000 feet. In the
plains it is found from the Koochawan
Hills and Mount Aboo across to Ben-
gal and as far south as Mahableshwar
and Satara. Farther east it extends
to Assam, portions of Burma and to
China. It is, however, very local and
capricious in its distribution, and is
locally migratory, Indian birds all
belong to the race E. I. subcristata.
Habits, etc. — The Crested Bunting
is in the main a solitary bird, though
occasionally it collects into small
parties of four or five individuals.
It avoids both bare plains and forests
and is essentially a bird of rocky hills or of open cultivation on the
hill-sides, where stony ground and low scrub-jungle provide fairly
undisturbed resorts for it. It feeds on the ground at all times of the
day collecting small grass seeds, but perches and sings on the tops of
bushes. When old buildings and walls are found in the locality it is
very partial to them, perching on them and seldom moving far away.
In demeanour the Crested Bunting is a vivacious, lively, bold
little bird, usually carrying the crest erect. On the ground and
walking its attitude is very Peacock-like. The head and breast are
held very upright, while the tail, which seems to trail behind, is
rather expanded. It has a pretty, little simple call, but the song of
the male is rather monotonous, one or two notes only, constantly
repeated.
The nests are rather variable ; some are loosely constructed,
shallow saucers made of grass roots without lining ; others are neat
cups of grass and moss, lined with fine grass, fibres, and the roots
of moss and ferns or horse-hair. They are placed in holes in banks,
in walls, under rocks, or in heavy herbage on the ground.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs.
The egg is a rather broad oval, usually blunter towards the small
end ; there is very little gloss. The ground-colour varies from
FIG. 34 — Head of Crested
Bunting ( j-J nat.^size)
THE CRESTED BUNTING 235
pale greenish- white to pale stone-colour ; the markings consist of
spots, freckles and blotches of red, brown and purple, usually most
dense about the broad end. These eggs entirely lack the fine hair-
lines and scroll-like writing so characteristic of the eggs of the true
Buntings.
The egg measures about 0-79 by 0-63 inches.
THE INDIAN SAND-MARTIN
RlPARIA PALUDICOLA (Vicillot)
Description. — Length 4 inches. Sexes alike. The whole upper
plumage greyish-brown, most of the feathers margined paler ; wings
and tail darker brown ; lower plumage pale grey, growing whitish
towards the tail.
Iris brown ; bill black ; legs dark brown.
The bill is very weak and flat, with a broad gape, the wings long
and pointed and the tail slightly forked.
Field Identification. — Common plains Swallow, incessantly flying
about sandy banks of water-channels in which its nest-tunnels are
excavated. Highly gregarious, small and plain, dull brownish, paler
below.
Distribution. — India, Assam and Burma and eastwards to Southern
China, Formosa and the Philippines. It is found throughout the
greater part of India from about the Central Punjab and the Indus
valley in Sind on the west, and the Himalayan foot-hills on the north,
down to the Bombay Presidency, the Deccan and Cuttack. While
not strictly migratory it moves about a good deal locally. The Indian
race is R. p. brevicaudata. It must be carefully distinguished from
the Common Sand-Martin (Riparia riparia), which has the under
parts white with a well-defined brown collar across the breast and a
small tuft of feathers on the back of the tarsus above the hind toe.
This has two races in India. R. r. indica breeds in the North-west
Frontier Province and the North-western Punjab, while R. r. dilutay
which breeds in Western Siberia, visits North-western India down
to Sind in winter.
Habits, etc. — The Sand-Martin is extremely gregarious in its
habits, spending its whole life in flocks whether in or out of the
breeding season. It is amongst the earliest of breeding birds in
India, nesting generally from November to February, though in
some localities birds will be found at the nest-holes as late as May.
The colonies nest in sandy cliffs and banks, generally choosing those
in the vicinity of running water, though occasionally they occupy
banks over ponds or in dry nullahs. They feed almost invariably
236 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
in the vicinity of water and spend the greater part of their lives
hawking insects, high or low in the air according to circumstances,
over the surface of swiftly-flowing rivers or the placid waters of
jheels and tanks. When not at the breeding colonies they roost
in reed-beds and are early astir in the mists of dawn, flitting hither
and thither like phantom moths and welcoming the day with their
loud hard squeaks. They have no objection to the presence of man,
and hawk freely over and about the houses of water-side villages ;
while a forest fire with its wholesale dispersal of insect life is sufficient
to draw them from their usual haunts, in company with other insecti-
vorous birds to share the feast. The alarm-note is a harsh ret and
the song is a chattering twitter, not so agreeable as that of most other
Martins and Swallows.
The nest is a slight pad of grass lined with feathers. It is placed
in a chamber at the end of a narrow tunnel, a foot or two long, which
is excavated by the bird itself in a sandy bank, numbers of nest-
holes being situated together in colonies. The clutch varies from
three to five eggs.
The egg is a slightly elongated oval, rather pointed towards the
smaller end ; the texture is fine and delicate and there is no gloss.
The colour is pure white, without markings.
In size the egg averages about 0-68 by 0-48 inches.
THE DUSKY CRAG-MARTIN
RIPARIA CONCOLOR (Sykes)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage,
wings and tail dark sooty-brown, a white spot on the inner web of
all the tail-feathers except the central and outermost pairs ; cheeks,
chin, throat and fore-neck rufescent streaked with brown, remainder
of lower plumage rufescent grading into sooty-brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs brown.
The bill is very weak and flat, with a broad gape, the wings long
and pointed, and the tail slightly forked.
Field Identification. — Plains species, generally in twos and threes
about houses. Distinguish from Sand-Martin by larger size, much
darker colour, and by the row of white spots on the tail ; also by the
difference in nesting habits.
Distribution. — This is a purely Indian and Burmese species,
the typical race extending from the foot of the Himalayas down to
the Nilgiris. On the west it is found very locally about Kohat and
Bannu and in the South-eastern Punjab, and it occurs in Rajputana
THE DUSKY CRAG-MARTIN 237
though not in Sind. On the east it extends to Behar and Chanda.
It is a resident species.
This species may be easily confused with the larger Crag-Martin
(Riparia rupestris) which breeds in the Himalayas and is fairly common
in winter in the hills of Western India from Mount Aboo to the Palnis.
Habits, etc, — Although generally distributed and familiar enough
from its habit of breeding in towns, this little Martin is never very
abundant and does not gather into the immense flocks in which others
of the family may at times be found. A few may be seen wherever a
range of cliffs or the ancient ruins of forts or mosques provide a shady
lee in which they sail backwards and forwards in a very leisurely
manner. Usually two or three will be found together, and as they
hawk about they call to each other a soft, melodious chit-chit-chit,
uttered rapidly. In some of the older towns they nest on the houses
and then may be seen in the streets hawking above the heads of
passers-by, though usually they prefer places that are not much
frequented by mankind.
The breeding season is extended, lasting from January to October
according to locality ; two broods are reared.
The nest is a semicircular cup composed of pellets of mud, and
coming down into a well-defined point beneath. It is applied by
the side to a perpendicular surface of wall or rock, but usually in
sheltered positions in a niche or under a ledge in a cliff, or under
balconies and eaves of houses. The nest is lined first with soft
flowering grasses and fragments of straw and then with feathers.
The nests are never built in colonies, though chance may cause two
or three pairs to occupy any suitable site.
The eggs are rather elongated ovals, sometimes rather pointed
towards the small end. The texture is fine and fragile with a slight
gloss. The ground-colour is white, and they are all more or less
thickly speckled and spotted, and sometimes blotched, with different
shades of yellowish- and reddish-brown. These markings tend to
collect towards the broad end.
In size the eggs average about 0-72 by 0-52 inches.
THE WIRE-TAILED SWALLOW
HIRUNDO SMITHII Leach
Description. — Length 5 inches, with a lengthened wire-like shaft
to the outer pair of tail-feathers 7 inches extra. Sexes alike, except
that the wire is shorter in the female. Top of the head bright chestnut ;
sides of the head and neck and the whole upper plumage glossy
steel-blue, concealed portions of the wings and tail dark brown ; all the
238 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
tail-feathers except the two central pairs with a white spot on the
inner web ; lower plumage white.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Bill weak with a broad gape ; wings long and pointed.
Field Identification. — PJains and lower hills ; invariably near
water. A dark steel-blue swallow, with chestnut cap and white under
parts. At a close range the wires in the tail afford easy identification,
but at a distance it may be recognised from any other swallow by the
pure shining white of the lower surface and wing lining.
Distribution. — The Wire-tailed Swallow is divided into two races ;
one is purely African and is found in various parts of that continent.
H. s. filifera, the Indian race, is widely spread, ranging from the
Himalayas where it is found up to 5000 feet south to Mysore and
the Nilgiris. On the west it ranges to the North-west Frontier Province
FIG. 35 — Wire-tailed Swallow (f nat. size)
and Sind. On the east it is found as far as Bengal, reappearing again
in Pegu and Tenasserim. In the main a resident bird, it is also
migratory in many areas.
The familiar Swallow of Europe (Hirundo rustled) breeds along
the Himalayas, in very great numbers in Kashmir, and occurs through-
out India in winter. The combination of the long forked tail, absence
of a pale rump band, the red throat patch and dark gorget and the
warm creamy flush to the white under parts allow of easy identification.
Habits, etc. — The Wire-tailed Swallow is essentially a bird of
the neighbourhood of water. In particular it is fond of the great
canals of Northern India, skimming over their surface with its long
tail-wires conspicuous and its bright colours flashing in the sun.
Where canals are not available it frequents the neighbourhood of
rivers, streams and jheels, and also is partial to rice fields ; but in
heavy forest, in desert areas, and over wide cultivated plains it will not
be found.
THE WIRE-TAILED SWALLOW 239
This species never collects or breeds in colonies, though family
parties are seen in the breeding season, and on migration a few join
the flocks of other migrating Swallows and Martins. The twittering
note and short sweet song are very similar to those of other Swallows.
This species perches very freely on telegraph-wires and the parapets
of bridges and wells, but it does not as a rule perch on trees, and only
descends to the ground to gather mud for its nest.
Long after they are able to fly the young are fed in the air by the
old birds, parent and youngster circling round and round, and then
with a complacent twitter clinging together for an instant during
which the mouthful of insects is transferred.
The breeding season is very prolonged and two broods are reared ;
most eggs will be found from March to August, the time varying
with the locality, but eggs have been found in every month of the
year except December.
The nest is a rather shallow cup composed of mud pellets,
fastened at one side to a slanting or perpendicular surface of wall
or rock. It is lined with feathers. The situation chosen may be
under a bridge or culvert, under shelves of rock, or in the arches
and under the roofs of buildings. If not immediately over water,
where it is very often within a foot or two of the surface, it is always
in its near vicinity, and nests have been recorded even down inside
wells. Most of the building is done by the female, the male accompany-
ing her but not as a rule carrying any mud.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs. In shape they are a
long narrow oval, rather pointed at the smaller end. The texture is
fine and delicate with a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white
and the markings consist of speckles, spots and blotches of reddish-
brown and brownish-red ; there is the usual tendency for the markings
to collect towards the broad end.
The eggs measure about 0*72 by 0-53 inches.
THE CLIFF-SWALLOW
HIRUNDO FLUVICOLA Jerdon
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head
dull chestnut with black shaft-streaks ; a broad line through the eye
dull brown ; back and shoulders glossy steel-blue ; wings, tail and
rump dull brown ; entire lower plumage white, more or less tinged
with fulvous and streaked with brown, except on the abdomen.
Iris brown ; bill black ; legs dark brown.
The tail is very slightly forked ; bill weak with a broad gape ;
wings long and pointed.
Field Identification. — Plains species, highly gregarious, nesting in
240 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
colonies near water and building immense clusters of mud nests.
Very similar in size, shape and demeanour to Sand-Martins (with
which it often flies), but distinguished by the chestnut cap and blue-
black back.
Distribution. — A purely Indian species. It is found through a
considerable portion of India, from Rawal Pindi and the foot-hills
of the Himalayas (up to 2500 feet) in the north to Coimbatore in the
south. On the west its boundary is not accurately known, but it is
not found in Bind or the South-western Punjab ; it extends to the east
as far as Gonda, Mirzapur and the Wardha Valley. A local migrant.
Another small species, the Nilgiri Swallow (Hirundo javanica),
with steel-blue upper parts, chestnut throat and grey below, is a
common resident in the higher hill ranges of South-western India.
It is very familiar about dwellings and builds the ordinary cup type of
mud nest.
Habits, etc. — This is one of the purely social Swallows, spending
all its life both in and out of the breeding season in big flocks which
never separate. It is somewhat local and erratic in its distribution,
but within its range it abounds wherever there is water, in combination
with cliffs or masonry against which it can plaster its huge nest colonies.
The flocks usually hawk about in the near vicinity of water, often
in company with Sand-Martins, which in flight they somewhat
resemble. On the wing the birds sing very often, the feeble twittering
song typical of the family. They drink a good deal, sweeping down
and taking mouthfuls from the surface of the water, and the newly-
fledged young are fed on the wing.
This species is double-brooded, nesting from February to April,
and again in July and August. The nest is made of tiny pellets of
clay which the birds collect from the ground with their beaks, and it
consists of a small circular chamber entered through a short tubular
mouth. This entrance tube is not applied to the surface against
which the nest is constructed, after the fashion of the Striated Swallows,
but it sticks out from the side of the nest into the air free of attach-
ment. Numbers of nests are built together in a cluster, and with
their tubular mouths they present rather a peculiar appearance, some-
what like a honeycomb in which each cell is a separate nest. A colony
may consist of any number of nests, from twenty to about six hundred,
so that in the areas which it inhabits this Swallow is often very abundant.
The nests are lined with dry grass and feathers.
The favourite site for one of the colonies is on the face of over-
hanging cliffs or beneath the arches of masonry bridges ; but
perpendicular sites, like the walls of buildings, are not despised, and
the bird appears to be indifferent whether the colony is in a secluded
lonely spot or in a busy thoroughfare ; but the close vicinity of water
is essential.
THE CLIFF-SWALLOW 241
The clutch consists normally of three eggs, but four are sometimes
found.
The egg is variable in shape but is normally a long oval, pointed
towards the smaller end. The texture is fine and delicate, with a
slight gloss. The ground-colour is pure white, some eggs being
unmarked, others being slightly mottled, speckled or clouded with
pale yellowish- or reddish-brown. These markings tend to congregate
at the broad end.
The eggs measure about 0-76 by 0-53 inches.
THE RED-RUMPED SWALLOW
HIRUNDO DAURICA Linnseus
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
glossy steel-blue, except the rump which is chestnut ; concealed
portions of wings and tail dark brown, an indistinct white patch on
the inner web of the outermost tail-feather ; sides of the head mixed
rufous and brown, the ear-coverts and a more or less distinct collar
round the neck chestnut ; the whole lower plumage pale rufous finely
streaked with brown.
Iris brown ; bill and legs black.
The bill is weak and small with a wide gape ; wings long and
pointed ; tail deeply forked.
Field Identification. — Rather more deliberate in flight than the
other true Swallows, and the tail appears differently shaped owing to
the different angle of the fork ; seen from above the chestnut rump
is unmistakable, and from below the uniformly striated under parts.
Distribution. — The Red-rumped, Striated or Mosque Swallows
are a widely-spread group which occur from Southern Europe and
Africa to China, and in this great range are divided into a number
of races. Within our area we are concerned with four : H. d. erythro-
pygia breeds throughout the plains of India from about 4000 feet
along the Outer Himalayas down into the Nilgiris ; on the west it
extends to Cutch, the Punjab and the North-west Frontier Province
(though not apparently to Sind) ; and on the east to about Calcutta.
In the Himalayas it is replaced by H. d. nipalensis as a breeding bird ;
to the west this form breeds in a higher zone from 4000 to about 9000
feet ; to the east it replaces H. d. erythropygia even in the foot-hills.
This race is rather larger, with a more deeply-forked tail, the rump
patch is paler in colour, and the under parts are more heavily striated.
A third form, H. d. scullii, like the last in colour but smaller, comes
into our area as a breeding bird in Kashmir, Gilgit and the Afghan
and Baluchistan borders. H. d. japonica, breeding in Manchuria,
China and Japan, appears in India as a winter visitor. All races are
Q
24*
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
to some extent migratory, and in winter all will be found in similar
localities in the plains, but their movements require working out.
Habits, etc. — Like other members of the family these Swallows
are chiefly remarkable for their nesting habits. During the breeding
season they are found in pairs which frequent the neighbourhood of
buildings and therefore of man, and from their tameness attract his
attention. On migration and during the winter they collect into
small parties or into flocks numbering up to 200 or 300 individuals.
They spend the greater part of the hours of daylight on the* wing,
flying backwards and forwards over a self-appointed beat, hawking
insects on the wing, occasionally resting on telegraph-wires and more
FIG. 36 — Red-rumped Swallow (J nat. size)
rarely on trees and buildings. The flight is slower and more deliberate
than that of the English Swallow and the note is rather different, a
plaintive pin. The nest is a remarkable structure of fine mud pellets
collected by the birds, a mouthful at a time, from the edges of puddles,
and it takes several weeks to build ; it is usually described as " retort-
shaped," and is always built under rocks or culverts or bridges or
under the ceilings of houses and verandahs ; a narrow tubular passage,
like a white ant gallery on a large scale, some 2 inches in diameter and
from 4 to 10 inches in length, runs along the under surface of the rock
or roof and enters a round hemispherical chamber also applied to the
under surface of the site and with no other entrance than the passage.
The whole affair is rather large for the size of the birds, and the egg-
chamber is sparingly lined with pieces of dry grass and feathers. The
same site is used year after year, though the actual nest is usually
destroyed by the elements.
PLATE XII
Rufous-fronted Wren-Warbler. 2. Lesser Whitethroat. 3. Chiffchaff.
4. Large Crowned Willow- Wren. 5. Indian Wren- Warbler.
6. Brown Hill- Warbler. (All about § nat. size.)
[Face p. 242
THE RED-RUMPED SWALLOW 243
The breeding season lasts from April to August, but July is the
month in which most eggs will be found ; probably because a structure
of dry mud would be more likely to give way under the influence of
the dry heat before the rains commence.
The normal clutch consists of three eggs though four may be
found. They are long, oval in shape, slightly compressed towards
one end, with shells of exquisite fineness and with a very slight gloss.
The colour is pure unmarked white.
They average about 0-78 by 0-55 inches.
THE WHITE WAGTAIL
MOTACILLA ALBA Linnams
(Plate xiv, Fig. 6, opposite page 286)
Description. — Length 8 inches. Male in winter plumage : A
patch on the back of the head roughly connected with a crescentic
gorget on the breast black ; remainder of head and lower plumage
white, tinged with ashy on the flanks ; upper plumage ashy-grey ;
wings black, the feathers broadly margined with grey and white ;
tail black, the two outer pairs of feathers largely white.
In summer plumage from the chin to the breast is black.
The female is duller and less distinctly marked.
The above description applies to the adult winter male of M. a.
dukhunensiSj but the species is very variable in its plumage according
to age and season, as are the other races, and the identification of these
Wagtails is a matter of much study. A rough guide to Indian birds is
given below.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification.— The White Wagtails are small, dainty birds
of black, white and grey plumage, which walk about on the ground,
usually in parties, incessantly wagging their long tails up and down ;
partial to the neighbourhood of water, wading in shallow portions of it.
Distribution. — The White Wagtail is a very widely-spread species,
breeding in various forms almost throughout Europe, North-western
Africa and Northern Asia. The dark resident form of the British
Isles is known under the familiar name of the Pied Wagtail. Four of
these races are found commonly in various parts of India. The only
one of these four that breeds with us is M. a. alboides, which is the
common breeding Wagtail of Kashmir, parts of the higher Himalayas
and Southern Tibet. In the winter it moves down into the foot-hills
from Kashmir to Assam and also Burma. M. a. personata breeds in
Turkestan, Gilgit, Afghanistan and Eastern Persia, and is common in
the plains of India in winter, extending to Belgaum in the south and
244 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Calcutta in the east. It commences to arrive in August and September
and departs in April and May.
M. a. dukhunensis is the West Siberian breeding race whose
range extends west to the Caucasus, Volga and Urals. It arrives
about September and October and leaves again in April and May,
having spread meanwhile throughout the whole of the plains down
to Travancore.
M. a. leucopsis breeds in Eastern Siberia and China, and in winter
visits the eastern side of India to about Nepal and Mirzapur on the
west and also Assam and Burma.
The four races of White Wagtail that occur in India afford a
curious case of parallelism ; they may be divided into two sections
by the colour of the ear-coverts and sides of the neck, and in each of
these sections in full breeding plumage one form has the back grey
and the other black. All four races of White Wagtail can easily be
distinguished from the Large Pied Wagtail by their white foreheads,
the black on the head extending to the base of the beak in the latter
species, which also has a different series of moults and plumages.
M. a. dukhunensis and M. a. leucopsis both have the ear-coverts
and sides of the neck white. In the former bird the back is grey
and in the latter black in breeding plumage.
M. a. personata and M. a. alboides have the ear-coverts and sides
of the neck black. In breeding plumage here also the first form is
grey on the back and the latter black.
In all four races the back normally becomes grey in winter plumage,
though usually a few black feathers remain in the black-backed forms
to indicate the type of summer plumage. M. a. leucopsis and M. a.
dukhunensis may then, however, be separated by the greater wing-
coverts, which have their outer webs entirely white in the former
and merely margined with white in the latter. M. a. personata and
M. a. alboides have no distinguishing mark in the absence of black
feathers on the back. There is, however, a great deal of variation in the
plumage of Wagtails in India in winter, and considerable study is
required before individuals can be correctly identified.
Habits, etc. — In winter the habits of all four races of White Wagtail
are very similar, and indeed two or three races may often be found
associating together. The White Wagtail is a sociable bird, usually
occurring in parties which collect together into large flocks about the
migration periods and often associate with other species. They occa-
sionally perch in trees or on buildings, but most of their time is spent
feeding on the ground, preferably in damp places or actually about the
margins of water, into which they wade freely. Forest country is
avoided, and in very dry localities they are comparatively scarce.
Where possible they roost in reed beds anjl at suitable places very
large numbers of White Wagtails, Yellow Wagtails, and Yellow-headed
THE WHITE WAGTAIL 245
Wagtails collect together at night. The most marked characteristic is
indicated by the name ; as the bird runs about — for it never hops — the
long tail is incessantly wagged up and down. The flight also is very
characteristic in long, dipping curves, and on the wing the call-note
chiz-zit is constantly uttered. The song is a pleasant but poor
performance.
Our only breeding race builds in Kashmir from May to July, a
cup-nest on or near the ground, in hollows under stones or in heaps
of drift wood. The nest is composed of dry grasses, roots, bents, and
similar rubbish, and the cup is lined with hair. The clutch consists of
four or five eggs.
The egg is a rather broad oval, pointed towards the small end,
fine in texture with a slight gloss. The ground-colour is greyish-
white, speckled and spotted finely and closely, with pale brown and
brownish-grey. There is a tendency for the markings to be thicker at
the broad end.
The egg measures about 0-78 to 0*62 inches.
THE LARGE PIED WAGTAIL
MOTACILLA MADERASPATENSIS Gmelin
Description. — Length 9 inches. Adult male : A broad white
streak over the eye from the nostril to behind the ear ; head, upper
breast and entire upper plumage black ; wings black, the quills finely
edged with white, and a broad tapering white patch running the
whole length of the folded wing ; tail black, the two outer pairs of
feathers largely white ; remainder of lower plumage white, tinged
with ashy on the flanks. The female resembles the male, but the
black is not so pure in tone being usually mixed with ashy-brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification. — Found singly or in small family parties by
water, walking about on the ground and wagging the long tail. Rather
larger and darker than the White Wagtails, and has the black of the
forehead extending to the beak and enclosing a white eye streak.
The only species of Wagtail that breeds in India south of the Himalayas.
Distribution. — Confined to India and Ceylon. This Wagtail
occurs throughout India from the North-west Frontier Province
and Sind (where it is rare) to the Duars and Western Bengal, and
from the Outer Himalayas, which it ascends to 5000 feet, to Cape
Comorin ; in the Nilgiris it is found at all elevations in the neighbour-
hood of water. It avoids the low country of Bengal proper. A purely
resident species.
Habits, etc. — This Wagtail is found solitary, in pairs or in family
parties, in the neighbourhood of water, provided that it be running
Q2
246 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
water or ponds or tanks. In ordinary marshy ground, beloved of the
Yellow Wagtails, it is not usually found. It feeds along the edges of
the water, searching for insects, the long tail incessantly wagging up
and down as the bird trips along. It perches freely on rocks and
buildings, but practically never settles on trees. It is curiously partial
to the clumsy ferry-boats that ply on the larger Indian rivers, and not
only perches and voyages on them, but on occasion even nests in them.
The flight of this and other Wagtails is rather distinctive, jerky ,^ with
an incessant rise and fall in the air in a series of undulating curves ;
and they share with the Larks and Pipits the distinction of being the
smallest birds that walk and run on the ground as opposed to hopping
like Robins and Sparrows. The call-note is a loud chiz-zit^ chiefly
uttered in flight, and there is a short musical song.
The breeding season is from March to May, but eggs have been
found in December and January on the Cauvery.
The nesting habits of this species are very variable ; it will nest in
any sort of hole provided that it is close to water, though it occasionally
stretches this definition to include the drainage holes on roofs. In
such places it either lays its eggs on bare earth in the .bottom of the
hole, or makes the very scantiest of nests consisting of a few blades
of grass, or a tolerably well-made cup of all sorts of varied materials,
grass, hair, wool, tow, roots, fibres, string and the like. In fact,
Hume's description of it as an irregularly-minded bird is the only
just way of describing its nesting habits.
The normal clutch consists of four eggs, though three or five are
sometimes laid. The eggs, too, are variable, either long or broad ovals
in shape, rather pointed towards the smaller end. The ground-colour
varies from pale brownish to greenish-white. The markings are clouds,
smudges, streaks, spots and specks of brown of various shades in every
possible combination.
In size the egg measures about 0-9 by 0-65 inches.
THE GREY WAGTAIL
MOTACILLA CINEREA Tunstall
Description. — Length 8 inches. Male and female in winter
plumage : The upper plumage bluish-grey tinged with green ; a patch
at the base of the tail yellowish-green ; a dull whitish line over the
eye ; wings dark brown, edged with yellowish -white ; tail black,
margined with greenish, the three outer pairs of feathers almost
entirely white ; chin, throat and fore-neck white ; remainder of lower
plumage yellow, growing brighter towards the tail.
In summer plumage in the male the chin, throat and fore-neck
THE GREY WAGTAIL 247
become black, bordered with a broad white moustachial streak, and
with white tips to the black feathers.
In the summer plumage of the female the yellow is less brilliant
than in the male, and a variable mixture of black, white and dull
yellow take the place of the black patch of the male.
Iris brown ; bill horn-colour, paler at the lower base ; legs fleshy-
brown.
Field Identification. — A solitary bird, generally about water.
Differs from all the other Wagtails in the comparatively longer and
more slender tail and in the blue-grey colour of the upper parts. In
flight the long tail and sulphur-yellow belly and under tail-coverts
are conspicuous.
Distribution. — The Grey Wagtail is widely distributed, chiefly
about mountain streams, in Europe and Northern Asia, migrating
southwards to Africa and Southern Asia in winter. It is divided into
races, of which only one concerns us.
This Eastern race (M. c. melanope) breeds from the Yenesei across
Siberia to the Pacific and south to the Himalayas. In winter it spreads
throughout the plains of India to Ceylon, and eastwards to Malaysia.
Habits, etc. — During the breeding season in the Himalayas the
Grey Wagtail is essentially a bird of the mountain streams and rivers
where they flow with considerable strength through boulder-strewn
beds. In winter when it appears in India from August until April, it
is seldom able to discover these conditions, and then has to be content
with tripping about the margins of a variety of tamer waters, and
even with feeding on roads and other waterless places. It is a solitary
species, and does not gather into flocks like the other Wagtails.
The call-note is a rather shrill tzit-zee, which is chiefly uttered on
the wing as the bird takes to flight and flies swiftly away low over the
ground, rising and falling in buoyant curves and exhibiting conspicuous
glimpses of the sulphur-yellow of the lower plumage. The tail-wagging
of the genus is most pronounced in this species owing to the compara-
tively greater length of tail.
The breeding season in the Himalayas is in May and June.
The nest is a neat cup of grasses, bents and various roots and fibres,
thickly lined with hair. It is built on the ground under boulders in
river-beds, or amongst stones and herbage at the edge of streams.
The clutch consists of four or five eggs.
The egg is a broad oval, rather compressed and pointed towards
the smaller end, with a fine hard texture but little gloss. The ground-
colour is yellowish or brownish-white, closely mottled and clouded all
over with pale yellowish-brown and brownish-yellow, with a very
uniform effect. A black twisted hair-line or two is generally present
about the broad end.
The egg measures about 0-70 by 0-54 inches.
248 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE YELLOW WAGTAIL
MOTACILLA FLAVA Linnaeus
Description. — Length 7 inches. Male in fresh winter plumage :
Top of the head bluish-grey, the feathers tipped with olive ; upper
plumage dull olive-brownish, wings dark brown, edged with fulvous ;
tail black, narrowly edged with olivaceous, the two outer pairs of
feathers white ; a broad band on the sides of the head dark slaty-
blackish ; the whole lower plumage yellow sullied about the breast.
In a few individuals there are traces of a white line over the eye.
Male in fresh summer plumage : Top of the head dark slaty-grey ;
upper plumage yellowish-green ; wings and tail as in winter but with
the feather edges of the wings decidedly yellowish ; a broad band on
the sides of the head black ; the whole lower plumage bright yellow.
Traces of a narrow white line over the eye are sometimes visible.
Female : Resembles the male, but has the head green and upper
parts dark olive-brown, greenish-olive on the rump, the yellow of the
lower plumage paler and more sullied on the breast, and the band on
the sides of the head duller and browner ; a fulvous line over the eye
is generally present.
This description applies to typical specimens of the race M. f.
thunbergi. Race, age and sex cause great variation in the plumages
of this species which needs expert study.
Iris brown ; bill blackish-brown, paler at base of lower mandible ;
legs dark horn.
Field Identification. — Plains except in the summer ; typical Wag-
tails found in mixed flocks containing two or three forms, of which a
small proportion are in bright adult plumage, greenish above yellow
below, while the majority are in dull nondescript plumages ; always
feeding on the ground in damp grassy spots, active and wagging their
tails.
Distribution. — In the Yellow Wagtails we have a most difficult
group of birds ; the adult males may be distinguished with a certain
amount of ease, but females and young birds are exceedingly hard to
discriminate, and the whole group needs a great deal of study before
one can claim to know even a little about them. Here it is possible
only to indicate the outlines of the subject.
Formerly it was the custom to treat the various forms of Yellow
Wagtail as separate species. More recently various groupings have
been adopted, but here I prefer to treat them as geographical races
of one widely-distributed species which breeds throughout the greater
part of Europe and the Mediterranean countries and Northern Asia,
and migrates southward in winter.
THE YELLOW WAGTAIL 249
No race breeds in India, but we are concerned with the following
three forms as common winter visitors : —
Syke's Yellow Wagtail (M. /. beemd) breeds in West Siberia.
Winters in India, south to Belgaum and the Cumbum Valley and
east to Calcutta.
The Grey-headed Yellow Wagtail (M. /. thunbergi) breeds in
North Scandinavia, Russia and Siberia ; migrates through Europe
to Africa and to every portion of India, Ceylon and Burma.
The Eastern Black-headed Wagtail (M. /. melanogrisea) breeds
in Turkestan and winters in India south to Belgaum and east to
Benares.
The following key will serve to indicate the salient differences in
the adult males of the three races in summer plumage : —
M. f. beema. — Crown paler grey ; cheeks white ; a broad and
distinct white superciliary streak over the eye.
M. f. thunbergi. — Crown dark slaty-grey ; cheeks blackish ;
superciliary streak very indistinct or absent.
M. f. melanogrisea. — Crown black ; cheeks and ear-coverts
deep black ; superciliary streak very indistinct or absent.
Care must, however, be taken not to confuse the Yellow Wagtails
with the three races of the Yellow-headed Wagtail (Motacilla citreold)
that also appear in India in winter, and of which one race breeds
commonly in the Himalayas. The adult males of this species have
the entire head bright yellow, and at all ages and seasons the Yellow-
headed Wagtails may be distinguished from the Yellow Wagtails by a
broad yellow superciliary streak and by a certain amount of yellow on
the forehead.
An olive-brown Wagtail with two black bands across the breast,
which wags its tail from side to side, not up and down, is the Forest
Wagtail (Dendronanthus indicus), found chiefly in North-east India,
Assam, Burma, and Southern India.
Habits, etc. — The Yellow Wagtails, as we know them in winter,
are birds of marked and typical habit. They commence to arrive in
Northern India at the end of August and pass through on passage
until about October ; they start to return to Northern India about
February and have left again by the end of April. Farther south of
course their status varies proportionately.
They are found in flocks mingled irrespective of race, and spend
their days feeding on the ground in open grassy places, preferably
damp in character, or about the edges of jheels or in the pastures
that surround the larger rivers. They are very partial to the neighbour-
hood of droves of cattle, feeding all round the legs of the grazing animals,
no doubt finding that their presence attracts or disturbs a varied
insect life. In suitable places very large numbers collect, and morning
and evening they flight in a most conspicuous manner, travelling at a
250 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
moderate height above the ground with the dipping flight and shrill
chiz-zit calls which are common to all Wagtails. They roost at night in
reed-beds, and suitable places are used by immense congregations of
the various forms of Yellow Wagtails, Yellow-headed Wagtails and
White Wagtails.
In their northern quarters the Yellow Wagtails breed about June,
building a well-concealed nest of grasses and bents with a thick lining
of hair. It is placed on the ground in thick vegetation in low-lying,
damp ground or cultivation.
The eggs vary from four to seven in number, and are rather
broad ovals, pointed towards the small end, with a fine texture and
little gloss. They are ochraceous-grey or brown in colour, so finely
speckled as to be almost uniform, and generally exhibit one or two
black hair streaks.
In size the eggs average about 0-75 by 0-55 inches.
THE INDIAN TREE-PIPIT
ANTIIUS HODGSONI Richmond
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. The whole upper
plumage brown with a greenish tinge, the feathers streaked or centred
with blackish except on the rump ; wing dark brown, margined with
fulvous ; tail dark brown, the two outer pairs of feathers tipped
diagonally with white ; a broad streak over the eye fulvous, growing
white posteriorly ; lower plumage pale fulvous, the whole breast and
sides of the throat boldly streaked with black ; flanks washed with
olivaceous and faintly streaked.
Iris dark brown ; bill dark brown, base of lower mandible fleshy ;
legs flesh-colour.
In summer the greenish tinge wears off, and the eye streak becomes
white.
Field Identification. — A small brown bird, whitish below, streaked
with blackish above and about the breast ; found in parties feeding
on the ground in shady spots and flying up into the trees when dis-
turbed ; has a faint plaintive note and wags the shortish tail after the
fashion of a Wagtail, only more slowly.
Distribution. — This Pipit breeds in Siberia, Northern China, and
Japan, and on the higher Himalayas about 7000 to 12,000 feet. In
winter it migrates southwards to Southern Japan, Southern China,
Cochin-China, and India. At that season it is found in India through-
out the greater portion of the plains, occurring as far west as Rajputana
and Guzerat, and in the foot-hills of the Himalayas to Dharamsala.
THE INDIAN TREE-PIPIT 251
Southwards it extends to the Palni Hills. Himalayan breeding birds
are heavily streaked and belong to the race A. h. berezowskii. Most
birds found in winter in the Peninsula belong to the lightly streaked
typical form.
The closely-allied Tree-Pipit (Anthus trivialis) which lacks the
greenish tinge on the upper parts and has a less conspicuous eye-
stripe fulvous throughout, is a winter visitor practically throughout
India. It breeds in Europe and Northern Asia, including the higher
ranges of the Western Himalayas.
Hodgson's Pipit (Anthus roseatus) which breeds at high elevations
in the Himalayas and winters in Northern India and Assam, is rather
similar to these two Pipits but may be recognised from them and all
other Indian forms by the primrose-yellow under wing-coverts. In
breeding plumage the throat and breast become vinaceous.
Habits, etc. — In winter this Pipit is found in small parties which
frequent fairly open country with plenty of shady trees ; they are
partial to gardens, groves of mango trees and similar situations, and
feed quietly on the ground in sparse herbage, collecting small insects
and the seeds of grass and weeds. When disturbed they fly up into
the nearest tree with a short plaintive call and wait quietly there until
the coast is clear for them to resume their feeding. When in trees
they walk about on the boughs in a manner unusual amongst small
passerine birds, and have a habit of swaying their tails up and down,
after the fashion of a Wagtail. The flight is rather slow and dipping,
similar to that of the latter bird. In the breeding season the male
has a fine song, Lark-like in character, rather than the usual wheezy
Pipit song. It is uttered as the bird flies into the air and then volplanes
with wings and tail outspread down to the ground or to the topmost
twig of a tree.
The breeding season in the Himalayas is from May to July. The
nest is a shallow cup composed of moss and dry grass, lined with
fine dry grass-stems and a few hairs, and it is placed in a hollow in
the ground, in the shelter of a tuft of foliage or a creeping plant, such
as Cotoneaster. It is built either on an Alpine pasture above the limits
of tree-level, or in open grassy glades in the midst of the higher
mountain forests. The bird is very shy at the nest and is then observed
with difficulty, either disappearing into the forests or rising into the
air in a series of jerky flights. When flushed off the nest it sometimes
flutters down the hill-side as if wounded.
The clutch consists of four eggs. The egg is a slightly elongated
oval, rather pointed towards the small end ; the texture is fine with
a slight gloss. In colour the eggs are closely speckled with dingy
rather purplish-brown, so closely and evenly marked that no ground-
colour is visible.
They measure about 0-90 by 0-65 inches.
asa POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE INDIAN PIPIT
ANTHUS RUFULUS Vieillot
(PTate XIV, Fig. i, opposite page 286)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
fulvous-brown, the feathers centred with blackish-brown ; a fulvous
streak over the eye ; wings dark brown margined with fulvous ; tail
dark brown, the outermost feather almost entirely white, the next to
it with an oblique white tip ; lower plumage pale fulvous, darker on
the flanks, the sides of the throat and fore-neck and the whole breast
streaked with dark brown.
Iris brown ; bill brown, base of lower mandible yellow ; legs
flesh-colour.
The claw of the hind toe is long and slender, longer than the toe
itself.
Field Identification. — A small brown bird, pale fulvous below and
streaked on the breast, which runs about on the ground, rising with
a plaintive note and a flash of white in the tail, to settle again but a
short distance away. Distinguished from the Tree-Pipits by the long
hind claw and the fact that it does not settle in trees. It must, however,
be remembered that several species of Pipit are locally common in
India, and their identification is a matter of considerable knowledge
and experience.
Distribution. — This Pipit occurs throughout practically the whole
of India, Burma and Ceylon, breeding in the plains and also in suitable
places in the Himalayas and other ranges up to about 5000 feet.
Farther east it extends to Siam, Lombok and Timor. In the main it is
a resident species though it performs certain local migrations. There
are several races. The typical race is found throughout the greater
part of India, being replaced in the Punjab and Sind by the pale
A. r. waitei and in the south-west and Ceylon by the darker A. r.
malayensis.
Practice is required to tell this species from the Tawny Pipit
(Anthus campestris), a winter visitor to most of India except the extreme
south. It is slightly larger, more sandy in colour, and when adult
unspotted on the breast.
There are two very large Pipits (length 8 inches) in India, easily
separated by the length of the hind claw. The Brown Rock Pipit
(Anthus similis) breeds in the Western Himalayas, Baluchistan, the
Salt Range, the Western Ghats and the Nilgiris. It has a short hind
claw. Richard's Pipit (Anthus richardi) with a long hind claw is a
winter visitor to India, most common in Bengal and the Madras
Presidency.
THE INDIAN PIPIT 253
Habits, etc. — This Pipit is essentially a bird of cultivation with
low crops and of grass-land ; it is particularly partial to the stretches
of sandy soil with closely-grazed grass which are found about the
margins of jheels and in the dry beds of the larger rivers. Here it
runs and feeds on the turf, rising when disturbed with the slightly
plaintive note which is typical of the genus. It is usually found in
pairs, which are jealous of their respective territories, driving away
birds of the same species and possible enemies such as Shrikes.
This Pipit perches freely on bushes and tufts of grass, but usually
only when breeding ; it does not settle on trees. In the breeding
display the male rises in the air in one ascending succession of dipping
curves, uttering all the time a jangling, rather Bunting-like song ;
arrived at the highest point in the air he then falls to earth again,
in an abrupt curve, with stiff, partly extended wings. When disturbed
suddenly from the nest the female flutters along the ground as if
wounded, a habit common to most of the Pipits.
The breeding season extends from March to July and two broods
are apparently raised. The nest is placed on the ground under or
in the midst of tufts of grass ; it is usually cup-shaped, but in some
examples there is a slight dome. It is composed of dry shreds and
blades of coarse grass, or fine dry roots, with a slight lining of fine
pieces of root and grass with a few hairs.
Three or four eggs are laid, but the former number is more common.
The eggs are moderately broad and rather perfect ovals, scarcely
pointed at all towards the small end ; they are hard in texture with
a slight gloss. In colour they are brownish- or greenish-stone colour,
thickly streaked, clouded, and spotted with dull brownish- or purplish-
red, with brown of different shades and pale purplish-grey. These
markings often tend to form a cap at the broad end, and altogether
there is a good deal of variation in shape and colour between different
clutches.
They measure about 0-8 by 0-6 inches in size.
THE LITTLE SKYLARK
ALAUDA GULGULA Franklin
(Plate xv, Fig. 5, opposite page 286)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage,
including a short indistinct crest, brown with darker centres and
tawny margins to the feathers ; a pale fulvous streak over the eye ;
wings dark brown, the feathers margined with rufous ; tail dark
brown, margined with rufous, the two outer pairs of feathers largely
254 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
pale buff ; lower plumage pale buff, washed with fulvous on the sides
and breast, the throat spotted and the chest streaked with brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs yellowish-brown.
The hind claw is very long and straight.
Field Identification. — A streaked brown bird, huffish-white below
and with pale buff edges to the tail which become conspicuous in
flight. Feeds and settles on the ground in open country, but sings
in a characteristic soaring flight. Distinguished from the Pipits by
the heavier build, short crest, the more crouching gait, and the fact
that when approached it squats instead of running.
Distribution. — The Little Skylark is found throughout a large
area of Southern Asia from Turkestan eastwards to Siam and Cochin-
China and southwards to Ceylon and Tenasserim. It is divided
into several races distinguished by size and depth of coloration, and
these are sometimes treated as races of the well-known Skylark of
Europe (Alauda arvensis), of which one race, A. a. intermedia, arrives
in North-western India in winter in large numbers. It appears,
however, better to keep the two species separate. We are concerned
with several races of the smaller bird which vary in small details of
size and tint. The Turkestan race, A. g. inconspicua, just comes into
our area in Baluchistan. A. g. lhamarum is the breeding bird of the
higher Himalayas from Kashmir to Sikkim, at heights from 5000 to
14,000 feet, wandering in winter in flocks down to the foot-hills. A. g.
weigoldi breeds at high elevations in Bhutan and S, Tibet. A. g.
punjaubi is the pale bird of the Punjab and the United Provinces as
far east as Moghulserai and Dinapur. A. g. australis is the large and
dark bird of the Nilgiris, Cochin and Travancore, whilst the typical
race occupies the rest of Eastern, Central and Southern India and also
Ceylon.
The flocks of Skylarks (A. a. intermedia) which arrive in winter
may be distinguished by the larger size and more pointed wing,
the 5th primary falling short of the tip of the wing by over 5 millimetres.
Habits, etc. — The Skylark is a bird of open country, dwelling
almost exclusively in cultivation or on grazing lands contiguous to
it. In such localities it lives and feeds on the ground, picking up
seeds and insects and fallen grains of all the cultivated cereals. On
the ground it is quite inconspicuous, both owing to its protectively
coloured plumage and to its habit of preferring to squat instead of
running when approached. It squats as long as possible ; then
suddenly springs into life with a liquid bubbling chirrup, and flies
low over the ground with a fluttering undulating flight, only mounting
high into the air if it proposes to travel far.
In spring the n^ales have a well-sustained though rather monotonous
song, into which the imitations of other birds' calls are introduced.
When singing the bird mounts to a great height in the air, almost
THE LITTLE SKYLARK . 255
vertically, with the head to the wind and the wings fanning rapidly ;
having attained its pitch it remains there for a long time, keeping
roughly in the same place ; it starts to descend in the same fashion as
it rose, but when it is some 25 yards or so from the ground the song
ceases, and the bird falls rapidly with the wings held stiffly open. The
song is also occasionally uttered on the ground.
The breeding season is from March to July, and even later till
November in the Southern Indian race. Two broods are reared.
The nest is placed on the ground in a shallow depression scratched
by the birds themselves, sheltered by a clod of earth, a tuft of grass
or a small stunted bush. It is a shallow cup of dry grass, usually lined
with finer grasses. Three to five eggs are laid.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, rather pointed towards the
smaller end, with a fine silky texture and a slight gloss. The ground-
colour is greyish- or yellowish-white, concealed almost entirely by the
markings which are fine spots and f recklings of pale yellowish-brown,
purplish-brown or very pale inky-purple.
In size the eggs measure about 0-83 by 0-62 inches.
THE SHORT-TOED LARK
CALANDRELLA BRACHY DACTYL A (Leisler)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
pale greyish mealy-buff, the feathers streaked with blackish-brown ;
wings dark brown edged with fulvous ; tail dark brown edged with
fulvous, the two outer pairs of feathers partly very pale buff ; a buff
streak over the eye ; lower plumage dull whitish, washed with brown
on the breast which is sometimes streaked ; a half-concealed blackish
spot on each side of the breast.
Iris brown ; bill dark horny-brown, fleshy below ; legs brownish-
flesh-colour.
Field Identification. — Winter visitor in large flocks to the plains
of India, feeding in stubbles and open barren country ; a small sandy-
coloured Lark with a dull semi-concealed dark spot on each side of its
breast in place of the usual streakings.
Distribution. — The Short-toed Lark is a widely distributed bird in
Europe, Northern Africa and Asia, and is divided into a number of
races, the identification and distribution of which are a matter of
considerable difficulty. The differences are based on small details
of colour, tint and measurement. Two forms are found amongst
the hordes which appear as winter visitors in India. C. b. longipennis,
the grey-tinted breeding bird of Eastern Central Asia, is found in the
north-west of India down to a line roughly between Bombay and
256 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Kumaon ; while to the south-east of that line down to about Belgaum
and into Assam a more rufous bird (C. b. dukhunensis) appears.
A very closely allied species (Calandrella acutirostris) also appears
locally in India in winter. This may be distinguished without difficulty
from the forms of C. brachydactyla by an examination of the tip of
the wing, as it has the first four long primaries equal, whereas in
C. brachydactyla the fourth long primary is considerably shorter than
the first three which are equal.
A third and smaller species of Short-toed Lark, the Sand-Lark
(Calandrella raytal), with two races is found as a resident in India.
This is most easily distinguished by the fact that it spends its whole
life about the sand-banks of the larger rivers, running about near the
edge of the water.
Habits, etc. — The Short-toed Lark is only a winter visitor to India,
arriving about September and leaving in April. Numerically it must
be very abundant, as it is found in flocks often of large size, and these
flocks are common in open country, feeding both in stubbles and
on waste ground generally, even on that of the most strictly desert
character. The food consists of small seeds, but insects are also
eaten. These birds never perch except on the ground, where owing
to their small size and protective coloration they are practically invis-
ible ; when approached the birds of a flock rise irregularly, a dozen
or two at a time, and when all are in the air they join into a compact
flock which flies with a peculiarly free and swinging motion. The
call-note is low and rather harsh. This is one of the birds that is
eaten in India under the name of Ortolan, a species which itself is
never found amongst the great numbers of birds that figure on the
table in India under its name.
The breeding habits of the Short-toed Lark in its more northern
home are similar to those of other Larks ; a small cup of dry grass
lined with wool and hair is placed in a slight depression of the ground.
The eggs vary from three to five ; the ground-colour is yellowish-
or brownish-white, finely freckled and spotted with brownish- and
ashy-grey spots.
The egg measures about 0-75 by 0-55 inches.
THE BENGAL BUSH-LARK
MIRAFRA ASSAMICA McClelland
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
dark ashy-brown streaked with blackish except on the rump ; wings
dark brown, the coverts margined with pale ashy and the quills with
much chestnut on both webs ; tail brown margined with ashy rufous,
THE BENGAL BUSH-LARK 257
the two outer pairs of feathers largely edged with pale rufous ; sides
of the head mixed fulvous and brown ; chin and throat pale fulvous-
white ; remainder of lower plumage darker fulvous, the breast coarsely
streaked with triangular brown marks.
Iris yellowish-brown ; bill dusky, fleshy-white below ; legs fleshy-
white.
Field Identification. — Plains bird, found in open country feeding
on the ground and perching often on bushes. Dark ashy-brown
above, fulvous below with much chestnut in the flight-feathers.
Distinguish from the Red-winged Bush-Lark by its rather heavier
build and darker, more ashy upper parts.
Distribution. — This species of Bush-Lark is found throughout
the north-eastern part of the Indian Peninsula north and east of a
line drawn roughly from Ambala district to Cuttack, extending through
Bengal into Assam and thence into parts of Burma. A permanent
resident with no races.
The Singing Bush-Lark (Mirafra javanicd) may be recognised
from all other Indian Bush-Larks by having the inner web of the
outer tail-feather largely white. It is a curiously local bird, restricted
in places even to particular fields, but its general distribution includes
almost the whole of India, except the Lower Punjab, Sind, Western
Rajputana and parts of the Madras Presidency.
Habits, etc. — This Lark is found in the better watered and fairly
well-wooded tracts of its range, frequenting open plains and cultivated
fields and often being seen on the roads. It feeds on the ground,
collecting small seeds and insects, but perches freely on bushes and
small trees, and like the rest of its genus has a breeding flight in which
the rather weak song is uttered.
The breeding season is in May and June.
The nest is a loose, flimsy pad of grass and roots, as a rule too
loosely constructed to be removed undamaged ; it is placed on the
ground in a depression overhung by tufts of grass and is usually
surmounted by a sketchy dome of grass and roots, with the entrance
hole at one side or at the top.
The number of eggs varies from two to five. The egg is a moder-
ately broad oval, fine and delicate in texture with a slight gloss. The
ground-colour is white, faintly tinged with grey or stone-colour.
The markings consist of fine freckles and spots of yellowish- or pale
purplish-brown, with a tendency to collect in a cap or zone about the
broad end.
In size they average about 0-83 by 0-6 1 inches.
258 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE RED-WINGED BUSH-LARK
MlRAFRA ERYTHROPTERA Blyth
(Plate xi, Fig. 5, opposite page 220)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
fulvous-brown, streaked with blackish-brown ; wings brown, the
coverts edged with fulvous, and both webs of the quills largely chest-
nut ; tail blackish-brown, the central pair of feathers pale brown
margined with fulvous, and the two outer pairs of feathers partly pale
fulvous ; a pale fulvous streak over the eye ; chin and throat whitish ;
remainder of lower plumage pale fulvous, with triangular spots of
blackish-brown on the breast.
Iris brown ; bill horny-brown, fleshy below ; legs flesh-colour.
Field Identification. — A small unobtrusive Lark found in parties
on the ground in sandy scrub-covered country broken with cultivation ;
brown and fulvous in colour with much chestnut in the flight -feathers.
Distribution. — Confined to India. Found throughout the whole
of India from the outer foot-hills of the Himalayas to about the
latitude of Nellore and east to the longitude of Calcutta. It is divided
into two races. A pale race, named M. c. sindianus, is found in Lower
Sindr in portions of the Punjab, in Jodhpur, and eastwards to Etawah.
The rest of the range of the species is occupied by the typical race.
A purely resident bird.
There is some doubt as to whether the well-known Madras Bush-
Lark (Mirafra affinis) is not really a race of this species. It is larger
and darker with less chestnut in the wings. It is found south of a
line from Orissa through Hyderabad to Belgaum and also in Ceylon
and in general is extremely common.
Habits^ etc. — This, like other species of Bush-Lark, is somewhat
patchily distributed, being common in some localities and absent in
others that appear equally suitable. It is typically a bird of sparse
desert scrub-jungle, where thorn bushes, light grass and euphorbia
grow on a sandy soil mixed with outcrops of rock, though it may
also be found in cultivation. It is usually collected in small parties,
which feed unobtrusively on the ground, squatting at the approach
of an intruder and then suddenly springing into flight ; they fly
fairly fast but with an erratic rather hesitating course, as if unable
to decide in which direction to proceed, and soon settle again after
being disturbed. In the breeding season the male has a singing
flight in the air, parachuting down to settle either on the ground
or on the top of a euphorbia or other bush. This species often perches
on telegraph-wires.
The breeding season is rather irregular, and extends from March
THE RED-WINGED BUSH-LARK 259
to October. The nest is a mere pad of grass mixed with a little
vegetable fibre in the form of a very shallow saucer. It is built on
the ground in various situations, in depressions on open ground or in
cover at the base of bushes, and is difficult to find.
The number of eggs varies from three to five, but the normal
clutch is four. The egg is of a very perfect oval shape, fine in texture
with a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white tinged with greenish
or brownish, finely speckled and dotted all over with reddish, brownish
or purple ; tlie exact tint and density of the markings is very variable
but their distribution is usually uniform.
The egg measures about 0-76 by 0-59 inches.
THE CRESTED LARK
GALERIDA CRISTATA (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage,
including a sharp-pointed crest, earthy-brown, streaked with blackish ;
wings brown, the feathers with sandy margins, and the quills with a
large rufous patch on the inner webs ; tail brown, the feathers edged
with sandy, the outer pair of feathers largely pale rufous ; a pale
fulvous streak over the eye ; lower plumage pale fulvous streaked with
brown on the breast and less distinctly on the flanks.
Iris light brown ; bill and legs horn-colour.
Field Identification. — A typical sandy-brown Lark found in open
country in Northern India and easily distinguished by the erect tuft of
pointed feathers on the head.
Distribution. — A widely-distributed species found throughout the
greater part of Europe and South-western Russia, in Northern Africa
and a large extent of Asia. It is divided into over twenty races which
to some degree are correlated with types of soil. Of these we are
concerned with two only. G. c. chendoola is the resident bird of India.
It is found throughout the north-west parts of Continental India, from
the foot-hills of the Himalayas at about 4000 feet down to the
Central Provinces and the boundary of Bengal.
G. c. magnet, the breeding race of Central Asia, East Persia,
Afghanistan and Baluchistan, is a winter visitor in considerable
numbers to Sind, and probably other areas of the extreme north-
west. It is recognisable by its larger size and more sandy colour.
Two allied species, smaller and more rufous in colour, Sykes'
Crested* Lark (Galerida deva) and the Malabar Crested Lark (Galerida
malabarica) are residents in Peninsular India. The former is widely
distributed from Sambhar and Etawah southwards through Central
India, the Central Provinces, Bombay Presidency and Hyderabad
a6o
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
to Mysore. The latter is confined to the west coast from Ahmedabad
to Travancore and Mysore state. The Malabar Crested Lark is the
larger and darker of these two species, with the breast more heavily
streaked and the light parts of the tail much deeper rufous.
Habits, etc. — The Crested Lark is very common in the sand})
open plains of North-western India, both in and about cultivation
and in the more desert areas. It lives and feeds on the ground, and
likes, in particular, the neighbourhood of rough country tracks %and
roads where it finds corn and insects about the droppings of passing
animals. The resident race is usually found in twos and threes, but
the large Central Asiatic race in
winter may be found in large
flocks of up to a hundred in-
dividuals. The bird is far from
shy, and on the ground allows a
very near approach, walking about
with its crest erected and merely
flying for a short distance when it
does rise. The call-note is a
rather sweet tee-ur. The song is
short and pleasant, and is uttered
both on the ground, from the top
of a bush or during a soaring
flight. This Lark is frequently
seen sitting on telegraph-wires.
The breeding season lasts from
March to June. The nest is placed on the ground in a depression
in the shelter of a small plant or by a stone or clod of earth. It is
a shallow, open cup, composed of dry grass with a lining of wool,
vegetable fibres or fine grass, and occasionally a few feathers.
The normal clutch consists of three eggs, though four and five
are occasionally found. The egg is a broad oval, rather pointed
towards the small end, with a fine texture and slight gloss. The
ground-colour is greenish- or yellowish-white, speckled, spotted and
blotched, with various shades of brown and purple ; the markings are
usually regularly distributed, but they sometimes tend to collect in a
zone at the broad end.
They measure about 0*87 by 0*65 inches.
FIG. 37— Head of Crested Lark
(^J nat. size)
THE RUFOUS-TAILED LARK 261
THE RUFOUS-TAILED LARK
AMMOMANES PHCENICURA (Franklin)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
dark brown ; wings brown, margined with sandy-brown, much
rufous on the inner concealed webs of the quills ; tail with its coverts
deep rufous, a broad black bar across the end ; sides of the head
mixed rufous and brown with a pale rufous streak over the eye ; entire
lower plumage rufous, the chin, throat and breast streaked with brown.
Iris brown ; bill horny-brown, base of lower mandible fleshy ;
legs fleshy. The bill is thick and slightly curved.
FIG. 38 — Rufous-tailed Lark (J nat. size)
Field Identification. — Plains species ; found in parties on open
plains ; a brown Lark, rufous below, and easily distinguished from
all other Larks by the bright rufous tail with a black bar at the end,
Distribution. — This handsome Lark is found in North-western
Africa, the Cape Verde Islands, East Persia, West Baluchistan, and
India, being divided into several races. Only the typical race is
found in India. Its western limit is roughly a line drawn from the
Rann of Cutch up to Hissar and thence to the Ganges. The northern
boundary is the Ganges itself to about Dinapur, and south of this
the bird is found over the whole of the Peninsula down to about
Coimbatore. It is a resident species but moves about locally.
The sandy-coloured Desert-Lark (Ammomanes deserti), found in
other races as far as North-western Africa, is resident in the low
desert hills of the North-west. It is chiefly remarkable for the habit
of building a little wall of stones round its nest.
Habits, etc. — The Rufous-tailed Lark finds its favourite haunts in
open plains, stubbles and ploughed fields, and out of the breeding
season is usually found in small parties. It normally keeps to the
ground, where it feeds on seeds and insects, but in the breeding
season it often perches on a low bush and thence utters its short
twirling melodious note. It also perches on telegraph-wires.
R 2
a6a POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The breeding season lasts from February to April. The nest is
placed in open fields or plains in a slight depression on the ground,
either natural or scratched out by the birds themselves, and is sheltered
generally by a clod, or stone or tuft of foliage.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs. The egg is a moderately
elongated oval, slightly pointed towards the smaller end ; the texture
is fine and there is a slight gloss. The ground-colour is creamy or
white tinged with yellowish, freckled and speckled all over with
yellowish- or reddish-brown and a few secondary markings of pale
inky-purple ; the markings tend to be most dense at the broad end.
The eggs measure about 0-85 by 0-62 inches.
THE ASHY-CROWNED FINCH-LARK
EREMOPTERYX GRISEA (Scopoli)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Male : Upper plumage pale
ashy-brown, concealed portions of the wings dark brown ; tail dark
brown, central pair of feathers light brown, the outermost pair largely
white ; a large patch over the ears, and the sides of the breast whitish ;
remainder of the sides of the face and the lower plumage dark chocolate-
brown.
Female : Upper plumage and wings and tail dark brown tinged
with grey and rufous ; the outer pair of tail-feathers largely white ;
sides of the face and a line over the eye rufous ; lower plumage pale
rufous.
Iris brown ; bill bluish-flesh, darker above ; legs brownish-flesh.
The bill is very short and deep, and curved on the upper surface.
Field Identification. — A small lark, sandy grey-brown in colour,
with the lower surface dark chocolate-brown in the male. Found in
flocks in open plains country and often very numerous. To be
distinguished from the allied species, the Black-crowned Finch-Lark
(Eremopteryx frontalis) of North-western India, which in the male has
a black crown and white forehead.
Distribution. — This Lark is a purely Indian species, except that
it occurs also in Ceylon, being found from the foot of the Himalayas
to Cape Comorin and from the western borders of Sind and the
North-west Frontier Province to the longitude of Calcutta. The
birds of the North-west (Sind, Cutch, Punjab, Rajputana and the
Western United Provinces), where the annual rainfall is less than
25 inches, are paler in coloration and have been separated as a race,
E. g. siccata. The Ceylon race (E. g. ceylonensis) has a heavy bill.
Throughout its habitat the species appears to be resident.
THE ASHY-CROWNED FINCH-LARK 363
Habits, etc. — This quaint little aberrant Lark is one of the most
generally distributed birds of India : it is only found in open country
away from trees, and though it occurs up to nearly 3000 feet in the
Salt Range it is, strictly speaking, only a species of the plains. It
prefers waste ground, fallow fields and semi-desert areas, feeding on
the minute seeds that litter the ground. Found in pairs with a strictly
defined territory while breeding, it collects, often, into large flocks
at other times. On the ground their coloration renders these Larks
very inconspicuous, and aft observer walking along is often astonished
at the number which rise one by one around him and then fly away
in a dense flock from ground which was seemingly empty of life.
FIG. 39 — Ashy-crowned Finch-Lark (J nat. size)
The breeding season lasts from January to September, and
apparently two broods are raised. While breeding the males are
indefatigable songsters, singing both on the ground and in the air,
in the latter case while the bird is rising and falling in a series of
deep stoops, keeping over and about the same patch of ground ;
reaching its highest pitch it closes its wings and falls steeply, to recover
and mount again while still some height above the ground. Near the
end of its fall, if the observer is close at hand, a whirr can be heard,
due to the pressure of the air in the wing-feathers. The song is a
sweet but monotonous trill, trrreeee, without variation.
The nest is a slight pad of threads and soft vegetable fibres with
a few feathers and pieces of fine grass. It is invariably placed on
the ground either in a slight depression in the open or in the shelter
of a clod of earth, stone or tuft of grass.
264 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The clutch consists of two eggs, but three are sometimes found.
The eggs are moderately elongated ovals, slightly pointed at one end,
with a slight gloss. The ground-colour is yellowish-, greenish- or
greyish-white, marked fairly thickly and in a variety of ways with
various shades of yellowish-brown, earth-brown and grey.
In size they average about 0*70 by 0*50 inches.
THE WHITE-EYE
ZOSTEROPS PALPEBROSA (Temminck)
(Plate xiii, Fig. i, opposite page 264)
Description. — Length 4 inches. Sexes alike. The whole upper
plumage greenish golden-yellow, the concealed portions of the wings
and tail dark brown ; a white ring round the eye, emphasised in
front and below by a black mark ; chin and throat bright yellow ;
lower plumage greyish-white ; under tail-coverts yellow.
Iris yellow-brown ; bill black, bluish-grey on base of lower
mandible ; legs plumbeous.
The bill is slender, curved and pointed.
Field Identification. — Plains and hills ; purely arboreal ; very
abundant. A small, bright yellow bird with greyish-white breast
and abdomen, liable to be mistaken for a Willow- Wren, but easily
distinguished by the sharp little curved black beak and the white
ring round the eye. The constant tseer-tseer note is also distinctive.
Distribution. — The White-Eyes or Zosteropidae are a large family
of small birds spread over Africa, Southern Asia and Australia. The
present species has a wide distribution in Asia and is divided into a
number of races, of which we aVe concerned with four only, which
differ only in small details of size and tint of coloration. The typical
form is found from Sikkim and Bhutan eastwards to Assam and
Yunnan, and southwards to Bengal and probably Orissa and the
Eastern Central Provinces. Z. p. occidentis is found along the Himalayas
from the extreme north-west to Nepal, breeding normally up to 8000
feet and even higher. In the plains it is found as far west as Kohat,
and from there it extends through the whole of North-western India
south to Mysore. In Sind it is unknown except for a small isolated
colony in the mangrove swamps of Karachi. Z. p. nilgiriensis is the
race found in the Nilgiri and Travancore ranges, while Z. p. salimalii
is confined to the Eastern Ghats as far north as the Godavari. In the
main a resident species the White-Eye is also locally migratory.
HdbitSy etc. — The White-Eye is a purely arboreal species which
practically never descends to the ground. It is found indiscriminately
THE WHITE-EYE 265
in all types of country where there is sufficient tree growth, though
it, perhaps above all, prefers gardens and hill jungles close to cultivation
where there is a mixture of trees and flowering shrubs, and in conse-
quence a variety of food ; for it feeds both on insects, weevils, ants,
and their eggs and larvae, and on vegetable matter, such as small buds,
seeds and wild fruits.
Except when separated up into pairs for breeding the White-Eye
is found in small parties and in flocks, which do not as a rule associate
with other birds but hunt busily through the foliage, invariably coming
to notice through a rather monotonous querulous chee-chee-chee or
tseer-tseer note which is uttered all the time ; they are very active
and busy little birds, and when disturbed fly off still uttering their
note to start operations afresh in another tree.
In the breeding season the males sing freely ; the song is short
and rather pretty. It begins so low as to be almost inaudible and
becomes louder and louder until at the end it is almost harsh, and
this is repeated over and again without variation.
Most nests will be found about April, but there appear to be
at least two broods, and the breeding season extends according to
locality from January to September.
The nest is a delightful little cup slung like a miniature Oriole's
nest between two twigs, though very rarely it may be placed in an
upright fork. It is usually composed of very fine grass-stems, coated
exteriorly with cobwebs and studded with small cocoons and pieces
of vegetable down, but in shape, depth and materials it is somewhat
variable. In site, too, there is no uniformity. Many nests are placed
in undergrowth and bushes not higher than 6 feet from the ground ;
while as many are built in large trees, mangoes being perhaps the
favourite, at any height up to 60 feet.
The clutch varies from two to four eggs.
In shape the egg is a somewhat lengthened oval, a good deal
pointed toward the smaller end ; the texture is very fine, practically
without gloss. The colour is a very delicate and pure pale blue or
greenish-blue, without markings.
The average size is 0-62 by 0-47 inches.
THE YELLOW-BACKED SUNBIRD
/ETHOPYGA SIPARAJA (Raffles)
Description. — Length 6 inches, including elongated central pair of
tail-feathers i inch. Male : Front of crown metallic-green ; nape
brownish-green ; sides of head and neck, back and smaller wing-
coverts dull crimson ; rump bright yellow ; larger wing-coverts and
266 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
quills dark brown, the feathers edged with brownish-olive ; tail violet-
black, the central pair of feathers and the edges of the others
metallic-green ; chin, throat and breast bright crimson, a conspicuous
moustachial streak metallic-violet ; a pale yellowish-white patch
under the wing ; abdomen dull greyish-olive.
Female : Upper plumage, including the sides of the head and neck
dull olive-green ; wings and tail dark brown, the feathers edged with
golden olive and the outer tail-feathers tipped with whitish ; the
whole lower plumage dull olive-yellow ; a pale yellow patch under *the
wing.
The immature male resembles the female but has the chin and
throat pinkish-red.
Iris dark brown ; bill blackish-brown, lower mandible horny-brown ;
legs chocolate-brown.
FIG. 40 — Yellow-Backed Sunbird (i nat. size)
The bill is long, slender, curved and sharply-pointed with minute
serrations along the cutting edge of both mandibles towards the tip.
In the male the tail is graduated, the central pair of feathers exceeding
the rest by i inch and being sharply pointed.
Field Identification. — Male, scarlet with a yellow rump and olive-
grey abdomen and long pointed tail ; Female, short-tailed and nonde-
script olive colour, darker above. Bill sharp, thin and curved. A shy
and active forest bird, found feeding at flowers.
Distribution. — The typical race of the Yellow-backed Sunbird is
found in Sumatra. In our area we are concerned with four other races.
The West Himalayan race (£2. s . mussooriensis) and the East Himalayan
race (&. s. seheria) agree with each other in plumage as described above
but the western bird is slightly larger. This is apparently a summer
visitor to the outer ranges up to 7000 feet, but is not known to occur
yrest of Dharmsala. dE. s. seheria is found in the Eastern Himalayas at
similar elevations and extends also through the greater part of Assam,
both in the plains and in the hills up to 7000 feet. It is also found in the
Chota Nagpur area. A third race (JE. s. miles) with dull grey under
THE YELLOW-BACKED SUNBIRD 267
parts is said to be found in Nepal. A fourth race (JE. s. vigorsi) is
found along the western coast of India from the valley of the Tapti to
the foot of the Nilgiris. It is a rather darker race than the others and
is more particularly distinguished by having a patch of metallic-violet
behind the ear in addition to the moustachial streak and by having the
crimson of the under parts finely streaked with yellow. Other races are
found in Burma and eastwards.
There are several other Sunbirds of the long-tailed genus &thopyga
which are locally common. The best known are the Nepal Yellow-
backed Sunbird (IE. nipalensis) with the whole head and hind neck
metallic green and the lower parts yellow flecked with red, and the
Black-breasted Yellow-backed Sunbird (M. saturatd), a very blackish-
looking species with violet and blue metallic feathers. Both are
common in the Eastern Himalayas and parts of Assam.
Habits, etc. — Little seems to have been recorded about the habits
of the various races of the Yellow-backed Sunbird. It is very largely
a bird of heavy moist forest, more especially evergreen forest, and it is
said to be particularly partial to ravines for breeding purposes. At
Dharmsala a few used to come into my garden to visit the blossoms
of a large orange-bush, covered with jasmine, at the side of the house,
and they also fed from the flowers of a red gladiolus, a yellow iris and
a weed with a small red flower. The iris flowers were pierced by the
bird with a tiny hole at the base, the mouth of the flower being dis-
regarded. The flight was swift and the birds were very active and shy.
The call-note is a loud and distinct tssip which is very like the noise of
scissor-blades opening and shutting.
The breeding season in the Himalayas is from April to July but
the Western Ghats race (vigorsi) apparently nests somewhat later, from
May to October. The nest is pear-shaped with the entrance at one side
and this is sometimes shaded by a little porch.
The nest is usually slung from the roots of plants and bushes which
are exposed by the rain washing away the sides of banks, but odd nests
may be found attached to small bushes and even bamboo sprays. The
materials vary a good deal. Some nests look like a mass of fine black
rootlets loosely felted with grass ; others appear to be a tangle of wind-
blown cobwebs which have caught in a branch. Oddments of all kinds
are added as external decorations. The interior is lined with fine
grass stems and the bottom of the cavity is thickly filled with fine silky
seed-down.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. In shape they are broad
blunt ovals, fine and very fragile in texture with no gloss. The ground
colour is white or creamy, flecked, speckled and even blotched with
brick-red, reddish-brown or brown, the markings tending to form
indistinct caps or zones at the larger end of the egg.
The egg measures about 0-6 by 0-45 inches.
268 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE PURPLE SUNBIRD
CINNYRIS ASIATICUS (Latham)
(Plate iii, Fig. 3, opposite page 44)
Description. — Length 4 inches. Male in summer plumage : The
'whole head, neck, upper plumage, throat and breast metallic-bjack
with greenish-purple reflections ; flight-feathers dull brownish-black ;
tail bluish-black ; a narrow band across the breast coppery-brown,
of varying extent and sometimes absent ; remainder of lower plumage
dull purplish-black ; a brilliant tuft of crimson and yellow feathers
under each wing.
Male in winter plumage, assumed only from about September to
December, resembles the female with the addition of a broad stripe
of dark metallic-violet from the chin to the abdomen. It retains the
dark wings.
Female : Upper plumage, wings and sides of the head and neck
greenish-brown ; tail dark brown, the outer feathers narrowly tipped
with white ; lower plumage rather bright yellow.
Iris brown ; bill and legs black.
Bill long, curved and sharply pointed, with minute serrations along
the cutting edges of both mandibles towards the tip.
Field Identification. — Abundant garden bird in the plains ; a minute
bird with a long curved beak ; male metallic-black, female brown and
yellow. Active and feeds about flowers.
Distribution. — This Sunbird has a wide range in Southern Asia
from Persia on the west to Cochin-China on the east, and is divided
into races. The typical race is found in Ceylon and from about
5000 feet along the Outer Himalayas throughout the whole of India
except in the north-west. There in Sind and Baluchistan it is replaced
by the Persian form, C. a. brevtrostris, with a shorter bill, while birds
from the Punjab are mostly intermediate in character between the
two races. In the main a resident species, it is also locally migratory,
being found in North-western India only from March to September.
In the ranges of Southern India it is found up to 7500 feet.
The very similar Loten's Sunbird (Cinnyris lotenia) with a much
larger beak is common in South India up to Bombay on the west
and the Nallamallais on the east. In some areas it replaces the Purple
Sunbird ; in others it is found with it.
Habits, etc. — From their small size and brilliant metallic plumage
and occasional habit of hovering in front of a flower this and other
Indian members of the numerous family of the Nectariniidae are respons-
ible for the frequently found belief that Humming-birds occur in India.
The true Humming-birds are, however, confined to America and its
THE PURPLE SUNBIRD 269
islands, and they belong to a totally different Order of birds allied to
the Swifts and Nightjars.
The Sunbird resembles the Humming-bird in being largely
dependent on flowers for its food. It feeds at the blossoms of the
various flowering shrubs and trees, taking from them not only their
nectar but also the various small insects, caterpillars, spiders and flies
that they attract, and in return assists to pollinate many species. The
case of the flower of Loranthus longiflorus may be quoted as an instance.
In this species the bud remains closed and therefore unfertilised until
extraneous pressure is exerted. This is supplied by the Sunbird which
hops about the plant gently squeezing the tops of mature buds in its
mandibles. The pressure causes the bud to open. The bird thrusts
its bill into the flower, sucks up the nectar with its specially adapted
tongue and passes on to a second bud. In the process the anthers of
one flower deposit their pollen on the forehead of the bird, only to be
brushed off against the mature stigma of the next flower. The long
tongue is almost tubular in structure and is capable of extrusion beyond
the beak.
The Sunbird usually perches on the twigs and stems of the plant,
flitting actively from flower to flower and indulging in a variety of
gymnastics to reach the desired food ; but when need arises it can
hover with rapidly vibrating wings though only for a short time. By
this dependence on flowers it is emancipated from preference for any
particular type of country. In the dry desert areas of the north-west
it flits and perches about the low-growing ankh and wild caper ; in the
tropical forests of the south it feeds high from the ground about the
blossoms of some lofty tree ; and throughout its range it is a familiar
garden bird attracting notice by the boldness of its visits to the flowers
that line verandahs or grow over porches. Its swift darting flight and
shrill chirping note also call attention to its presence, and it has the rare
merit in India of being a good songster. For the male perches on the
topmost twig of a tree with a good many repetitions of the sharp chirp
and then breaks into a loud full song which seems surprisingly good
for so small a bird and recalls the notes of a Canary or Willow- Wren.
The breeding season varies a good deal according to locality, and
in different parts of India eggs may be found from January to August ;
most nests will, however, be found in April and May. There are at
least two broods, and these are reared in rapid succession, sometimes
even from the same nest.
The nest is a pear-shaped or oval structure with a small round
or oval entrance at one side, often sheltered by a little projecting
cornice. It is built of a most miscellaneous assortment of materials,
hair, fine grass, twigs, dead leaves, chips of bark and fragments of
decayed wood, seed cases, scraps of rag or paper, and especially cater-
pillar droppings, all neatly plastered together with silky fibres and
270 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
cobwebs. The whole structure is suspended from a twig by a short
rope of these materials, and a pendant irregular tassel of the same
generally hangs from the bottom of the nest.
The nest is generally placed some 3 or 4 feet from the ground,
hanging under a bough or a bush, at times suspended from the spines
of a prickly pear bush, but occasionally it is attached to a hook or
pendant piece of rope in the ceiling of a verandah. The interior of
the nest is neatly and softly lined with seed-down.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs.
The egg is typically a moderately broad oval, somewhat pointed
towards the small end, but the shape is rather variable. The texture
is fine and fragile with very little gloss. The ground-colour is dull
whitish with a tinge of green, grey or brown, and the markings consist
of minute and ill-defined spots and freckles of grey, brown and dull
purple of various shades. In some eggs these markings are regular and
thickly disposed over the whole surface ; in others they chiefly collect
in a zone or cap about the broad end.
In size the eggs average about 0-64 by 0*46 inches.
THE PURPLE-RUMPED SUNBIRD
CINNYRIS ZEYLONICUS (Linnaeus)
(Plate xiii, Fig. 4, opposite page 264)
Description. — Length 4 inches. Male : Top of the head metallic-
lilac ; rump metallic-purple ; remainder of upper plumage dull
crimson ; wings brown edged with rufous, metallic-lilac and dull
crimson on the smaller coverts ; tail black with pale tips to the outer
feathers ; sides of the head coppery-brown ; chin and throat metallic-
purple ; a collar below the throat maroon ; remainder of lower plumage
bright yellow, white under the wings.
There is no separate winter plumage as in the last species.
Female : Upper plumage ashy-brown ; wings brown margined
with rufous ; tail black with pale tips to the outer feathers ; an indis-
tinct white line above the eye, with a dark line below it through the eye ;
cheeks, chin and throat pale ashy- white ; remainder of lower plumage
yellow, white under the wings.
Iris dull red ; bill and legs black.
The bill is long, slender, curved and pointed, with minute serrations
along the cutting edge of both mandibles towards the tip.
Field Identification. — Central and Southern India. A minute bird
of brilliantly variegated, partly metallic, plumage in the male, lilac on
the head, crimson on the back, purple on the throat, and yellow below.
The female is dull in colour with a white throat contrasting with the
yellow under parts. Active in trees about blossoms.
THE PURPLE-RUMPED SUNBIRD 271
Distribution. — A purely Indian species. It is found throughout
India south of a line passing through Khandesh, Raipur and Sambalpur
in the Central Provinces, and Lohardaga, Burdwan and Dacca in
Bengal ; also in Ceylon. In the Nilgiris it is found up to 2500 feet.
This is the Common Sunbird of Bombay, Madras and Lower Bengal.
A resident species.
The Small Sunbird (Cinnyris minima) is common along the
Western Ghats from Bombay to Travancore. It is the smallest
of the group in India, and the male is very brilliant with a green cap,
deep crimson breast and upper parts, lilac rump and purple throat.
Habits, etc. — This beautiful Sunbird is very common over large
areas of India, preferring if anything well-watered tracts and extensive
forests, though it also comes freely into gardens and about houses.
It is found singly or in pairs, and is very active, incessantly flitting
about from tree to tree and flower to flower in search of the insects
and caterpillars on which it feeds, and is purely arboreal, never descend-
ing to the ground. The call is a feeble shrill sort of chirp, easily
distinguishable from the louder call of the Purple Sunbird.
The breeding season is very extended, nests having been found in
almost every month of the year, but normally the bird appears to be
double-brooded, nesting about February and August.
The nest is a most lovely structure, similar to that of the Purple
Sunbird, a hanging purse with the entrance near the top on one side
surmounted by a little portico.
The body of the nest is chiefly composed of very fine grass or
vegetable fibres, and it is thickly studded exteriorly with scraps of
lichens, spiders' webs, fragments of bark, dried petals, and a variety
of similar materials. The egg cavity is thickly lined with vegetable
down or feathers. The nest is suspended from a fine twig, over
which the top of the nest is firmly worked with fibres and down, and
a tassel of the same material as the outside covering of the nest often
hangs below it. '
The clutch consists of two eggs. The egg is a moderately broad
oval, rather elongated and pointed, with a delicate close-grained shell
almost devoid of gloss. The ground-colour is a dingy greenish- or
brownish-white ; it is freckled, clouded and streaked with minute
greyish-brown markings, which tend to collect in a zone or cap about
the broad end.
In size the eggs average 0-65 by 0-47 inches.
272 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
TICKELL'S FLOWER- PECKER
DICJEUM ERYTHRORHYNCHOS (Latham)
Description. — Length 3 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
ashy-olive, the feathers of the crown with dark centres, and the
concealed portions of the wings brown ; tail dark brown ; lower
plumage buffy-white.
Iris brown ; bill pale fleshy-livid, darker above ; legs bluish-
plumbeous.
Bill curved, sharply pointed and finely serrated along the
cutting edges.
Field Identification. — A tiny olive bird with paler under parts,
and a curved beak, which rather resembles a female Sunbird. Has
a sharp note and is purely arboreal, frequenting parasitic plants
on trees. It is easily confused with the Nilgiri Flower-Pecker (Dicceum
minullum), common along the Western Ghats, which is darker with a
darker bill.
Distribution. — Confined to India, Ceylon (separated as D. e. ceylon-
ense) and Southern and Western Burma. It occurs along the Himalayan
foot-hills, up to elevations of 4000 feet, from Kangra to Assam. South
of the foot-hills it is found virtually throughout India except in the
dry regions of the North-west, Le.y North-west Frontier Province,
Baluchistan, the Punjab, Sind, and Rajputana. It is a resident species,
and in places like Bombay and Poona very abundant.
Habits, etc. — Tickell's Flower-Pecker is a bird of far more import-
ance than would seem to be warranted by its small size and inconspicu-
ous plumage ; for its distribution appears to be entirely dependent on
the presence or absence of the harmful parasitic plants of the genus
Loranthus, and the spreading of these parasites appears in turn to be
largely the work of the Flower-Pecker.
In Western India, for example, Loranthus longiflorus is found on
over a hundred species of trees and in particular it is a serious scourge
to the mango. Its beautiful clumps of flowers will be noticed up on the
trees in every month in the year and a little observation will show that
this Flower-Pecker, which is entirely arboreal, seems to have regular
feeding territories in which it flits about the Loranthus at all hours of
the day. The bird is very restless. It flies from tree to tree, often high
in the air ; it flies from clump to clump and on the clumps it hops
from bunch to bunch of flowers ; and all the time it utters a loud,
almost incessant squeak chik-chik-chik, which is occasionally varied by a
series of twittering notes which might be called its song. Each berry
is tested with the mandibles. If ripe it is plucked and swallowed,
broad end first. After finding and bolting down three or four ripe
berries, one after another, the bird retires to the extremity of some bare
TICKELL'S FLOWER-PECKER
273
bough and sits quiet for a few minutes with the feathers partly puffed
out. It is during this interval that the mischief is done ; for hardly has
the bird been there a couple of minutes than you see him becoming
uneasy and presently one of the seeds is extruded, evidently with some
effort. The seed is invariably extruded broad-end first and by a final
jerky and dipping motion
of the posterior part of the
body, during which the bird
often pivots round from its /
normal crosswise position
on the branch to one nearly
along it. The extruded
seed which is copiously
covered with viscous matter
and has a viscid thread-
like process at each end
promptly adheres to the
perch. Digestion is ex-
tremely rapid and each seed
appears to pass out some
three or four minutes after
the berry was eaten. Im-
mediately it has got rid of
the unnecessary ballast the
Flower-Pecker flies off to
another clump uttering its
lively note, and the process
starts afresh. In this man-
ner the parasitic seed is
conveyed not only to other branches of the same tree but to other
trees in the neighbourhood.
The breeding season is from February to May.
The nest is very similar to that of the Purple Sunbird, being a
small pear-shaped structure, suspended by the stalk from a twig
with the entrance high on one side. It is placed in a tree at heights
of 10 to 20 feet from the ground. It is constructed of fine vegetable
fibres, externally covered with cobwebs, small chips* of bark, splinters
of rotten wood and the excreta of caterpillars, while the interior is
lined with the softest, silkiest downs and fibres. The female sits looking
out through the entrance.
One to three eggs are laid. These are rather elongated ovals, pure
white and glossless.
In size they average about 0*58 by 0-41 inches.
KG.
FIG. 400; — TickelPs Flower-pecker
(£ nat. size)
274 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE THICK-BILLED FLOWER-PECKER
PIPRISOMA AGILE (Swahison)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
ashy-brown, washed with olive-green above the tail ; wings dark brown,
edged with olive-green ; tail dark brown, edged with olive-green,
the feathers tipped slightly with white, growing broader on the outer-
most feathers ; sides of the head and neck ashy-brown ; chin and throat
white ; remainder of lower plumage creamy-grey streaked on the breast
and flanks with ashy-brown.
Iris orange-brown ; bill bluish-slate, darker above ; legs dull
bluish-slate.
The bill is short and coarse with the lower mandible unusually deep
and swollen.
Field Identification. — A tiny dull-looking bird, ashy-brown above
and dull creamy-grey below, with the breast faintly streaked. Has a
sharp note and is purely arboreal, frequenting parasitic plants on trees.
May easily be distinguished from other Flower- Peckers by the swollen-
looking bill.
Distribution. — The typical race is found throughout India from the
foot-hills of the Himalayas, which it ascends locally to 5000 feet, down
to Ceylon. Ceylon birds are separated at P. a. seylonicum. It is not
found west of a line from Kangra to Sirsa and Baroda or east of Sikkim
and Midnapur. In Assam and Burma to Siam it is replaced by P. a.
modestum which is greener above and has the lower mandible less
swollen.
Habits, etc. — At first sight there is not very much to distinguish the
habits of the Thick-billed Flower-Pecker from those of Tickets
Flower-Pecker. It is generally distributed and fairly common in well-
wooded country and it has the same habit of flying about singly from
clump to clump of the parasitic Loranthus that grows on the branches
of trees ; its feeding circuits are also well defined. Its voice and notes
are similar to those of the other species though they are perhaps
distinguishable as being somewhat shriller and more metallic. It
twists its little tail from side to side as it feeds amongst the clumps.
There is, however, a difference in the feeding habits of the two species
and this is evidently correlated with the different types of beak. As has
been related above, TickelPs Flower-Pecker swallows the ripe fruit of
the Loranthus whole and voids the viscous seeds on to the bough where
it sits for digestion. The Thick-billed Flower-Pecker, on the other
hand, does not swallow the fruit entire. It plucks it off the clump and
with its finch-like beak separates the fleshy epicarp from the sticky seed,
swallowing the former and getting rid of the latter by scraping it off on
a neighbouring twig with a sweeping side-to-side motion of the head.
THE THICK-BILLED FLOWER-PECKER 375
In this way three or four berries are eaten before the bird flies off again
on its endless round. It will be noted that in this way the deposition
of the seeds is confined to the neighbourhood of the parent clump and
they are not dispersed so widely as by TickelFs species.
In addition to Loranthus berries this species feeds on a variety of
other fruits, particularly those of the Lantana scrub and the figs of
Peepul and Gulair trees. It also eats the soft juicy parts of Mhowa
flowers and small spiders.
The breeding season is from February to June. The nest is a most
remarkable structure, a small, rather full-bottomed, purse-like bag,
hung from a small twig as nearly horizontal as possible, the entrance
hole being immediately below the twig. It is composed of a felt-like
fabric, so soft and pliable that it may be rolled and unrolled in the hand ;
this is made from fibres, spiders' webs and the down taken from the
young shoots and flower-buds of various plants. The down of Loranthus
is commonly used. The nest is hung in trees at all heights up to 30 feet
from the ground. Mango-trees are particularly favoured.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs, but four may be found.
These vary a good deal in shape and colour but are typically rather
elongated ovals, somewhat coarse in texture and without gloss. The
ground-colour varies from rosy-white to a decided pink and it is
speckled, spotted and even blotched with markings that vary from
brownish-pink to claret colour. They are most numerous towards the
broad end, often forming a zone or cap.
In size the egg measures about 0-65 by 0-45 inches.
THE INDIAN PITTA
PITTA BRACHYURA (Linnaeus)
(Plate xvi, Fig. 4, opposite page 330)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. Top of head pale
fulvous, with a broad black band down the centre, which is joined
by a very broad black band from below the eye ; a narrow white line
over the eye ; back and shoulders green ; lower rump shining pale
blue ; tail black, tipped with dull blue ; wing black with a conspicuous
white patch in the flight-feathers, and with the coverts green and
blue ; chin and throat white ; remainder of lower plumage fulvous, a
patch of bright scarlet under the tail.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs pale purplish-flesh.
Field Identification. — A coarsely-built bird with a short tail and
strong legs, adapted for life in heavy jungle ; plumage variegated
with blue, green, black, white, fulvous and crimson, but not conspicu-
ously bright in the shade though the lines on the head are distinct.
Shape and upright carriage are distinctive.
276 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Distribution. — This Pitta is found throughout almost the whole
of India from Dharamsala in the Himalayan foot-hills to Sikkim, and
Eastern Rajputana in the plains to Calcutta. Southwards it extends
down to Ceylon. It breeds in the Himalayan foot-hills and in Central
and Western India and in the former area is a summer visitor only,
wintering in Southern India and Ceylon. Exhausted birds on passage
sometimes take refuge in outhouses and other unexpected places.
These lovely birds invade the sal forests of the submontane tracts
of the United Provinces about the middle of May. The forests soon
ring with their loud four-noted musical calls (they have no song).
They start breeding at once and continue throughout the rains after
which in September they begin to migrate south. As these forests
are very malarious in the rains they are scarcely ever visited at the
breeding season of the Pittas so that few Europeans, or even Indians,
have seen these beautiful birds in their forest home.
Habits, etc. — The Indian Pitta belongs to a family of birds which
has no equivalent in Europe. All its members are compact, stoutly-
built birds with a short stumpy tail, broad rounded wings and long
stout legs, and, as this structure suggests, they are essentially ground-
living birds, hopping and running with great facility and spending
only a small portion of their time either on the wing or in trees.
All are of great beauty, and the distribution of the various members
of the family is very sporadic 2nd curious. Most of them occur to
the east of our area but the Blue-naped Pitta (Pitta nipalensis), a
large brown species with a blue hind-neck, is common in the lower
ranges of the Eastern Himalayas and in Assam.
The nearly allied Long-tailed Broadbill (Psarisomus dalhousia) is
found along the lower Himalayas from Mussoorie eastwards. It is a
gaudy-looking bird, green with blue in the wings and tail, a black head
and a yellow throat and is remarkable for the flat broad bill and the tail
of narrow graduated feathers.
The Indian Pitta, by preference, lives in deciduous forest or scrub-
jungle, but it may also be found in gardens and comparatively open
country, especially if there are small ravines overgrown with bushes
and trees to afford it the cover that it requires. It is not shy and
may easily be approached. It has a sweet call wheel pe-u or pea-to-yew,
a loud, clear and far-reaching note which is uttered again and again.
When calling, the head and shoulders are thrown right back, the chest
out and the bill points upwards after the manner of a cock crowing.
The food consists largely of beetles, ants and other insects.
The breeding season is from June to August.
The nest is a huge globular structure with a circular entrance at
one side. It is composed of dry leaves and grasses wound round with
strips of fibre or held together with twigs and roots, and is lined with
green leaves or fine twigs and roots. Some nests are found on the ground
THE INDIAN PITTA 277
or near it in low branches, but the majority are built in the forks of
trees at heights from 10 to 30 feet from the ground.
The clutch consists of four or five eggs. In shape they are broad
and regular ovals, so broad as to be almost spherical. The texture is
very fine and hard with a high gloss.
The ground-colour is china-white, and the markings consist of
spots, speckles and sometimes hair-lines of deep maroon, dark purple
and brownish-purple, with secondary markings of pale inky-purple.
These rich colours, together with the spherical shape and high polish,
give the eggs of this species a very distinctive appearance.
In size the eggs measure about i-oo by 0-86 inches.
The word Pitta is due to the latinisation of a Telugu word, meaning
" small bird."
THE SCALY-BELLIED GREEN WOODPECKER
PlCUS SQUAMATUS Gould
Description. — Length 14 inches. Male : Top of the head and
crest crimson ; upper plumage green, strongly tinged with yellow at
the base of the tail ; wings brownish-black washed with green, all the
quills conspicuously spotted and banded with yellowish-white and
white ; tail brownish with narrow white bars, the lower surface
washed with yellow ; a broad yellowish-white line over the eye,
bordered above and below with blackish lines ; another broad yellowish-
white line below the eye from the base of the beak ; throat and breast
pale greyish ; remainder of lower plumage greenish-white, with scale-
like markings of black.
Female : Has the crimson of the head replaced by black, marked
with leaden and greenish-grey.
Iris dark pinkish-red, with an outer ring of pale pink ; bill yellow,
horn-coloured about nostrils ; legs greenish-plumbeous.
This and the following Woodpeckers have these peculiarities of
external structure. The bill is long and stout and modified into a
cutting weapon with the end of the upper mandible vertical and
chisel-shaped. , The tongue is excessively long, worm-like and capable
of great protrusion ; it is supplied with viscid mucus from the large
salivary glands and the point is horny and barbed. The toes are
arranged in two pairs, the 2nd and 3rd toes pointing forwards, the
4th toe being directed backwards with the ist toe or hallux. The tail
is graduated, with very stiff-pointed feathers.
Field Identification. — Himalayan forest form : a medium-sized
greenish bird with pale under parts scaled with black which climbs
up the trunks of trees in a series of jerks, and moves from tree to
tree with noisy undulating flight. Distinguish from a similar species,
S2
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
the Black-naped Green Woodpecker (Picus canus), which is found in the
same area and farther eastwards into Assam and Burma ; this has the
lower plumage unsealed and only the front half of the top of the head
crimson in the male.
Distribution. — This Woodpecker is distributed through Transcaspia,
Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and the Western Himalayas ; it is divided
into two races, of which the typical race is found in the Western
Himalayas from the Valley of Nepal to Chitral and Gilgit, from about
5000 to 11,000 feet. A resident species with little, if any, altitudinal
seasonal movement.
A very similar but smaller species the
Little Scaly-bellied Green Woodpecker
(Picus xanthopyg&us) is locally distributed
throughout India, but not west of a line
from Ambala to Mount Aboo.
Habits, etc. — This fine Woodpecker is
a common resident in the Western Hima-
layas and is found in all types of forest,
also occasionally wandering out into trees
in the open cultivated country. It is not
very shy, and is easily observed as it
works its way up the trunk of a tree, now
stopping to dislodge a piece of bark and
then hammering lustily with its chisel-like
beak at a piece of grub-infested wood.
Occasionally it feeds on the ground,
searching there for ants and termites.
When not feeding it sometimes rests
in a commanding position on an up-
right bare stump of a bough at the top
of a tree, whence a clear view can be
obtained. In such a situation it sits for
a considerable time, moving the head,
neck and upper part of the body from side to side with a swaying
motion, varying the proceedings by occasionally drumming rapidly
with its bill on the wood. The ordinary spring call is a loud, clear,
wild-sounding melodious klee-gu or pea-cock, or simply the syllable
peer, which echoes through a nullah and is audible a long way off.
While hunting for food a constant tjupk-tjupk-tjupk-tjupk note is kept
up, and this repeated loudly is also the alarm cry. The flight is
strong, fast and undulating, the hard coarse wing-feathers making
a distinct noise.
The breeding season extends from March to May, but most eggs
will be found in April. The nest hole is excavated in the trunk or
bough of a tree and consists of a passage running down from 20
FIG. 41 — Scaly-bellied Green
Woodpecker (J nat. size)
THE SCALY-BELLIED GREEN WOODPECKER 279
to 30 inches into the nest chamber which is often a natural decayed
hollow inside the wood. In this the eggs, five or six in number, are
laid on chips and debris.
The egg is a rather elongated oval, somewhat compressed towards
the smaller end. The texture is very fine and delicate, with a brilliant
gloss ; the colour is pure china-white.
The eggs measure about 1-28 by 0-93 inches.
THE BROWN-FRONTED PIED WOODPECKER
DRYOBATES AURICEPS (Vigors)
(Plate xvi, Fig. 3, opposite page 330)
Description. — Length 8 inches. Male : Forehead and crown
umber-brown ; crest golden-yellow in front, crimson behind ; sides
of the head and neck and the chin white finely mixed with black ;
ear-coverts very pale brown ; upper parts black, broadly barred with
white across the upper back and shoulders ; wings black, conspicuously
spotted with white ; tail black, the outer feathers barred with buffy-
white ; lower parts fulvescent-white, tinged with yellow in the centre
of the abdomen, streaked with black, and bordered on the sides of the
cheeks by a brown band which becomes black and breaks up into
spots on the sides of the neck ; a patch of pale crimson under the base
of the tail.
The female lacks the gold and crimson on the crest which is merely
yellower than the forehead and crown.
Iris crimson ; eye-patch plumbeous ; bill horny-plumbeous ; legs
dull plumbeous-green.
Field Identification. — Common West Himalayan form. A dull-
coloured Woodpecker, black barred with white above, whitish with
dark streaks below, a reddish patch under the tail and a yellow and
brown top to the head, crested in the male with crimson. Quiet and
familiar in its habits.
The complete red crown of the male and the black crown of the
female easily distinguish the very similar Fulvous-breasted Pied
Woodpecker (Dryobates macei) which is common at low elevations
throughout the whole length of the Himalayas from about Murree
eastwards. It is also found in Lower Bengal and towards Vizagapatam.
Another common species, confined to the Western Himalayas
and particularly noticeable in Kashmir, is the Himalayan Pied Wood-
pecker (Dryobates himalayensis). This is black and white with the
crown crimson in the male, but the back is black with a white patch
on each shoulder, not barred.
280 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
In appearance the Sind Pied Woodpecker (Dryobates scindianus) of
the more barren areas of North-west India is very similar.
Distribution. — Found throughout the Western Himalayas from
Chitral and Hazara to Nepal at elevations between 2000 and 7500
feet and in smaller numbers up to 9000 feet. Here it is a resident
species, but it is also found in Afghanistan, and from there wanders
in winter into the Samana and Kohat.
Habits, etc. — This is the ordinary common Woodpecker of the
hill stations of the Western Himalayas from Murree to Mussoorie.
It is found chiefly in the forests of oak and cheel pine, but wanders
into cultivation and gardens, and is a familiar species, very indifferent
to the near neighbourhood of man. I have known a pair roost nightly
on the top of the pillars supporting a verandah roof of a forest rest-
house, and one winter a single bird slept regularly in a nest-box affixed
to a tree near my house.
The call-note is a rather loud plaintive peek, repeated at regular
and monotonous intervals. It is traced to its source with difficulty,
as the sound at times can be very ventriloquial, and then at last the
bird will be found sitting at the extremity of some dead bough at the
top of an oak, continually jerking its body and twisting its head and
neck from side to side as it surveys the world below, glancing here,
there and everywhere on the alert for possible danger. When the
bird is down on a tree trunk busy feeding the sound is easier to locate,
and as this Woodpecker is far from shy and very common it is easy to
observe and procure if required.
The breeding season is in April and May. The nest hole is the
usual cleanly excavated tunnel and nest chamber in the trunk or
large bough of a tree, and no nest is made, the eggs being laid on
chips and debris at the bottom of the hole ; very occasionally a natural
hollow in a tree is used. The site of the nest may be at any height from
5 to 40 feet from the ground.
The clutch varies from three to five eggs.
The egg is a rather lengthened and pointed oval, fine and glossy
in texture, and pure unmarked white in colour.
In size it averages about 0-92 by 0*68 inches.
THE MAHRATTA WOODPECKER
DRYOBATES MAHRATTENSIS (Latham)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Male : Forehead and crown
brownish-yellow, a small crest scarlet ; back of neck smoky-brown ;
back and shoulders brownish-black and white irregularly mixed ;
wings blackish-brown heavily spotted with white ; tail blackish-
brown, spotted with white, which from below appears fulvescent ;
THE MAHRATTA WOODPECKER
281
chin and throat and the front and sides of the neck whitish, with a brown
stripe on the sides of the neck which breaks up into longitudinal
streaks on the sides of the breast ; remainder of lower plumage
streaked with brown, a bright scarlet patch in the middle of the lower
abdomen.
The female lacks the scarlet on the crest.
Fie. 42 Mahratta Woodpecker (i nat. size)
legs
Iris deep red ; eye-patch plumbeous ; bill clear plumbeous ;
bright plumbeous.
Field Identification. — Abundant plains species. A small dingy
Woodpecker, spotted sooty-brown and white on the upper parts with
a brownish-yellow top to the head, and in the male a scarlet crest.
Distribution. — This Woodpecker is found in India, Northern
Ceylon, Upper Burma, and Cochin-China. In India it is found
from the foot of the Himalayas, which it ascends to about 2500 feet,
or more, down to the extreme south. In the north-west it is found
aSa POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
at Peshawar and Rawal Pindi, but it is scarce to the west of the Indus
and in Sind and Rajputana, nor is it found in South-eastern Bengal.
It is a strictly resident species. The typical race belongs to Southern
India, and northern birds may be separated as L. m. aurocristatus,
but the line of demarcation is not very marked.
The Indian Pygmy Woodpecker (Dryobates hardwickii) is well
distributed throughout India south of the Himalayas, except in Sind
and the greater part of the Punjab and Rajputana. Its dull plumage
and small size — for it is only as big as a Sparrow — readily distinguish
it from the rest of the family.
Another species, the Himalayan Pygmy Woodpecker (Dryobates
nanus) is found along the foot-hills of the Himalayas.
Habits y etc. — This little Woodpecker, though common, is somewhat
locally distributed, and it avoids both the drier, more open plains and
heavy forest. It is a bird of cultivation and groves, roadside avenues,
low scrub-jungle and gardens, and in such localities it feeds quietly on
the tree-trunks and branches, paying little or no attention to passers-by.
Owing to its small size it is rather apt to get into trouble with other
small birds and squirrels, but it is a courageous bird and resists with
spirit their endeavours to trespass in its laboriously constructed nest
hole. It is always found solitary, except when paired for the breeding
season. Like many other Woodpeckers, this species drums with its
beak on a dead bough, apparently as an outlet for sexual emotion.
The ordinary call-note is a rather weak peek, uttered at short
intervals.
The breeding season lasts from February to April, but most eggs
will be found in March. The nest hole is excavated in a bough of a
tree, usually one leaning out of the perpendicular, and the entrance
hole is made on the underside of the bough. It is small, about i\ inches4
in diameter, and the entrance tunnel is about 15 inches long. No nest
is made, the eggs being laid merely on chips of wood at the bottom
of the irregular chamber to which the tunnel leads.
The clutch consists of three eggs. These in shape are a rather
lengthened oval, fine and glossy in texture, and pure white in colour.
In size they average about 0-87 by 0*68 inches.
THE RUFOUS WOODPECKER
MlCROPTERNUS BRACHYURUS (Vieillot)
Description. — Length 10 inches. Sexes alike. The whole plumage
chestnut-brown, duller and darker on the lower parts and with the
following markings ; top of the head washed with dusky brown, the
feathers slightly paler at the edges ; upper parts from the mantle and
the wing- and tail-feathers with black transverse bars ; a patch of
THE RUFOUS WOODPECKER 383
feathers under the eye tipped with crimson ; feathers of the chin and
throat broadly edged with fulvous.
The plumage is very variable. The colour varies from dull to
bright chestnut or bay and the head from chestnut to dark brown while
the barring on the upper parts may be fairly general or virtually absent.
The female is said to lack the patch of crimson under the eye, but
there seems to be some doubt about this and I have had no opportunity
of verifying the fact by dissection.
Iris brownish-red ; bill blackish-brown, base of lower mandible
plumbeous ; legs and feet greyish-brown.
The first toe is very poorly developed.
Field Identification, — A chestnut-coloured Woodpecker with a
certain amount of black barring on the back, wings and tail and a
squamated throat. Found in open country and largely dependent on
the Tree-ants for its economy.
Distribution. — There are three races of the Rufous Woodpecker in
our area. Micropternus b. phaioceps, as described above, is found along
the Eastern Himalayas from Nepal to Upper Assam, in Assam, Bengal
and Bihar, in the Chota Nagpur area and rarely in the Central Provinces
(Balaghat and Chanda). It is also found in Burma and Tennasserim.
M. b. humei from the Western Himalayas (Garhwal and Kumaon) is
slightly larger and paler. M. b. jerdonii, a smaller bird with the throat
squamation dark chocolate and white in colour, is found along the
western coast from the neighbourhood of Bombay to the South Travan-
core hills, in the Sheveroy Hills and in Ceylon. All races are birds of
low elevations from sea-level to about 4000 feet or occasionally 5000 feet.
Habits, etc. — The Rufous Woodpecker is not a bird of heavy forest.
It prefers tea-gardens with light shade trees, open cultivated country
with bamboo clumps or fairly open deciduous forest. On occasion it
enters banana cultivation and clinging to the smooth trunks of the
banana trees bores into the soft tissues near the base of the leaves and
sucks the sap. It is not as a rule very numerous and will generally be
found singly, feeding at no great height from the ground and sometimes
even on it. The call is a high-pitched ke-ke-ke-ke somewhat of the
timbre of the Common Mynah's call and the bird is much addicted to
drumming.
It is, however, in connection with the Tree-ants of the genus
Cremastogaster that one usually thinks of this Woodpecker. In the first
place the plumage of the bird is always smeared with some gummy
substance, particularly on the head and breast and on the tail. It has
also a strong peculiar smell and one presumes that both of these features
are due to the formic acid of the ants and their larvae. These form a
large part of the bird's food, but they also affect the plumage more
directly. The ants are particularly ferocious ; they are instant to
attack and once they get hold of anything they never let go. As the
a84
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Woodpecker climbs a tree it is always meeting with the wandering ants
and the plumage, particularly the tail, rubs against them. They seize
the feathers and are rubbed to pieces but the heads remain, sometimes
in scores, adhering to the feathers.
/ ' '. ] r i ' v^r^f
' '- ^ * ''^^r
,-f ^ ^f',,^'0^^''V-^
FIG. 43 — Rufous Woodpecker (J nat. size)
The connection of ant and woodpecker is, however, still more
intimate, for the woodpecker is dependent on the ant for its nesting-
places.
The nests of the tree-ants of the genus Crematogaster must be well
known to all who wander in Indian jungles. They look like large
cellular balls of black papier-mache and measure anything from
THE RUFOUS WOODPECKER 285
8 inches to 2 feet in diameter and are built in trees and bamboos at any
height from the ground between 7 and 70 feet, but most often between
10 and 30 feet. They are usually built round the fork of a sapling and
the material of the nest is exceedingly hard.
In these ant-nests the woodpecker excavates its own nest hole, not
when they are abandoned but whilst they are in active use and tenanted
by their own makers. The entrance tunnel is made at one side and the
cavity is some 5 or 6 inches in diameter. The ants do not interfere
with the sitting bird or the eggs and young, and the woodpeckers do
not apparently interfere with the owners of the occupied nest. This
remarkable situation is emphasised by the character of the eggs.
They are slightly elongated ovals, fine in texture and very strong
and hard, and of course pure white. Their peculiarity is that the
surface is mat instead of highly polished like most woodpeckers' eggs,
and the shell is so translucent that the yolk does not give a pink tinge
to the whole egg but shows through as a yellow ball.
The normal clutch consists of three eggs. The breeding season of
all Indian races is from February to June.
The egg measures about i-oo by 0-75 inches.
THE GOLDEN-BACKED WOODPECKER
BRACHYPTERNUS BENGHALENSIS (Linnaeus)
(Plate xvii, Fig. 4, opposite page 352)
Description. — Length 1 1 inches. Male : Top of the head and a
crest bright crimson, the feathers partly marked with black or white ;
sides of the head and neck white, streaked with black along a narrow
line at the edge of the crimson and in a broader band through the
eye from the nostril to the nape ; hind neck, lower back and tail black ;
upper back and shoulders rich golden-yellow, sometimes tinged with
orange-red ; wing-coverts black at the shoulder, gradually changing
to golden olive-yellow, the smaller feathers spotted with fulvescent
white ; flight-feathers brownish-black boldly spotted with white, and
all but the outer feathers with the outer webs washed with golden
olive-yellow ; chin, throat and fore-neck black with numerous short
white stripes, this pattern gradually merging into that of the breast
where the feathers are buffy-white with broad black borders ; these
black borders become cross bands on the flanks and below the tail and
gradually die away on the lower abdomen which is practically white.
Female : Differs from the male in having the front half of the crown
black, each feather being tipped with white.
Iris red-brown, eyelids greenish-plumbeous ; bill slaty-plumbeous ;
legs dark greenish-plumbeous, claws dusky.
a86 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Field Identification. — Common plains bird. Found climbing up
the bark of trees or flying from tree to tree with heavy undulating
flight ; black and white plumage with vivid crimson crest and brilliant
golden back immediately catch the eye, while the loud call is a well-
known sound.
Distribution. — Found almost throughout India and Ceylon as a
resident species divided into races. A pale and much spotted form,
B. b. dilutus, is found in Sind, Baluchistan and the neighbouring
portions of the Punjab, grading on the edges of its range into* the
typical race which extends throughout Northern India from the
foot-hills of the Himalayas to Eastern Bengal and Assam. It is found
in the Central Provinces, but in Hyderabad State grades into B. b.
puncticollis, with much more black on the throat ; this is found through-
out Southern India with the exception of the rain area from Cannanore
to Cape Comorin where the richly-coloured B. b. tehmince is found.
B. b. intermedius of Ceylon is smaller and paler.
This Woodpecker must be distinguished from the larger Tickell's
Golden-backed Woodpecker (Chrysocolaptes guttacristatus) and the two
smaller Golden-backed Three-toed Woodpeckers (Dinopium javanense
and D. shorei). All four are very similar in appearance but the Golden-
backed Woodpecker may be separated by the black rump (as opposed
to red), by the presence of white spots on the shoulder and by having
the chin and throat spotted black and white (as opposed to white with
certain defined black lines). Also the female has a red crest, absent
in the others. TickelPs Woodpecker is found along the base of the
Himalayas as far west as the Jumna, the west coast from Khandesh
southwards and locally from Chanda to Calcutta. D. javanense is
found along the west coast from Goa southwards. D. shorei has the
same distribution in the Himalayas as TickelPs Woodpecker. Both4
species lack the small first toe.
The well-known Wryneck (Jynx torquilla) breeds in Kashmir and
is a winter visitor to most parts of India. It is grey and brown like
lichen-covered bark with the lower parts finely barred.
Habits, etc. — The Golden-backed Woodpecker is one of the
best-known of our Indian species, both from its brilliant coloration
and from the fact that it is a bolder bird than most of its family. It
avoids forest areas, and is found, by preference, in open, cultivated
districts and gardens where avenues of ancient trees provide it with
a happy hunting ground. In such places it lives singly or in pairs,
climbing busily about the trunks and branches of the trees ; it progresses
in a series of jerks and always rests with the body in a perpendicular
position with the head upwards ; it virtually never perches on a twig
or branch crossways, and when it wishes to descend a foot or two to
search some special crevice in the bark it moves down backward with
the same awkward jerks with which it ascends. The wonderful adapta-
[Face p. 286
THE GOLDEN-BACKED WOODPECKER 287
tion of the structure of a Woodpecker to its needs is easily apparent.
The strong claws grasp the crevices of the bark and from their position
automatically tilt the cone-shaped body backwards on to the stiff
graduated tail which presses into the bark so that the bird's own weight
increases the firmness of its stance. In this position the long neck
affords a swing for the blows of the pickaxe beak which chip off the
bark and rotten wood revealing the lurking places of insects and their
larvae. Then the long-barbed tongue, with its sticky saliva, is extruded,
collecting food from the borings and crevices. At the same time it is
curious to note that although this and other Woodpeckers do feed on
the wood-boring larvae of beetles and on tree-living termites, the
major portion of their food undoubtedly consists of ants which might
easily be obtained without any special adaptation of structure. These
are mostly obtained on tree-trunks, though occasionally the bird
descends to the ground to procure them.
The flight is heavy and undulating, with rapid noisy beats of the
wings : and one bird often follows another from tree to tree.
The call is a loud harsh scream, of several syllables, which is uttered
both from a tree and on the wing.
The breeding season varies according to locality, from February
to July. The nest hole is bored by the birds themselves in the branch
or trunk of a tree, at any height from 4 to 40 feet from the ground.
Normally the entrance, which is about 3 inches in diameter, runs in
for a few inches horizontally and then turns downwards into a large oval
chamber some 6 inches in diameter in which the eggs rest on chips and
debris. But when tunnelling, the birds often hit upon a natural cavity
in the wood which is then utilised, however deep or large it may be.
The normal clutch consists of three eggs. The egg is a long oval
rather pointed at the smaller end ; the texture is fine and hard with a
high gloss, and the colour is pure unmarked milk-white.
It measures about i- 10 by 0-80 inches.
THE GREAT HIMALAYAN BARBET
MEGAL^EMA VIRENS (Boddaert)
(Plate xv, Fig. 2, opposite page 308)
Description. — Length 13 inches. Sexes alike. Head and neck
black with deep violet-blue edges to the feathers ; back and shoulders
brownish-olive, the upper back streaked with greenish-yellow ; a
broad patch above the base of the tail grass-green ; wings blackish-
brown, washed with blue-green and olive-brown ; tail green above,
below blackish, washed with pale blue,; upper breast dark olive-brown ;
remainder of lower parts blue down the centre, striped yellow and brown
on the sides with a scarlet patch under the tail.
288 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Iris brown ; bill yellow ; legs greenish-horny.
In this and the following species of Barbet the bill is large and
somewhat flattened and swollen, with a wide gape fringed with hairs ;
the feet have the ist and 4th toes directed backwards and the 2nd and
3rd toes directed forwards as in the Woodpeckers, but the claws are
weaker, as the Barbets perch like ordinary birds and do not climb on
perpendicular trunks and boughs.
Field Identification. — Himalayan form, best known by the* call,
a loud melancholy mee-ou which resounds through a whole nullah.
In spite of the gaudy plumage when closely examined, in the forest
it appears a dark dully-coloured bird, chiefly conspicuous for the
large yellow bill and the red patch under the tail. Purely arboreal.
Distribution. — This handsome Barbet extends from the Salt Range
throughout the Himalayas into Assam and Burma and eastwards to
China. It is divided into two races, of which we are concerned with
only one. This race, M. v. marshallorum, is found throughout the whole
of the Himalayas from Hazara on the west to Bhutan and Assam on the
east. It breeds at elevations from 4000 to 8000 feet, and in winter
moves down to a lower zone, even extending into the foot-hills and
the plains that border thereon.
Habits, etc. — During the breeding season this Barbet is an inhabitant
of shady wooded nullahs, preferably those clothed with deciduous
trees, and though seldom seen, except when it ventures into roadside
bushes after fruit, is well known about the hill stations as a disembodied
voice. The bird sits high up in some shady tree, uttering monotonously
time and again its mournful cry, a weird melancholy peeee-oh or mee-ou
or pyillo, which is audible half a mile away as it resounds through the
nullah, and being partly ventriloquial, as the bird turns its head from
side to side, is traced to its origin with difficulty. Another characteristic
note is gyok-gyok-gyok, and occasionally a harsh karr-r uttered with
reiteration. Often two or three of the birds answer each other from
different trees, each appearing as if it were trying to outdo the others
with the loudness of its voice.
The hillmen have a legend that the bird is the reincarnation of
the soul of a suitor, who died of grief at the unjust termination of
his lawsuit, and that eternally his plaint rises to heaven un-nee-ow,
un-nee-ow — injustice, injustice.
In winter these birds collect into small parties and then move
down into the lower and more open hill jungles, where they feed on
various fruits and are then very tame.
The flight is strong and vigorous, with great undulations like the
flight of a Woodpecker, the beat of the wings producing a similar noise.
This bird breeds in May and June and excavates its own nest
hole in the trunks and boughs of the larger trees, usually at a great
height from the ground, but occasionally within easy reach. The
THE GREAT HIMALAYAN BARBET 289
entrance passage is usually short and leads into a rounded chamber
in which the eggs rest on chips and debris ; sometimes the passage
leads straight into a natural hollow, which saves the birds the trouble
of excavating an egg chamber.
The normal clutch consists of four eggs. They are variable in
shape but are normally rather lengthened ovals, regular and somewhat
obtuse at both ends. They are very fragile, fine in texture, and pure
white with little gloss.
They measure about 1-37 by 0-98 inches.
THE GREEN BARBET
THEREICERYX ZEYLANICUS (Gmelin)
(Plate xvi, Fig. i, opposite page 330)
Description. — Length 10 inches. Sexes alike. Head, neck and
breast brown, with narrow pale shaft-streaks ; upper plumage bright
green, in places with narrow pale shaft-streaks terminating in whitish
spots ; flight-feathers brown, edged paler ; tail bright green, washed
below with pale verditer-blue.
Iris reddish-brown ; a large naked space round the eye to the
base of the beak orange ; bill dead fleshy-pink ; legs light yellowish-
brown.
Field Identification. — Common arboreal plains bird, best known
from its loud resounding call, kotur-kotur-kotur. In appearance a
coarse green bird, with brownish head and a swollen conspicuous
beak. Needs to be distinguished from the closely allied Lineated
Barbet (Thereiceryx lineatus) of the Lower Himalayas, in which the
pale stripes are much broader and the naked eye-patch does not extend
to the base of the beak.
A third species of very similar appearance, but smaller, the Small
Green Barbet (Thereiceryx viridis) is extremely common in the
Shevaroys and along the west coast from Khandala to Cape Comorin.
Distribution. — This Barbet is confined to India and Ceylon ; it
is divided into three races. The typical form, small and dark, is
found in Travancore • and Ceylon. T. z. caniceps, the largest and
palest race, is found in Northern India. Its distribution is rather
irregular ; it is found in the North-west Provinces, and along the
foot of the Himalayas up to about 2500 feet as far west as Kangra
and Gurdaspur, in Eastern Guzerat, the Central Provinces and
South-western Bengal, the forest tracts between the Ganges and
Godavari, and in portions of the Madras Presidency ; also about
Mount Aboo. An intermediate race, T. & inornatus, is found along
the west coast from Bombay to Coorg. It is a strictly resident species.
T
290 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Habits \ etc. — Like several other birds in India, this Barbet is exceed-
ingly well known by sound to many people who do not know it by
sight. It is purely arboreal, affecting richly-wooded and well-watered
localities, especially in the neighbourhood of hills which it ascends
to an altitude of about 3000 feet. It feeds chiefly on the fruit of wild
fig trees, such as the banyan and peepul, and living high from the ground
amongst their heavy foliage, is hard to see ; for the green plumage
blends with the leaves, and the curious flesh-coloured beak #nd
yellow eye-patch simulate the berries ; as if aware of this protective
coloration it relies on it for concealment and is still and silent in the
presence of danger. The flight is strong but rather heavy and
undulating.
The presence of the bird is, however, revealed by the call, which
is one of the familiar sounds of India. It may be heard throughout
the year, though it is most persistent from January to June, when
the breeding season urges the bird to its greatest efforts. It occasionally
calls at night. The call is loud and monotonous and starts with a harsh
sort of laugh, followed by a disyllabic call, which may be written
tur-r-r-r kutur-kotur-kotur ; another method of expressing it is by a
repetition several times of the word Pakrao.
The eggs are laid in March and April. The nest hole is a chamber
excavated in one of the larger branches of a soft-wooded tree with a
short entrance tunnel which is neatly cut and rounded. It is excavated
by the birds themselves, and they work very hard and continuously
until it is finished. The hole is at any height from 6 to 50 feet from the
ground. There is no nest, the eggs being merely laid on chips at the
bottom of the hole.
The clutch consists of two to four eggs, which are laid rather
irregularly, so that eggs in different stages of incubation may be
found in the same clutch. The eggs are somewhat elongated very
regular ovals, dull white, slightly glossy and unusually fragile for
their size.
They measure about 1*20 by 0*87 inches.
THE BLUE-THROATED BARBET
CYANOPS ASIATICA (Latham)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head
crimson, broken by a transverse black band above the eyes which
turns backwards and borders the red over the ears ; the transverse
band has a yellow border in front ; remainder of upper plumage
grass-green, the flight-feathers blackish-brown, and the under surface
of the tail washed with pale blue ; sides of the head, chin, throat
THE BLUE-THROATED BARBET 291
and fore-neck pale verditer-blue, with a crimson speck on each side at
the lower base of the beak, and with a large crimson spot on each side of
the neck ; remainder of lower plumage yellowish-green.
Iris brown ; eyelids orange ; bill greenish-yellow, blackish above ;
legs dingy green, claws blackish.
Field Identification. — Sub-Himalayan species with a conspicuous
call, kuttooruk ; a bright green bird with a gaudy mixture of black,
crimson and blue about the head. Purely arboreal.
Distribution. — This rather gaudy species is found from the Hima-
layas to Assam, Burma and Siam, and is divided into several races. We
are merely concerned with the typical form, which is a resident species
throughout the Lower Himalayas and the Sub-Himalayan forests from
Chamba eastwards, extending also into Lower Bengal, Assam and
Burma. It is found from the level of the plains up to about 6000 feet.
Habits, etc. — The Blue-throated Barbet is found not so much in
thick forest as in the more open hill jungles, where villages and
cultivation have let in the sun and caused the growth of that rich
and varied tree flora which is a great feature of the lower hills. In
such places wild fruits of various kinds are extremely common, and
on these the Barbet lives, wandering freely from tree to tree without
fear of man, even nesting in the middle of the villages. It is purely
arboreal and never descends to the ground, the variegated green
plumage rendering it almost invisible in the thickly foliaged trees.
Invisible it may be but inaudible it is not, especially in the spring ;
Bussant Bairi — the old woman of the spring — has a loud hard voice
which echoes through the villages with its incessant call of kuruwak-
kuruwak-kuruwak or kuttooruk. By some hill tribes this bird is killed
for food.
The breeding season lasts from April to July.
The nest hole is excavated in the trunk or bough of a tree generally
at a height of 10 or 15 feet from the ground, a small or medium-sized
tree being usually chosen. The entrance hole is only about a foot
long, and in the nest chamber the eggs are laid merely on debris,
though occasionally a pad of fibres, grass and other materials is found
beneath the eggs.
The clutch consists of three eggs. These are pure white in colour,
fine and compact in texture, sometimes with a slight gloss. The shape
is a rather broad or elongated oval, somewhat pointed towards the small
end.
The egg measures about 1*09 by 0-83 inches.
29* POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE COPPERSMITH
XANTHOL^MA IUEMACEPHALA (P. L. S. Miiller)
(Plate x, Fig. 4, opposite page 198)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. A broad patch
across the forehead and a broad gorget across the fore-neck bright
glistening crimson ; a streak above the eye and a broader patch below
it and the chin and throat bright yellow ; a golden-yellow band round
the lower edge of the crimson gorget ; a black band through the eye
from the nostril and another from the gape below the cheeks, both
merging into a broader black band which passes behind the ears
and over the top of the head ; remainder of the upper plumage
olivaceous-green tinged with greyish on the back and sides of the neck,
and slightly streaked with yellowish on the back : concealed portions of
the flight-feathers blackish ; lower plumage yellowish-white, streaked
broadly with olivaceous-green especially on the flanks ; tail faintly
washed below with verditer-blue.
Iris brown ; eyelids dull crimson ; bill black ; legs coral-red,
claws black.
Field Identification. — Plains species, purely arboreal, and most
familiar from its monotonous call ; a small heavily-built greenish
bird with gaudy yellow, crimson and black markings about the head.
Distribution. — Widely distributed through the greater part of
the Indian Empire and Ceyfon, and farther eastwards to the Malay
Peninsula, Sumatra, and the Philippines. In India we are concerned
only with one race, X. h. indica. This is not found in Baluchistan, the
North-west Frontier Province or the South-western Punjab. With
these exceptions it is found throughout India from the outer foot-hills
of the Himalayas below 3000 feet, right down to the south. It is,
however, rare in Sind and Cutch and in Southern Malabar. A strictly
resident species.
A very similar bird, the Crimson-throated Barbet (Xantholcema
rubricapilla), with the chin and throat crimson and the lower parts
pale green unstreaked, is common along the west coast from above Goa
to the extreme south. It is represented in Ceylon by a yellow-throated
race.
Habits, etc. — The Coppersmith or Crimson-breasted Barbet is
another of those Indian birds whose voice is more familiar to most
people than its form. It is found in every type of open country where
large trees abound and is purely arboreal, sitting and feeding amongst
the green leaves with which its plumage assimilates, and never descend-
ing either to bushes or the ground. The flight is fairly strong and
straight, 'with quick regular beats of the short wings, and the bird has
THE COPPERSMITH 293
no hesitation in flying high from tree to tree, often for a considerable
distance.
The outstanding characteristic of the bird is its voice ; the note is
a loud but mellow took, in which is the unmistakable ring of metal, like
the tap of a small hammer on metal ; and this is repeated indefinitely
at regular intervals as if a veritable coppersmith were at work ; its
monotony can be most exasperating as the sound never changes or
varies except that it is somewhat ventriloquial ; when the bird turns
its head from side to side the call appears to come from different direc-
tions, as if two smiths were smiting alternately the same anvil. As the
thermometer rises so does the persistence of the bird grow, and then
its note may be definitely included amongst the hot weather worries of
India. It usually calls from near the top of a tree, sometimes indeed
clinging to the side of an upright twig. The call may be heard through-
out the day, but not after dark.
The food consists almost entirely of the fruit of the various species
of wild fig.
The breeding season is from February to May.
The eggs are laid in a hole in the bough of a tree, which is used and
lengthened year by year until it may attain the length of 4 or 5 feet.
The entrance is invariably a neat round hole cut by the birds themselves,
usually on the under surface of the bough ; but though the gallery and
nest chamber may both be the work of the birds themselves, the gallery
often cuts into a natural decayed hollow which is then smoothed and
used. When the passage of several years has lengthened the hollow
unduly a new entrance is frequently cut nearer to the egg chamber.
There is no nest, the eggs merely lying on chips and debris. The nest
hole is at any height from 7 to 40 feet from the ground.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs. They are long, narrow
and nearly cylindrical in shape, very fragile and smooth in texture,
with little or no gloss. The colour is pure unmarked white.
In size the egg averages about 0-99 by 0-69 inches.
THE BLUE-JAY
CORACIAS BENGHALENSIS
(Plate xvii, Fig. 2, opposite page 352)
Description. — Length 13 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head
bluish-green ; back and sides of the neck deep vinous ; upper plumage
dull greenish-brown, a patch of blue above the base of the tail ; wings
mixed blues and greens, the quills being deep purplish-blue marked
conspicuously with a broad band of pale blue ; tail deep blue, with
a broad subterminal band of pale blue, interrupted by the central
T2
294 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
pair of feathers which are dull greenish ; sides of head and throat
purplish-lilac, streaked with whitish ; breast vinous, also faintly
streaked with whitish ; remainder of lower plumage pale blue.
Iris greyish-brown ; naked skin round the eye gamboge ; bill
blackish-brown ; legs brownish-yellow.
The three front toes are more or less united at the base.
Field Identification. — One of the best-known birds of India ; a
heavy lumpy-looking nondescript-coloured bird which, as it takes
to flight, reveals glorious Oxford-blue wings and tail, banded with
Cambridge-blue.
Distribution. — The Blue-Jay or Indian Roller is widely spread
throughout India, Burma and Ceylon, occurring also to the west as
far as Amara, and to the east to Siam and Cochin-China. Several
races have been distinguished. The typical race extends from the
Persian Gulf throughout Northern India to Eastern Bengal. In
the southern half of the Peninsula and Ceylon it is replaced by
C. b. indica, while the darker and more mauve Burmese bird is known as
C. b. affinis. The Common Roller of Kashmir, however, which may be
easily distinguished by having the lower parts pale blue throughout and
by lacking the wing and tail-bars, is C. garrula semenovi, a race of the
European bird. This species is very plentiful on migration in the plains
of North-western India. It should be emphasised that these birds are
in no way related to the true Jays which belong to the Crow family.
The Indian Roller is a plains bird, and does not ascend the Hima-
layas over about 4000 feet ; while in the main a resident species, it is
locally migratory.
Very similar in appearance is the Broad-billed Roller Eurystomus
orientalis, not rare in the foothills of the Himalayas, from Kumaon
eastwards. It also occurs in South-west India and Ceylon but is
far from common. It is a dull blue colour with a very distinct pale
blue wing bar noticeable in flight. ,
Habits, etc. — Under the familiar name of Blue-Jay this Roller is
one of the best-known of our Indian birds. It is a bird of open country,
avoiding heavy jungle and preferring cultivation. There is very little
variation in its habits ; except in the breeding season it is found singly,
but is so common that single birds will be met all over the country-
side every quarter mile or so. It chooses an elevated open perch on
which to sit, a dead bough of an ancient tree, the woodwork over a well,
a ruined building, a telegraph post or wire, or in default of something
better, a thorn bush or stone heap. On such a spot it sits motionless,
the bright colours concealed or blending with the variegated tints of an
Indian landscape ; but all the while the large dark eyes are watching
the ground in every direction ; and a grasshopper has only to walk
along a blade of grass, or a cricket or mouse to emerge from its burrow,
and the Roller has launched itself straight at the spot to capture the
THE BLUE-JAY 295
toothsome morsel, settling on the ground beside it, and then flying
back to its perch. To my last day in India I shall never lose the thrill
that comes to me every time that I see the sudden transformation, as
the dark lumpy bird reveals the banded glory of its wings and tail.
Tn early February the Roller betrays the secret of its name ; its
sedateness is exchanged for the love flights in which it rises and falls
in the air with wildly flapping wings and harsh grating screams,
advertising to all and sundry that Spring is in the air. The ordinary
flight is strong and buoyant with slow but continuous flapping of the
wings ; occasionally it pursues insects on the wing, but this is not usual.
This bird is sacred to Shiva, who is said to have assumed its form.
The breeding season lasts from the end of March until July. The
nest is invariably built in a hole, either in a tree or a building. It is a
formless pad of tow, vegetable fibres, grass, old rags and similar
materials, but it varies in size according to the circumstances of the
hole adopted, and occasionally the eggs are merely laid on debris and
chips in the bottom of the hole without any real nest being constructed.
The eggs are four or five in number. They are very broad ovals,
sometimes almost spherical, highly glossy and hard in texture, of an
unmarked pure china-white.
In size they average about 1-30 by 1-05 inches.
THE GREEN BEE-EATER
MEROPS ORIENTALIS Latham
(Plate x, Fig. i, opposite page 198)
Description. — Length 9 inches, including 2 inches for the elongated
central pair of tail-feathers. Sexes alike. Entire plumage bright green,
in places tinged with blue, markedly so on the chin and throat ; the
crown to the upper back tinged with golden-ferruginous ; flight-feathers
rufous, washed exteriorly with green and finely tipped with blackish ;
a mark in front and below the eye and a fine gorget-line black.
Iris blood-red ; bill black ; legs dark plumbeous.
The bill is long, slender and curved ; the feet are feeble with the
three anterior toes united at the base, and the two central tail-feathers
are long and pointed.
Field Identification. — Abundant plains species, easily identified
by its long slender shape, with long beak and elongated central tail-
feathers, and by the green plumage, with a coppery sheen from the
wings in flight. Smaller than all other Indian Bee-Eaters. Hawks
from trees and telegraph-wires.
Distribution. — This little Bee-Eater has an extensive range from
Egypt through India, Ceylon and Burma to Siam and Cochin-China.
296 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
In this wide area it has, of course, been divided into several races,
of which we are concerned with two. The typical race is found
throughout India and Ceylon, with the exception of Sind, the Punjab,
North-west Frontier Province and Baluchistan where it is replaced by
M. o. beludschicus, a rather paler bird with a bluer throat. While
ordinarily a plains bird, this Bee-Eater ascends the Outer Himalayas
and other hill ranges occasionally to a height of 5000 to 6000 feet and
even higher. It is locally migratory, though the movements still
require to be worked out.
Habits, etc. — The Green Bee-Eater avoids heavy forest and the
wetter tracts of India, and is most abundant wherever the country is
open, frequenting both cultivation and desert areas. It is certainly
one of the commonest birds of India, and attracts attention from its
beautiful coloration and from its favourite perch being on the telegraph-
wires. It also settles on trees, low bushes and walls, but only visits the
ground for nesting purposes, the small and weak feet rendering the bird
incapable of progression by walking or hopping ; like other Bee-Eaters
it spends its life hawking insects from a perch to which it returns after
every flight, usually carrying a captured insect of some size which is
battered to death and eaten there. The flight is free and graceful, and
when the bird is travelling it is somewhat undulating. The note is a
pleasant, cheerful but rather monotonous trill, tree-tree-tree-tree, which
is usually uttered on the wing.
These birds are fond of living in small parties and they are very
social at the roost, two or three hundred often collecting to sleep in a
clump of trees.
The breeding season lasts from the middle of March until the
beginning of June.
The eggs are laid in a circular chamber reached by a tunnel excavated
in the ground, usually in the face of a perpendicular bank or cutting ;
the entrance tunnel may be anything up to 5 feet in length, and the
opening is circular and very neatly cut, all the work being done by the
birds themselves. No nest is built, the eggs being merely laid on the
bare floor of the cavity.
The clutch varies from three to five eggs. They are nearly spherical
in shape, pure white in colour without markings, and the texture is hard
and brilliantly glossy.
They average 0*75 by 0*7 inches in size.
THE BLUE-TAILED BEE-EATER 297
THE BLUE-TAILED BEE-EATER
MEROPS SUPERCILIOSUS Linnaeus
(Plate xvi, Fig. 2, opposite page 330)
Description. — Length 12 inches, including elongated central pair of
tail-feathers 2 inches. Sexes alike. A broad black streak from the beak
through the eye, bordered narrowly above and broadly below by blue ;
upper plumage green tinged with rufous passing on the rump into
verditer-blue ; the wings more rufous-green than the back and tipped
with blackish ; tail verditer-blue, dark brown below, the long central
pair of feathers tipped with black ; throat chestnut passing into green
on the breast, and this in turn into blue under the tail.
Iris crimson ; bill black ; legs dusky-plumbeous.
The bill is long and curved, the three exterior toes are united
about their bases, and the central pair of tail-feathers are elongated
and pointed, projecting 2 inches beyond the others.
Field Identification. — Common plains species, partial to the
neighbourhood of water. Easily identified by long slender shape,
with long sharp bill and central tail-feathers ; distinguish from Green
Bee-Eater by large size, chestnut throat and greenish under parts and
generally duller coloration.
Distribution. — Throughout the greater part of the Oriental region.
We are concerned with only two races. M. s. javanicus, as described
above, occurs from India, Ceylon and Burma to Java. It is generally
but locally distributed almost throughout India, except in Sind. It
occurs along the foothills of the Himalayas up to about 3000 feet.
M. s. persicus is more of a desert bird and is confined in India to parts of
the North-west. It is a bluer, less bronzy-green below ; there is more
blue on the sides of the head and the upper surface of the tail is green.
The European Bee-Eater (Merops apiaster) breeds very abundantly
in Kashmir. The brilliant yellow throat and blue under parts immedi-
ately identify it, whilst the brown and yellow upper parts are conspicuous
in the field.
Habits, etc. — This fine Bee-Eater is common in well-cultivated and
open country, provided it is not too dry. It is particularly partial to the
neighbourhood of water, and may be found in large flights on the banks
of rivers and about j heels and tanks. These birds perch on open
elevated situations, such as tall half-withered trees standing in water or
on telegraph-wires, and continually dart into the air to take a passing
insect which they take back and eat on their perch : but it is a familiar
sight, especially in the evenings, to see a flock drifting along through the
air, flying fast with beating wings for a few yards and then soaring with
stiff open pinions, catching insects as they go. The call-note is freely
398 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
uttered on the wing and is a rather mellow and characteristic sound, a
rolling whistle or chirp teerp. The food consists entirely of insects,
chiefly dragon-flies and bees.
The breeding season is from March to June. The birds nest in
colonies, excavating their nest holes in the face of natural banks or in
mounds like those that mark the site of old brick-kilns. The eggs are
laid on the soil in a rounded chamber which is reached by a tunnel some
4 to 7 feet long. This tunnel is usually not quite straight.
The clutch normally consists of four or five eggs.
The egg is pure white with a very high gloss and fine hard texture.
In shape it is a spherical oval.
The average size is about 0-88 by 0-75 inches.
THE CHESTNUT-HEADED BEE-EATER
MEROPS LESCHENAULTI (Vieillot)
Description. — Length 8-5 inches. The sexes are alike. A line
under the eye and through the ear-coverts black ; head, neck and
lower back chestnut ; upper tail coverts pale blue ; wings and tail
green tinged with black ; throat very pale yellow separated from
the breast by a dark chestnut band, bordered on the posterior margin
with black ; breast, abdomen and under tail coverts grass-green
varying in shade.
Iris crimson ; bill black ; legs dusky black.
Field Identification. — From other Bee-eaters described above this
species is distinguished by the square tail, the two middle tail feathers
not prolonged, and the chestnut back.
Distribution. — The Himalayan Terai from the Kumaon foothills
eastward through Assam and Burma to the Malay Peninsula and
the Andaman Islands. The species is very rare on the east side of
the Peninsula, but on the Malabar coast it is not uncommon though
local, and is found from Belgaum to Travancore and Ceylon. In
the thicker forests in Kanara, both above and below Ghats, it is
generally distributed, and in the Nilgiri and Pulney Hills is common
up to 5000 and 3000 feet respectively, while in the Travancor Hills
it is not rare. It occurs in Mysore and Hyderabad but is local.
In the Himalayas it is not found above 4000 feet. Another striking
species is the Blue-bearded Bee-eater (Alcemerops aihertoni) grass-
green in colour except the forehead, throat and upper breast which
are blue. It is a forest bird found from Kuman along the lower
Himalayas to Assam and south to Tenasserim, also on the Malabar
coast from Belgaum to Travancore, and has occurred in south-west
Behar and Orissa.
Habits, etc. — In some parts of its range in South India, this
THE CHESTNUT-HEADED BEE-EATER 299
Bee-eater is locally migratory. No birds are found in the western
slopes of the Nilgiri Hills between June and November, and in Coorg
large flocks seen in June disappeared by the end of the month. In
the non-breeding season the species is met with in small parties of
from four to eight birds, or in flocks of a hundred or more. As a
rule it is restricted to forested country or maidans interspaced with
trees, and occasionally frequents the vicinity of cultivated areas
surrounded by forests. The birds roost in company in trees or in
tall reeds on river banks, and towards sunset collect in flocks preparatory
to settling down for the night. At this time they behave like flocks
of starlings and there is much calling and flying about. The note
is not to be distinguished from that of the Blue-tailed Bee -eater.
The eggs are laid from February to May, according to the latitude.
The nest is at the end of a tunnel, excavated by the birds themselves,
and is an enlarged chamber some six by eight inches without any
nesting material. The tunnel is about two inches in diameter and
varies very much in length according to the material in which it is
excavated. It is usually from three to eight feet, at times as much
as ten feet when in soft sand, but if in hard earth or clay it may not
be more than a foot or so. The nests are generally near water, in a
bank of a river or stream, and sometimes even in a sandbank in a
river. Not infrequently the birds are flooded out and betake them-
selves to nearby nullahs where they make a new tunnel. The birds
sit very close and both remain in the nesting chamber at night.
Sometimes they breed in colonies, but more often several pairs breed
within a short distance of one another.
The eggs are four to eight in number, pure glossy white.
They measure 0-87 by 0-76 inches.
THE PIED KINGFISHER
CERYLE RUDIS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 12 inches. Male : Top of the head with
a small crest black streaked with white ; a conspicuous white line
over the eye ; a black line from the beak through the eye connecting
with a narrow black line to the black gorget ; an indistinct white
collar on the hind neck ; upper plumage mixed black and white ;
flight-feathers white with irregular black bars ; tail white, with a
broad black terminal band ; lower plumage silvery-white with two
black gorgets across the breast, the upper being the broader ; some
black spots on the sides of the throat and flanks.
The female lacks the hinder gorget and has the other broken in
the centre.
Iris* brown ; bill and legs black.
300 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The bill is long, heavy and pointed ; the feet are weak, the outer
toe being largely united to the centre toe.
Field Identification. — Common plains bird, always found by water,
and conspicuous for its habit of hovering and plunging for fish. Pied
black and white plumage, with a big sharp bill.
Distribution. — This Kingfisher has a wide distribution from Egypt
to China, but in India we are concerned only with the race C. rudis
leucomelanura, which is found practically throughout India, Burma and
Ceylon in the plains. It does not ascend higher than about 2500 feet
in the hill ranges, being replaced above that height in the Himalayas by
the larger Himalayan Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle lugubris) of rather similar
coloration. It is a strictly resident species.
FIG. 44 — Pied Kingfisher (J nat. size)
Habits, etc. — The Pied Kingfisher is to be found in the plains
wherever "there is water, except in the midst of forest. As a breeding
species it is largely confined to the banks of rivers, but having a voracious
appetite and strong flight it wanders far afield and appears at every jheel
and tank, also to some extent visiting tidal creeks and backwaters where
the water is brackish ; in places it may even be found on the seashore.
In such situations this bird may readily be watched at its fishing, for
it is very common and its diet consists entirely of small fish. It flies
over the Water at a height of some 10 to 20 feet above the surface, and
suddenly catching sight of a shoal of fish below checks itself dead in
mid-air and hovers with the wings vibrating rapidly and the bill pointing
perpendicularly downwards, as if taking aim. From this position it
plunges headlong into the water, and if the aim has been true it emerges
with a small fish in the bill and flies away with it, uttering cries of satis-
faction ; but often the plunge is unsuccessful, or the bird checks itself
in mid-dive and hovers again, or goes off finally without diving at all.
In flight a sharp querulous twittering cry is freely uttered. When not
fishing the bird rests on a high bank or post, and these favourite perches
are often marked by the pellets of indigestible fish-scales which the bird
THE PIED KINGFISHER 301
disgorges, like the castings of the birds of prey. When resting the bird
at intervals gives its tail a sharp upward flick.
The breeding season is very early, commencing about December and
lasting until April. The eggs are laid in a circular chamber at the end of
a tunnel, i to 5 feet long, which is invariably excavated in a perpendicular
bank face over running water. There is no nest, but the floor of the
egg-chamber is partly covered with fish-scales and similar debris from
broken-up pellets.
The clutch consists of four to six eggs. They are very broad ovals,
often almost spherical, of a hard texture with a high gloss. The colour
is pure china- white.
They average about 1-20 by 0-95 inches in size.
E COMMON KINGFISHER
ALCEDO ATTHIS (Linnaeus)
(Plate xvii, Fig. 5, opposite page 352)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head
finely banded with black and blue ; a band from the beak below the
eye to the side of the neck bright ferruginous ending in a conspicuous
white patch ; a black mark in front of the eye ; a broad moustachial
stripe bright blue ; upper plumage bright blue becoming greenish on
the sides and wings ; hidden portions of wings and underside of tail
brown ; chin and throat white ; remainder of lower plumage ferruginous.
Iris dark brown ; bill black, sometimes orange-red at lower base ;
legs coral-red, claws dusky.
The bill is long, heavy and sharply pointed ; the feet are weak, the
3rd and 4th toes being partly united.
Field Identification. — Generally common by water over which when
disturbed it flies low and fast, uttering a hard sharp squeak ; a small
stout bird with disproportionately \Jarge^beak and brilliant plumage,
green and blue above and chestnut^below^
Distribution. — The Common Kingfisher is a widely-spread species in
Europe, Northern Africa and Asia, and has in consequence been divided
into a number of races ; of these we are concerned with three. A. a.
pallasii of Western Siberia and Persia is the bird which is so common in
summer about the waterways and lakes of Kashmir, appearing in winter
in Baluchistan and as far as Sind in the plains. A. a. bengalensis is
a smaller resident species throughout the plains of India, except in
the extreme south, occasionally ascending the mountain ranges up
to a height of about 6000 feet. These races differ only in size but
A. c. taprobanus of Ceylon and the lower part of Southern India is a
much bluer bird.
302 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
A much larger species (length 15 inches) with a very heavy beak the
Stork-billed Kingfisher (Ramphalcyon capensis) is locally distributed
through the wetter parts of India, Ceylon, Assam and Burma. The top
of the head is brown, a collar and the lower parts buffy yellow and the
back, wings and tail greenish-blue.
Habits, etc. — The Common ^Kingfisher is, as is well known, purely a
water-bird, frequenting fresh water of every description, and occasion-
ally also wandering to the confines of tidal creeks and the seashore. % Its
food consists of tiny fishes and various aquatic insects, larvae and other
organisms.
This Kingfisher usually captures its food by plunging obliquely into
the water from an overhanging bough, stump or clump of reeds or
similar vantage point on which it sits motionless waiting for something
to come within its reach ; but at times it hovers over open water with
the body erect at right angles to the surface, and some 10 to 15 feet
above it, and from this position dives perpendicularly into the water.
The flight is very swift and straight, generally low above the surface
of the water, and as the bird goes it utters a loud call cKkee which draws
attention to the short shuttle-shaped form and brilliant colours of the
passing bird. It is a very pugnacious species, and once a pair have
established their right to a stretch of water they are very intolerant of
the presence of others of their kind.
The breeding season is rather irregular, but the majority of eggs will
be found from March to June.
The nest is excavated in the face of a perpendicular bank, generally
at the edge of water, but occasionally at a considerable distance from it.
The entrance tunnel is anything up to 3 feet in length, and is very
narrow, about ^ inches in diameter ; it terminates in a circular chamber
some 5 inches in diameter and 3 or 4 inches in height. The chamber and '
passage always contain minute fish bones disgorged by the birds, but no
nest is constructed, the eggs lying merely on the floor of the chamber.
The clutch consists of five to seven eggs. These are almost spherical
in shape, pure unmarked china-white in colour, of hard texture with a
high gloss.
In size they average about o(8 by 0*7 inches.
THE WHITE-BREASTED KINGFISHER 303
THE WHITE-BREASTED KINGFISHER
HALCYON SMYRNENSIS (Linnaeus)
(Plate xvii, Fig. 3, opposite page 352)
Description. — Length n inches. Sexes alike. Head, neck and
lower plumage deep chestnut-brown, with a conspicuous white patch
extending over the chin, throat and central breast ; remainder of upper
plumage blue, tinged with greenish, a blackish band along the side of
the wing ; flight-feathers black with a conspicuous white patch towards
their base.
Iris brown ; bill dark dull red ; legs coral-red, claws dusky.
The bill is long, very heavy and pointed ; the feet are weak, the
2nd and 3rd toes being partly joined together.
Field Identification. — Found over water or land indifferently, and one
of the most characteristic birds of the plains. Noisy, and conspicuous
with the heavy red beak, the white breast-patch set in deep chestnut
and the greenish-blue upper parts ; in flight the white wing-patch is
very noticeable, as is the large beak.
Distribution. — This handsome bird has an immense range from Asia
Minor through Persia, India, Ceylon, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula
to Southern China. Of the races into which it is divided we are con-
cerned with two. The typical form, H. s. smyrnensis, is found through-
out India except in Travancore where it is replaced by H. s. fusca of
Ceylon which is a darker chocolate-brown and a bluer green in colour.
This species wanders occasionally into the Himalayas and other ranges
up to a height of 6000 feet. It is strictly resident.
Habits, etc. — While the other Kingfishers described in this work
are purely water-birds, living chiefly on fish, this very typical King-
fisher is mainly a land bird and feeds largely on insects, lizards, frogs
and such small fry, which it captures after the manner of a Roller,
flying down to them on the ground from an elevated perch. It is
said very occasionally both to plunge into water after fish and has
been observed diving after fresh-water crabs which it beats to pulp
before swallowing, also to take insects on the wing. The flight is
strong and direct, and on the wing a loud screaming cry is uttered
which is one of the familiar sounds of India. This species avoids
heavy forest and actual desert areas, but is found in every other type
of country, either wet or dry.
The breeding season lasts from March to July. The eggs are laid
in the usual chamber at the end of a tunnel, which, as in the case of
the other species, is excavated in the faces of banks and borrow-pits,
usually, but by no means always, in the vicinity of water. The shafts
of unbricked wells are sometimes selected as a nesting site.
304 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDAIN BIRDS
The eggs are four to seven in number. They are almost spherical
in shape, pure unmarked china-white in colour, with a hard texture and
high gloss. As incubation proceeds they lose their gloss and become
stained, and are sometimes covered with small black spots apparently
the excreta of parasites.
In size they average 1-15 by 1-05 inches.
THE GREAT HORNBILL
DICHOCEROS BICORNIS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 52 inches. Sexes alike. Head black ; neck
fulvescent white ; upper plumage and wings black, a broad white
bar across the wing and all the quills with their bases and ends white ;
tail and its upper and under coverts white, a broad black band near
the end of the tail ; breast black ; abdomen white.
Iris, male blood-red*, female pearly white ; bill and casque yellow,
tinged with red at the tip and with orange in the middle. In the male
the front and back of the casque are black, together with the ridge
of the bill just in front of the casque. In the female the back of the
casque is red. Bare skin round the eye fleshy pink, eyelids black ;
legs greenish plumbeous.
Bill large, stout and much curved. A broad casque covering the
head and the base of the bill, broad, flattened and rounded behind
rising at the sides and projecting in two points in front. Conspicuous
eyelashes. Tail long and rounded. Toes joined at their base.
Field Identification. — Western Ghats and Lower Himalayas only.
A large ungainly forest bird of black and white plumage, unmistakable
from the heavy double casque over the huge curved beak. Very noisy
and in flight recognisable by the noise made by the wings. The white
neck suffices to distinguish this species from the smaller black and
white Hornbills of the genus Hydrocissa found in the Western Ghats,
Peninsular India and the Himalayas which have the neck black and
the casque single.
Distribution. — Widely distributed from India, Assam and Burma
through the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra. All but Sumatran birds
belong to the typical race. In India this is confined to the Western
Ghats from near Bombay to Cape Comorin and to the lower Himalayan
ranges up to 5000 feet from Kumaon eastwards.
Habits, etc. — The Great Hornbill is a forest bird and generally
keeps to the largest trees where it may be found in parties of half a
dozen birds or upwards. It is difficult to overlook the presence of
this species. In flight it may be heard a mile away by the loud droning
noise of the air rushing through the base of the outer wing-quills
THE GREAT HORNBILL
305
which are not fully covered by their under-covert feathers in the
usual manner. In a tree they are noisy, apt to indulge in the most
extraordinary rattling roars, cacklings and bellows.
The flight is an alternation of a series of flapping of the wings
and of sailing with the wings motionless, but the flapping predominates
and the flight is less undulating than in some of the other species of
.Hornbill.
FIG. 45 — Great Hornbill (J nat. size)
The food mainly consists of fruit and this is picked with the tip
of the bill, jerked into the air and caught in the throat and swallowed.
These Hornbills are, however, omnivorous feeders and readily take
insects, lizards, grain and other food, all of which is jerked into the
air and caught in the manner described.
Nothing is known about the purpose of the curious casque, which
is not solid but cellular and partly hollow in structure. Captive birds
are said to be very destructive, using the bill as a pickaxe — if this
U
306 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
habit is general in the wild state it is possible that the casque is in
the nature of a shock-absorber.
The breeding season is from January to April. The breeding
habits do not appear to differ in any important detail from those
described at length under the Grey Hornbill. The same nest hole
is used year after year for long periods.
The eggs vary in shape from very broad ovals, obtuse at both
ends to moderately elongated ovals, distinctly pointed at the small
end. The shell is tolerably hard and compact but is very commonly
covered with tiny pimples and roughnesses and in most specimens
the entire surface is somewhat conspicuously pitted with pores. The
colour is pure white with a certain amount of gloss, but as the interior
of the nest is intolerably dirty the eggs become dirty and stained to a
uniform chocolate-brown.
They measure about 2-60 by 1-88 inches.
THE GREY HORNBILL
TOCKUS BIROSTRIS (Scopoli)
Description. — Length 24 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
light brownish -grey, with pale whitish streaks over the eyes ; the
cheek and ear-coverts blackish-grey ; flight-feathers dark brown,
fringed and tipped with grey or white ; tail long and graduated,
brown, each feather with a broad sub-terminal darker band glossed
with green and a white tip ; chin to the breast grey merging into
white on the abdomen.
Iris red-brown ; bill black, whitish about tip ; feet dark plumbeous.
Bill large, curved and laterally compressed, with a small pointed
spur above, known as a casque ; eyelids furnished with lashes.
Field Identification. — A large ungainly grey bird with a long
graduated tail and a small pointed casque on the top of the narrow
curved beak. Arboreal plains species, with a peculiar squealing cry.
Distribution. — A purely Indian species. It is found from the
base of the Himalayas at about 2000 feet throughout the better wooded
parts of India, except from Bombay to Travancore along the Malabar
Coast where it is replaced by an allied species, the Malabar Grey
Hornbill (Tockus griseus), which lacks the casque on the beak. It is
absent from the North-west Frontier Province, the Northern and
Western Punjab, Sind, and portions of Eastern Rajputana. It is rare
in the Gangetic delta of Lower Bengal which forms its eastern boundary.
A resident species.
Habits, etc. — The Grey Hornbill is an entirely arboreal species,
which is found about old trees in well-timbered, fairly open country,
THE GREY HORNBILL
307
coming into gardens and avenues, and avoiding thick forest. It is
found in small parties which fly about from bough to bough, eating
the various species of wild figs and other fruits and seeds, green leaves,
and a certain quantity of insects, such as hornets. When flying from
tree to tree across the open the flight is heavy and undulating with
alternating flappings and glidings, and all the movements of the bird
are clumsy and ungainly. The cry is a harsh squeal, distinctly
reminiscent of that of the Common Kite.
The breeding season is from April to June, and, like other Hornbills,
this species is chiefly remarkable for its curious nesting arrangements.
The eggs are laid without the construction of any nest in a large
hole in the trunk of a tree, at any height from 10 feet upwards. The
FIG. 46 — Grey Hornbill (J nat. size)
cotton tree or the peepul is usually selected. When ready to lay the
female enters the nest-hole and remains therein until the young are
about a week old. She spends the first two or three days in plastering
up the entrance to the hole with her own ordure, which is very viscid
and strong and hardens into a clay-like substance. For this work she
uses the flattened sides of her beak as a trowel.
When the work is completed only a narrow vertical slit is leftr
about the width of a man's finger and two or three inches deep. After
this the droppings are thrown out daily through the slit. The female
is now completely a prisoner and is dependent on the male for all her
food. This he brings held in his beak ; he perches on a neighbouring
bough and then flies to the entrance of the nest hollow, where he
clings with his claws to the bark and feeds the female who extrudes
the point of her beak through the slit to receive the food. This habit
308 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
is perhaps responsible for the curious fact, observed in captivity with
reference to some species of Hornbill, and perhaps connected with
all, that at intervals the epithelial layer of the gizzard is cast in the
form of a closed sack containing the seeds of fruit on which the bird
has been feeding.
During the period spent incubating in the nest the female becomes
very fat and dirty, and on first emergence is so stiff that she can hardly
fly. In some species of Hornbill the moult apparently takes place
during the period of imprisonment.
The clutch varies from one to five eggs.
The eggs are broad rather perfect ovals, very fine and smooth in
texture and without gloss. They are a dull uniform white with a
creamy tinge, and naturally become somewhat discoloured as incubation
progresses.
In size they average about 1-7 by 1-22 inches.
THE HOOPOE
UPUPA EPOPS Linnaeus
Description. — Length 12 inches. Sexes alike. Head and a long
fan-shaped crest, the feathers increasing in length from front to back,
rufous-fawn, the feathers of the crest broadly tipped with white and
black ; back and sides of the neck and a broad patch across the
shoulders to the bend of the wing dull ashy-fawn colour ; remainder
of the back broadly banded with black and fawny-white, the bands
continuing across the wing-coverts ; quills of the wing and tail black, '
the primaries with a white band across their tips, the secondaries with
three or four white bands evenly distributed throughout their length,
and the tail with a single white chevron-shaped band near the centre ;
chin whitish ; throat and breast pale rufous-fawn, ashy on the sides
of the breast ; remainder of the lower plumage white, largely streaked
with black and ashy-grey.
Iris red-brown ; bill horny-black, fleshy at lower base ; legs
plumbeous-slate.
The bill is long, slender and curved, with a very short tongue ',
wing rounded.
Field Identification. — The fawn-coloured plumage and the black
wings and tail, banded with white, the long curved bill, and the broad
fan-shaped crest, freely lowered and raised, put the identity of this
species beyond all doubt at the first glance.
Distribution. — Widely distributed in Europe, Africa and Asia,
the Hoopoe is divided into a number of sub-species, of which we
PLATE XV
I
EC
2
O
[Face p. 308
THE HOOPOE
309
are concerned with three ; these are not very easily recognised, and
vary in small details of size and coloration. U. e. orientalis is the
resident species of Northern India, and southwards it shades about
the Bombay Presidency into U. e. ceylonensis which extends to Ceylon,
and is also a resident bird. The typical form U. e. epops breeds in
the Himalayas and in winter migrates southwards into the plains ;
at that season it is common in Sind, the Punjab and the United
Provintes. The typical race has a patch of white in the longer feathers
of the crown between the fawn and the black, this colour being either
absent or only represented by a slight trace in the two resident races,
FIG. 47 — Hoopoe (£ nat. size)
which are also slightly smaller. The southern bird is also more richly
coloured.
Mention must be made of two .curious birds — the Red-headed
Trogon (Harpactes erythrocephalus) of the Eastern Himalayas and
Assam and the Malabar Trogon (Harpactes fasciatus) from the
Malabar Coast and the Chota Nagpur area. The male of the former
is rose-pink and chestnut; the male of the latter is chestnut with a
black head and red belly. They are arboreal birds with soft mewing
calls and remarkable for soft dense plumage and long square-ended
tails.
Habits, etc. — The Hoopoe avoids areas of thick forest and is
found very commonly in open country, mdfe especially' in the neigh-
bourhood of groves of trees, thin scrub-forest, and the outskirts of
- -- -------- • --'•" " ' " uV
310 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
villages where it frequents mud-walls and deserted or ruined buildings
It feeds almost entirely on the ground and is very partial to-grassy
lawns, the neighbourhood of avenues and other similar localities
favourable to the various ground-feeding larvae which form the greater
portion of its food. It walks and runs with great ease and methodically
quarters the ground, probing the roots of grass and the interstices of
the soil or turning over leaves and rubbish for the insects, caterpillars
and grubs that shelter there. When disturbed it flies up into tree^s or
on to buildings, but does not usually feed anywhere except on the
ground.
While feeding the crest is depressed and closed, but it invariably
erects it for a moment on settling after flight. Ordinarily the flight
is slow and hesitating with a good deal of undulation as if the bird
were uncertain of its destination ; but its extended migrations and
wanderings show that this weakness is only apparent, and the bird
has no difficulty in avoiding capture by trained falcons, mounting
easily into the air away from them.
The call is a loud rather mellow hoot or hud repeated two or three
times, which has given rise to the names current in various languages,
all onomatopoeic in origin. There is also a harsh grating note which
is generally used at the nest.
The presence of definite names for this species in numerous
languages indicates the hold that the Hoopoe has obtained on the
imagination and interest of man from the earliest ages ; nor is this
strange in view of its tame disposition and striking appearance.
Realistic portraits of the Hoopoe have been found in mural paintings
both of ancient Egypt and of Crete, and from that time onwards
mention of the bird runs through literature and legend to the present
day. In Western legend the bird is most familiar as the form assumed
by Jereus, King of Crete, for his punishment ; while Mohammedan
countries regard the bird as the favourite and confidante of Solomon
whose magnificence dowered its crown. The Hoopoe is the Lapwing
of the Bible. The most prominent attribute of the bird, however, in
literature, is its use in magical or medical prescriptions ; use of its
different parts is recommended by various authors, most frequently
in connection with visions or the power of memory, from Egyptian
days down to the Pharmacopoeia Univer sails of Dr R. James (1752).
The breeding season extends from February to July, but the
majority of nests will be found in April and May.
The nest is a very poor affair, being merely a slight collection of
grass, hair, leaves or feathers, placed roughly on the floor of the hole
selected. For the site the chief requisite is darkness, and the bird
nests in holes of every sort, in trees, walls and roofs, or even on the
floor in closed and deserted huts.
When breeding the female develops an unpleasant smell, and as
THE HOOPOE 311
she seldom leaves the nest, being largely fed therein by the male, and
never cleans it out when the young are hatched, the nest becomes
very offensive and smelly ; this fact was well known to the classical
authors, and doubtless accounts for the Hoopoe being " unclean " in
the Jewish law. ,_ It-is, however, freely eaten by_. Christian populations
in Southern Europe. s ~
— The-' "clutch " varies from three to ten eggs, and as incubation
commericSs with the laying of the first eggs, there is generally a good
deal of variation in the size of the young in a nest.
The egg is a rather lengthened oval, often somewhat pointed at
the smaller end, and sometimes also at the broader end as well. The
texture is smooth and hard and without gloss. There are no markings,
and the colour, when fresh, varies from pale greenish-blue to pale
olive-brown, though as incubation progresses the eggs become stained
a dirty brown.
The egg averages about i-oo by 0-66 inches in size.
THE INDIAN SWIFT
MICROPUS AFFINIS (Gray)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. A broad white band
across the rump, and the chin and throat white, the feathers more or
less dark-shafted ; remainder of the plumage dark blackish- brown,
somewhat glossy, paler on the top of the head and under the tail,
and with a deep black spot in front of the eye.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs vinous-brown.
Bill short and hooked with an excessively broad gape ; wings
stiff and sickle-shaped, specialised for great speed ; tail short and
rather deeply forked ; feet weak and adapted to clinging to perpendicular
surfaces, the four toes being directed forwards, though the first is
more or less reversible.
Field Identification. — A small black bird with a white rump, entirely
aerial and gregarious in its habits, the narrow sickle-shaped wings
indicating the extreme specialisation of its structure. Abundant over
towns and villages.
Distribution. — From North-western Africa through South-eastern
Asia, India, Ceylon and Burma to the Malay Peninsula. It is divided
into races, of which we are concerned merely with the typical race.
This is found throughout India and Ceylon, very common in some
places and wanting in others, with no apparent reason for its capricious
distribution. In the Himalayas it is not common, but may be found
312 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
up to a height of 6000 feet. It is locally migratory, but information
on this point is sadly defective.
A similar but larger species, the White-rumped Swift (Micropus
pacificus) is found along the Himalayas and in Assam, and with it in
the Western Himalayas one meets also the Common Swift (Micropus
apus) which lacks the white rump.
The Alpine Swift (Micropus melba) will be found locally and
seasonally common throughout % the
Himalayas and India. It is twice
the size of the Indian Swift and can
be easily recognised by having the
under surface of the body white,
with a dark band across the breast.
The still larger Needle-tailed Swifts
of the genus Hirundapus (Himalayas
and South-western India) are
probably the fastest flying birds in
the world. They owe their name to
the stiff and pointed ends of the
shafts of the tail-feathers which
extend beyond the vanes like needles.
Habits, etc. — The Common
Indian Swift is highly gregarious,
being usually found in flocks of fifty
or more individuals, which breed
together in colonies, and spend the
hours of daylight in company hawking
insects including small beetles, often
at an immense height from the ground. The nest colonies are perhaps
most frequently found about buildings, whether these be the ordinary
dwelling-houses of an Indian village or town, or ruined temples,
shrines and forts. They also nest under bridges and rocks on steep
hill-sides or in precipitous nullahs.
The birds occupy these nest colonies continuously. Not only do
individuals breed somewhat irregularly so that a large colony will
be found at any time to have eggs or young in some of the nests, but the
nests are also used for sleeping and resting. Otherwise the whole of
their life is spent in the air, rushing with swift curving flight, several
rapid beats of the wings and then a glide, and at times uttering the
curious squealing call which so aptly seems to express the fierce joy
of an aerial creature in its element. The flocks usually feed in loose
open order, but at times, especially in the evenings, they collect
together into a " ball," mounting high into the air as a squealing,
careering mass.
Owing to its highly specialised structure this Swift is quite unable
FIG. 48 — Indian Swift
(J nat. size)
THE INDIAN SWIFT 313
to perch on a tree or to visit the ground. Should it tumble accidentally
to the ground, the short curious legs and feet are of no assistance
in helping it to rise, but a stroke or two of the wings will generally
lift the bird off the ground.
The nest colonies are very conspicuous ; they consist of a number
of large globular nests composed of feathers, grass and straws cemented
together with saliva so as to form a tough material. These nests are
constructed on the under surfaces of rocks or roofs singly, or in a mass
with one nest built against another ; while in some instances the nests
are built inside a hole with merely a little material plastered around
the entrance. These birds feel cold greatly, and wet weather or a cold
snap may send them half torpid to their nests.
The eggs are very long and narrow ovals, much pointed towards
the small end ; the texture is rather frail and almost without gloss.
In colour they are a pure and spotless white.
They average in size about 0-85 by 0-55 inches.
THE PALM-SWIFT
CYPSIURUS BATASSIENSIS (Gray)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Dull brown above,
head slightly darker, wing and tail feathers much darker ; beneath
pale greyish-brown, chin and throat palest.
Iris reddish ; bill black ; legs dusky-brown.
Bill short with a wide gape ; toes arranged in two pairs, the ist
and 2nd inwards, the 3rd and 4th outwards ; tail deeply forked ;
wing narrow and sickle-shaped.
Field Identification. — Aerial in its habits, hawking in company
round palm-trees ; distinguish from the Indian Swift by its smaller
size, slower flight, longer tail, and absence of the white rump band.
Distribution. — This Swift is found throughout Ceylon and the
whole of India except in the Punjab and Sind. In Rajputana it is
only found about Mount Aboo. It is represented by another race,
T. b. infumatusy in Assam and Burma and the farther East.
Habits, etc. — This quaint little Swift may be said to be parasitic
on the toddy- tree or fan-palm (Borassus flabelliformis), and it is only
found in the areas where that tree grows, though very occasionally it
breeds in some other species of palm. The nest is built in the palm
and the birds spend their lives hawking for insects including small
beetles in the vicinity, flying round and about with a rather irregular
flight which is somewhat slower than that of most species of Swift.
They sometimes cluster together on the leaves of the palms between the
ribs of the fronds, and move up and down the leaf with a shuffling
3i4 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
mode of progression owing to the shortness of their legs ; colonies of
bats are found in similar situations and a single tree may contain a
colony of both bird and mammal.
Although the birds live in colonies, not more than two or three
pairs usually nest in the one tree. It is interesting to note that in
the Garo and Naga Hills where the people thatch their houses with
palm-leaves the allied race, T. b. infumatus, nests in the leaves on
the roofs as well as on the trees.
The breeding season lasts almost the year round according to
locality, and at least two broods appear to be reared.
The great fan-leaves of the palm get bent by the wind and hang
down so that the points of the leaves turn somewhat inwards, and it
is to the under surface of that portion of the leaf which is bent inwards
that the nest is attached. The bent portion of the leaf stands at an
angle of from 40 to 70 degrees, so that the under surface becomes in
fact an upper surface, and presents a sloping furrowed bank to which
the nest is attached. In one of these furrows formed by the large
pleats of the leaf, and always about the centre of this latter is firmly
glued a tiny nest, shaped like a watch-pocket, composed of fine vege-
table down or fine feathers cemented together by the bird's own saliva.
The main body of the nest is fairly soft, but the rim of the front is
matted into a sort of cord to withstand the pressure of the bird's weight.
The usual clutch consists of three eggs, but four or five are some-
times laid.
The egg is a long oval, slightly compressed towards one end ;
the texture is fine, the colour white, and there is usually no gloss.
In size the egg measures about 0-70 by 0*45 inches.
THE INDIAN CRESTED SWIFT
HEMIPROCNE CORONATA (Tickell)
Description. — Length, 9 inches. Male : Crest dark ashy-blue ;
upper plumage dull ashy-blue, including the innermost flight-feathers ;
remainder of wings and tail black, glossed with greenish-blue ; a
velvet-black patch in front of the eye with a very narrow white line
above it ; a streak below the beak and a large patch behind and below
the eye chestnut ; chin paler chestnut ; lower plumage ashy-grey
becoming white under the tail.
Female : Similar to the male but the chestnut streak below the
beak is replaced by white and the chestnut patch behind the eye by
the colour of the upper parts ; chin ashy-grey.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs pinkish-brown.
Bill short with a very wide gape ; a distinct crest on the forehead ;
THE INDIAN CRESTED SWIFT 315
wings and tail long, the latter deeply forked ; a patch of silky down
feathers on each flank.
Field Identification. — An ashy-grey bird with wings and tail glossy
blackish. The male has a bright chestnut patch on the ear. Resembles
a Swallow rather than a Swift with its long pointed wings and deeply
forked tail. Found in parties hawking insects and settling on trees.
A loud call.
Distribution. — Confined to India, Ceylon, Assam, Burma and
Siam. No races. In India it is found locally throughout the whole
country from the sub-Himalayan area southwards, except in the
Punjab, Sind and parts of Rajputana. A resident species which
occurs at all elevations up to 4000 feet and possibly higher.
FIG. 49 — Indian Crested Swift (?• nat. size)
Habits. — The Crested Swift is a bird of forests and well-wooded
country where it is found in small parties and sometimes even in
flocks that hawk about for insects with a wheeling graceful flight
which in character and pace recalls that of a Swallow rather than a
Swift. It constantly perches in trees, usually preferring the topmost
branches and those which are dead or bare of leaves. It sits upright
and erects the crest. The call is loud and Parrot-like, tet-chee,
and this is uttered frequently, both on the wing and from a branch,
whilst the bird is particularly noisy in the evenings when preparing
to roost. Should there be a tank or pool of water or river near its
haunts this Swift is fond of descending rapidly from the air to the
surface of the water, touching it and mounting again in one graceful
curve.
The breeding season in India is from March to June.
The nest is a most remarkable structure. It is a very shallow
half-saucer, composed of thin flakes of bark and a few small feathers
gummed together with inspissated saliva on the side of a horizontal
3i6 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
branch. The nest is nowhere more than an eighth of an inch in
thickness, and is at most half aji inch deep in the deepest part. The
largest outside measurement is 2 inches, which is to say that the
nest can be covered by a crown-piece. The branch chosen is usually
a dead one often at the top of a high tree, but many nests are built
much lower on small trees growing in open scrub -jungle. Viewed
from below the nest has all the appearance of a knot and would seldom
be detected were it not for the fact that the female returns at frequent
intervals to it. The single egg completely fills the nest. The parent
bird sits across the nest and the branch to which it is attached so that
the latter takes her weight.
The egg is a very elongated oval, obtuse at both ends and with
little or no gloss. It is white with a slight greyish-blue tinge.
It measures about 0-94 by 0-6 1 inches.
THE INDIAN NIGHTJAR
CAPRIMULGUS ASIATICUS Latham
Description. — Length 10 inches. Sexes alike. Upper parts
yellowish-grey, with black elongated spots down the centre of the
crown, and very narrow black shaft stripes on the back ; on the hind
neck a broad buff collar broken with dusky markings ; a series of
large black spots and bright buff markings on the sides of the back ;
some buff patches on the wing-coverts ; the first four flight-feathers
with a conspicuous white or pale buff spot ; central pair of tail-feathers
like the upper plumage but with narrow broken black cross-bars,
the two outer pairs tipped with patches of white ; lower plumage buff
faintly barred and mottled with brown ; a white spot on each side of
the throat.
Iris dark brown ; bill dark brown ; legs pinkish-brown.
This and other species of Nightjar have the following peculiarities
of structure : Eye large and lustrous ; bill short, weak and 'hooked,
but when opened displaying an enormously wide gape fringed with
long stiff hairs ; three toes in front, one behind, the long central
toe having the claw pectinated inside probably to clean insect scales
from the gape bristles ; the plumage is very soft and loose in character.
Field Identification. — A Nightjar is a large softly-plumaged, dully-
mottled brown and grey bird, with an erratic flight like a moth, which
hawks about open spaces near trees as dusk turns into darkness.
Travellers by motor-car at night often find Nightjars sitting in the
roads, their eyes gleaming uncannily in the light of the lamps. This
is the smallest of the Indian species, and size and the call described
afford the only chance of identifying it from the others in the field.
THE INDIAN NIGHTJAR 317
There are several Nightjars in India which are difficult to identify
without close study, their call-notes and the arrangement of spots
on the wing and tail being the chief guides. Franklin's Nightjar
(Caprimulgus monticolus) utters a loud grating chirp choo-ee which
when close at hand sounds exactly like a whip-lash cutting the air.
Horsfield's Nightjar (Caprimulgus macrurus) has a very loud resonant
chaunk like the blows of an adze on a plank, with a surprising volume
of sound when close. The Jungle Nightjar (Caprimulgus indicus)
gives a monosyllabic chuck chuck chuck repeated some half a dozen
times at the rate of five chucks in two seconds. The European Nightjar
(Caprimulgus europeus) whirs like a gigantic grasshopper. All these
calls can be heard at night for a considerable distance.
Distribution. — Practically throughout India and Ceylon and in
Burma down to about Moulmein. On the West it reaches portions
FIG. 50 — Indian Nightjar (J nat. size)
of the Eastern and Southern Punjab and Sind, but is scarce and local
in these two provinces, being replaced there by other species. Status
uncertain, but probably locally migratory.
Habits, etc. — This is a bird of the plains and of open and cultivated
country, where it is found in gardens and groves, often in the near
vicinity of houses. It spends the day upon the ground sleeping in
some secluded spot under a bush or tree, and only awakes to activity
at dusk, being entirely nocturnal in its habits. With the dark it takes
to wing and then hawks for insects, moths and beetles. The flight is
very characteristic, a long-tailed, long-winged bird, flying like a moth.
It is very erratic in direction, the bird wheeling hither and thither, now
diving, now shooting straight upwards, with rapid flappings of the
wings combined with gliding movements in which the wings and tail
are widely extended. The whole performance takes place in absolute
silence, owing to the soft texture of the feathers, except sometimes
for an audible smack when the wing-tips meet above the head, and
for a slight chuckling note which is occasionally uttered. The long
central toe prevents progression on the ground.
The breeding-call is very characteristic. It is best described as
chak-chak-chak-char-r-r-r or tuk tuk tuk tukaroo resembling the sound
3i8 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
of a stone skimming over the surface of a frozen pond, the note being
repeated slowly at first and then more quickly ; it is audible for a
considerable distance. When perching on a tree the Nightjar sits
lengthwise on a bough, not crossways after the fashion of most birds.
The plumage of this and other Nightjars, of which many forms
occur in India, provide the most perfect example possible of protective
coloration. During the long hours that the bird spends by day sitting
motionless on the ground it is absolutely invisible, and it is uncon-
sciously aware of that fact, only springing into life when the intruder
comes within a yard or two.
To the huge mouth is due the name and the legend widely spread
in many countries and languages that the " Goatsucker " feeds from
the udders of cows and goats. It is considered of evil omen.
The breeding season varies, according to locality, from March to
September. No nest is made, the eggs being simply deposited on
the ground in some undisturbed spot, often under the shelter of a
tree or bush. The clutch consists of two eggs.
The egg is a long cylindrical oval with very little difference in
the two ends ; the texture is fine and there is a slight gloss. The
ground-colour varies from pinkish stone-colour to deep salmon-pink,
blotched, clouded, spotted and streaked with different shades of
pale reddish- and purplish-brown, with faint secondary markings of
inky-purple.
The egg measures about 1-04 by 0*77 inches.
THE CUCKOO
CUCULUS CANORUS Linnaeus
Description. — Length 13 inches. Adult male : The whole upper
plumage dark ashy, a patch at the base of the tail rather paler ; wings
browner and rather glossy, the quills being barred on their inner webs
with white ; tail long and slightly graduated, blackish-brown tipped
with white, the concealed inner webs notched with white and with
white spots along the shafts ; chin, throat, sides of the neck and upper
breast pale ashy ; remainder of lower plumage white, narrowly barred
with blackish.
The adult female is rather browner in tint, and has an ill-defined
and variable buffy-brown breast band. The female is dimorphic,
having a rather scarce reddish " hepatic " phase.
Iris yellow ; bill dark brown, lower mandible greenish ; mouth
rich reddish-orange ; legs yellow.
Nostrils round ; wing long and pointed ; the tarsus is partly
feathered in front ; the feathers of the rump are long and thick and
THE CUCKOO 3!9
somewhat stiff, forming a sort of pad. Toes arranged in pairs, the
ist and 4th pointing backwards.
Field Identification. — Very Hawk-like in shape and swift flight ; an
ashy-grey bird with whitish under parts, barred with black from the
breast downwards ; presence in a breeding locality heralded by the
well-known call long before the bird is seen, as it is shy and keeps
largely to leafy trees.
Distribution. — The Cuckoo has been succinctly described as a
migratory bird found at one season or other throughout the greater
part of the Old World and even in Australia. Of the various races
into which it has been divided we are concerned with two. C. c.
telephonus breeds in Northern Asia eastwards to Japan and southwards
to the Himalayas, but it is replaced in the North-west by the typical
race, C. c. canorus, which is more broadly barred on the under parts.
This breeds in the Himalayas and also apparently in some of the ranges
of Central India, at least as far east as Ranchi. Both races in winter
migrate to the plains of India, some birds even reaching Ceylon.
Cuckoos also breed very numerously in the hills of Assam south
of the Brahmaputra, and these may be separable as a third race under
the name C. c. bakeri.
Three other species of the genus Cuculus are locally common in
India and the Himalayas. In plumage they nearly resemble the
Common Cuckoo, but their calls are very distinctive. The Himalayan
Cuckoo (Cuculus optatus) has a dull booming note, hud-hud-hud-hud,
rather similar to that of a Hoopoe. The Indian Cuckoo (Cuculus
micropterus) has a call of four syllables, variously described as bouko-
tako, kyphul-pakka, orange-pekoe or kithe-toppan. The Little Cuckoo
(Cuculus poliocephalus) is smaller than the others and has a wild
screaming note, resembling the words " that's your smoky paper."
Habits, etc. — The familiar call of the Common Cuckoo, with all
its treasured memories of the woods and meadows of an English
Spring, is a welcome sound about the Himalayan stations, recognised
with pleasure by all the European population. It is curious, however,
and indicative of the Indian attitude towards nature that the hillmen
appear to have no knowledge of the breeding habits of the Cuckoo
or interest in the bird ; for in Europe, literature and legend have
combined to make this one of the best known of birds, whilst its
habits of imposing its domestic duties on other birds are familiar to
everyone.
In the Himalayas the Cuckoo arrives about the end of March or
beginning of April, and is noisy until about June. The calls of the
male cuck-oo or cuck-cuck-oo sometimes preceded by a harsh know-
wow-wow are easily recognised, but the equally loud " water bubbling "
call of the female is not so universally known. In India the bird is
found in every type of wooded country, but rather prefers open cultiva-
330 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
tion to heavy forest. The food consists chiefly of injurious insects,
large hairy caterpillars being particularly favoured. The resemblance
of a Cuckoo on the wing to a Hawk is most marked.
In its breeding habits the Cuckoo is a parasite, the eggs being
laid in the nests of other species to whom the duty of hatching them
and of rearing the chicks is entirely left. A great variety of foster-
parents are chosen, the favourites in India being perhaps various
Pipits and Chats. In the majority of instances the Cuckoo settles on
the chosen nest and lays its egg in the ordinary way. In some
cases, however, this is clearly impossible from the site or size of
the nest, and then the Cuckoo apparently clings to the outer surface
of the nest or its containing site and ejects the egg from the vent
into the nest cavity, sometimes with unfortunate results.
When the young Cuckoo is hatched, a curious provision of nature
comes into play. It proceeds to eject the rightful eggs or young of
the nest by getting them on to its back and gradually pushing them
over the side, to die unnoticed below the nest. A hollow formation
of the back in the early days of the Cuckoo's life is obviously adapted
to this purpose and the reason for it is evident. The great bulk
of the Cuckoo, compared with the size of the foster-parents, requires
all the food that the latter can bring. So great is this disproportion
in size that the foster-parents frequently have to perch on the back
of the young Cuckoo, after it has left the nest, in order to place food
in its mouth.
In the Himalayas the Cuckoo lays in May and June.
Estimates vary as to the number of eggs that a hen Cuckoo lays,
but it is believed that the number may reach twenty in a single season.
No hen normally lays twice in the same nest, though she frequents
one particular locality, and as far as possible prefers to lay in the
nests of one particular species of bird. If two or three Cuckoos'
eggs are found in one nest they are usually the produce of as many
hens. The species probably does not pair, mating taking place
promiscuously.
The eggs are broad ovals, very blunt in shape, with the shell thick
and heavy in texture and with only a slight gloss. They vary greatly
in colour, the ground-colour being white, pink or stone-colour, spotted,
streaked and mottled with brownish or yellowish-red and pale purple.
Small black spots are nearly always present. Occasionally blue eggs
may be found.
The egg measures about 0*97 by 0-72 inches.
THE COMMON HAWK-CUCKOO 321
THE COMMON HAWK-CUCKOO
HIEROCOCCYX VARIUS (Vahl)
(Plate xvi, Fig. 5, opposite page 330)
Description. — Length 13 inches. Sexes alike. -Upper plumage
ashy-grey, the flight-feathers browner and broadly barred with white
on their inner webs ; tail grey tipped with rufescent, and with four or
five rufescent bars, the terminal bar broadest ; chin and throat white
tinged with ashy ; fore-neck and breast rufous mixed with pale ashy,
the lower breast with bars ; abdomen white tinged anteriorly with
rufous and partly barred with grey.
Iris yellow ; eye-rim yellow ; bill greenish, black $long top ; legs
yellow.
Structure as in the Common Cuckoo. In this genus the remarkable
resemblance of adult Cuckoos to Hawks is carried a stage further,
in that the immature plumage also resembles the immature plumage
of Hawks.
Field Identification. — Common plains bird, Hawk-like in appear-
ance and arboreal in habits, and in the field not easily to be recognised
from the Common Cuckoo except by its remarkable call of brain-fever ;
in the hand the bands on the tail are distinctive.
Distribution. — This species is confined to India and Ceylon. In
India it is very generally distributed from the base of the Himalayas
southwards. Its western boundary is roughly a line through Ambala,
Jodhpur and Cutch, and on the east it has been recorded in North
Cachar in Assam and Dacca in Eastern Bengal. While generally
speaking a resident species it is also locally migratory.
Habits, etc. — The Common Hawk-Cuckoo is a bird of well-wooded
country, and it is almost entirely arboreal. Like most of the Cuckoos,
it is remarkable for its voice, on account of which it is usually called
the Brain-fever bird, a name which is given erroneously to the Koel
in areas where the Hawk- Cuckoo does not occur ; but the name rightly
belongs to the Hawk-Cuckoo, both because its call is infinitely the more
wearisome of the two and because it resembles the words, brain-fever,
brain-fever, uttered again and again in loud crescendo tones, each
repetition higher in the scale ; this cry may also be written pipeeha-
pipeeha-pipeeha, and a third rendering which includes the overture
that precedes the triple note is Oh, lor, oh, lor, how very hot it's getting
— we feel it, we feel it, WE FEEL IT. There is also a call which I can
only describe as a whirring ascending trill. The brain-fever call is ex-
ceedingly loud and shrill and can be heard for a considerable distance,
uttered as it is from the top of a tree, and as the bird repeats it at
intervals for an hour or more at a stretch, either by day or night, it
X
323 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
often becomes a very real nuisance. The call is uttered at any time
of the year, but the bird is most vociferous from early spring into the
rains, when it is breeding. The food consists of berries and fruits
as well as insects, and like other Cuckoos it is very partial to those
hairy caterpillars which most birds will not eat.
The breeding season lasts from April to June and the bird is
parasitic, laying its eggs in the nests of various Babblers ; the egg is
distinguishable from those of its hosts with difficulty ; in colour it is
a similar deep blue, but it is somewhat larger as a rule, with a sorter,
more satiny surface, a less glossy and thicker shell, and a more spherical
shape. It is almost impossible to distinguish between the eggs of the
Hawk-Cuckoo and the Pied Crested Cuckoo. When hatched the
young Hawk-Cuckoo ejects the young of the rightful owners of the
nest.
The egg measures about i-oo by 0*8 inches.
THE INDIAN PLAINTIVE CUCKOO
CACOMANTIS MERULINUS (Vahl)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Male : Entire upper plumage
dark ashy ; wings dark brown, washed with greenish-bronze, the
edge and a patch on the underside of the flight-feathers white ; tail
nearly black, the outer feathers banded obliquely on the inner webs
with white ; lower parts ashy, paling to white under the tail.
Female : Whole upper plumage bright chestnut, the back and
wings barred with black, the head, neck and rump irregularly spotted
with black ; tail chestnut, a few black marks on the shafts of the
feathers, a black bar and a white tip at the end of each feather ; lower
parts white, lightly barred with black, the chin, throat and upper breast
suffused with chestnut.
The plumages and plumage-stages of this Cuckoo are very variable,
but the above are descriptions of normal adults.
Iris reddish-brown ; bill dark brown ; legs dingy yellow or
brownish-grey.
The bill is slightly curved ; wing pointed ; tail graduated. The
toes are arranged in pairs, the ist and 4th pointing backwards.
Field Identification. — A small active Hawk-like bird with pointed
wings and graduated tail which, in the rains, attracts attention by its
loud plaintive whistle. The male is dark ashy-grey ; the female
chestnut above and on the throat and white below, largely barred with
black.
Distribution. — Very widely distributed throughout India, Ceylon,
THE INDIAN PLAINTIVE CUCKOO 323
Assam, and Burma eastwards to the Malay States, South China and
Hainan. We are concerned with two races. C. m. passerinus is the
ordinary Indian form which is found practically throughout the
Peninsula down to Ceylon from the Outer Himalayas as far west
as Abbottabad and as far east as the Brahmaputra. It is not, however,
found in the Punjab Plains, Sind, Cutch, Kathiawar or most of
Rajputana. In the Himalayas it is most common in a zone between
1500 and 3000 feet, rarely occurring above 6000 feet. In the Peninsula
it is found at all elevations. The Burmese race, C. m. querulus, is found
in Assam, Eastern Bengal and occasionally farther west as far as Nepal,
Behar, Raipur and the Cumbum Valley. In this form the male has the
white of the lower parts replaced by rufous. Both races are to some
extent migratory, but their. movements have not yet been worked out.
The Banded Bay Cuckoo (Penthoceryx sonneratii) may easily be
confused with the females of the Plaintive Cuckoos, as its upper
plumage is banded with dark brown and bay and the lower parts are
white, finely barred with brown. The heavier bill is distinctive. It
is widely distributed in India, but is most common along the Western
Ghats.
Habits, etc. — Like many others of the family this Cuckoo is best
known to many by its call which well justifies the popular name.
The ordinary call is a clear loud plaintive whistle ca-weer which is
somewhat difficult to locate as the bird turns its head about, producing
a ventriloquial effect. There are also more complicated calls, an
ascending whistle of four notes and another which may be syllabised
as ye h chelte rahi. Like other species this Cuckoo not only calls by
day ; it calls freely in the gathering dusk and on moonlight nights
may be heard at midnight. The bird is found in all types of lightly
wooded country, in scrub, open forest, gardens, groves, tea gardens
and similar places and may be known by its small size and swift flight.
It calls often from the tops of bushes and trees but also from inside
them, and in general is very restless and active. The food consists
largely of caterpillars.
The breeding season is in the rains from July to October. The
bird is parasitic and is believed to lay chiefly in the nests of the Indian
Wren- Warbler, the Fantail- Warbler and the Tailor-bird. The eggs
are long narrow ovals with one end appreciably smaller than the
other. The shell is stout and heavy but fine in texture and there is
a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white or pale blue marked with
light reddish blotches. The egg, therefore, agrees fairly well with
those of the foster-parents. The degree of selective specialisation
thus attained is further emphasised in the Deccan where a bright
pink egg is commonly laid in the nest of the Ashy Wren- Warbler,
whose own egg is a bright brick red.
The egg measures about 0-75 by 0*55 inches.
324 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE PIED CRESTED CUCKOO
CLAMATOR JACOBINUS (Boddaert)
Description. — Length 13 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
including the crest black, glossed with green ; flight-feathers dark
brown with a broad white band running through them ; tail long and
graduated, the feathers tipped with white, most broadly on the outer
feathers ; lower plumage white, sometimes sullied by the dark bases
of the feathers.
Iris red-brown ; bill black ; legs leaden-blue.
Upper portion of the tarsus feathered ; toes arranged in pairs,
the ist and 4th pointing backwards.
Field Identification. — A conspicuous bird black above, white
below, with a white band through the wing visible in flight and white
FIG. 51 — Pied Crested Cuckoo' (| nat. size)
tips to the long tail-feathers ; a rather noticeable crest. Arboreal,
and attracts attention by the loud call.
Distribution. — This Cuckoo is found in a wide area in Africa
(Abyssinia and the Sudan to British East Africa ; also West Africa)
and throughout India, Ceylon and part of Burma. In India it is
found throughout the plains and hills alike, and in the Outer Himalayas
extends up to about 8000 feet.
The typical race is a resident in Ceylon and part of the Madras
Presidency. The rest of India and Ceylon is inhabited by a larger
form, C. j. picay which is migratory. Its movements have not been
fully worked out, but there is good reason to believe that it winters in
Africa.
The larger Red-winged Crested Cuckoo (Clamator coromandus\
common in Assam and Burma, is found in smaller numbers in the
Himalayan foot-hills from Garhwal eastwards and in Ceylon. It is
a straggler in the Peninsula.
THE KOEL 337
to the position of the Common Cuckoo in Europe, in that they are
all familiar with its call and welcome its arrival, and to some extent
are acquainted with its appearance, but on the other hand they mostly
appear to be ignorant of its parasitic breeding habits.
It is a bird of groves and gardens, haunting patches of large trees in
whose shady boughs it finds concealment and whose fruits it eats. It*
never descends to the ground. The usual diet consists of fruit, especially
of the banyan, peepul and other figs, but snails are also eaten.
The call is known to everyone in India. It consists of two syllables
ko-el repeated several times, increasing in intensity and ascending in
the scale, with an indefinable sound of excitement in it. This call
appears to be uttered by both sexes and it is often heard at night —
an unmistakable token of the hot weather. Another call ho-y-o is
apparently the property of the male alone. A third call of the " water-
bubbling " type is probably common to both sexes. These are all
breeding notes and the bird is silent out of that season. In places
where the Hawk- Cuckoos are little known the Koel is sometimes
called the Brain-fever bird, but that name rightly belongs to the bird
which calls " brain-fever."
The Koel is parasitic on the Common House Crow (Corvus
splendens) in whose nests it lays, destroying one or two of the rightful
owner's eggs ; the birds are numerous and it is not unusual to find
two or three of their eggs in one Crow's nest, while as many as eight
have been recorded. The breeding habits of this Cuckoo have not
been sufficiently studied, but the young probably eject the eggs or
young of the Crows, and it is said that the female Koel often feeds
her own offspring after they are fledged. Great enmity exists between
the adult Koels and House Crows, and the latter are often to be seen
chasing the former ; but considerable respect is due to the Koel as
the one living creature that persistently gets the better of that clever
scoundrel the Crow.
The male nestling Koel is black like the adult. The female provides
an exception to the ordinary rules of plumage inheritance and is much
blacker than the adult, evidently in order to deceive the foster-parents.
The majority of Keel's eggs are laid in June, but they are dependent
on the local breeding season of the Crows. The eggs roughly resemble
Crows' eggs but are considerably smaller. They are a moderately
broad oval, somewhat compressed towards the smaller end ; the
texture is compact and fine and there is no gloss. In colour they are
variable ; the ground-colour may be of various shades of green or
stone-brown. They are marked with specks, spots, streaks, and
clouds of olive-brown, reddish-brown, and dull purple, these markings
being predominantly streaky in character, and often tending to coalesce
towards the large end.
The eggs average about 1-20 by 0-9 inches in size.
328 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE SMALL GREEN-BILLED MALKOHA
RHOPODYTES VIRIDIROSTRIS (Jerdon)
Description. — Length 15 inches. Upper parts dark ashy with a
green gloss which becomes much stronger and more metallic on the
wings and tail ; feathers of the tail broadly tipped with white ; under
parts dark ashy, the throat and breast streaked with greyish-white and
the belly washed with fulvous yellow.
Iris claret, a fine outer ring white ; loose crinkled bare skin round
the eye sky-blue ; bill apple-green ; legs olive-slate ; claws dusky.
J
FIG. 53 — Small Green-billed Malkoha (£ nat. size)
Bill deep with the top of the upper mandible sharply curved ; feathers
of the throat and breast forked, there being no web to the end of the
shaft so that the feathers look as if damp and partly stuck together ;
tail long and graduated.
Field Identification. — A clumsy-looking ashy-coloured bird with
green beak and sky-blue eyepatch and a long graduated tail tipped
with white ; found skulking in bushes and hedges.
Distribution. — Confined to India and Ceylon. It is a strictly resident
species found in Orissa and in Peninsula India from Hyderabad State
southwards.
The larger but very similar Green-billed Malkoha (Rhopodytes
tristis) of the Central and Eastern Himalayas, Assam, Burma and further
THE SMALL GREEN-BILLED MALKOHA 329
east is usually treated as a separate species. It has the eye-patch
crimson.
Habits, etc. — This quaint Cuckoo is a very sedentary species and
individuals appear much attached to particular localities, being usually
to be found within a radius of a few hundred yards. They are met
with singly or in pairs in lightly wooded and scrub country of the
deciduous type, in bush jungle on hill-sides, in bamboo forest or in
large hedges of prickly Euphorbia. They are skulkers with much the same
habits as the Crow-Pheasant, but unlike that bird are seldom seen on
the ground, keeping more in the cover of low bushes and trees and
making their way through the branches with great adroitness. If a
bird is caught in the open it will often " freeze,11 sometimes in the most
grotesque attitude, hoping thereby to escape detection. The flight is
feeble and it unwillingly takes wing and that for no distance.
The food consists of large insects, grasshoppers, mantides, cater-
pillars and the like.
The breeding season is from March to August.
The nest is a slight structure of sticks, a mere shallow saucer,
little better than that of a Dove, and it is lined with a few leaves which
are fresh and green when plucked but of course soon fade. It is
placed in the centre of a thorn bush or cactus some 5 or 6 feet from
the ground.
The clutch consists of two eggs. In shape they are almost spherical
being very blunt and rounded at both ends. The texture is fine, but
very chalky and quite without gloss and the colour is dull white.
The egg measures about 1-12 by 0-90 inches.
THE SIRKEER
TACCOCUA LESCHENAULTII Lesson
Description. — Length 17 inches. Sexes alike. Upper surface,
wings and central tail-feathers dark olive-brown, the wing and tail-
feathers slightly glossed with satiny olive-green ; outer tail-feathers
black with broad white tips ; chin, throat and breast and a patch
under the tail olive-brown, very pale almost buff on the chin ; abdomen
dark rufous ; the shafts of nearly all the feathers are dark glistening
brown, which is especially noticeable on the breast.
Iris reddish-brown ; bill cherry-red, yellow at the tip ; legs
plumbeous.
The bill is curved and sharply hooked ; a curious grille of stiff
black curved eyelashes with white bases protects the eye. Tail long,
broad and deeply graduated ; two toes in front and two behind.
Field Identification. — A large dull olive-brown bird with a heavy
330 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
tail and a striking red and yellow beak. Usually found walking about
on the ground amongst bushes or thick cover.
Distribution. — Confined to Ceylon, India and Assam. In India
it is very generally distributed and resident, but is absent or very rare
north-west of a line from Simla to Jodhpur and Cutch. Divided into
three races. The typical race is found in Ceylon and Southern India,
certainly as far north as Hyderabad. T. /. sirkee from the Northern
Punjab,^ Mount Aboo, Northern Guzerat, Cutch and Sind is a paler
bird with a yellowish throat and breast. A darker and larger race,
T. L infuscata, is found in the Eastern Himalayas. These races all
intergrade. Occurs at all elevations up to 6000 feet and even
occasionally higher.
Habits^ etc. — The Sirkeer is by preference a bird of scrub-jungle,
secondary growth, large gardens and other places where comparative
quiet and freedom from disturbance are combined with patches of
dense cover in which it can take refuge. It is largely terrestrial in
its habits, stalking about the ground in search of a very mixed diet of
fruits, seeds and berries, grasshoppers, beetles and other small fry.
It is a poor flier and as a rule is very loath to take to wing, preferring
to thread its way into the centre of a thicket. It runs well, keeping
the body in a horizontal position and stopping at intervals to raise
itself and have a good look round.
The display savours of the grotesque, both birds taking part in it,
opening their beaks and bowing low to each other, meanwhile expand-
ing the tail to make the most of the black and white markings of the
outer feathers. During the display curious clicking sounds are uttered,
but the Sirkeer is normally a very silent bird.
The normal breeding season is not well known, but nests have
been found from March to August.
The nest is a broad saucer-shaped structure of twigs lined with
green leaves, usually those of the tree in which it is built. It is placed
in some foliage-shrouded fork in a low or thick tree or even a bush
and is seldom at any great height from the ground.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. The egg is a broad,
very perfect oval with a rather coarse and chalky texture. The colour
is pure white. Many eggs are covered with a pale yellowish-brown
glaze of uncertain origin which is readily removed by washing or
scraping.
The egg measures about 1-40 by 1-05 inches.
PLATE XVI
i Green Barbel. 2. Blue-tailed Bee-Eater. 3. Brown-fronted Pied Woodpecker.
A Indian Pitta. 5. Common Hawk-Cuckoo. (All about J nat. size.)
[Fact p. 330
THE CROW-PHEASANT 331
THE CROW-PHEASANT
CENTROPUS SINENSIS (Stephen)
Description. — Length 19 inches. Sexes alike. Wings chestnut,
the quills tipped with dusky ; the remainder of the plumage black,
glossed with green, steel-blue and purple.
Iris crimson ; bill and legs black.
The bill is deep and rather curved ; the wings are short and
rounded ; the tail long, broad and graduated ; the feathers of the
head, neck and breast are harsh and coarse ; the hind toe has a long
straight claw, recalling that of the Skylark.
Field Identification. — A big black bird with chestnut wings, which
FIG. 54 — Crow-Pheasant (j- nat. size)
from its size and voluminous tail is often mistaken for a game bird.
Common about hedgerows and gardens and feeds much on the ground.
Distribution. — The typical race of the Crow-Pheasant is a bird of
wide distribution, extending across from China to North Assam, the
Himalayas to Kashmir, and the plains of Northern India down to
Sind. South of Bombay and from the Ganges to Ceylon it is replaced
by a smaller form C. s. parroti. It is an entirely resident species.
A much smaller species, the Lesser Coucal (Centropus bengalensis),
is found in the Himalayan terai, in Orissa and Bengal and South-
western India. Whilst the adult resembles the Crow-Pheasant in
coloration, the immature plumage with brown and white streaking
is very different.
Habits, etc. — The Crow-Pheasant is one of the common birds of
India, and owes this name, as well as the familiar sobriquet of the
Griffin's Pheasant, to the fact that its heavy build and slow gait and
its habit of feeding on the ground leads it to be mistaken by new arrivals
in India for a game bird. It avoids forest, and is found in cultivation,
33* POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
bush-jungle, or waste land, and is pre-eminently a bird of the broad
strips of bush and tree growth mixed with pampas grass which grow
along the sides of village roads or the banks of rivers and canals. It
is found also in gardens and about villages. In such situations it
walks about sedately on the ground, picking up wasps, beetles, cater-
pillars, locusts and grasshoppers and catching small lizards, snakes,
and other similar food, and when disturbed it flies or runs into the
heavy masses of bush and grass. The call is a peculiar dull-booming
sound, hood-hood-hood.
Although a member of the family of the Cuculidae, the Crow-
Pheasant belongs to the big group of the non-parasitic Cuckoos.
It is one of those birds that breeds in the rains, and eggs may be
found from June to September.
The nest is normally a large globular domed affair, with the
entrance at one side from which the tail of the sitting bird projects.
Occasionally, however, a rough saucer nest is made. The nests may
be placed at any height from the ground, either in the centre of a dense
thorny bush or clump of pampas grass, or in exposed positions in the
forks of trees. They are either fairly neat structures of dry twigs
lined with green leaves, or loosely built balls of dry reeds and coarse
grass.
The eggs vary from three to five in number.
They are broad, regular ovals, symmetrical at both ends ; in
texture they are rather coarse and chalky and dull pure white in
colour ; but the surface is frequently covered with a sort of epidermis
of pale yellow-brown glaze which gives a certain amount of gloss
and can readily be removed.
In size they average about 1-4 by 1*2 inches.
THE LARGE INDIAN PARRAKEET
PSITTACULA. EUPATRIA (Linnasus)
Description. — Length, including long pointed tail, 19 inches.
Male : Upper plumage grass-green, rather darker on the wings and
brighter on the forehead and rump ; a large deep red patch near the
bend of the wing ; median tail-feathers passing from green at the
base into verditer-blue and then into yellowish at the tip ; lower
surface of tail yellow ; a dark line from the nostril to the eye ; a rose-
pink collar round the sides and back of the neck, with a bluish-grey
tinge to the nape above it ; chin and a stripe from the lower base of
the beak to the rose-collar black ; lower plumage dull pale green
growing brighter towards the tail.
The female lacks the rose-collar and the black stripe that joins it.
THE LARGE INDIAN PARRAKEET 333
Iris pale yellow with a bluish-grey inner circle ; bill deep red ;
feet plumbeous.
In this and the following Parrakeets the bill is thick and deeper
than long, the upper mandible is movable, sharply pointed and curved,
coming down over the short square lower mandible ; a fleshy cere *
at the base of the bill ; tongue short, swollen and fleshy. The tail
is very long and graduated, the central feathers narrow, pointed, and
exceeding the others in length. The foot has two toes in front and
two behind.
Field Identification. — Green plumage, massive head and hooked
red beak, long pointed tail, swift flight and screaming cries easily
identify a bird as a Parrakeet. Entirely green head (except for black
chin and stripe and rose-pink collar) separate this from all other Indian
Parrakeets except the Green Parrakeet, which is at once recognised
by the smaller size and absence of red shoulder-patches.
Distribution. — The Large Indian Parrakeet is found practically
throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma. It is divided into four races
which are separated on size and comparative details of coloration.
The typical race is South Indian, found in Hyderabad, Mysore,
Travancore, and Ceylon. P. e. nipalensis is found in Northern and
Central India from the valley of the Indus (though not indigenous to
Sind), and the Himalayan foot-hills (up to 4000 feet), and Assam
down to Kamptee, Raipur, Sambalpur, and the Northern Circars ;
also to the Satpura Range in Khandesh. P. e. indoburmanicus is
found in Burma and P. e. magnirostris in the Andaman Islands. A
resident species.
Habits, etc. — This fine Parrakeet is found in practically any type
of country in which large trees are numerous. It lives in parties and
flocks, which may be observed at all times of the year, though individual
pairs often separate while breeding ; but as many pairs usually breed
together in suitable spots, the birds when off the nest are social and
fly about together.
The flocks collect to roost in large avenues and groves of trees,
and in the evenings they have a very regular flight to such roosting
places, travelling for miles to them at a great height with a swift direct
straight flight. While flying they frequently utter the loud shrill call.
The food consists of various grains, seeds and fruits, both wild
and cultivated, and as the birds are numerous, large and greedy, they
do a considerable amount of damage in cultivation. This species is
a common cage-bird in Northern India and becomes very tame though
it seldom learns to talk.
The breeding season is from February to April. No nest is made,
* Cere (from cera, wax) is a term applied to the soft, generally rather
swollen sjcm which covers the base of the upper bill, especially well defined in
parrots and birds of prey.
334 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
but the eggs are laid in holes in buildings and trees, usually at a con-
siderable height from the ground. The hole used in a tree is generally
a deep natural hollow, but a certain amount of shaping and excavating
is done by the birds themselves.
The eggs vary from two to five in number. They are broad and
regular ovals in shape, stout and rather coarse in texture, with a slight
gloss. The colour is pure unmarked white.
They measure about 1*32 by i-oo inches.
THE GREEN PARRAKEET
PSITTACULA KRAMERI (Scopoli)
(Plate xvii, Fig. i, opposite page 352)
Description. — Length 16 inches. Male : Upper plumage bright
green, washed with pale bluish-grey about the back and sides of the
head and paler about the bend of the wing ; median tail-feathers
green at the base then bluish-grey, other tail-feathers green with
yellow inner webs, tipped with yellow and yellow underneath ; a fine
blackish line from the nostril to the eye ; a rose-collar round the neck
except in front ; chin and a band from the lower base of the beak to
the rose-collar black ; lower plumage yellowish-green.
The female has the rose-collar and black band replaced by an
indistinct emerald-green ring.
Iris pale yellow ; bill cherry-red, lower mandible blackish ; feet
dusky slate or greenish.
Field Identification. — Most abundant and well-known plains
species, usually in parties ; easily distinguished by the green plumage,
massive hooked red bill, long pointed tail, swift arrow-like flight, and
the harsh screaming notes. There is no red wing-patch in this species.
The Blue-winged Parrakeet (Psittacula columboides) of the Western
Ghats- and Nilgiris has the head and breast grey with a complete
black ring (followed in the male by an emerald-green ring) round
the neck. The green and blue wings are scale-marked with yellow.
Distribution. — The typical form is African. We are concerned with
two races. The northern form, P. k. borealis, with the lower mandible
either red or black is found from Baluchistan across to Assam and
Burma. It intergrades gradually — and an arbitrary boundary may be
fixed at the 20° of latitude — into P. k. manillensis of Southern India
and Ceylon which is slightly smaller and darker and has the lower
mandible black. This bird does not ascend the Himalayas above
4000 feet and it avoids most hill-ranges and tracts of unbroken forest.
A resident species.
THE GREEN PARRAKEET 335
Habits, etc. — The Green Parrakeet is one of those species in India
which everyone knows. It is excessively abundant, living in pairs
in the breeding season, and gathering into parties and flocks at other
times, which from their universality, the damage that they do in
gardens and fields, their noisiness, and their brilliant coloration, are
known to all and sundry.
Normally this Parrakeet is arboreal and it is a wonderful climber,
being equally at home in every position, but it flies down to feed on
crops and garden plants, and occasionally settles on the ground to
pick up food-stuffs, and there its awkward sidling gait, due to the
long tail and the short zygodactyle feet, is very quaint. But specially
adapted for climbing and for holding food these feet amply compen-
sate for their awkwardness on the ground. There is something
especially sedate and knowing about the demeanour of the Parrakeets,
which is further heightened when they sit on one foot and with the
other hold up a piece of food to be eaten bite by bite. The flight is
very swift and straight and these birds have the habit of an evening
roosting flight, flock after flock hurrying in succession along the same
line to some patch of trees where they roost in company with flocks
of Crows and Mynahs. The ordinary call is a harsh, rather shrill,
inarticulate scream, but when courting the male has a pleasant
murmuring warble which he utters as he scratches the head of the
hen with the point of his bill, and joins his beak to hers in a loving
kiss. The hens are very accomplished flirts and their behaviour ip
the presence of the favoured male is most amusing. This species of
Parrakeet is one of the universal cage-birds of India and it becomes
delightfully tame ; individuals may be taught to say a few words, but
the best of them never talk as well as the African Grey Parrots.
The breeding season extends from February to May, though most
eggs will be found in March.
No nest is made, but the eggs are laid on debris in holes in walls
and buildings or more commonly in trees. The hole may be a natural
one, but often the bird excavates a tunnel and chamber very similar
to those of the Woodpeckers.
Four to six eggs are laid. The egg is a moderately broad oval,
slightly pointed towards one end ; the texture is hard and compact
with a slight gloss, and the colour is pure unmarked white.
The average size is 1*20 by 0-95 inches.
336 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE BLOSSOM-HEADED PARRAKEET
PSITTACULA CYANOCEPHALA (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 14 inches. Male : Head red, washed \vith
blue, giving the effect of the bloom on a plum, sharply defined with
a narrow black collar from the chin round the neck ; behind the
black collar extends an area of verdigris-green ; upper plumage
yellowish-green, becoming verdigris on the wings and rump ; the
quills are green with pale edges, and there is a deep red patch near
the bend of the wing ; the median tail-feathers pass from green at
the base into blue with conspicuous white tips ; the remaining
tail-feathers are largely yellow with the greater portion of the outer
webs green ; lower plumage bright yellowish-green.
The female has the red head replaced by dull bluish-grey (plum-
blue) and a yellow ring replaces the collars of black and verdigris.
Iris yellowish-white ; bill orange-yellow, lower mandible blackish ;
legs dull green.
Field Identification. — Distinguish from the other species by the
smaller and more slender build, the more pleasing call, the plum-
coloured head (red-plum in male, blue-plum in female), the orange
beak and the conspicuous yellow tips to the tail-feathers.
Care must be taken not to confuse the female with the slightly
larger Slaty-headed Parrakeet (Psittacula himalayand) of the Himalayas
in which both sexes have a slate-grey head. It is useful to remember
that the tip of the tail, usually very conspicuous in flight, is whitish
in the Blossom-headed Parrakeet and bright yellow in the Slaty-headed
Parrakeet.
Distribution. — The Blossom-headed Parrakeet is found almost
throughout India, Ceylon and Burma, extending still farther eastwards
to Cochin-China, Siam, and Southern China. It is divided into two
races, of which we are only concerned with the Western and typical
race. This is found in India throughout the plains to Mount Aboo,
Sambhar and the Eastern Punjab, extending still farther west along
the Himalayan foot-hills to the neighbourhood of Murree. It extends
eastward to about Sikkim where it joins on to the range of the paler
eastern form P. c. bengalensis. In the Western Himalayas it ascends
to about 5000 feet. Locally migratory.
Habits, etc. — This beautiful Parrakeet is, to a large extent, a forest
bird, though it is found anywhere also in well-wooded but cultivated
districts. Like other Parrakeets, it is a social species, being found
in parties, which feed on seeds and fruits in forest trees ; but this
species very seldom descends to the ground. The flight is very strong
and swift, faster than that of the other two species dealt with in this
THE BLOSSOM-HEADED PARRAKEET 337
work, and of the three kinds it has much the most musical call. It is
not usually kept in captivity by the natives of India.
The ordinary breeding season is from February to May, though
in the South it also breeds in December.
Four to six eggs are laid in the nest hole which is usually excavated
by the birds themselves, being a tunnel and nest-chamber like those
of a Woodpecker in the branch of a tree, usually at some height from
the ground. Occasionally a natural hole in a tree is utilised. In
either case no nest is built, the eggs lying on chips and debris in the
bottom of the chamber.
The egg is a broad oval, rather pointed towards the small end.
The texture is fine though without gloss. The colour is pure white,
but it loses its freshness as incubation progresses.
The egg measures about i-o by 0-80 inches.
INDIAN LORIKEET
CORYLLIS VERNALIS Sparrman
Description. — Length 5-5 inches. Grass green above, wings and
tail darker, rump and upper tail coverts crimson, lower parts yellowish
green. The male has a small patch of blue on the throat which is
absent in the female.
Iris yellowish white ; bill coral red, tip yellow ; cere darker red ;
legs and feet yellowish or pale orange.
Field Identification. — A very diminutive parrot, about the size of
a sparrow, bright green with crimson rump.
Distribution. — The Indian Lorikeet ranges from the Nepal Terai
eastward through Eastern Bengal and Assam to Burma and Siam.
In the peninsula of India it is only known on the east coast from
the vicinity of Vazagapatam ; on the west side it is by no means
uncommon in many areas between Bombay and Cape Comarin,
ascending the Nilgiris to some 6000 feet and extending east as far as
the Pulney Hills.
Habits, etc. — This little parrot is a bird of open deciduous and
evergreen forests and small tree and bamboo jungle, as well as orchards
and plantations. In the Himalayan foothills it is found up to about
3000 feet. To some extent it is migratory depending on the blossoming
of certain trees and the ripening of fruits. The food consists of
various kinds of fruits and berries as well as the seeds of bamboos
and, at certain times of the year, it feeds to a great extent on the
nectar of flowers, especially those of the Coral tree (Erythrina).
Curiously enough, that of the Silk Cotton tree (Bombax malabaricus)
Y
338
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
so much sought after by many birds — is not much patronised. The
small figs of the Peepal and Banyan trees are a great attraction, and
a flock of Lorikeets feeding in one of these trees is very difficult to
see owing to their small size and green plumage blending with the
leaves. When feeding they warble and utter a twittering note, but
there is no clamour as when parrakeets are present. The flight is
swift with rapid wing beats and on the wing they utter a chee-chu-
FIG. 540 — Little Lorikeet.
chu. Small parties have a curious habit of collecting on the top
of a tree, then a single bird will suddenly dash off and fly around,
wheeling in circles, whistling loudly and dash back again to the tree,
settle down, and another will fly off. Lorikeets have been known
to raid jars attached to Toddy Palms and afterwards picked up,
intoxicated, from having indulged too freely in the liquor. They
roost at night suspended by their feet with the head downwards.
The eggs are laid from February to April, according to the locality.
LITTLE LORIKEET 339
The nest is a small natural hole in a tree, from ground level to
about fifteen feet up, and at times the nesting chamber is actually
below the level of the ground.
The clutch is from three to four in number, broad, blunt ovals,
white in colour, but often stained with the rotten wood in the nesting
chamber.
They measure 0*75 by 0-6 inches.
THE MOTTLED WOOD-OWL
STRIX OCELLATUM (Lesson)
Description. — Length 18 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head
and neck tawny ferruginous, the feathers tipped with black containing
white spots ; remainder of the upper parts finely mottled with black
and white and barred and streaked with black, the partly concealed
bases of the feathers tawny ferruginous ; an irregular white stripe,
crossed by fine black bars, down each side of the back ; wings similar
to the back, the outer flight-feathers being dark brown crossed with
paler mottled bars, the base of the inner webs largely tawny ferrugin-
ous ; tail tawny at the base, mottled black and white towards the
end, the feathers crossed with pale mottled bands and black bars,
the outer feathers tipped with white ; face mottled and barred with
black and white ; a large white patch on the throat ; lower plumage
white barred with fine black lines, the bases of the feathers pale tawny
ferruginous.
Iris dark brown ; eyelid orange ; bill black ; claws dusky.
This and other Owls are remarkable for the following features.
The head is large, and the eyes are directed forwards in a facial disc,
composed of feathers radiating from each eye, the outer margin being
surrounded by a conspicuous ruff of close-textured feathers ; bill
short and hooked, with the nostrils set in a cere almost concealed by
a mass of bristly feathers ; the orifice of the ear very large though
concealed with feathers ; plumage soft and very copious ; outer toe
reversible ; claws sharp and curved.
Field Identification. — A large Owl with a typical Owl " face " but
no ear-tufts. Most beautifully barred and mottled in brownish-black
and white with tawny patches wherever the feathers are ruffled.
Nocturnal but may be seen by day sleeping in large trees.
Distribution. — Peculiar to India. Generally distributed through-
out the country up to the base of the Himalayas except in Sind, the
North-western Frontier Province and most of the Punjab. A strictly
resident species. In the Himalayas it is replaced by races of the
European Brown Owl (Strix aluco\ a mottled grey or brown bird
of similar aspect, which is found at all elevations from 4000 feet up
to the limits of tree level, occurring in all the hill stations.
340 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
In Southern India and Ceylon another representative of this group
is the Brown Wood-Owl (Strix indranee)^ a very dark brown bird, also
found sparingly in the Himalayas.
Habits, etc. — Very little has been recorded about the habits of
the Mottled Wood-Owl which lives the secluded life of its genus.
It is not a bird of dense forests but is found in well-wooded country
where large mango-topes or roadside avenues of ancient trees provide
it with holes to nest in and cover to spend the day. In such localities
it sleeps away the day in some shady refuge, emerging at nightfall
to hunt the surrounding country. It lives entirely on squirrels, rats
and mice and must be one of the birds most beneficial to Indian
agriculture. The call is said to be a loud harsh hoot.
The breeding season extends according to locality, for it is said
to be somewhat earlier in the southern half of India than in the north,
from November until April. There is little or no nest, the eggs being
laid on a little dry touch-wood, a few dry leaves or the miscellaneous
rubbish that collects in some large cavity in the trunk or a bough of
an ancient tree or in the depression at the fork of two or more large
branches. Such a site may be chosen at heights from 8 to 25 feet from
the ground.
The clutch varies from one to three eggs, but two is the normal
number. The egg is rather large for the size of the bird, a very round
oval of fine texture and little gloss. The colour is white with often a
very delicate creamy tinge.
The size is about 1-99 by 1-67 inches.
THE BROWN FISH-OWL
KETUPA ZEYLONENSIS (Gmelin)
(Plate xviii, Fig. 2, opposite page 374)
Description. — Length 22 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
rufescent-brown with broad black shaft-streaks, the upper back and
wing-coverts much mottled with brown and fulvous ; there are some
buff and white spots along the shoulders ; flight- and tail-feathers dark
brown with paler mottled whitish-brown bands and tips ; throat
white ; lower plumage whitish, streaked and narrowly and closely
barred with wavy brownish-rufous markings.
Iris bright yellow ; bill dusky greenish-horn ; legs dusky yellow.
In this species there is an aigrette of long and pointed feathers
over each eye ; the tarsus is bare of feathers and granular, with prickly
scales on the soles.
Field Identification. — A massive, solemn, brown bird with yellow
THE BROWN FISH-OWL 341
eyes surmounted by ear-tufts (the head recalling that of a cat) ;
plumage grey and brown with pronounced streaks. Sleeps by day
in trees and on the ground. Immediately distinguished from the
Eagle-Owls by the bare tarsus.
Distribution. — This fine Owl is a widely-distributed species,
ranging from Palestine on the west through India, Burma and Ceylon
to China in the east. It is divided into several races, but all Indian
birds belong to the race K. z. leschenaultL In India it is found
throughout the Continent from the foot-hills of the Himalayas on the
north, and Sind and the North-west Frontier Province on the west.
In Southern India it is found up to the summits of the hill-ranges.
The typical race from Ceylon is smaller and darker. A resident
species.
Habits, etc. — This large Owl is always found in the vicinity of
water, and its food, though including birds and small mammals,
consists very largely of fish and crabs which it catches at the edge
of rivers and streams. In view of this diet its feet and claws are
unlike that of most other Owls. The tarsus is almost entirely free
of feathers which are replaced by granular scales, and the soles of the
feet are thickly covered with prickly scales particularly adapted for
holding slippery prey, while the large well-curved claws have sharp
cutting edges as well as highly-sharpened points. In fact the whole
foot very strongly resembles that of the Osprey, the well-known
Fish-Hawk.
The Fish-Owl sleeps by day in some large heavy-foliaged tree or
in the face of some rocky cliff, and with the fall of dusk wings its
way to the neighbouring water, uttering a strange screaming call
which resembles that of an Eagle or Norfolk Plover rather than that
of an Owl.
Another call is described as a loud dismal cry haw-haw-haw-ha,
or a deep triple note hu-who-hu.
The breeding season is from December to March, but most eggs
will be found in February. This Owl nests in clefts and ledges
of rocky banks or mud cliffs, in holes and hollows of ancient trees,
or in the deserted nests of Fishing-Eagles and Vultures. These
varied sites are lined with a few sticks and feathers or dry leaves
and grass.
The clutch consists of two eggs. These are very perfect broad
ovals, close-grained and compact in texture, with a slight gloss, though
the whole surface is freely pitted. The colour is white with a faint
creamy tinge.
In size they average about 2*38 by 1-88 inches.
Y2
342 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE ROCK EAGLE-OWL
BUBO BENGALENSIS (Franklin)
Description. — Length 22 inches. Sexes alike. Head and neck
bright tawny-buff, heavily streaked with rich dark brown ; above the
whitish facial disc edged with a blackish ruff two conspicuous " horns "
or " aigrettes " of feathers deep blackish-brown edged with fulvous ;
upper plumage deep rich brown, mottled and spotted buff and white,
most conspicuously on the sides of the wings and above the tail ;
flight-feathers rich deep tawny with brown bars, dusky at the tip ;
tail barred buff and brown, the central pair of feathers mottled with
those colours ; chin and throat whitish ; remainder of lower plumage
buff, broadly dashed with dark blackish-brown on the breast and
streaked and cross-barred with the same on the abdomen and flanks,
the markings dying away again under the tail and on the legs.
Iris orange-yellow ; bill horny-black ; claws dusky.
The tarsus is thickly feathered.
Field Identification. — A large solemn bird, mottled tawny-buff
and blackish-brown, with conspicuous tufts above large orange eyes,
which sits motionless by day amongst rocks and ravines and occasion-
ally in trees. This bird and the Brown Fish-Owl are difficult to
distinguish in the field when the legs are not visible. The Fish-Owl
carries the ear-tufts lower and is reddish-brown in general colour
while the Eagle-Owl is yellowish-tawny with more black on the head.
Distribution. — The Rock Eagle-Owl is virtually confined to India,
though it is found rarely in Burma. It is found in the Western
Himalayas and Kashmir up to about 5000 feet. In the plains it occurs
from the North-west Frontier Province and Sind across to Upper
Bengal and southwards generally, though it is not found in Ceylon.
A resident species.
The Long-eared (Asio otus) and Short-eared (Asio flammeus) Owls
are medium-sized species of very similar type to the Eagle-Owls.
They appear as winter visitors to the plains, the former confined to
North-western India. The latter is widely distributed and is usually
flushed from ground cover, often in parties.
Habits, etc. — This is the commonest of the larger Owls of India,
being very abundant in Northern and Central India. It lives by
preference in hollows and clefts of rocky cliffs or ruined buildings,
in broken rain-worn ravines, and in brushwood on stony hill-sides,
and when these are wanting takes refuge in clumps of trees. Though
mainly nocturnal, it sometimes moves by day and long after sunrise
may be seen perched on the summit of a rocky scree, looming large
in view against the clearness of the new-born sky. It feeds on frogs,
THE ROCK EAGLE-OWL
343
lizards, snakes, mammals, birds and insects. The call is a loud dur-
goon or to-whoot, solemn and deep in tone, but when disturbed by
day it will sit on a rock bowing and squawking at the intruder, and
hissing and snapping with its bill.
The breeding season extends from December to May, but most
nests will be found from February to April.
No nest is made, the eggs merely lying in a hollow scraped
in the soil, generally in a ledge or recess of a cliff or bank-face,
FIG. 55 — Rock Eagle-Owl (} nat. size)
but some eggs are laid on the ground at the foot of a tree or
under a bush.
The normal clutch consists of four eggs, but two or three are some-
times laid.
The egg is a very perfect broad oval, white with a faint creamy
tinge. The texture is close and fine, with a distinct gloss.
The egg measures about 2-10 by 1-73 inches.
344 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE DUSKY EAGLE-OWL
BUBO COROMANDUS (Latham)
Description. — Length 23 inches. Sexes alike. The whole plumage
including aigrettes on the head greyish-brown with dark shaft-stripes,
the feathers finely mottled and vermiculated with whitish especially
on the lower surface ; a few buff and white spots about the shoulders ;
flight- and tail-feathers brown with pale mottled cross-bands and tips.
Iris deep yellow ; bill horny-whitish ; claws black.
The tarsus is thickly feathered.
Field Identification. — Very similar in the field to the Rock Horned-
Owl, but it is a grey, not a tawny bird, and it is always found sitting
in trees ; the eyes are paler.
Distribution. — This fine Owl is found throughout the greater
part of the Indian Peninsula extending from the Indus Valley right
away to Eastern Bengal, and south to the Carriatic and Mysore,
though it is absent from various areas such as the Bombay Deccan,
the Western Ghats and the Malabar coast. It is strictly resident.
Habits, etc. — This Owl avoids the most heavily afforested tracts
and lives in woods and groves in open country in well- watered areas.
It is particularly partial to the avenues of large trees which grow
along the great canal systems of Northern India. By day it sleeps
in the trees, sitting in a thickly foliaged bough or close up to the
trunk, and wakes to activity about dusk, though it begins to call
an hour or two before sunset. The call-note is very characteristic,
wo-wo-wo, wo-o, 0-0, a deep solemn hoot which almost resembles the
distant sound of a train puffing its way along. The eared head of
this bird with its great yellow eyes is particularly cat-like, especially
when it is seen looking over the edge of a nest.
The food consists chiefly of Jungle and House Crows which
often roost in great numbers in the groves that it inhabits ; it also
takes various small mammals, birds, lizards and frogs, and also robs
nests of their eggs and young.
It breeds very early in the year, from December to March. The
nest is a large rough cup of sticks placed in a fork of a large tree some
30 or 40 feet from the ground. It is generally lined with green leaves
or dry grass, and is sometimes a large structure added to and used
year after year. While the female is sitting the male sleeps nearby
in an adjacent tree, the spot being marked by the remains of meals
that strew the ground below. It is comparatively common for this
Owl to appropriate the old nests of Eagles and Vultures, and occasion-
ally also it lays in the hollows of trees or in depressions at the junctions
of branches, depositing a few leaves in the place by way of lining.
THE DUSKY EAGLE-OWL 345
The normal clutch consists of two eggs, but one, three or four
eggs are also rarely found. Incubation commences with the laying
of the first egg.
The egg is typically a broad oval, but variations in shape and
size are common ; the texture is rather coarse with more or less
gloss ; the colour is dead white with a rather creamy tinge.
In size the eggs average about 2-33 by 1*39 inches.
THE COLLARED SCOPS-OWL
OTUS BAKKAMCENA Pennant
Description. — Length 10 inches. Sexes alike. Facial disc light
brown, faintly banded darker ; broad streaks over the eyes merging
into aigrettes buffy-white, mottled with blackish ; ruff buffy-white
with dark brown edges ; upper plumage buff, closely vermiculated,
streaked and speckled with blackish except for a conspicuously paler
collar round the back of the neck and a buff and black-spotted band
down the shoulders ; flight-feathers brown with paler mottled bands
and tips ; tail brown with pale cross-bands, the feathers more or less
mottled ; lower plumage buffy-white, irregularly black shafted, and
except towards the chin, tarsus and tail much stippled with fine
broken wavy cross-bars.
Iris brown ; bill greenish- or yellowish-horny ; feet greenish-
yellow.
The tarsus is thickly feathered.
Field Identification. — A small Owl with conspicuous ear-tufts and
dark eyes, the general effect of the plumage being buff, rather richly
marked with dark brown, especially about the head. Presence seldom
detected until the call is heard.
Distribution. — This handsome little Owl is found throughout the
Oriental region generally, from Muscat on the west to Japan on the
east. It is divided into a number of races, of which the following
occur in our area as resident birds. They differ merely in details of
colour, tint and size, and in the amount of feathering on the toes.
The typical race is found in Ceylon and Southern India up to Madras
and the Southern Konkan. O. b. marathee is found in the Central
Provinces to Sambalpur and Manbhum in Southern Bengal.
O. b. gangeticus is found in the United Provinces east to Allahabad
and at Mount Aboo. O. b. deserticolor is the pale bird of Sind
and Baluchistan. In the Lower Himalayan ranges up to 6000 feet
there are two forms : O. b. plumipes is found from Hazara to
346 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Garhwal, while the bird of Nepal, Sikkim and Burma is known
as 0. b. lettia.
The Scops-Owls are a large and difficult group ; this species
may be distinguished from the others by the wing formula : the first
primary is shorter than the eighth, while the
second primary is in length between the sixth
and seventh or the seventh and eighth.
Habits, etc. — The Collared Scops-Owl is
thoroughly nocturnal, only awaking to activity
just as the dusk has almost merged into night ;
at this hour its low mournful call whaat uttered
slowly and sedately at long intervals may be
heard in the depth of a well-foliaged tree, and
thus it may be heard again and again until dawn
brings the first flush of light. That is all that is
generally known of this Owl unless by chance it
is noticed fast alseep in a tree in the daytime ;
though tWs is seldom, as it hides itself carefully
away.
The food consists chiefly of insects.
Two other very nocturnal species are only
known to most people by their calls in the
Himalayan hills stations. A very regular and
rhythmic wuck-chug-chugj which goes on end-
lessly like the working of a pump-engine, is the call of the Indian
Scops-Owl (Otus sunia). A plaintive double whistle with a slight
interval between the two notes phew-phew, with the tone of a
hammer on an anvil, is uttered by the Himalayan Scops-Owl (Otus
spilocephalus), A single clear four-noted whistle, often repeated —
also a familiar night sound of the hill stations— indicates the presence
of the Pygmy Owlet (Glaucidium brodiei), which is little larger than a
Sparrow.
The breeding season extends from January until April. The
eggs are laid in a natural hole in a tree which is slightly lined with
leaves and grass. A pair once deposited their eggs in a large nest-
box placed in a tree in my garden. The clutch varies from two to
five eggs. These are almost spherical in shape, pure white, fine in
texture and fairly glossy.
They measure about 1-25 by 1-05 inches.
FIG. 56— Collared
Scops-Owl
(i nat. size)
THE SPOTTED OWLET 347
THE SPOTTED OWLET
ATHENE DRAMA (Temminck)
(Plate xix, Fig. 4, opposite page 396)
Description. — Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. Forehead and a
streak above the eye whitish ; upper parts, wings and tail greyish-
or earthy-brown, the top of the head with small white spots, the
rest of the upper plumage more or less boldly spotted and in places
almost barred with white ; an indistinct whitish half-collar on the
hind neck ; the quills with pale broken cross-bars ; the tail with four
to six white cross-bars ; chin, throat and sides of the neck white ; a
broad brown band, somewhat broken in the centre, across the throat ;
lower plumage white with brown bands and spots on the feathers,
dying away towards the tail.
Iris pale golden-yellow ; bill and feet greenish-yellow.
The facial disc and ruff are very indistinct in this Owl.
Field Identification. — One of the most familiar birds of the plains.
A small spotted brown and white Owl with bright yellow eyes, which
is very wide awake by day and makes most extraordinary noises about
dusk ; found everywhere, especially in gardens about houses, in twos
and threes.
The eerie long-drawn shriek also heard round houses is the cry
of the Barn Owl (Tyto alba), unmistakable with its queer pinched
face and figure and buffy yellow and white plumage.
Distribution. — Throughout the Peninsula of India from the North-
west Frontier Province, Baluchistan and Sind to Assam and Cachar,
and from the foot-hills of the Himalayas (up to 3000 feet) to Cape
Comorin. It also occurs in parts of Burma and Siam. It is divided
into races, distinguished by slight differences in coloration. The typical
race occurs in Southern India up to about Bombay ; while north of
that all Indian birds, including those of Baluchistan, belong to the
race A. b. indica. A strictly resident species.
Habits, etc. — In the Spotted Owlet we have the most common
and familiar Owl of India, known to everyone who spends even the
shortest time in the country. It affects desert, cultivation and forest
alike, living equally at home in rocks and ruins, in trees and houses.
It is particularly partial to gardens. This quaint little bird is, of
course, nocturnal in its habits, and towards dusk emerges from the
hole in which it has spent the day, and signalises its emergence by
the most varied assortment of squeaks and squeals and chatterings,
uttered in short bursts as if moved by the spirit to sudden vituperation.
It then flies off to commence its hunting, flying with a characteristic
undulating flight with quick flappings of the wings, though seldom
348 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
going far at a stretch. It hovers occasionally some 15 or 20 feet above
the ground, much after the fashion of a Kestrel, though not so grace-
fully and skilfully. About houses and streets it perches often in the
glare of lamps to profit by the insects attracted to them, and where
people dine out in their gardens it hunts round the table with a perfect
disdain for their presence.
But though 'truly nocturnal, it is less sleepy by day and intolerant
of the light than most Owls. It sits out in the sunlight near % the
entrance to its hole, and is then wide awake enough, promptly bowing
and nodding and glaring if looked at, finally taking to wing or popping
back into its hole to avoid the annoyance ; occasionally it calls and
chatters by day, but not very often. Three or four often live together.
The food consists almost entirely of insects, and the nest holes and
resting places will be found littered with pellets containing the indi-
gestible portions of beetles and crickets, proving the amount of good
done by these little birds. Small mammals and birds and lizards are,
however, occasionally taken.
The breeding season is from February to May, most nests being
found in March and April. No very definite nest is made, but the
eggs generally rest on a few feathers, dry grass and other rubbish
which is usually already present in the hole, though perhaps sometimes
gathered by the Owlet itself. The favourite nesting site is a natural
hole in a tree, but holes in buildings and clefts in rocks are often used.
The number of eggs varies from three to six. They are pure
white in colour, moderately broad ovals of a close uniform satiny
texture.
They average in size about 1-25 by 1-04 inches.
THE JUNGLE OWLET
GLAUCIDIUM RADIATUM (Tickell)
Description. — Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. Whole upper plumage
dark blackish-brown finely barred with pale rufous on the head and
neck and with white on the remainder, some white and rufous blotches
on the wing-coverts; wing-quills blackish-brown barred with pale
chestnut, the bars becoming more distinct towards the body ; tail
sooty blackish with narrow white cross-bars ; lower plumage banded
blackish-brown and white or pale rufous, the dark bands gradually
disappearing towards the tail and on the thighs ; chin, a line below the
cheeks, a large patch on the upper breast and the centre of the
abdomen pure white.
Iris yellow ; bill greenish-horny, cere greenish ; feet dirty greenish-
yellow, tips of claws blackish.
THE JUNGLE OWLET 349
me facial disc and ruff are indistinct. Legs feathered and toes
covered with coarse hairs.
Field Identification. — A small dark-looking Owl, finely barred \vith
blackish-brown, white and chestnut, which is partly diurnal in its
habits. Lives in trees and has an easily recognisable call.
Distribution. — A sedentary species confined to India and Ceylon.
The typical race is fairly generally distributed, except in the Eastern
Ghats, throughout India from Saharunpur, Gwalior and Mount Aboo
to North Cachar and Hylakandy in Assam. In the Himalayas it is
FIG. 57 — Jungle Owlet (J nat. size)
found only in the outer and warmer valleys. In Peninsular India it
is found both in the plains and in the hills up to about 5000 feet.
It is confined to the dry zone in Ceylon.
This species must not be confused with the very similar Large
Barred Owlet (Glaucidium cuculoides) which is very common through-
out the Lower Himalayan ranges where its rising crescendo of squawks,
supplemented by a long quavering whistle in the breeding season, is
a familiar sound by day.
Habits, etc. — The Jungle Owlet is usually confined to the more
jungly and fc *est-clad tracts of both the plains and the lower hills
350 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
though in the cultivated plains of the United Provinces a pair or two
may be found in almost every mango tope.
As a rule, it is an inveterate skulker, remaining in its hole in spite of
any noise. When disturbed it settles on a branch and remains perfectly
still, sitting bolt upright and staring intently at the intruder until
it senses that it is discovered, instantly taking wing to a fresh place
of concealment, and if pursued it repeats the performance. Sitting
thus it looks exactly like the stump of a dead bough. It sees well
by day and Vidal records how one dashed out of a tree to capture a
Phylloscopus he had shot which was fluttering slowly to the ground
in the full blaze of the sun.
The Jungle Owlet makes its appearance in the evening a little
later than the Spotted Owlet and retires as a rule a little earlier in
the morning, its principal feeding hours being apparently the hour
after sunrise and the hour before sunset. If undisturbed the pairs
sit together and sun themselves before retiring to their hole, sometimes
remaining thus up till midday. Like the Spotted Owlet it often
perches on telegraph-wires.
This Owlet calls both by day and night. The call is peculiar but
rather pleasing, something of a chirp in several different keys very
different to the discordant noise of the Spotted Owlet. It is described
as too-to-to-too, drawn out to a considerable length and sometimes
terminating in double or treble notes.
The flight is both rapid and strong, the wings being often partially
closed. It kills and devours all kinds of small birds as well as locusts,
lizards, crickets, ants and even butterflies.
The breeding season is from March till June.
No nest is constructed, but the eggs are laid in holes in small trees,
usually some 10 or 20 feet from the ground.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs. They are normally very
broad ovals, smooth and satiny to the touch but with scarcely any gloss.
The colour is pure white.
The egg measures about 1-25 by 1*05 inches.
THE KING VULTURE
SARCOGYPS CALVUS (Scopoli)
Description. — Length 32 inches. Sexes alike. Glossy black,
brownish on the shoulders and lower back and rump ; the crop
is dark brown almost surrounded with white down ; a large white
and downy patch on each flank by the thighs.
Iris reddish-brown or yellow ; bill dark brown ; cere dull red ;
legs dull red.
THE KING VULTURE 351
The head and neck are bare, deep beefsteak-red in colour with a
flat pendent wattle behind each ear ; there are conspicuous bare red
patches on each side of the crop and in fro^t of each thigh.
Field Identification. — Black plumage and the bare red head and
neck wattles are distinctive both on the ground and in flight ; in
flight also the white thigh-patches are conspicuous at all distances,
and place the identification beyond all doubt ; the wings appear
rather pointed in flight, and a whitish line generally seems to run
through them.
Distribution. — This fine Vulture
is found throughout India and
Burma, though not in Ceylon,
extending on the south-east into
the Malay Peninsula, Siam and
Cochin - China. In the Outer
Himalayas it breeds up to a height
of 5800 feet and ranges in search
of food up to about 8000 feet. It
is a strictly resident species.
Habits, etc. — Although generally
distributed and common through-
out India, this species is never
abundant, as it is not colonial like
most of the large Vultures but lives
solitary or in pairs ; only one or
two will ever be found at a carcass
with scores of the other species,
which mostly hold this bird in
wholesome respect and give way
before its superior spirit and de-
meanour ; hence the name of
King Vulture, though it is also
frequently known as the Black or
Pondicherry Vulture. It is *not partial to very heavy forest or pure
desert, and is most common in open cultivated plains where it rests
upon the trees ; it never settles on cliffs. In flight the wings are held
well above the line of the back.
The breeding season lasts from the latter end of January until the
middle of April, but most eggs are probably laid in March. The
nest is a large flat structure of sticks, lined towards the centre with
leaves and dry grass, and it is probably repaired and used for several
years in succession. The nest is placed as a rule on the extreme top
of large trees, 30 to 40 feet from the ground, but in localities where
large trees are scarce it has no hesitation in building on cactus, on
low thorny trees and even on low bushes close to the ground ; but
FIG. 58 — King Vulture
(Vo nat. size)
352 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
under no circumstances does it ever breed on rocks or buildings.
Occasionally it utilises the old nests of Eagles.
Only a solitary egg is laid. The normal shape is a round oval ;
the shell is very strong with a moderately fine texture, usually without
gloss. When freshly laid the colour is a nearly unsullied pale greenish-
white, but as incubation advances the shell becomes discoloured.
In size the eggs average about 3-35 by 2-50 inches.
THE HIMALAYAN GRIFFON
GYPS HIMALAYENSIS Hume
Description. — Length 4 feet. Sexes alike. Head and neck naked
save for some yellowish-white hair-like feathers on the head and
yellowish-white down on the neck ; a ruff of loose-textured pointed
feathers round the neck whitish and pale brown ; back whity-brown,
unevenly coloured, with traces of pale shaft-stripes ; lower back
whitish merging into buff ; wings dark brown with pale tips to the
coverts, the quills and tail-feathers blackish-brown ; lower plumage
light buff-brown, darker on the crop, with broad whitish shaft-streaks.
Iris brownish-yellow ; bill pale horny-green ; cere pale brown ;
legs dingy greenish-white.
Build squat and heavy, accentuated by the bare head and neck
with the loose ruff. The beak is deep and laterally compressed with
the upper mandible strongly hooked.
Field Identification. — The huge pale-coloured Vulture found
commonly throughout the Himalayas. Seen from below it is pale
khaki with the hinder margins of the open wings and the tail black,
and it flies high in the sky with the appearance of an aeroplane.
Khaki-colour, down-covered head and neck and white neck ruff are
distinctive when the bird is sitting still.
Distribution. — A resident mountain species found throughout the
whole length of the Himalayas from KUbul to Bhutan ; also in the
Pamirs, Turkestan and Tibet.
The exact relationship between this species and the Griffon
Vulture (Gypsfulvus) is not very clear nor are they ordinarily separable
in the field. The Griffon is apparently common over the greater
part of North-western India, occurring in diminishing numbers
southwards to the Deccan and eastwards to Assam.
The smaller Vulture of similar coloration but remarkable for its
dark head and neck bare of down is the Long-billed Vulture (Gyps
indicus). This is common throughout India generally except in the
alluvial plains of the North-west.
Habits, etc. — This Vulture is familiar to all who have visited the
THE HIMALAYAN GRIFFON 353
hill stations of the Himalayas, as it is the great khaki-coloured bird
which may be seen at all hours wheeling and soaring in the sky often
at immense heights, or flying fairly low over the hill-side, travelling
straight and fast with a tearing noise. The wings are held stiff and
straight in a line with the back and the whole bird irresistibly recalls
the passage of an aeroplane. Seen at a distance, the wings appear
very broad and square ended, and at short ranges it can be seen that
the pressure of the air causes the feathers at the ends of the wings to
splay out and turn upwards like the fingers of a hand. Like other
Vultures, this species has its fixed resting places, which are usually
on the rocky face of some magnificent cliff or mountain spur ; here
the birds congregate to digest a recent meal, sitting motionless, hunched
up in the traditional Vulture attitude, or squatting and sunning on the
ledges like gigantic chickens. These favourite spots have doubtless
been used for hundreds of years, and the white stains about them are
often visible two or three miles away. Immediately after a heavy
gorge at a carcass the Griffons congregate on trees in the immediate
vicinity until digestion has started and they feel able to face the flight
to the resting place. The food consists entirely of carrion from carcasses
and the bird never kills a prey for itself.
The breeding season is from December to March. The birds
nest in small colonies, seldom of more than four to six pairs, on the
rocky ledges of precipices and crags. Sometimes the solitary egg
lies on the bare ledge, at other times it is supported merely by a few
twigs and roots or a little dry grass, but generally there is a huge nest
of sticks.
The egg is somewhat variable in shape, but is typically a rather
long and pointed oval. The texture is rather coarse and there is
practically no gloss. In colour it is greenish- or greyish-white ;
some eggs are unmarked, but the majority are more or less blotched
and streaked with various shades of brown, some quite heavily.
In size they average about 3-75 by 2-75 inches.
THE WHITE-BACKED VULTURE
PSEUDOGYPS BENGALENSIS (Gmelin)
Description. — Length 35 inches. Sexes alike. Sparse brownish
hairs cover the bare head and neck and at the back of the neck white
downy tufts introduce a ruff of short pure white down ; upper, plumage
blackish-brown with a large white patch above the base of the tail ;
crop black, bordered on each side by white down ; breast and abdomen
brownish-black with narrow whitish shaft-streaks. The under wing--
coverts, upper flanks and thigh-coverts white,
Z
354
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Iris brown ; skin of the head and neck dusky-plumbeous ; bill
dark plumbeous, whitish along the top, the cere polished horny-
black ; legs blackish.
Field Identification.— A huge humped-up square-looking bird
which broods on the trees with the naked head and neck shrunk
into the shoulders. Dark leaden colour with conspicuous white
rump-patch prevent adults being confused with any other Vulture.
FIG. 59 — White-backed Vulture (^ nat. size)
In flight if the white rump-patch is invisible the rather pointed wings
with their white lining and the white sides combined with the general
blackish colour render identification easy.
Distribution. — Found throughout India and Burma (but not
Ceylon) to th6 Malay Peninsula and Annam. It is not found in
Baluchistan, but is otherwise very generally spread throughout our
area, working even up to 8000 feet in the Western Himalayas,
where, however, it does not breed above 3600 feet. It is a resident
species, but wanders a good deal according to food-supply, and our
campaigns on the North-west Frontier usually lead to a temporary
THE WHITE-BACKED VULTURE 355
extension of its distribution in areas where it is not normally found.
This is the commonest of all the Vultures of India, and must be
familiar to those who have visited the Towers of Silence in Bombay.
Habits. — The White-backed Vulture breeds in colonies in large
trees on the outskirts of populous towns, near villages, and in the
avenues of huge trees that line roads or canals. Here they settle to
the work of preparing the nests often as early as September and will
be found at them until well into March ; but the majority of eggs
will be found in November, December and January. In addition
to these colonies there are favourite roosting and resting sites where
the birds may be found all the year round though their numbers sensibly
diminish in the nesting season. When not sitting sluggishly at either
nest-colony or roosting site, the White-backed Vulture spends its
life on the wing, usually at an immense height from the ground, soaring
in wide circles with almost motionless wings held level with the body
or slightly backwards ; when travelling to fresh ground it flies with a
direct but somewhat laboured flight with regularly beating wings.
For years scientific controversy raged over the method by which
Vultures found their food, and there were two schools of thought
that pressed respectively the claims of sight or smell. The explanation
is so simple that it is difficult to realise that there was ever any doubt
about it.
An animal dies somewhere, whether in the open or under cover ;
if it has not been watched before death by the crows and pariah dogs,
it is soon found by one or other of them ; a single crow or a single
dog pulling at a carcass is immediately noticed by others of the tribe
and a number collect ; the carcass is fresh, the skin unbroken, so in
the first stages of the feast there is more confusion and skirmishing
than actual feeding. This attracts the kites, which wheel round back-
wards and forwards over the scene looking for detached morsels,
which they snatch with a dashing swoop. One or two of the carrion-
feeding eagles sitting heavily on the tops of trees within a mile or
so of the spot observe the kites and join the melee, the others yielding
them place of honour at the feast. By this time it is inevitable that
the concourse has caught the eye of one of the Vultures which are
patrolling the sky far overhead ; it descends lower to verify the existence
of a carcass and finally descends to the ground nearby with the peculiar
tearing rush that unmistakably indicates food. Vulture follows
Vulture, as they patrol with a lively interest in each other's movements,
the circle of interest widening like the ripples of a stone thrown into
water. Settled on the ground the Vultures run in clumsily on foot,
bickerings ensue, and the weaker scavengers give place to the jostling,
striving mass of Vultures which cover the carcass and gradually devour
everything but the largest bones. Gorged, they sit around on the
ground, or with difficulty rise into surrounding trees, till digestion
356 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
allows them to wing a heavy way to the resting place ; and there they
sit and meditate until returning hunger again sends them on patrol.
This species never nests upon rocks or buildings, but invariably
on trees. The nest is a large irregular structure of sticks, either
wedged in the fork of a tree or right on top of it ; it is repaired and
reoccupied year after year until it often attains great dimensions.
A slight hollow on the top is lined with green leaves to receive the
single egg. While pairing these birds indulge in a loud roaring noise.
They pair on the nest.
The eggs are fairly regular ovals in shape, the shell very thick
and strong, and generally without gloss. The majority are greyish-
or greenish-white in colour, unmarked, but some eggs are slightly
speckled, spotted and blotched with pale reddish-brown.
They average about 3-25 by 2-40 inches in size.
THE NEOPHRON
NEOPHRON PERCNOPTERUS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 24 inches. Sexes alike. The whole plumage
is white except the flight-feathers which are black and brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill horny, cere yellow ; legs fleshy-white.
The head and upper neck are naked with the skin deep yellow ;
the bill is slender and lengthened, straight at the base and deeply
hooked at the end ; the neck is surrounded by a ruff of hackle-like
feathers ; wings long and pointed ; tail wedge-shaped.
Field Identification. — Exceedingly abundant about the haunts
of man. A large white bird with dark wing-quills and a bare bright
yellow head, accompanied by dark chocolate-brown birds which are
the immature of the species. The bird might easily be mistaken for
a very large hen, except for something peculiarly repulsive about its
appearance.
Distribution. — The Neophron or Egyptian Vulture has a wide
range in Southern Europe, in Africa and in Asia. The typical or
Western race extends to the North-western corner of India, being
found in Sind, Baluchistan, North-west Frontier Province, Upper
Punjab, and the Western Himalayas. In the remainder of India
it is replaced by N. p. ginginianus, which is a rather smaller bird
with a yellow bill, the typical race having the bill dark brownish-
horn with a dark tip. Intermediate birds are found about Delhi. It
is a resident species, but there are indications of slight local migration.
Habits, etc. — This Vulture is only to a slight extent social, and
is usually found singly or in pairs, though a number may often collect
in the neighbourhood of food. It haunts towns and villages, and while
THE NEOPHRON 357
ready to eat any form of garbage or carrion appears mainly to live on
human excrement ; hence the detestation in which this species is
commonly held by all classes. It has no fear of man, and perches on
buildings and trees in the most crowded bazaars, or stalks sedately
about open spaces, graveyards and camping grounds, looking in gait
and appearance much like a large, disreputable old hen ; hence the
name of " Pharaoh's Chicken," which is often applied to the Western
race in Egypt.
The breeding season lasts from the end of February to the end
of May, but most eggs will be found in March and April. The nest
is placed on rocky precipices, earthy cliffs, buildings and trees, often
in very exposed and frequented situations.
Fro. 60 — Neophron (J nat. size)
The nests are the most filthy, disreputable structures, a foundation
of sticks, lined with old rags, wool, earth, and anything else soft that
comes to hand, the dirtier the better apparently. The eggs are laid
in a shallow hollow on top of the mass. One to three eggs are laid,
but the usual clutch consists of two.
The eggs are variable in shape, size and colour, and are often
very handsome ; the normal shape is rather a broad oval, somewhat
compressed towards one end ; the texture is coarse and generally
rather chalky, but in some specimens there is a fine surface glaze.
The colour is dirty white overlaid with a wash of varying shades of
deep rich brown-red, sometimes so dark as to be deep purplish-red,
and sometimes fading to light yellowish-red with much of the ground-
colour visible. Other eggs are spotted and blotched with purplish-red
and ashy shell-marks.
In size they average 2*6 by i'98 inches.
Z2
358 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE LAMMERGEIER
GYPAETUS BARBATUS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 4 feet. Sexes alike. A marked patch from
above the eye to and including the stiff bristles over the nostrils and
a beard of bristles under the chin black ; remainder of head ^and
throat white speckled with black ; neck and lower plumage wnite,
tinged often very richly with bright ferruginous, and usually with
an imperfect black gorget across the breast ; upper back and lesser
wing-coverts black with narrow white shaft-stripes ; the remainder
of the upper plumage, wings and tail deep silvery-grey, the shafts of
the feathers white and the edges blackish.
Iris pale orange, the sclerotic membrane blood-red ; bill horny,
darker at tip ; legs plumbeous-grey.
The bill is high, compressed, and much hooked at the end ; wings
long and pointed, with an expanse of 8 to 10 feet ; tail long, pointed
and graduated.
Field Identification. — Almost always seen in flight, a huge bird
with long pointed wings and wedge-shaped tail ; this last feature is
distinctive from every large bird in India except the Neophron,
The beard is distinct up to some distance and shows black against
the pale head and bright rufous neck and breast of the adult ; upper
plumage silvery and black. Immature birds, however, are dull blackish
all over, but can be identified by the same shape and beard as in the
adult.
Distribution. — The Lammergeier or Bearded Vulture is widely
distributed as a mountain bird in Southern Europe, Africa and Central
Asia, being divided into several races. It is a common bird along the
Himalayas and tributary ranges down the North-western border of
India, and birds from this area, although sometimes considered identical
with European birds, are described as forming a separate race
G. b. hemachalanus. A resident species.
Habits, etc. — Like other species that have fired the imagination
of mankind from the earliest days of his civilisation, the Lammergeier
has several well-known names in different languages. Lammergeier
or the Lamb-Eagle is a relic of the days before this grand bird had
become extinct in the Alps, when confusion with the more courageous
Golden Eagle and the innate propensity of the multitude to exaggera-
tion combined to credit the bird with all manner of depredations
amongst sheep, goats and chamois, and even children. Another
well-known name, Ossifrage or Bone-breaker, being based on a real
observation, is found in several languages. For the Lammergeier
prefers, above all things, to feed on bones, swallowing the smaller
THE LAMMERGEIER 359
whole and carrying the larger high up into the air and dropping
them to shatter in pieces on the rocks below, where at its leisure
it collects and devours the fragments. From this habit, applied
also to tortoises in the Levant, is due the legend of the death of
^schylus, who is said to have been killed by the dropping of a
tortoise on his head.
The bird is purely a mountain species, and it spends its days
beating along the hill-sides, following the major contours or soaring
high over the ravines ; living things it seldom kills, but it descends
to offal of every description, picking trifles on foot even from a rubbish
dump at a hill station. Carcasses it does not dispute with the Vultures.
It waits till they have finished and then descends to the feast of its
desires, the blood-stained bones that lie drying in the sun.
In flight the wings are held in a line with the body, but from
their shape and the pressure of the air they slope downwards and
up again at the tips, so that in horizontal section the bird has the
shape of an unstrung bow ; like this it travels and soars indefinitely
without flapping, merely banking slightly from side to side, though
now and again it rings the changes on majestic flapping and gliding.
By way of courtship it indulges with its mate in aerial gymnastics
which reveal its perfect mastery of the science of flight. Normally
it is silent, but when courting it indulges in loud squealing.
The breeding season commences in November and lasts until
March, and most eggs will be found about January.
The nest is placed in some almost inaccessible situation in the
face of a cliff, usually on a ledge under a projecting rock. It is a huge,
shapeless heap of sticks strewn about and mixed with rags, large bones,
feathers and droppings.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. These are typically
rather broad ovals, pointed towards the smaller end. The texture
is rather coarse and glossless, the colour of the shell appearing pale
dingy yellow when held up against the light.
• The colour is rather variable, from pale uniform salmon-buff to
reddish- or orange-brown, clouded, blotched and mottled with deeper
markings of the same tint ; or the egg may be dull white with
spots, streaks, and blotches of pale washed-out reddish-brown and
purple.
In size the egg measures about 3*25 by 2-65 inches.
360 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE TAWNY EAGLE
AQUILA RAPAX (Temminck)
(Plate xviii, Fig. i, opposite page 374)
Description. — Length : Male 25 inches, female 28 inches. Sexes
alike. The coloration is very variable, but is generally uniform
brown, varying from a dirty buffish-brown to deep rich umtier-
brown ; the quills are dark blackish-brown, mottled and barred with
whitish about the base, and the tail is dark greyish-brown with more
or less distinct cross-bands. In some specimens there is a very distinct
dark mask on the front of the head and face, and parts of the plumage
are often spotted with light brown.
Iris hazel-brown ; bill pale bluish-grey, blackish at tip ; cere
dull yellow ; feet yellow, claws black.
The nostril is ear-shaped ; bill strong, curved and sharply hooked ;
top of the head very flat ; legs feathered down to the toes. The
plumage is coarse in texture.
Field Identification. — A large brown or blackish-brown bird of
rather fierce appearance with its flat head, sharply-hooked beak,
and feathered legs armed with sharp claws, which sits heavily on
the tops of trees or soars in great circles above the Kites, from which
it is easily distinguished by the rounded tail. There are, however,
several other common species of Eagle, and it requires some knowledge
and practice to distinguish them from it. Of these the most easily
recognisable is the very large Steppe-Eagle (Aquila nipalensis), which
in flight exhibits two pale wing-bars. A winter visitor to India as far
south as Seoni and Raipur.
A very black-looking Eagle, seen above tree-level in Baluchistan
and the Himalayas, is usually the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetus).
A longish tail and often light patches in the wing and tail- quills assist
recognition.
Distribution. — A. rapax vindhiana, the common Eagle of India,
is the Oriental race of A. rapax, which is found throughout the greater
part of Africa. It is found throughout most of India from -Baluchistan
and the North-west Frontier Province to Lower Bengal and Upper
Burma ; but it is wanting on the Malabar coast and in Ceylon. In
the Himalayas it occurs and breeds up to about 4000 feet. It is a
resident species.
Habits, etc. — This Eagle avoids heavy forest and the damper
portions of the country-side, being particularly a bird of those dry
sandy plains with a moderate amount of tree growth which are such
a feature of Northern India. It divides its time between" soaring
high in the air like the Vultures, and with them keeping watch for
THE TAWNY EAGLE 361
carcasses, or sitting lumpily on the summit of a tall tree watching
the surrounding country-side. Although in being partial to carrion
it offends against the traditional idea of an Eagle, it is a fine lordly-
looking bird and has plenty of courage, taking hares and large birds,
and in particular chasing and robbing falcons and hawks of their booty.
This habit causes it to be a great nuisance to the falconer as it chases
trained falcons mistaking their jesses for prey. At other times no quarry
is too small for it. I have seen it robbing a Babbler's nest of young
and a Plover's nest of eggs, and when locusts or termites swarm it
always joins the feast ; while frogs, lizards and snakes are readily
devoured.
Eggs are laid from the middle of November until June, but the
majority will be found in January.
The nest is a large flat structure of sticks and thorny twigs, lined
as a rule with straw and coarse grass and often with green leaves.
It is built not in a fork but on the extreme tops of trees so that the
Eagle may settle in the nest without brushing its wings against the
branches. The favourite tree is the dense thorny kikar or babool tree.
The clutch consists of one to three eggs.
The egg is normally a somewhat broad oval, slightly pointed at
one end ; the texture of the shell is hard and fine, usually with a
slight gloss. The ground-colour is dull greyish-white ; many eggs
are unmarked ; others are marked, though generally sparingly, with
streaks, spots and blotches of brown, red and purple of varying tints.
The eggs average about 2-60 by 2- 10 inches.
THE CRESTED HAWK-EAGLE
SPIZAETUS CIRRHATUS (Gmelin)
Description, — Length : Male 26 inches, female 29 inches. Sexes
alike. There are two main colour phases, of which the dark phase
is usually considered adult and the pale phase immature.
Dark phase : Crest black lightly tipped with white ; top and
sides of the head and neck brown streaked with blackish-brown ;
upper plumage umber-brown, the depth of colour in individual
feathers variable ; wing-quills brown above, whitish below, barred
and tipped with black, inner webs white towards the base ; tail brown
above, whitish below with four or five broad umber-brown cross-bars
and the tips of the feathers paler ; lower plumage white, heavily
streaked with umber-brown, darkest on the breast ; thighs and a
patch under the tail brown, partly barred with white ; feathers of the
tarsus mottled rufous brown and white.
Pale phase : Crest as above ; top and sides of the head and neck
362
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
white overlaid with creamy brown, many of the feathers with dark
brown shaft-streaks ; remainder of upper plumage dark umber-brown,
some feathers paler and many broadly edged with white ; wing- quills
and tail as above but dark bands are narrower and more in number.
The whole lower plumage white, some of the feathers with dark
FIG. 6 1 — Crested Hawk-Eagle (J nat. size)
brown shafts and rufous-brown spots, the thighs and feathers under
the tail heavily mottled with brownish-rufous.
Iris leaden-grey, pale straw-colour or golden yellow; bill
plumbeous-black, cere plumbeous in dark phase, yellow in pale phase ;
feet yellow, claws black.
Nostril ear-shaped ; bill strong, curved and sharply hooked ;
a tuft of long feathers springing from the back of the crown ; legs
feathered to the base of the toes.
THE CRESTED HAWK-EAGLE 363
Field Identification. — A lightly-built, slender Eagle with a pro-
portionately long narrow tail, upper parts dark brown ; lower parts
either pure white becoming rufous towards the tail, or white heavily
streaked with blackish-brown. Underside of the wings in flight
is white barred and spotted with blackish-brown. A curious tuft
of long black feathers springs from the crown. Found amongst trees
and rather noisy.
Distribution. — The typical race is very generally distributed in
India south of the Indo-Gangetic plain and a smaller race, S. c.
ceylanensis, occurs in Ceylon. A rather paler race, S. c. limnaetus,
with little or no crest, which is also found in a melanistic phase
practically black throughout, is found in the sub-Himalayan terai
from Garhwal to Eastern Bengal, Assam and still farther eastwards.
The very similar Hodgson's Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus nipalensis) of the
Himalayas and Western Ghats and Ceylon has the lower parts much
more definitely barred. The correct classification and distribution
of the various I lawk- Eagles is not yet satisfactorily known.
The curious crest of these Hawk-Eagles, whilst very distinctive,
may lead to confusion with the Crested Honey-Buzzard (Pernis
ptilorhynchus) found throughout India and the rarer and more local
Crested Hawks of the genus Baza. None of these, however, have
the legs feathered more than half-way down the tarsus. The Honey-
Buzzard, moreover, has very distinctive scale-like feathering on the
face, whilst the Bazas have the lower parts transversely banded and
are much smaller.
Another very courageous bird of similar size and appearance is
Bonelli's Eagle (Hieraetus fasciatus) which is found sparingly throughout
India. It has, however, no crest.
Habits, etc. — The Crested Hawk-Eagle is a bird of forests and
also of well-timbered country in the neighbourhood of cultivation.
In habits it resembles the Hawks far more than the Eagles, and it
soars far less than the true Eagles, being more often seen flying
through the trees than above them. It spends much of its time
sitting on the tops of high trees watching the surrounding ground
for prey to appear. A covey of partridges or a young pea-fowl has
only to feed out into the open, a hare to move from its form, and the
Hawk-Eagle dashes down and pounces on it. It also feeds on jungle-
fowl and other ground-feeding species as well as squirrels, rats, lizards,
and the like. The call is a prolonged shrill scream and the bird is
very vociferous, while the young bird in the nest is extremely noisy
when it is being fed.
The breeding season lasts from December to April, most eggs
being found in January. The nest is a large and comparatively deep
structure of sticks, loosely put together with the twigs hanging down
untidily. It is always profusely lined with green leaves, preferably
364 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
those of the mango. It is built, very high up as a rule, in the fork
of a large tree and, though the favourite tree appears to be a mango,
any kind of tree may be selected.
The clutch invariably consists of a single egg. The eggs are
rather variable in shape and appearance, but the majority are rather
broad and regular ovals, appreciably pointed at the small end. The
shell is very strong and glossless, but by no means coarse. Held up
against the light it is pale green. The colour is dull greenish-^hite,
never quite unmarked but seldom well marked. The markings vary
from an almost imperceptible stippling to a couple of dozen moderate-
sized spots and lines, the latter thin and inconspicuous but occasionally
arabesque in character. The markings are confined to the large end
and vary in colour from reddish-brown to brownish-yellow.
In size the egg measures about 2-60 to 2-0 inches.
THE CRESTED SERPENT-EAGLE
H^MATORNIS CHEELA (Latham)
Description. — Length 28 inches. Sexes alike. A short full crest
black, the basal half of the feathers white ; upper plumage dark
brown with a dull purplish gloss, some feathers tipped with white ;
flight-feathers blackish with three bars brown above whitish below ;
tail brown and black with the tip pale and a broad conspicuous whitish
band ; lower parts brown, spotted with numerous white ocelli and
barred finely with dark brown, there being great variation in the tints
of the colour.
Iris intense yellow ; bill plumbeous, blackish above and at tip ;
cere, conspicuous bare skin in front of the eyes, and the gape yellow ;
legs dingy yellow.
The bill is rather long and deeply hooked ; wings short and
rounded ; tail rather long ; legs strong, the tarsus bare of feathers.
Field Identification. — The full crest mixed with white, the peculiar
purplish-brown coloration with the white ocelli beneath, the broad
white bar in the tail and the barred wings are most distinctive ; these
points combined with the noisy whistling calls render this Eagle easier
than most to identify.
Distribution. — The Crested Serpent-Eagle is widely distributed
in the Oriental Region from the Western Himalayas to Southern
China, and is divided into a number of well-marked races ; those in
India illustrate to a remarkable degree the tendency of Indian birds
to decrease in size from north to south.
The typical race is found in Northern India from Hazara to Sikkim
along the Outer Himalayas (which it ascends to about 7000 feet) and
THE CRESTED SERPENT-EAGLE 365
in the plains from Rajputana to Bengal and Assam. In Peninsular
and Southern India it is replaced by the smaller H. c. melanotis in
which the breast is usually unbarred and the tail-bands are grey, not
white. A still smaller form, H. c. spilogaster, is found in Ceylon.
This Eagle is a resident species, though individuals apparently
wander to some extent. In Sind and the Punjab it is very scarce.
Another striking Eagle, found in open country throughout India,
is the Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus ferox), which is noteworthy for
FIG. 62 — Crested Serpent-Eagle (I nat. size)
its ability to hover stationary in the air like a Kestrel. It is brown
above and white below, the crop-region being streaked and the flanks
crescent-spotted with brown. The head appears larger than in most
Eagles.
Habits, etc. — This handsome Eagle is found in well-wooded and
well-watered country, being particularly partial to the pleasant sub-
Himalayan valleys where mountain streams run down through the
rice-fields and amongst big groves of mango trees. Its food consists
chiefly of snakes, lizards and frogs, but insects are also taken. It is
rather a noisy bird, frequently uttering on the wing a plaintive whistling
call of several notes, kuk-kuk, queeear-queeear-queeear, the first two
366 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
short notes being only audible at close range, the others carrying a
great distance. It is very bold, and I have ridden up within a yard
or two of one which was standing on the ground holding a snake in its
talons. The claws are usually dirty with mud, indicating how large
a portion of the food is procured about paddy fields and j heels. In
flight the wings appear very broad and rounded, and they are held
sloping backwards, while the long tail is only partly spread. This
Eagle generally soars over forests and well-wooded ravines in preference
to barren and open ground, and it often rises to an immense height,
travelling fast or soaring in great circles.
The breeding season lasts from March to May.
The nest is always placed in trees, not on the topmost branches
as in the case of the Tawny Eagle, but in a fork within the branches
of the tree. It is small for the size of the bird, a cup loosely made
of sticks and twigs and lined with fresh leaves, fine twigs and grass roots.
The single egg is a broad oval, usually rather pointed at the smaller
end ; the texture is rough and glossless and the shell strong.
The ground-colour is bluish- or greenish-white, with specklings,
spottings and clouds of pale purple or purplish-brown or brownish-
red ; some eggs are very heavily marked and handsome.
In size they average about 2-75 by 2»2 inches.
THE WHITE-EYED BUZZARD
BUTASTUR TEESA (Franklin)
(Plate xix, Fig. 2, opposite page 396)
Description. — Length 17 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
brown, sometimes with a rufescent tinge, the feathers with dark
shafts ; the white bases of the feathers below the back of the head
show through and form a conspicuous patch ; sides of the wing
mottled or barred with white ; quills brown above, whitish below,
pure white at their bases and barred towards the tips, the tip of the
wing black ; tail rufous-brown above, whity-brown below, with
indistinct blackish bands ; chin and throat white with a dark brown
stripe down the centre and a dark stripe down each side ; sides of
the head and neck and the breast brown, with dark shafts on the
breast and white spots and bands on the lower breast and abdomen ;
thighs and a patch below the tail white with pale rufous bars.
Iris pale yellowish-white ; cere, gape and base of bill orange,
the tip black ; legs dingy orange-yellow ; claws black.
The bill is compressed and sharply curved ; wing long and pointed ;
tarsus bare with short toes, the scales forming a network instead of
transverse shields on the front.
THE WHITE-EYED BUZZARD 367
Field Identification. — A medium-sized brown Hawk, heavy in
build with pointed black-tipped wings ; easily identified by the
whitish eyes and the three dark stripes on the white throat.
Distribution. — Common throughout the greater part of India
from the foot-hills of the Himalayas, which it occasionally ascends
to about 4000 feet down to Central India ; south of this it becomes
rare, though it is found throughout the Peninsula. On the west it
extends to Baluchistan and the North-west Frontier Province, and to
the east it is found throughout Northern Burma. While generally a
resident species it is locally migratory.
Habits, etc. — The White-eyed Buzzard avoids both hills and
forest and prefers open country with low scrub and cultivation. It
is a dull, sluggish creature, unusually tame for a bird of prey, and
spends most of its time sitting on a telegraph post, tree or low bush,
from which it makesx>ccasional journeys to the ground to capture the
grasshoppers and other insects which form its food. It also sits on
the ground or on the mounds of earth that mark field boundaries and
skims along low over the ground from one mound to another. Some-
times it even walks about on foot. The flight is quick and strong
with rapid beats of the wings. At the commencement of the breeding
season it is fond of soaring and is very noisy, freely uttering its plaintive,
mewing cry, pit-weer, pit-weer.
The breeding season lasts from March to May, but most eggs
will be found in April. The birds are very leisurely over the prepara-
tion of their nests, which are shallow cups composed loosely of twigs
and sticks without lining. They are built in the forks of trees about
20 feet from the ground ; there is a tendency to prefer a thickly-
foliaged tree like a mango, often one of a clump.
The eggs vary in number from two to four, but the usual clutch
is three. In shape they are broad ovals, of fine texture with a slight
gloss, greyish-white or pale bluish-white in colour. They are usually
unmarked, but occasional specimens will be found marked with
reddish-brown, though this is very rare.
In size they average about 1-85 by 1-50 inches.
PALLAS1 FISHING-EAGLE
HALIAETUS LEUCORYPHUS (Pallas)
Description. — Length 33 inches. Sexes alike. Forehead whitish ;
top of head and neck fulvous passing into dark brown on the rest
of the upper plumage, wings and tail ; a broad white band across
the tail towards the end ; sides of head and neck with the chin and
throat whitish ; remainder of lower plumage brown, darker on the
flanks and lower abdomen.
368
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Iris greyish-yellow ; bill dark plumbeous, cere and gape light
plumbeous ; legs dull white, claws black.
Bill strong, curved and sharply hooked ; top of the head very
flat ; feathers on neck long and pointed ; upper third of the tarsus
feathered ; plumage rather coarse in texture.
Field Identification. — Northern India. A large Eagle, common
along the great rivers and the larger jheels, which is easily recognised
FIG. 63 — Pallas' Fishing-Eagle (J nat. size)
by the combination of dark brown plumage with a whitish-looking
head and a conspicuous white band near the end of the tail. Attracts
attention by the loud call.
Distribution. — Southern Russia through Central Asia to Trans-
baikalia and south to the Persian Gulf, Northern India and Northern
Burma. In India it is not found on the coast, but is well distributed
in the alluvial Indo-Gangetic plains. Its southern limit is not
accurately recorded, but it certainly occurs as far south as the Indravarti
River. A resident species with no sub-species.
This species is only likely to be confused with the large Grey-
headed Fishing-Eagle (Icthyophaga ichthyaetus) which is found
PALLAS' FISHING-EAGLE 369
throughout most of Northern and Central India. In this the tail is
white except for a broad dark brown band at the end.
The Osprey Pandion hali&tus is frequently seen in the cold weather
in the vicinity of salt or fresh water, perched on a dead bough or sailing
round in search of fish. It is of medium size, dark brown above,
white below, and the head whitish with a dark streak along the side.
Habits, etc. — Pallas' Fishing-Eagle is a familiar species to all whom
duty or pleasure takes about the great rivers of Northern India or
the large j heels found in that alluvial plain. Sooner or later attention
is attracted by the loud raucous call, which some compare to the
shrieking of an ungreased cart-wheel, a sound which carries great
distances in the flat open plains. The author of the call may be
seen perched on the top of some gigantic cotton-tree or on a low
mud-cliff or else beating up and down the river with somewhat hurried
flight. It soars well and attains tremendous heights in the air where
it still can be identified by the white band in the tail.
The staple food of this Eagle is undoubtedly fish. It does not plunge
for them like the Osprey but takes those which have ventured into the
shallows or become stranded in drying pools. Its great strength allows
it to capture quite large fish, the case of a thirteen-pounder taken being
actually on record. When fishermen are dragging a river with nets
they are often attended by one or more of these Eagles, which try to
steal any fish left unattended on the bank. Mud-turtles, frogs and
reptiles are taken and any wounded duck or goose on a river soon falls
a prey to Pallas' Eagle, though it is hardly fast enough to take them
when uninjured. It is also a pirate, trying to rob Cormorants and
Terns of their fish or Harriers and Eagles of their varied booty. Water-
side carrion is not too mean for its attention, and on the Ganges
it habitually feeds on human corpses. But all things considered
it is a fine bird and comes much nearer to the popular conception of
an Eagle than many other of the Indian species of that group. It
belongs to the same genus as the Bald Eagle, which is the national
symbol of America.
The breeding season is from the beginning of November until
February, the majority of eggs being laid in December.
The nest is a huge platform of sticks, some of which are often
as thick as a man's arm, with a superstructure of thinner sticks and
twigs. The slight depression made to hold the eggs is lined with
fine twigs and green leaves and sometimes rushes and straw. The
whole structure is rough and rugged and takes a long time to build
as much of the material brought to it is rejected or dropped. It
may be repaired and used again from year to year, having often been
borrowed in the meantime by an Owl or Lugger Falcon or even a Vulture.
The nest is placed right at the top of a large tree, generally an
isolated one within easy distance of a jheel or river. The solitary
2 A
37<> POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
cotton-trees which stand as landmarks in an Indian river-bed afford
favourite eyries.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. If the first egg is taken
this species will still lay the remaining eggs of the clutch in the nest.
The egg is normally a broad oval in shape and the texture is rather
fine and smooth. The colour is greyish-white, but the shell appears
intensely dark green if held to the light.
The egg measures about 2-77 by 2-17 inches.
THE BRAHMINY KITE
HALIASTUR INDUS (Boddaert)
Description. — Length 19 inches. Sexes alike. Head, neck and
lower parts down to the middle of the abdomen white ; remainder
of the plumage chestnut, paler and duller under the wings and tail ;
outer flight-feathers black and the tip of the tail whitish. Most of
the feathers of the body plumage have a dark shaft line.
Iris brown ; bill bluish horn, cere
yellowish ; legs greenish-yellow.
The bill is rather large and com-
pressed and sharply hooked ; tail
slightly rounded ; upper portion of
the tarsus feathered.
Field Identification. — Unmistak-
able ; a bright chestnut bird of prey
with black wing tips and a white head
and breast, found near water.
Distribution. — The Brahminy Kite
is a bird of wide distribution, almost
throughout the Indian Empire and
Ceylon, and extending eastward
through Siam, China, and the Malay
Peninsula to Australia. All Indian
birds belong to the typical race. It
is not found in the North-west Fron-
tier Province or Baluchistan or in the
Himalayas above 6000 feet, but it is
otherwise fairly generally distributed,
common on the sea coast and in the wetter districts, and avoiding
semi-desert areas and thick forest. It is locally migratory, but is
resident in the greater part of its range.
Habits, etc. — The Brahminy Kite, so called from its traditional
association with Vishnu, resembles the ordinary Pariah Kite in its
FIG. 64 — Brahminy Kite
(| nat. size)
THE BRAHMINY KITE 371
flight and habits, but differs from it in always frequenting the neigh-
bourhood of water. Its habits are rather variable. At certain seaports,
such as Bombay, it is a scavenger pure and simple, haunting the har-
bours and lifting refuse from the surface of the water with its claws,
while it is bold enough to perch on the rigging of ships. Inland it is
often a shy bird, beating backwards and forwards over the rice-fields
like a Harrier, catching frogs on the ground and sweeping grasshoppers
off the growing rice, or hunting the jheels and the neighbourhood of
rivers. It sometimes robs Crows and Common Kites of their food.
Termites and small fish are also eaten.
The ordinary cry is a peculiar squealing note.
The breeding season lasts from December to April, being rather
earlier in the south than in the north.
The nest is a large loose structure of sticks on which the eggs
lie on a deep hollow, which may be either unlined, sparsely lined
with green leaves, or fairly thickly lined with rags, wool, hair and
similar substances.
It is placed in the fork of a tree or the head of a palm, generally
at a considerable height from the ground. The tree chosen is almost
always in the vicinity of water.
The eggs are normally two in number, but three may occasionally
be found. They are moderately broad ovals only slightly pointed
towards one end ; the texture is fine and hard with a slight gloss.
The ground-colour is dingy greyish-white, sometimes unmarked,
at other times feebly speckled, spotted and blotched, mostly towards
the large end, with various shades of dull red and brown.
The eggs average about 2 by 1-65 inches.
THE COMMON PARIAH KITE
MILVUS MIGRANS (Boddaert)
Description. — Length 24 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
brown, the top of the head and hind neck rather paler and the sides
of the wings rather darker ; a dark patch behind the eye ; the outer
flight-feathers blackish and the quills more or less banded with dark
cross-bars and mottled with whitish towards their bases ; tail brown
above, whity-brown below, with numerous darker cross-bars ; lower
parts a paler brown than the upper, whitish about the chin and rufous
towards the tail. The whole body plumage is more or less marked
with dark shaft-stripes, and the white bases of the feathers are con-
spicuous the moment the plumage is ruffled or worn.
Iris brown ; bill black, cere and gape yellowish ; legs yellow, claws
black.
372 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The bill is hooked but rather weak ; head flat ; legs short, feathered
for about half the length of the tarsus ; wings long and pointed ; tail
rather long and strongly forked.
Field Identification. — One of the most familiar birds of India :
the large brown bird of magnificent easy flight which soars and
scavenges about every bazaar and house. The forked tail at once
identifies it.
Distribution. — The Common Pariah Kite, Milvus migrans govinda,
a race of the Black Kite, which in various forms has a very wide
distribution in the Old World, is found throughout India, Burma
and Ceylon, extending still farther east to Hainan. Its abundance
varies in accordance with that of the human population, but it avoids
densely afforested tracts. It ascends the Himalayas up to about
12,000 feet but is not common over 8000 feet. Mainly a resident
species, it is in places locally migratory.
FIG. 65 — Common Pariah Kite (J nat. size)
In the Kashmir Valley it is replaced by a larger race, M. m. lineatus,
with the white wing-patch more pronounced.
Habits, etc. — There is very little need to introduce the Pariah
Kite, which is one of the most noticeable and abundant birds of
India, attracting the notice of the new arrival even before he has
disembarked from the ship.
It is a fearless scavenger, and more or less spends its whole life in
attendance upon man, either robbing him of food that he would fain
keep or scavenging the offal that he has thrown away. Numbers
frequent every bazaar and village, sitting on the buildings and trees
awaiting something worthy of their attention, or patrolling with
sweeping easy flight in wide circles and searching the ground for
food. The flight is quite unmistakable with its lightness and
THE COMMON PARIAH KITE 373
buoyancy, a mixture of flapping with long leisurely strokes and short
glides, while the direction is continuously changing with spirals and
cants. The wings are frequently flexed from the first joint, and the
primaries often appear to be below the level of the body. All food is
taken in the same way, 'with a swift stoop and snatch ; and as the bird
flies away it transfers the morsel from its foot to its beak, though with
larger fragments which cannot be eaten in the air, it flies to some
favourite perch to feed at leisure. If there are several Kites about,
the capture of food by one of them is the signal for an immense amount
of chivying and stooping, combined with much shrill screaming, in
the course of which the desirable booty frequently changes owners
many times.
When watching such a scene in the bazaar, it is interesting to
remember that the allied Red Kite (Milvus milvus) was a similar
scavenger in Mediaeval England, and that in the fifteenth century
strangers in London were taken to see the Kites round London
Bridge as one of the sights of the town. It was from seeing the birds
float all day over their heads that our ancestors named the child's
paper toy.
At seaports this Kite joins the Gulls and Brahminy Kites in the
harbour, perching on the rigging of ships and picking refuse off the
water.
The call of the Kite, a shrill mewing squeal, long drawn and
almost musical, is most frequently heard in the breeding season,
though it is uttered at all times of the year. To it is due the vernacular
name of " cheel " used for the bird.
The breeding season is rather variable according to locality from
December to May, but the majority of eggs will be found in
February.
The nest is a large clumsy mass of sticks and thorny twigs lined
and intermingled with rags,* leaves, tow and other rubbish. It is
generally placed in the fork of a tree, but often also on a horizontal
bough, usually 20 feet from the ground. The tree chosen may be
ekher in the middle of the most crowded bazaar or solitary in the
fields. Nests on buildings are very rare.
One to four eggs are laid, but the usual clutch consists of two or
three. They are a very perfect oval, sometimes slightly pointed at
one end ; the texture is hard and fine, often with a slight glaze. In
coloration they are exceedingly variable ; the ground-colour is pale
greenish and greyish-white, blotched, clouded, speckled, streaked or
spotted with various shades of brown and red from a pale buffy-brown
to purple, and from blood-red to earth-brown.
In size they average about 2-20 by 1*75 inches.
* As Autolycus remarks (Winter's Tale, iv., sc. 3) " when the Kite builds,
look to lesser linen."
2 A2
374 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE MARSH HARRIER
CIRCUS ^RUGINOSUS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 22 inches. Male : Head, neck and breast
buff or pale rufous with dark shaft-stripes ; upper plumage dark
brown ; remainder of lower plumage ferruginous-brown, striped
darker ; the six outer flight-feathers black with their bases white ;
remaining flight-feathers and a patch on the coverts dark silvery-grey ;
FIG. 66 — Marsh Harrier Adult Male (J nat. size)
tail grey above isabelline below, with the upper coverts a mixture of
white, rufous and brown.
Female*: Very similar to the male except that the entire lower
plumage, save for the creamy-buff chin and throat, is dark chocolate-
brown, the feathers of the breast with rufous and buff edges. Tfce
silver-grey of the wings and tail is replaced by dark brown.
Iris yellow or yellow-brown ; bill black, cere and base greenish-
yellow ; legs yellow, claws black.
Build strong and slender ; bill weak and sharply curved ; a ruff of
small crisp feathers extends across the throat and up the sides of the
neck ; wings long and pointed ; tail long and even at the tip ; long
bare legs with sharp claws.
Field Identification. — A large brown Hawk with long wings and
tail, which beats backwards and forwards over marshy ground, and
robs the sportsman of wounded birds. The adult male is distinguished
by the silvery wings and tail. Females and immature birds are dark
THE MARSH HARRIER 375
chocolate-brown with a variable amount of creamy-buff on the head
and shoulders, in the young forming a distinct cap on the head.
Distribution. — The Marsh Harrier is found throughout the greater
part of Europe, Africa and Asia either as a breeding bird or a winter
visitor, and it has been divided into two races. The typical race is a
winter visitor to practically the whole of India, Ceylon and Burma,
arriving about mid-September and leaving at the end of March or
early in April.
Habits, etc. — The Marsh Harrier is a large, long-legged, long-
winged and rather slender Hawk which is found very commonly in
swampy plains and about the marshy ground of jheels and the edges
of tanks and other similar places in which frogs congregate. It also
visits irrigated cultivation. The major portion of its life is spent on
the wing, beating backwards and forwards with great regularity over
the ground, some 20 or 30 feet in the air, searching endlessly for food.
The flight is light and graceful, though rather slow ; first the wings
beat with regularity, then for a few yards the bird sails along with
stiff outspread wings banking at intervals and turning from side to
side as if unable to decide on its ultimate direction. It chiefly feeds
on frogs, but having a taste also for flesh it has learnt to wait on shoot-
ing parties in jheels ; and all sportsmen in India know the chocolate-
coloured bird with buff crown and buff shoulders which is prompt
to make a meal of the wounded teal, duck or snipe, that fall some
distance ahead of the line of guns, and which often by hunting in
front of the line puts up numbers of snipe well out of shot. When
not hunting it rests on the ground or on any post or dead tree that
forms a suitable lookout. At times it rises into the sky and soars in
wide circles, with the wings held well above the level of the back,
apparently merely for pleasure.
In its northern breeding grounds the Marsh Harrier nests about
April, building in reed-beds or rank marsh vegetation. The nest is
a large heap of dead reeds and sedges, with the hollow lined with
finer marsh grasses. The eggs number from four to six, and they
are broad regular ovals, bluish-white in colour without markings.
They measure about 1-95 by 1-5 inches.
THE PALE HARRIER
CIRCUS MACROURUS (S. G. Gmelin)
Description. — Length : Male 18 inches, female 19 inches. Adult
male : Forehead and a patch round the eye white ; upper parts pale
ashy-grey, more or less washed with brown ; wing-quills ashy-grey,
whitish at base, the outer quills largely black towards their tips ;
376
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
upper tail-coverts barred grey and white ; tail white, barred with
grey, the central pair of feathers pale grey throughout ; lower parts
white, the throat and upper breast washed with grey.
Female : A line from the beak over each eye and a large patch
under the eye buffy white ; sides of the head dark brown, ruff
feathers buffy white with broad brown shaft-streaks ; upper plumage
',
FIG. 67 — Pale Harrier (J nat. size)
dark brown, feathers of the head and hind neck and of the shoulder
broadly margined with pale rufous ; wing-quills dark brown above,
whitish below, with blackish brown cross-bands, most of the quills
and largest coverts lightly tipped with whitish ; upper tail-coverts
white, streaked with brown ; central tail-feathers greyish-brown,
outer tail-feathers buff, all with dark brown cross-bands ; lower
plumage creamy white, washed with buff and streaked with dark
THE PALE HARRIER
377
brown and buff, the streaks diminishing in number and growing
more rufous towards the tail.
Immature birds of both sexes resemble the female but the upper
parts have conspicuous buff fringes ; there is a pale spot on the nape
and the ruff is pale creamy buff outlining the dark face conspicuously.
The under parts are bright uniform rufous -buff.
Iris yellow in adult, brown in immature birds ; bill black, cere
greenish ; legs yellow, claws black.
Structure as in Marsh Harrier, but a more slightly-built bird.
Field Identification. — A slender Hawk with long narrow wings
and tail which is almost always seen on the wing, hunting low over
the ground with an easy gliding flight. Adult male grey and white
with black wing tips. Adult females and immature birds are dark
brown above with barred wings and tail and a white patch over the
base of the tail. Adult females are streaked below, immature birds
rich uniform rufous.
Distribution. — No sub-species. Breeds from the Baltic Sea
provinces east to Tarbagatai and the Tian Shan, south to Rumania,
Southern Russia and Ferghana. Winters in Africa, India, Ceylon,
and Burma. It is generally distributed throughout India in winter.
Three other Harriers are fairly common winter visitors to India.
Montagu's Harrier (Circus pygargus) is found throughout the country
to Ceylon. The Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus) is confined to the
north. The Pied Harrier (Circus melanoleucus) keeps more to the
south and east. Much practice is required to distinguish the females
and young males of these species from each other and the Pale Harrier.
The adult males are, however, fairly distinctive in the field. That
of the Pied Harrier is conspicuously pied black and white. Both
Montagu's Harrier and the Pale Harrier are grey and white with black
wing tips. Montagu's Harrier may, however, be known by a black
bar through the inner flight-feathers and marked rufous streaking on
the flanks and abdomen. The Hen Harrier is very similar to the Pale
Harrier but is slightly larger with heavier black wing tips, while the
throat and breast are dark grey.
On account of its grey and white plumage with black on the wings
the Black- winged Kite (Elanus ccrruleus) may be mistaken for a Harrier.
The very different flight, the habit of hovering like a Kestrel, the
short tail, the crimson eye, and the fact that the black of the wings is
on the shoulders, not at the tips, immediately separates it. Found
throughout India and is resident.
Habits, etc. — The Pale Harrier and the other three species men-
tioned above are all very difficult birds to learn much about in their
winter quarters in India. The Marsh Harrier, as already noted,
obtrudes itself on the notice of the sportsmen, but these species are
all very shy and elusive. One usually sees them in the distance as
3?8 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
they hunt over a wide expanse of country and travel ceaselessly, doing
a great deal of work to satisfy their voracious appetites. They chiefly
frequent stony open country, cultivated fields, grassland or light
scrub-jungle, and they travel but a few feet above the ground, ready
to drop silently on mouse or bird, insect or reptile, surprised on the
ground below them. When gorged they rest on the ground, sitting
out in the open beyond possibility of sudden danger. They roost
in reed-beds or similar cover, and the number of individuals which
consort to a favourite roost is surprising, all the species in the neigh-
bourhood coming to the same place. All Harriers soar high in the
air at times, and all have the same type of flight as described under
the Marsh Harrier.
In its more northern breeding range the Pale Harrier nests in
April and May. The nest is placed on the ground in a natural hollow
lined with grass and leaves, usually out on a dry open plain, but also
in swamps.
The clutch consists of four or five eggs or occasionally six. These
are broad obtuse ovals. The ground-colour is white sometimes
unmarked, but more commonly spotted or blotched, sometimes quite
heavily, with reddish-brown.
The egg measures about 1*75 by 1*35 inches.
THE LONG-LEGGED BUZZARD
BUTEO RUFINUS (Cretzschmar)
Description. — Length : Male 22 inches, female 24 inches. Sexes
alike. Colour very variable, with two main phases and innumerable
intergradations between them.
Pale or rufous phase : Upper plumage brown, the feathers with
white bases and broad light rufous edges, the sides of the head generally
paler than the top ; the flight-feathers are tipped with blackish-brown
and mottled with white and grey and brown towards their bases ;
tail pale rufous, mottled towards the base with grey and white, and
often with indistinct brown bands ; throat and breast buffy-white
with dark shaft-stripes ; remainder of lower plumage white, rufous
or brown, spotted or banded especially on the flanks with dark
rufous-brown.
Dark phase : The entire plumage dark chocolate- or blackish-
brown, with the base of the flight-feathers white, and with indistinct
whitish bars in the tail.
Iris brownish-yellow ; bill plumbeous, tip black ; cere yellowish-
green ; legs dingy yellow.
THE LONG-LEGGED BUZZARD 379
The bill and legs sire rather weak ; tarsus partly feathered at the
top ; wings and tail ample and rather rounded.
Field Identification. — A heavy lumpish bird which sits dully on
trees and on the ground ; varies in colour from pale buffy-brown
and white to almost black, but most examples have the rounded tail
rufous. In soaring the rounded tail is spread and the wings seen
from far below are peculiarly moth-like in the arrangement of pattern,
a crescent-shaped patch at the base of the outer flight-feathers being
distinctive.
Distribution. — This Buzzard is divided into races which are widely
spread throughout South-eastern Europe, North-eastern Africa and
Asia. The typical form breeds from Greece through Southern
Russia, Asia Minor and Palestine to West and Central Asia, including
FIG. 68 — Long-legged Buzzard (J nat. size)
the mountain.ranges that border the North-western corner of India.
In winter it is an abundant visitor to the plains of the north-west,
including the North-west Frontier Province, Baluchistan, the Punjab,
Sind, Rajputana, and the United Provinces. Its time of arrival varies
from August to November, and it leaves in February and March. The
Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) is also found in India, and the two
species are difficult to separate.
Habits, etc. — As a winter visitor to India this fine Buzzard is very
common in the wide plains of the north-west, especially those which
are semi-desert in character. It is most abundant in those tracts
where desert gerbils and lizards afford it an easy sustenance, but
it is also common enough in cultivation and in marshy ground. It
is rather a sluggish bird, and is usually met with sitting lumpily on
the ground or in a tree, and when travelling its flight is slow and
heavy ; but it is gifted really with considerable powers of flight, and
soars easily high above the ground for long periods, moving in great
380 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
spirals with the broad rounded wings held stiffly outstretched and
slightly raised, and the wide tail partly fanned. In this position it is
easily recognised by the very moth-like pattern of the wings and in
certain phases of plumage by the rufous tail.
The breeding season in the ranges of the North-west Frontier
Province is believed to be from March to July. The nest is apparently
placed on either a tree or the ledge of a cliff, and is a fairly large structure
of sticks, lined with dry twigs. The eggs, two to four in number, are
indistinguishable from those of the Common Pariah Kite, being*broad
regular ovals, greenish-white in ground-colour and richly blotched
with reddish-brown.
They measure about 2-30 by 1-80 inches.
THE SHIKRA
ASTUR BADIUS (Gmelin)
Description. — Length : Male 12 inches, female 14 inches. Male :
Upper plumage ashy blue-grey, the sides of the head and neck paler
and more rufescent and sometimes with a rufescent collar ; flight-
feathers blackish at the tips, the remainder of the inner webs whitish
marked with blackish bars ; tail marked with four or five broad dark
brownish bars interrupted on the central and outer pairs of feathers ;
chin and throat buff or white with usually a median grey stripe ; breast
rusty red with numerous white bars, the red gradually fading away
towards the tail.
The female is a browner grey on the upper plumage, and there are
traces of barring on the central pair of tail-feathers.
In immature plumage both sexes are brown above, and the lower
parts are marked with brown streaks and spots.
Iris orange-yellow ; bill livid at base, blue-black at tip ; cere
greenish-yellow ; legs yellow, claws black.
Bill short, stout and curved ; wing short and rounded ; feet rather
long and stout.
Field Identification. — The common species of small Hawk in India ;
a small, stout Hawk grey above, rusty below with whitish bars, and a
fierce orange eye ; found sitting in trees or soaring over fairly open
country. Distinguished from the true Sparrow-Hawk (Accipiter nisus),
which also occurs, by the stouter feet and shorter toes, and by the
paler coloration.
Distribution. — The Shikra has a wide distribution from Central
Asia and Southern Persia throughout India, Burma and Ceylon,
and eastwards to Southern China. It is divided into several races,
distinguished by details of size and shade of coloration. A. b.
THE SHIKRA 381
dussumieri is found throughout India, from the North-west Frontier
Province and Kashmir to Northern Assam, extending in the Himalayas
up to about 5000 feet. In Travancore and Ceylon it is replaced by
the smaller and darker A. b. badius. These two races are resident,
.but in the winter the Central Asiatic race, A. b. cenchroides, a large
FIG. 69 — Shikra (J nat. size)
and pale bird, visits Baluchistan, Sind, North-west Frontier Province,
and the Punjab.
Although it is seldom observed in a wild state the magnificent
Goshawk (Astur gentilis) must be mentioned as the 'species most
often observed in the hands of Indian falconers. The female is the
" Baz " and the male the " Jura " of that fraternity.
Habits, etc. — The Shikra is one of the commonest and best-
known Hawks in India. It avoids very heavy forest and desert but is
382 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
found in every other type of country, preferring cultivated tracts with
plenty of large trees. It spends most of its time sitting up in the
leafy branches of large trees, but is also fond of soaring high in the
air, circling for a time with wings outstretched and then flapping
them vigorously. It is rather a noisy Hawk, and the shrill call of twa
notes titu-titu is a familiar sound in the breeding season.
The ordinary food consists of lizards, frogs, grasshoppers and
small birds, but in the hands of the expert falconer it is very bold,
taking quails, crows and partridges most successfully. It is a favourite
bird with Indian falconers as it is easily trained and will take small
birds within ten days of being caught ; it is often used by them to
catch food for their more valuable falcons and goshawks. On the
fist it is carried unhooded ; when flown at its quarry it is thrown
from the hand, in which it is held tightly grasped round the wings,
the belly resting on the palm of the hand, with the legs stretched
backwards under the tail.
The breeding season lasts from April to June. The nest is a
loosely-built cup of twigs and sticks, lined with fine grass roots ; it
is placed in a high fork of a tree fairly well screened by leaves. The
time occupied in building the nest is usually out of all proportion
to the result.
Three to five eggs are laid. They are moderately long ovals,
slightly pointed at one end, smooth, fine and glossless in texture. In
colour they are a delicate pale bluish-white, normally unmarked,
but occasionally slightly speckled with grey.
In size they average about 1*55 by 1-22 inches.
THE LUGGER FALCON
FALCO JUGGER J. E. Gray
(Plate xix, Fig. 3, opposite page 396)
Description. — Length : Male 16 inches, female 18 inches. Sexes
alike. Forehead and a line over the eyes whitish with dark streaks ;
top of the head brown with rufous edges ; a broad streak from the
eye and a moustachial streak dark brown ; remainder of upper
plumage brown with an ashy tinge, the outer flight-feathers with
broad white bars on their inner webs ; tail brown tipped with white,
all the feathers except the central pair with whitish bars on the
inner webs ; lower parts white marked with brown streaks on the
breast and brown spots on the abdomen, and the flanks largely brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill bluish-grey, the tip blackish ; legs yellow,
claws black.
THE LUGGER FALCON 383
The bill has a marked tooth behind the hooked tip ; wing long
and pointed ; the tarsus is bare except on the upper part ; claws
curved and sharp.
Field Identification. — The ordinary resident true Falcon of India ;
ashy-brown above, white with brown markings below. Found in
pairs in open plains ; in flight the pointed wings and full tail are
noticeable. Ashy-brown upper parts distinguish it from the Falcons
of the Peregrine type, while the Saker Falcon may be separated from
it by having white spots on the central tail-feathers.
Distribution. — This Falcon is fairly common throughout India
from about 2500 feet in the foot-hills of the Himalayas down to about
Southern Madras. On the west it occurs in Baluchistan and the
North-west Frontier Province extending to Cachar in the east and it
has once been obtained in Manipur. Outside these limits it has not
been found and towards the south of its range it is not common.
Wherever found it is a strictly resident species.
The well-known Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) of Europe, of
which the adult has the upper parts bluish-grey with a black cheek
stripe and the lower parts fulvous-white with dark barring, is a winter
visitor to the whole of India and Ceylon. The Saker Falcon (Falco
cherrug) with the upper parts brown and the lower parts white spotted
with brown, is a winter visitor to the semi-desert areas of the north-west.
Habits, etc. — This Falcon avoids areas of heavy forest and is a
bird of the open plains, wherever trees are found either in cultivation
or in semi-desert country. It mates for life, and the birds of the pair
keep very much together ; it is a very pretty sight to watch a pair
hunting as they deliberately work together, driving the quarry towards
each other and stooping at it in turn. They often attend sportsmen
out shooting and take birds that are wounded. The Lugger is a fine
flier and on occasion can be courageous enough, but it belongs to the
Saker or Desert Falcon group rather than to the Peregrine group, and
has not quite the build and speed and courage of the latter. Its food,
therefore, consists more frequently of lizards, gerbils, insects and
small birds than of bigger game. It can be and often is trained by the
falconer to kill crows, partridges, and similar quarry, but is naturally
usually neglected in a country where nobler Falcons can be so easily
obtained. The male, however, is frequently kept by the falconer
as a decoy hawk with which to catch either Sakers or Peregrines.
Silent as a rule, both sexes indulge in a harsh chattering scream when
excited.
The eggs may be found from January to April, but the majority
are probably laid in February.
The nest varies a good deal ; the eggs may be laid in a hollow
scraped on a rocky ledge of a cliff, or in a slight nest of sticks in a
similar situation. A larger nest of sticks and twigs lined with grass,
384 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
straw or leaves is also built on buildings or in trees, or old nests of
other birds in similar situations are appropriated and repaired. Such
appropriated nests always seem to be large ones, generally those of
Eagles or Vultures.
Three to five eggs are laid. In shape they are a broad oval,
slightly pointed at one end, of a dull, glossless, slightly chalky texture.
In colour they are rather variable. The ground-colour is reddish,
brownish or yellowish-brown, very thickly speckled and spotted all
over with a darker and richer shade of the ground-colour ;* these
markings sometimes collect in a cap at one end ; some eggs are
lightly and dully marked ; others are richly coloured with large
blotches and clouds.
The average size is about 2*00 by 1-55 inches.
THE TURUMTEE
FALCO CHICQUERA Daudin
(Plate xix, Fig. i, opposite page 396)
Description. — Length : Male 12 inches, female 14 inches. Sexes
alike. Top of the head, ear-coverts, and a narrow cheek-stripe
chestnut ; upper plumage ashy-grey, the shoulders and sides of
the wings more or less barred with brown ; outer flight-feathers
blackish-brown, closely barred with white on the inner webs ; tail
grey with narrow black bars, a very broad black band close to the
end, and a white tip ; lower parts white, lightly streaked on the
breast and barred on the flanks and abdomen with blackish.
Iris brown ; bill greenish-yellow, blue-black at tip ; cere and
eyelids yellow ; legs yellow, claws black.
The bill has a sharp tooth inside the hooked tip ; wings long and
pointed.
Field Identification. — A very pretty little ashy-grey Falcon with
barred white under parts, easily recognised by the bright chestnut
head. Found in pairs in open country.
Distribution. — The Turumtee or Red-headed Merlin is found
almost throughout the plains of India from the foot-hills of the
Himalayas right down to the south, and from the North-west Frontier
Province and Sind across to Assam. It is a resident species.
Habits, etc. — This delightful little Falcon is usually found in wide
cultivated plains, especially those where small groups of trees and
long shady avenues are common. It avoids heavy forest. It pairs
for life, and the birds of the pair usually go about together, and are
very clever at hunting in company ; for instance, I have seen one of
a pair " waiting on " above a thorn tree in which some doves had
THE TURUMTEE * 385
taken refuge, while its mate made strenuous, though unsuccessful,
endeavours to drive them out to it. For its size it is one of the most
courageous of the Falcons, and is pugnacious to boot, a fact that is
known to every crow and kite that lives anywhere in the vicinity of
the tree where it elects to build its nest. The bird is well known to
all Indian falconers, and it is occasionally trained and flown at rollers,
crows, larks, and other similar small quarry. The flight is very swift
and graceful with regular wing-beats, and the bird stoops at its quarry
with wonderful skill and speed, a most finished performer. It has
the same screaming cry as other Falcons, but is rather noisier than
most of them.
The breeding season is from January to May, but most eggs will
be found in March. All its nests are placed on trees, and never on
cliffs or buildings.
Although this Falcon occasionally utilises the old nest of a Crow
it usually builds its own nest afresh every year, placing it in one of the
highest forks of a tree. It is a neat, well-built cup of sticks and fine
twigs, the egg cavity being lined with fine roots and straw with a few
feathers and shreds of cloth.
The normal clutch consists of four eggs, but three or five are
occasionally found.
The egg is a regular rather long oval, and the texture is fine, but
rather chalky, with very little gloss. The ground-colour is reddish-
white, virtually concealed by frecklings and specklings of dull brownish-
red, but many eggs are more dingy yellowish-brown in coloration.
In size the egg measures about 1-66 by 1*27 inches.
THE KESTREL
FALCO TINNUNCULUS Linna3us
Description. — Length 14 inches. Male : Top of the head and
sides of the neck ashy-grey with fine black shaft lines ; a dark grey
cheek-stripe ; sides of the face whitish with dark streaks ; upper
parts brick-red with a vinous tint and with scattered triangular black
spots ; a patch over the base of the tail ashy-grey ; flight- feathers dark
brown, their inner webs much indented with white ; tail ashy-grey
above, whitish below, with a broad black band near the end and
white tips to the feathers ; lower plumage rufous-fawn with the breast
and flanks streaked and spotted with brown.
Female : Upper plumage bright rufous-brown, streaked on the
head, and banded elsewhere with brownish-black ; flight-feathers
dark brown, their inner webs much indented with white ; tail rufous-
brown, barred with black, and with a broad black band near the end ;
28
386 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
lower plumage rufous-fawn, the breast and flanks spotted with
brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill bluish-black, paler at base ; gape, cere and
eyelids yellow ; legs orange-yellow, claws black.
The bill is short and with a sharp tooth behind the hooked tip ;
wings long and pointed ; tail long and slightly graduated.
Field Identification, — A small Falcon with pointed wings and rather
long fan-shaped tail, easily recognised by a peculiar habit of havering
stationary in the air with flickering wings. The colour is reddish with
a broad black band across the end of the tail ; the female has the back
FIG. 70 — Kestrel Adult Male (J nat. size)
cross-barred with black, the male more lightly spotted, while the male
has the upper surface of the head and tail bright blue-grey.
Distribution. — The Kestrel is a bird of wide distribution found
throughout the Pakearctic area, and divided into a number of races
which are often separated with difficulty ; of these we are concerned
with two. The typical race of Europe and Northern Asia is the
breeding form of the Himalayas at all altitudes and there it seems
to be more or less a resident. This race is also a very abundant winter
visitor to the whole of India. A darker form, F. t. objurgatus, is resident
in the Nilgiris and, no doubt, also the Travancore ranges. The
heavily-barred race of China and Japan (F. t. interstinctus) is a winter
visitor to Eastern and Southern India and Ceylon in small numbers.
Habits, etc. — The Kestrel is necessarily a bird of open country as
it feeds on lizards, grasshoppers and mice which it takes from the
THE KESTREL 387
ground ; small birds are also occasionally caught. It therefore
spends most of its time hunting over cultivated tracts, bare hill-sides
and open grassy plains ; its flight is fast and strong, and it usually
flies at a considerable height from the ground, travelling straight for
a while and then moving in wide circles. Its course is constantly
checked by the bird hanging stationary in mid-air, the head to wind,
the wings fanning very rapidly, and the tail depressed and outspread.
In this position it scans the ground intently, watching for some moving
insect or mouse. If the chance is good, it drops perpendicularly to
earth and makes its capture, or checks half-way and hovers again
before the drop ; or the quarry takes cover and the Kestrel flies on
farther to undisturbed ground, to hover and search anew. This
hovering is very characteristic, and to it are due the English country
names of " Stannel " and " Windhover " ; while the perpendicular
drop to earth is very distinct from the stoop of most of the Falcons
and Hawks.
It perches a good deal on rocks or trees, and thence watches for
food, its head incessantly turning and bobbing. Then silently it
leaves the perch and flies with half-bent wings towards the ground,
putting on a desperate dash and spurt as it approaches the object of
its stoop. All the movements of this little Falcon are graceful and a
pleasure to watch.
The call is a shrill scream, kee-kee-kee, and when breeding the
Kestrel is rather noisy and pugnacious, chasing and mobbing eagles,
kites, and crows that approach the eyrie.
In Southern India the eggs are laid from February to April, and
in the Himalayas from April to June.
The eyrie is, in our area, almost invariably in holes and rocky
ledges of cliffs ; though occasionally, as elsewhere, it is placed on ruined
buildings and in trees. The nest, which is often a mere apology, is
composed of twigs, roots, rags, strips of cloth, and other rubbish.
The clutch consists of two to six eggs, but four or five are the usual
number.
The eggs are broad ovals, somewhat pointed towards one end ;
the texture is fine and rather chalky, and there is no gloss as a rule.
The ground-colour is red, of various shades ; it is blotched, mottled,
freckled and spotted with darker tints of the same, the markings being
thickly and evenly distributed. Some eggs are rather browner or
yellower in general appearance.
In size they average about 1-55 by 1*20 inches.
388 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE COMMON GREEN PIGEON
CROCOPUS PHCENICOPTERUS (Latham)
(Plate xxi, Fig. i, opposite page 440)
Description. — Length 13 inches. Sexes alike. Head, neck and
upper breast, save for a grey patch round the back of the head,
greenish-yellow, deeper on the upper breast and hind back ; an
ashy-grey collar round the base of the neck ; upper plumage
yellowish olive-green ; a lilac patch near the bend of the wing ; quills
and the larger coverts blackish, conspicuously edged with yellow ;
tail terminal half dove-grey, basal half yellowish-green above, black
beneath ; lower breast, abdomen, and whole inner surface of the
wings light ashy-grey, in strong contrast with the yellow breast ;
lower flanks dark green with broad yellowish white edges ; under tail-
coverts dull chestnut with buff-tips.
Iris blue with an outer circle of pink ; bill soft and swollen at
base and greenish, the hard anterior portion bluish-white ; legs
orange-yellow, claws bluish.
A stout heavily-built bird with a rather swollen beak.
Field Identification. — Entirely arboreal, found in flocks in large
fruit-bearing trees. A heavy stout pigeon, greenish-yellow and ashy-
grey in colour, the wings blackish with very bright yellow edgings to
the feathers ; a small lilac patch on the shoulder.
Distribution. — The Green Pigeon is found almost throughout
India, Burma and Ceylon, and farther east to Cochin-China and
Siam. It is divided into races of which two concern us. The typical
race has its main stronghold in Bengal and the strip of similar country
that runs up under the Himalayas westward to the Jumna. C. p.
chlorogaster, distinguished by having the lower breast and abdomen
yellowish-green like the upper breast, instead of ashy-grey as in the
typical form, is found throughout the Peninsula of India and Ceylon.
No Green Pigeons of this species are found in Sind, Baluchistan, the
North-west Frontier Province, the Himalayas, or in the desert regions
of the North-west ; but there is a large area of Northern India in which
both races and intermediates between them are found on the same
ground and in the same flocks.
Two smaller species of Green Pigeon are locally common in North-
East and South- West India and Ceylon. These are the Orange-
breasted Green Pigeon (Dendrophassa bicinctd) with violet and orange
patches on the breast and the Grey- fronted Green Pigeon (Dendrophassa
pompadora) which has the back deep maroon, in both cases in the male.
Habits, etc. — These Green Pigeons are stoutly built, sluggish
birds, usually rolling in fat, which are found in flocks and lead an
THE COMMON GREEN PIGEON 389
entirely arboreal existence. Their feet are strong and adapted for
climbing, and they move about the branches of a tree much like a
parrot, in pursuit of the wild figs and fruits on which they feed ; they
are very fond of the figs of the banyan and peepul trees and frequent,
therefore, in particular the large avenues of these trees which are
common in Northern India. In colour they so closely resemble the
leaves of the trees that they inhabit, and they are so sluggish in their
movements, that the entire flock easily escapes notice in a tree ;
but when flushed the flight is strong and the birds travel well like
other pigeons, though they are loath to desert their particular grove.
At the nest the female sits close and will only leave on the near approach
of the climber. The call is a peculiar, rather musical, whistle. They
appear to drink very rarely, probably obtaining sufficient moisture
from the fruits which form their food.
The breeding season is from March till June.
The nest is a slight platform of interlaced twigs, and is so sketchy
in construction that the eggs are visible from below through the
bottom : it is unlined and has only a slight depression on which the
eggs rest. It is placed about 20 feet from the ground in a tree, often
so as to be concealed by a bunch of foliage.
Two eggs are laid ; they are similar to the eggs of all pigeons,
a broad regular oval, pure unmarked white in colour, with a hard
close texture and a good deal of gloss.
In size they average about 1-25 by 0-95 inches.
THE KOKLA GREEN PIGEON
SPHENOCERCUS SPHENURUS (Vigors)
Description. — Length 13 inches. Male : Head, neck and lower
plumage yellowish-green, tinged with rufous on the crown, and with
orange and pink on the upper breast ; upper back greyish, passing
into maroon-red on the middle of the back and at the bend of the
wings ; a patch above the base of the tail and the sides of the wings
olive-green, quills blackish narrowly bordered with yellow ; tail olive-
green, the outer feathers and the under surface grey ; lower flanks
and thighs dark green with pale yellow edges ; a patch of cinnamon
buff under the tail.
Female : Similar to the male, but lacks the orange on the breast
and the maroon-red on the wings and back which are olive-green ;
the patch under the tail is dark green with broad buff borders.
Iris bright blue with an outer ring of pink ; bill and skin round
the eyes blue ; legs lake-red.
2 B2
390 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Bill swollen and soft at base ; tail rather long and graduated, the
under coverts being as long as the outer tail-feathers.
Field Identification. — Himalayan form ; purely arboreal and
comes to notice through the remarkable whistling call. Long graduated
tail in combination with deep maroon on the back and wings, and
orange and pink breast separate the male from other green pigeons.
Distribution. — The typical race of this Pigeon is found throughout
the length of the Himalayas from Kashmir and Hazara to Bhutan,
at elevations from 4000 to 8000 feet ; to the east it extends through
Assam, the Chin Hills and Shan States into Tenasserim. In the
Western Himalayas it is purely a summer visitor, but in the eastern
portion of its range it appears to be chiefly a resident species.
The Pin-tailed Green Pigeon Sphenocercus apicicauda, is very
similar in colour but wants the maroon-red on back and has the two
middle tail feathers greatly lengthened. It is found in the Himalayas
from Kumaon, the Assam Hills and Burma.
Habits, etc. — The Kokla is a bird of shady wooded glens and
hill-sides and is strictly arboreal in its habits, being only very
occasionally seen on the ground and that only for drinking purposes.
These pigeons feed entirely on fruits, and while in pursuit of them in
the trees are very active, gliding about the branches almost like
squirrels ; with their strong short legs they are able to lean over and
reach out to berries in the most wonderful manner. When not feeding
they are rather sluggish and sit motionless in the trees, escaping
notice from their colour ; their presence, however, is betrayed by
the beautiful call-note. This is a long melodious but slightly grating
whistle, which from its length and tunefulness seems to be human
rather than to proceed from the throat of a bird, much less a pigeon ;
it is roughly described by the words Why, we what cheer ; what are
we waiting for ? The courting note is a low coo-coo. In summer
this species is found only in pairs or small family parties, but in
winter they collect into flocks like other green pigeons.
The flight is direct and swift in spite of the whole nature of the
bird which is essentially dull and sluggish.
The breeding season is from April to June. The nest is a slight
platform composed of coarse grass and small dry twigs placed in a
branch of a tree at any height from 6 to 50 feet from the ground.
Two eggs are laid. These are in shape a very elongated oval,
narrow and rounded at the ends ; they are fine in texture with a
fair gloss, and are pure spotless white.
They measure about 1-18 by 0-89 inches.
THE GREEN IMPERIAL PIGEON 391
THE GREEN IMPERIAL PIGEON
MUSCADIVORA #:NEA (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 17 inches. Sexes alike. Whole head, neck
and lower parts ashy-grey with a pink tinge ; back, rump and sides
of the wings bright metallic green with a high gloss ; wing quills
blackish washed with ashy-grey ; tail black washed above with metallic
green, a dull liver-coloured patch under the tail.
Iris crimson ; eye-rim purplish-red ; bill horny grey, region of the
nostrils dull purplish-red ; legs purplish red, claws dusky horn.
Field Identification. — A large heavy Pigeon with ashy head, neck
and underparts and bright metallic green saddle, wings and tail. A
tree-haunting species with a peculiar resonant call.
Distribution. — A widely-spread species found in India, Ceylon,
Burma, the Malay countries and islands to the Philippines, Borneo,
Java and Flores. In India it is a resident with local movements based
on food supply and is divided into two races merely on the question of
size. M. ce. pusilla is the smaller race. It is found in Ceylon and in
South India, extending up to about the 2oth degree of latitude though
on the Malabar coast it is rare above North Kanara. On the eastern
side it intergrades through Orissa and Bengal into the larger M. a.
sylvatica of Assam and the Himalayas from Nepal eastwards. It is
found in the plains and the lower hills and valleys up to at least 3000
feet.
Jerdon's Imperial Pigeon (Ducula badid) is another large species
— but dull black, brown and ashy-grey in plumage — found in South-
west India with another race in the Eastern Himalayas and Assam.
Habits, etc. — The Green Imperial Pigeon is a forest-haunting bird
found in many types of forest both heavy and light, evergreen and
deciduous ; it also visits low scrub. It goes about as a rule singly or
in pairs or occasionally in small parties of three or four birds, but after
the breeding season and in the neighbourhood of plentiful supplies
of food it often collects into flocks comprising up to thirty individuals.
These flocks have regular roosting places and may travel miles to their
feeding grounds. The flight is rapid and powerful and is started with
the loud fluttering put-put-put of the wings which is common to many
of the family.
This pigeon apparently never descends to the ground even to drink.
It feeds chiefly in the mornings and evenings, resting during the heat
of the day in a shady tree. In disposition it is somewhat shy.
The food consists of wild fruits and berries which although often
of large size are swallowed whole. The gape and gullet are remarkably
capacious and elastic and can be extended to take in fruit a couple of
392 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
inches in diameter. According to Jerdon the flocks visit the large salt
swamps of the Malabar coast in order to eat the buds of Aricennia and
other shrubs and plants that grow in brackish soil and tidal ground.
This bird is not quarrelsome like many of the Green Pigeons and the
members of the parties are always gentle and sociable together. If a
bird is wounded by a sportsman, however, it erects its feathers so as to
double its size in appearance and strikes out violently with the wings.
The call is remarkable and easily recognised. It is a deep resounding
boom wuh-wooh or gur-gur goom goom goom astonishingly powerful
for the size of the bird but only uttered at considerable intervals and
that when the bird is at rest. It resounds through a valley and has
something almost weird and eerie about its tone.
The main breeding season is from February to April. The nest
is built at a height of some 10 to 30 feet from the ground in trees
and bamboos and is of the ordinary pigeon type, a flimsy platform of a
few sticks and stiff straws and grasses.
One or two eggs are laid. The egg is of a broad oval, very obtuse
at both ends, with a very fine compact shell and a slight gloss. It is
pure white.
The egg measures about 1-6 by 1-25 inches.
THE BLUE ROCK-PIGEON
COLUMBA LIVIA Gmelin
(Plate xxi, Fig. 2, opposite page 440)
Description. — Length 13 inches. Sexes alike. Plumage slaty-
grey almost throughout, the neck glossed all round with metallic
green and purple ; the back and wings are rather darker in tint and
there is sometimes a paler bar across the rump, in some specimens
white ; two black bars across the wings ; tail with a broad black bar
across the end and with a white patch at the base of the outer feathers ;
under surface of the wings very pale grey or white.
Iris brownish-orange ; bill black, base swollen and mealy white ;
legs reddish-pink.
The tail is rather short, and the wings rather long and pointed.
Field Identification. — The commonest Pigeon of India, slaty-grey
in colour, with two dark wing-bars and metallic reflections round the
neck ; abundant about cities and villages.
Distribution. — This Pigeon is very widely distributed around the
shores of the Mediterranean, extending northwards to the British
Isles and Faroes, and eastwards also into Africa, Asia Minor,
Palestine, Turkestan, Transcaspia, and India, Ceylon and Upper
Burma. It is divided into a number of local races, of which two are
THE BLUE ROCK-PIGEON 393
found in India. These birds are very variable in colour, partly no
doubt owing to interbreeding with domestic stock, and there has
been a good deal of confusion as to exactly what races are found in
India. C. I. intermedia is the resident bird throughout the whole of
India, except the north-west. It is a very dark bird with a dark
grey rump. C. /. neglecta, the form found in Turkestan, North-eastern
Persia, Afghanistan, and Kashmir, extends also in the North-west
Frontier Province, Punjab, Baluchistan, and Sind. It is a paler bird,
with the rump varying from pure white to pale blue-grey. This race
is found up to 13,000 feet in the Western Himalayas, and is to some
extent a local migrant.
The well-known Snow-Pigeon (Columba leuconotd) of high altitudes
in both the Eastern and Western Himalayas has a large proportion of
the plumage white.
The Nilgiri Wood-Pigeon (Columba elphinstonii) is found in the
higher parts of the Western Ghats, from Mahableshwar to Cape
Comorin, being best known from the high sholas of the Nilgiris.
The head is grey, with a spangled black and white neck patch ; the
upper parts are dark reddish-brown and blackish, while the lower
plumage is ashy with a slight gloss.
Habits, etc. — The Blue Rock-Pigeon is one of the most familiar
birds of India, being abundant wherever the buildings erected by
man or the cliffs and rocks of nature afford it nesting places ; its
numbers respond to the amount of accommodation available, so that
in places it becomes incredibly numerous even to the number of
many thousands of pairs. This result is assisted by the fact that in
most parts of India a certain measure of sanctity attaches to the birds
and they are not molested ; in some places food is distributed to
them, with the result that they often become absurdly tame, feeding
in crowded market places and nesting in the buildings around with
complete disregard of their human neighbours. They have usually
a morning and evening flight out to cultivation where they feed on
corn and seeds in the fields, and they are undoubtedly responsible
for a great deal of damage.
The flight is fast and straight and the birds generally collect
into flocks, some twenty or thirty strong, so that, where there is no
local prejudice against their being shot, excellent sport may be
obtained by waiting in the line of flight in the mornings or evenings.
The love call is a rich coo-roo, cooo-oo-oo, similar to that of the
domestic pigeon, and where the birds are very abundant the rise and
fall of the cooing that goes on swells into a soft melodious rumbling
that is very delightful.
Eggs may be found at any time of the year, but the breeding
season proper is apparently from January to May ; more than one
brood is doubtless reared in the year. The nest is a fairly substantial
394 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
platform of thin sticks, twigs and roots, with a slight depression in
the centre. It is placed in or about houses, buildings and ruins in
any situation that affords shelter from the elements, in the sides of
wells, and in the crevices of rocks and cliffs.
The clutch consists of two eggs ; these are broad or elongated
ovals, rather variable in shape, fine and hard in texture, pure white,
and rather glossy.
In size they average about 1-45 by 1-12 inches.
THE RUFOUS TURTLE-DOVE
STREPTOPELIA ORIENTALIS (Latham)
Description. — Length 13 inches. Sexes alike. Head, neck and
back brown tinged with vinous ; on each side of the neck a patch
of black feathers tipped with bluish-grey ; sides of the wings blackish
with broad ferruginous borders giving a scaled appearance ; quills
brown with pale edges ; lower back and rump slaty-grey ; upper tail-
coverts brown ; tail blackish-brown, all, except the central pair of
feathers, tipped with slaty-grey ; lower plumage vinous, paler on the
chin and throat ; wing lining and a patch under the tail dark slaty-grey.
Iris orange ; eyelids pale blue with red edges ; bill brown, vinous
at base ; legs vinous red, claws black.
The tail is rather long and graduated.
Field Identification. — A rather large vinous-brown Dove with
conspicuous rufous scale markings on the wings, and a patch of black
and blue-grey scale markings on the sides of the neck ; dark graduated
tail edged with white or slate-grey is conspicuous in flight. Shyer
than most Indian Doves.
Distribution. — The Rufous Turtle-Dove is so closely allied to the
Common Turtle-Dove (S. turtur) of Europe that its races are sometimes
considered as races of the Western bird. Accepting, however, their
distinctness, we may say that the Rufous Turtle-Dove extends in
several races from Eastern Siberia, China, Japan and Tibet to the
greater part of India, Ceylon and Burma ; also Western Central
Asia, Turkestan and Afghanistan. In India we are concerned with
three forms, which differ chiefly in the tint of coloration. S. o. meena
breeds in South-western Siberia and Turkestan, and the Himalayas
from Afghanistan to Western Nepal at heights of from 4000 to 11,000
feet, migrating into the plains of India in winter. This form has the
belly and tips of the tail-feathers white. S. o. erythrocephala is a more
or less resident form breeding in the hilly portions of Southern and
Central India. Finally, S. o. agricola is found in Eastern Bengal,
Cachar and Assam, and along the base of the Himalayas under 4000
THE RUFOUS TURTLE-DOVE
395
feet in the terais of Nepal and Sikkim ; and again southwards into
Burma.
Mention must just be made of the Emerald Dove (Chakophaps
indicd) which is found along the Western Ghats, the Chota Nagpur
area, Bengal and the Lower Himalayas as far west as the Jumna.
The back- and wing-coverts are brilliant emerald green and the
under parts deep vinaceous.
Habits, etc. — The Rufous Turtle-Dove when breeding is found
usually in thick forest, but is otherwise mostly observed in the more
open and cultivated areas where large trees, groves and gardens
provide it with shelter in easy reach of the stubbies where it likes to
feed on fallen grain and seeds. It is very active on the ground, running
and walking freely, and when disturbed invariably takes refuge in
trees. In winter and on migration numbers may be found in company,
FIG. 71 — Rufous Turtle-Dove (J nat. size)
but they may hardly be said to gather into flocks, as the birds do not
keep together, but fly off in all directions when disturbed. It drinks
very frequently. The note is a dull sleepy drone, cooo-cooo-kakour,
and the male has a breeding display which consists of flying into the
air and volplaning down again with wings and tail stiffly outspread.
The breeding season is said to be practically throughout the year
according to locality ; in the Himalayas most nests are found in
June, in North-eastern India in April and May, and in Central and
Southern India from January to March.
The nest is the usual scanty platform of twigs and bents, through
which the eggs and young can be seen ; it is placed in a tree or bush
at no great height from the ground and there is no particular effort
at concealment.
The clutch consists of two eggs, which are regular ovals, pure
white and very glossy.
They measure about 1-22 by 0-93 inches.
396 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE SPOTTED DOVE
STREPTOPELIA CHINENSIS (Scopoli)
Description. — Length 12 inches. Sexes alike. Top and sides of
the head vinous-grey ; back and sides of the neck black, each feather
cloven at the tip and ending in two white spots ; upper plumage
brown, spotted on the upper back and wings with vinous pink, the
spots in pairs on the feathers and on the wings divided by a wedge-
shaped black shaft-stripe ; an ashy band on the outer edge of the wing ;
wing-quills brown ; the two middle pairs of tail-feathers brown, the
others black with grey or white tips ; lower plumage vinous, whitish
on the throat and under the tail.
Iris hazel, surrounded by a reddish sclerotic membrane ; skin
round the eye reddish ; bill dull leaden-black ; legs dark purplish-^ed.
FIG. 72 — Spotted Dove J[- nat. size)
Field Identification. — Easily recognised by the brown upper parts
conspicuously spotted with vinous pink, by the white-spotted black
patch on the neck, and by the vinous under plumage and grey band
on the edge of the wing. Feeds much on the ground and is very tame.
Distribution. — The Spotted Dove is found throughout the greater
part of India, Ceylon and Burma, extending eastwards to Siam,
Cochin-China, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and China. It is
divided into several races which differ merely in small details of
coloration. S. c. suratensis is found throughout most of India from
the foot-hills of the Himalayas (up to about 5000 feet) down to
Southern Travancore and is replaced in Ceylon by S. c. ceylonensis.
On the west it is practically absent from the Punjab except in the
foot-hills, and it is quite absent from Sind, Baluchistan and the
North-west Frontier Province. On the east it extends through Assam,
Cachar and Manipur. A resident species with slight local movements.
Habits, etc. — This Dove is a very familiar and widely-spread
species, being found in almost every type of country, provided that
water is easily accessible, as it is intolerant of thirst and drinks freely.
It is, however, most common in fairly open cultivation, and it is much
THE SPOTTED DOVE 397
given to haunting roads and village paths where it walks about searching
for grain and seeds ; it is found also in the stubbles. It appears to
pair for life, as the pairs keep very much together, feeding and flying
in company and resting side by side in the trees. The call is a soft
trisyllabic coo, represented by the syllables ku-krroo-ku or oot-raow-oo,
and it is freely uttered.
When disturbed on the ground these Doves rise very straight into
the air for a few feet, with a great fluster and clapping of wings, and
then fly swiftly with quick distinct wing-beats and the tail partly
spread so as to show the white edging. They seldom fly for any
distance, and when settling slide downwards to the chosen perch
with occasional wing-beats, the whole action and carriage appearing
very stiff. The courting display consists of a flight straight up into
the air with a volplane downwards, the wings and tail stiffly spread as
in other Doves.
The breeding season is throughout the year, and probably several
broods are reared annually. The nest is a slight and scanty platform
of sticks, and it is placed usually at no great height from the ground,
in and about buildings or on trees and bushes.
Two eggs are laid ; they are the usual regular oval, pure white,
fine and hard in texture with a good deal of gloss.
In size they average about i'o6 by 0-82 inches.
THE LITTLE BROWN DOVE
STREPTOPELIA SENEGALENSIS (Linnaeus)
(Plate xx, Fig. i, opposite page 418)
Description. — Length 10 inches. Sexes alike. Head, neck and
breast lilac tinged with vinous ; chin whitish ; on the sides of the
neck a gorget of black feathers forked at the ends which are broadly
tipped with ferruginous ; upper plumage light earthy-brown ; an
ashy-grey patch on the outer edge of the wings ; quills dark brown ;
tail, central pair of feathers earthy-brown, the next two pairs chiefly
grey, the outer pairs with the basal half blackish and the remainder
white ; the vinous breast passes into the white of the lower plumage ;
wing lining and flanks dark ashy-grey.
Iris dark brown with a whitish inner circle ; bill black ; legs lake-
red, claws black.
The tail is rather long and graduated.
Field Identification. — A small rather slender Dove, very tame and
confiding ; brown in colour with a grey patch on the side of the
wings and a black patch spotted squarely with ferruginous on the
sides of the neck.
398 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Distribution. — This dainty little Dove has a wide range through
Africa, the Middle East and South-western Asia, and is divided into
a number of races. S. s. cambayensis is found practically throughout
the whole Peninsula of India westward of Bengal, but it is rare on
the Malabar coast and does not extend to Bengal itself. In the
Outer Himalayas it may occasionally be found up to 5000 feet. The
Persian race, S. s. ermanni, apparently straggles into the north-western
corner of India. In the main a strictly resident species, it is locally
a partial migrant.
Habits, etc. — This is one of the most familiar and abundant of
Indian Doves, and is well known from the fact that it frequents the
neighbourhood of houses, walking about on the ground outside the
verandahs and often coming into them for nesting purposes. It also
rests and walks about on their roofs. It is quiet and gentle in its
movements and far from shy, and in general acts up to the popular
conception of a Dove, a conception which so many other species fall
very short of.
It avoids heavy forest, but is abundant in cultivation and light
bush-jungle, especially on low stony hills and in semi-desert areas.
The flight is swift and strong, and when suddenly disturbed from
the ground a curious effect is given to the flight by the extremely
rapid wing-beats which seem almost in danger of upsetting the bird.
The food consists of seeds and grain.
The call is a rather harsh coo, cru-do-do-do-do.
The breeding season is very irregular and extended, from January
to October, and two or three broods are reared.
The nest is composed of thin twigs, mixed with grass stems and
a few roots ; it is in the shape of a very fragile platform, often nearly
meriting Eha's familiar description of a dove's nest as composed of
two short sticks and a long one. It is built in a variety of situations,
though generally at no great height from the ground, in trees, bushes
and plants, on rolled-up chicks in verandahs, on window-sills and
beams, and even very occasionally on the ground.
The normal clutch consists of two eggs, but one and three are
found, though rarely. The eggs are rather broad, nearly perfect
ovals, pure white, of close texture and rather glossy.
They average about I'OO by 0-85 inches in size.
THE INDIAN RING-DOVE
399
THE INDIAN RING-DOVE
STREPTOPELIA RISORIA (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 12 inches. Sexes alike. Head and neck
grey with a lilac tinge ; a black collar narrowly bordered with white
round the hind neck ; upper plumage light brown passing into ashy-
grey on the wings, the outer flight-feathers dark brown; central
FIG. 73 — Indian Ring-Dove (f nat. size)
tail-feathers light brown, remainder grey and blackish-brown with
broad white tips ; breast pale lilac passing through ashy-grey into
slaty-grey under the tail ; wing lining white.
Iris crimson, eyelids whitish; bill black; feet dark pink-red,
claws horny.
400 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The tail is rather long and graduated.
Field Identification. — A pale grey and brown Dove with a plain
black collar round the base of the neck ; one of the commonest birds
of India in open country.
Distribution. — This is by far the commonest Dove in India and
is spread throughout India and Ceylon though it avoids forest areas.
To the west it extends as far as the Balkan Peninsula, and in the
Himalayas it is found at elevations up to 11,000 feet, extending also
northwards to Turkestan. While mainly a resident species it is
locally a migrant. From Burma to Cochin-China and Yunnan it is
replaced by another race, S. r. xanthocycla, distinguished by the yellow
skin round the eyes.
Habits, etc. — The Indian Ring-Dove avoids heavy forest and is
found in great abundance in cultivation and open country wherever
trees, large bushes and hedges provide cover for it. It comes freely
into gardens, but is not so bold at entering verandahs or feeding on
the paths as is the Little Brown Dove. These Doves collect freely
into parties and flocks often of considerable size, and are very swift
and strong fliers, leaving their perch with a sounding clatter of the
hard-pointed wings. The call of this species is a dreamy how-do-do,
well known by all residents in India as a sign of the hot weather.
The food consists of the seeds of various grasses and weeds.
Most nests will be found in April and May ; but as the various
pairs rear more than one brood and often nest at different times, the
breeding season may be said to last throughout the year.
The nest is always placed on trees or bushes, in most cases at
heights between 5 and 20 feet from the ground ; thorny bushes are
usually preferred. Sites in buildings are not used after the manner
of the Little Brown Dove.
The nest is the usual Dove platform of small sticks, dry grass
stems and fine roots, sometimes fairly solid in construction with a
saucer-like cavity for the eggs.
The clutch consists of two eggs. They are broad and perfect
ovals, hard in texture and somewhat glossy. The colour is white
but with a slight ivory tinge, approaching that of the eggs of the
Red Turtle-Dove.
They average about !• 16 by 0*90 inches in size.
THE RED TURTLE-DOVE 401
THE RED TURTLE-DOVE
(ENOPOPELIA TRANQUEBARICA (Herman)
(Plate xx, Fig. 2, opposite page 418)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Male : Head dark ashy-grey
down to a black collar round the hind neck ; remainder of upper
plumage vinous-red except for a dark slaty-grey patch on the base of
the tail ; wing-quills dark brown ; central tail-feathers brown, next
two pairs dark grey at base and paler at the ends, the three outer
pairs black at the base and white at the ends ; lower parts vinous-
red, whitish under the chin and tail ; wing lining grey.
Female : Brown above, greyish on head, rump, flanks and edge
of wing ; breast light brown ; a black collar round the neck ; tail as
in the male.
Iris dark brown ; eyelids plumbeous ; bill black ; legs vinaceous
brown, claws black.
Field Identification. — The only Indian Dove in which the sexes
are different ; male warm vinous -red with grey head defined by a
black neck-ring : female brown with a black neck-ring. Latter can
be distinguished from the Indian Ring-Dove by the smaller size,
compact shape and browner coloration.
Distribution. — Widely distributed in India, Ceylon and Burma,
and extending through Siam, Cochin-China, and China to the
Philippines, this beautiful bird is divided into three races. Two of
these concern us. The typical race is found throughout India,
occurring on the west in the North-west Frontier Province, but not in
Baluchistan ; and in the North-western Himalayas it is found only in
the lowest of the foot-hills. In the Eastern Himalayas, however, it
seems to ascend higher. Birds from Assam and Burma are more richly
coloured and have been separated as CE. t. humilis. In the main a
resident species, but locally migratory.
Habits , etc. — The Red Turtle -Dove is a less familiar and confiding
species than the other common Doves of India, and is usually found
away from the immediate neighbourhood of villages and gardens.
It is distributed in all types of country excepting extreme desert and
heavy forest, and chiefly prefers cultivation with large and shady
trees, but it is very local, common in some tracts and wanting in
others without apparent reason. Water, however, is essential to it,
as like other Doves it is a very thirsty bird.
Usually it is found in pairs, but occasionally large flocks collect,
and these sometimes consist entirely of males.
It feeds entirely on the ground, collecting seeds and fallen grain,
and when disturbed it usually flies straight away instead of getting
2C
402 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
into the nearest tree like the other common Doves. The flight is
very swift, as might be guessed from the wing with its long first
primary.
The call is very distinctive, a rather deep cru-u-u-u-u repeated
four or five times quickly without pause, and with the emphasis on
the first syllable.
The breeding season extends almost throughout the year in
various parts of India, but most eggs are to be found about. May ;
probably two broods are reared.
The nest is a very flimsy platform of twigs, bents and dry grass.
It is always placed in trees and never on buildings. A large tree is
generally preferred, and a favourite situation is towards the end of a
lower bough at a height of 8 to 15 feet from the ground.
Two eggs are normally laid though clutches of three are sometimes
found.
The egg is a slightly elongated oval, fine in texture and glossy ; it
is white in colour, but usually more tinged with the creamy tint of
ivory than are most Dove's eggs.
The eggs measure about 1-02 by 0-08 inches.
BAR-TAILED CUCKOO-DOVE
MACROPYGIA UNCHALLA (Wagler)
Description. — Length 16 inches. Male : Forehead, sides of head
and throat buff tinged vinous ; crown and hind neck lilac-grey with
a metallic gloss of green and reddish-lilac ; back, rump and upper
tail coverts black, barred with rufous chestnut ; wings blackish-
brown ; middle tail feathers black with narrow rufous bars, less
barring on next two pairs, and the remaining feathers slaty-grey
with a black band near tip ; breast greyish or brownish lilac with a
metallic gloss ; abdomen and under tail coverts buff ; flanks ashy.
Female : Resembles the male above, but below the colour is buff
barred with dark brown, and on chin, abdomen and under tail coverts
these bars are obsolete.
Iris white, surrounded by a rim of lilac ; bill blackish ; legs
purplish pink.
Field Identification. — This Dove is easily distinguished by the
rufous colouring and very long graduated tail.
Distribution. — The Himalayas from Eastern Kashmir through
Garhwal and Kumaon to Assam and the hills of Burma to Tenasserim.
HabitSy etc. — The Bar-tailed Cuckoo-Dove is a bird of considerable
elevations, in the breeding season from 2500 to 9000 feet, but normally
it nests between 4000 and 7000 feet. At other seasons they are met
BAR-TAILED CUCKOO-DOVE 403
with at a lower altitude, and some wander into the plains adjoining
the foot-hills. In the hot weather and rains these Doves resort to
thick evergreen or oak forest, while in the breeding season they
frequent more open forests of chestnut and oak. The food consists
of small fruits, acorns, berries, and they are very fond of the tender
shoots of cultivated plants, especially mustard. They are usually
found singly or in pairs and often congregate in large numbers in
patches of cultivated crops. The male has a fine display ; it perches
on the highest branch of a tree where the female is sitting, then
suddenly launches himself into the air with much clapping of wings.
After reaching a considerable height the wings are spread straight out,
the feathers of the body puffed up — especially those of the rump,
and the bird returns in circles to his perch. Here he occasionally
utters a booming note and, after a pause, starts his display again.
This note is a deep croo-um audible at a great distance.
The breeding season is from April to June and the nest is of the
usual pigeon type, but occasionally moss and grass are used for the
lining. It is built in a stunted oak or sapling between 6 and 16 feet
from the ground.
The eggs are one to two in number and pure white ovals.
They average about 1-4 by i-o inches.
THE IMPERIAL SANDGROUSE
PTEROCLES ORIENTALIS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 14 inches. Male : Throat ferruginous-
chestnut, extending round the sides of the neck to the back of
the head ; a triangular black patch on the throat ; crown and
sides of the head, the lower neck all round, and the upper breast
pale earthy-brown ; upper plumage blackish-grey, each feather fawn-
coloured towards the base and tipped with ochraceous-yellow,
the yellow becoming more pronounced towards the edge of the
wing ; quills slaty-grey, the shafts and concealed portions blackish ;
tail buff barred with black, the central pair of feathers tipped with
greyish-black, the remainder with white ; a black gorget across the
breast, followed by a broad band of buff ; abdomen and flanks black ;
wing lining white ; legs and under tail-coverts buffy-white.
Female : Pale fawn colour, the head, neck and upper breast
marked with black shaft streaks ; chin and throat yellowish, bounded
behind by a black line beyond which the fore-neck is ashy ; back
and upper plumage including the central tail-feathers with irregular
curved black cross-bars ; remainder of tail, the flight-feathers and
the lower parts from the black gorget as in the male.
Iris brown ; eye-rim pale lemon ; bill bluish-grey ; feet grey.
Weight 17 to i8J oz.
404 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The wings are long and pointed ; tail wedge-shaped (but without pin-
tail feathers) ; tarsus feathered down the front, the toes short and bare.
Field Identification. — Sandgrouse occur in flocks in semi-desert
country. They escape notice by their protective coloration while
feeding on the ground, and are most often noticed in flight, travelling
straight and fast, high in the air. Stout compact bodies, pointed
wings and tails, close order, and fast regular wing-beats (the whole
reminiscent of a flock of Parrakeets) are distinctive. This species
may be easily recognised in flight by contrast between black bellies
and white wing lining ; on ground the larger size, combined with
yellow markings of back and dark throat-patch of males, distinguish
it from other Sandgrouse.
Distribution. — India is on the extreme eastern limit of the range
of this fine Sandgrouse which is found from Spain and Portugal
FIG. 74 — Imperial Sandgrouse ((\ nat. size)
(I have seen it as far north as Navarre) through North Africa and
South-western Asia. In India it is most abundant in the sandy
semi-desert plains of the Lower Punjab and Rajputana ; it is found
on all sides of this area, in Sind and Baluchistan, the North-west
Frontier Province and Upper Punjab, the United Provinces and
towards the Runn of Cutch, but only locally and never in the same
abundance. It is purely a winter visitor to India, arriving in October
and leaving about the end of February.
The Painted Sandgrouse (Pterocles indicus) is resident in low
rocky and scrub-covered hills throughout the greater part of India,
but not in the Indo-Gangetic plain, the Chota Nagpur area or the
Western Coast. It has no pin-tail feathers and is closely barred on
the crown, body and wings ; the chin and throat of the male are
buff followed by a broad band each of chestnut, buff and black.
Habits, etc. — The Imperial Sandgrouse is found in great numbers
in the sandy semi-desert plains of the north-west where it occurs in
large flocks. Like the Common Sandgrouse, these birds are very
regular in their habits ; in the morning about 8 to 10 A.M. they flight
to water to drink, all the flocks in the neighbourhood using the
THE IMPERIAL SANDGROUSE 405
same place ; after drinking they fly to the feeding ground which is
bare open country with an occasional straggling bush or two, lying
fallow after a rabi crop ; here they find grains of that crop and
the seeds of weeds. While feeding they keep close together and
move with much deliberation, looking in the distance rather like
a collection of mud-turtles. They remain, if not disturbed, on this
ground till the evening, when a proportion again fly to drink and
then they collect at their " jugging " places, which are usually in the
young kharif crops and which may be recognised by the abundance
of footmarks and droppings. The call is a clucking sound uttered
on the wing, which is difficult to describe.
In favourable localities in the line of passage the migration of
this species is almost as marked as that of the Cranes ; innumerable
flocks pass every morning following the same course.
Except at the drinking places this Sandgrouse is very difficult to
shoot. At the approach of man it squats, and owing to its colour is
very hard to distinguish on the sandy ground except that the dark
throat-patch of the males often catches the eye. By circling round
very carefully in an ever-decreasing circle it is often possible to get
within shot before the birds rise, but they are, as a rule, very wary
and suspicious, and do not allow a close approach. They are, in
addition, one of the toughest game birds that I know, with their
compact hard plumage and thick skin, and are very difficult to bring
down unless shot properly in the head.
This species does not breed in India, but in its breeding range
from Afghanistan and Baluchistan westwards the eggs are laid in
May and June. The nest is a hollow scraped in open ground.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. They are elliptical in
shape, the texture is smooth and close with a marked gloss, and the
shell is decidedly brittle.
In colour the ground is dull and pale, varying from cream to
buff or greenish-grey ; the markings consist of indefinite smudges,
blotches and spots of brown of various shades, with secondary
markings of lavender and purplish-grey.
In size they average about i *86 by i '27 inches.
THE COMMON SANDGROUSE
PTEROCLES EXUSTUS Temminck
(Plate xxiii, Fig. i, opposite page 484)
Description. — Length 13 inches, including 2 inches for central
tail-feathers. Male : Upper plumage isabelline-buff, feathers of the
shoulders and wings tipped with paler buff or dark reddish-brown ;
2C 2
406 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
forehead, sides of the head, chin and throat dull ochraceous-buif ; the
longer flight-feathers blackish-brown, some of the inner ones obliquely v
tipped with white ; central tail-feathers brown with long black tips,
the remainder darker brown with white tips ; breast buff with a
slightly rufous tinge, crossed by a black gorget slightly edged in front
with white ; the buff shades into the dark brown flanks and abdomen ;
wing lining dark brown ; legs and under tail-coverts very pale buff.
Female : Buff throughout, the crown and entire neck * spotted
with black ; remainder of upper parts barred with black, except for a
patch on the wing, some feathers having yellowish-buff ends tipped
with brown ; the longer flight -feathers dark brown, some of the inner
ones obliquely tipped with white ; chin and throat, sides of the head
and a line over the eye unspotted yellowish-buff ; upper breast spotted
with dark brown, a rather broken blackish gorget followed by a broad
band of pale buff ; abdomen barred dark brown and rufous, darkest
in the centre ; wing lining brown ; legs and under tail-coverts buff.
Iris dark brown ; eyelids yellow ; bill and feet slaty-plumbeous.
Weight 8 to 9 02.
The two central tail-feathers are elongated and pointed ; tarsus
feathered down the front, toes short and bare.
Field Identification. — The common small Sandgrouse of the plains
with long pointed central tail-feathers. The male is sandy-buff with
a black gorget and blackish-brown belly ; the female buff barred with
black, a gorget, and the belly barred with brown and rufous ; distinguish
on the wing by the dark under surface and dark wing lining.
Distribution. — The Common Sandgrouse is a widely - spread
species, resident in portions of Africa, in Palestine, and Arabia,
and in the Indian Peninsula. It is divided into several sub-species,
but their distinctness is doubtful. The Indian race, P. e. ellioti, is
found throughout the plains of India with the exception of the Bombay
and Malabar coastland, the forest regions E. of 80 E. long, and
Bengal. It is a resident species.
The very similar Spotted Sandgrouse (Pterocles senegallus), which,
however, lacks the gorget markings in both sexes, is resident and
fairly common in Sind and the neighbouring semi-desert areas.
Another pin-tailed species, the large Pin-tailed Sandgrouse (Pterocles
alchata), is found mostly in the Indus drainage. It is easily recognised
by the handsome scale-marking of the wings and the white belly.
Habits y etc. — This familiar game-bird avoids rocks and hills,
forests and swamps, and is found in the drier and barer portions
of the plains on more or less sandy ground. Above all it prefers
scattered cultivation, fallow stubble or fresh ploughed fields in the
close neighbourhood of large barren plains. In such places it will
be found in parties and small flocks feeding on seeds, squatting close
to the ground on the approach of man and rising with a curious
THE COMMON SANDGROUSE 407
double clucking note. The flight is very swift and straight, though
the flocks have a tendency to swing round in the air in a wide circle.
The most marked trait in these birds is their habit of flighting
to water in the mornings. Their time and place of drinking are
very constant, varying according to season from 8 to 10 A.M. Just
before drinking time large flocks arrive from every quarter so that
the sky is full of them. The first arrivals settle out on the open
plain some half a mile from the drinking place, and all the other
flocks settle near them ; after about fifteen minutes the first batch
get up and fly to the water and the rest follow. There is a similar
but less marked drinking flight in the evenings, and in the hot weather
they have regular places for dusting which are visited about an hour
before sunset.
All Sandgrouse, of course, are incapable of settling anywhere but
on the ground. The young of Sandgrouse are said to be watered
by the male, who after drinking saturates his lower plumage with
water to be sucked off the feathers by the chicks.
The majority of this species lay about April, but eggs may be
found in almost every month of the year. The nest is a mere scrape
or hollow on the ground, sometimes sheltered by low bushes, tufts
of grass or large clods, and very occasionally lined sparsely with a
little grass.
The normal clutch consists of three eggs. These are of a very
curious shape, long and cylindrical like those of a Nightjar ; the
texture is fine and smooth and there is generally a fine gloss.
The ground-colour of the eggs is variable, pale stone-colour,
greyish or dingy greenish, or light olive-brown. They are thickly
spotted, streaked or irregularly blotched with olive-brown and pale
inky-purple of various shades ; different eggs vary greatly in the
disposal, extent and thickness of their markings.
In size they average about 1*45 by 1-05 inches.
THE COMMON PEAFOWL
PAVO CRISTATUS Linnaeus
Description. — Length, male, to end of tail 40 to 46 inches, to
end of full train 78 to 90 inches ; female 38 inches. Adult male :
Feathers of the head short and curly, metallic-blue on the crown,
changing to green elsewhere ; crest with bare shafts and fan-shaped
tips, black at the base, bluish-green at the end ; neck all round rich
blue ; back covered with scale-like bronze-green feathers marked with
black and copper ; scapulars and most of the wing barred black and
buff, primary quills and coverts pale chestnut, secondaries black ;
408 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
train bronze-green shot in the centre with coppery-bronze, nearly
all the feathers ending in an " eye," which consists of a purplish-
black heart-shaped nucleus surrounded by blue within a coppery
disk, with an outer rim of alternating green and bronze ; tail dark
brown ; lower plumage dark glossy-green, becoming black under
the tail ; thighs buff.
Female : Head rufous-brown, crest shaped as in the male, the
tips chestnut edged with green ; upper plumage brown, faintly
mottled with paler ; wing-quills dark brown ; tail dark brown
the feathers with whitish tips ; lower neck metallic-green ; lower
plumage buffy-white, inner portion of each breast-feather dark
brown glossed with green ; a patch under the tail dark brown.
FIG. 75 — Common Peafowl (| nat. size)
Iris dark brown ; naked skin of face livid white ; bill and legs
horny-brown. Weight, male 9 to nj lb., female 6 to 9 Ib.
A peculiar fan crest on the crown ; enormously lengthened and
modified upper tail-coverts form a lengthy train falling over the
wedge-shaped tail ; under tail-coverts disintegrated and downy ; a
spur in the male above the hind toe.
Field Identification. — Apart from the huge size and resplendent
plumage of the male, the peculiar fan-shaped crest is sufficient to
separate both sexes from any other species.
Distribution. — Confined as a wild bird to India and Ceylon. It
is found almost throughout India from the Valley of the Indus
eastwards except in the greater part of the Sunderbunds of Eastern
Bengal. In Sind and the neighbouring desert areas it was apparently
introduced by human agency. Along the Outer Himalayas it is found
up to 2000 and locally up to 5000 feet, or even 6000 feet. In the
THE COMMON PEAFOWL 409
southern ranges it occurs up to 6000 feet. A purely resident
species.
Habits, etc. — In its truly wild state the Peafowl is a denizen of
fairly thick jungle, especially when it is intersected by small rivers
and streams and varied with low ranges of hills. In such jungles
the birds live in small parties, resting and lazily feeding in the
undergrowth by day, roosting on the trees at night, and, when
surroundings permit, moving out into cultivation for the morning
and evening feed. They are very wary and shy, running swiftly
on foot amongst the bushes when approached, and being persuaded
to fly with the utmost difficulty ; though once on the wing they can
travel fast with regular, comparatively slow flaps, sustained and without
the gliding common to most game-birds.
Yet, for all its shyness, the Peafowl knows when to trust man.
In the drier regions of the north-west where it has been introduced,
or in those areas where sentiment ancl religion combined provide
the indigenous bird with complete protection, as the emblem of
the Lord Krishna, it becomes very numerous and trusting, living
in regular droves on the outskirts of villages and feeding about
the fields with an almost complete disregard of passers-by ; while it
sleeps by night on trees amongst the houses. In the vicinity of
villages it is a foul feeder.
The food consists chiefly of vegetable matter and grain and seeds,
and it often devours the cultivated kinds in quantities sufficient to
render it a destructive nuisance ; insects and larvae of all kinds,
molluscs, small reptiles, and even small mammals are also eaten.
The call is a loud trumpet-like scream like the miaou of a gigantic
cat ; in Northern India this is said to form the syllables minh-ao
" come rain," and the bird is credited with being especially noisy
at the approach of rain.
The immature birds are good eating. The old birds, however,
should be recommended to those who by choice pick out the oldest
and toughest of their fowls for eating. As a general rule the Peafowl
should be left alone by sportsmen ; there is little interest in shooting
them, and when killed they are only worth making into soup ; to
kill them is almost certain to offend local prejudice, even if it does
not lead to serious trouble ; while, to my mind at least, the cock is
such a wonderful and beautiful creature that it is a pity to sacrifice
him merely to the passing pleasure of the shot.
The domestication of the Peafowl is of very ancient date, as the
gorgeous plumage of the males and their strutting, pompous pride
have a very special appeal to Oriental minds. The introduction of
the bird to Europe is usually attributed to the conquests of Alexander
the Great. During the Middle Ages no formal banquet was considered
complete without a Peacock served up in a lordly dish, garnished with
4io POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
its head and train. The first syllable of the bird's name comes through
the Anglo-Saxon Pawe, from the Latin Pavo, and this in its turn
comes through Greek and Persian onomatopoeic words from the
loud call.
The Peacock is polygamous, his harem consisting of from two to
five hens, and he takes no share in family duties. The heraldic term of
a " Peacock in its Pride " aptly expresses the male's display in which
the train is expanded into a gorgeous fan round the posing bird.
The breeding season is prolonged, from January to October, the
actual months varying locally and being dependent on the rains ;
the middle of June to the end of August may be considered the
usual period.
The nest is a hollow scraped in the ground, more or less filled
with leaves, small sticks, grass and other debris. Occasional nests may
be found on buildings or in hollows amongst the branches of large
trees, while exceptionally the eggs are laid in the old nests of Vultures.
The usual clutch consists of three to five eggs, but as many as
eight may be found. The eggs are broad blunt ovals, with very
thick and glossy shells closely pitted all over with minute pores.
The colour varies from very pale fawn to warm buff, and some eggs
are freckled with darker buff or pale reddish-brown.
The eggs vary from 2-45 to 3-0 inches in length, and 1-42 to 2-2
inches in breadth.
THE GREY JUNGLE-FOWL
GALLUS SONNERATI Temminck
Description. — Length, male 24 to 32 inches, including tail 12
to 1 8 inches ; female 18 inches. Adult male : Crown and neck
hackles blackish, each feather with a white shaft and ending in a
white spot followed by a glossy brownish-yellow spot, these spots
resembling sealing-wax and being formed by the soldering together
of the webs ; remainder of body plumage blackish, the feathers with
white shafts and grey edges, the hackles at the sides of the rump and
some of the upper tail-coverts ending in the yellow wax-like spots
and edged with ferruginous ; lower abdomen brownish-grey, the
flanks tinged with ferruginous-brown ; wings black, all the feathers
with pale shafts and edges, the median coverts ending in long
lanceolate brownish-orange wax-like spots fringed at the end with
chestnut ; tail and its coverts black, highly glossed with purple, green
and bronze.
Female : Crown and neck speckled brown with pale shafts and
edges to the feathers ; upper plumage finely mottled blackish-brown
and buff, the feathers over the shoulders with fine whitish shaft-lines ;
quills of the wings and tail dark brown, mottled on their exposed
THE GREY JUNGLE-FOWL
411
edges ; chin and throat white ; remainder of lower plumage white,
the feathers with black borders which gradually disappear from the
breast downwards.
Iris orange-red or yellowish-red ; bill horny-brown ; comb, face
and wattles crimson ; legs horny-yellow, claws black. Weight, male
i Ib. 10 oz. to 2 Ib. 8 oz., female i Ib. 9 oz. to i Ib. 12 oz.
The male has the throat and sides of the face naked, the skin
being produced into a pendulous wattle on each side of the throat,
and a fleshy comb on the top of the head ; the female has traces
of a comb and a bare patch of skin round the eye. The tail of
fourteen feathers is laterally compressed, and in the male consider-
FIG. 76 — Grey Jungle-Fowl (J nat. size)
ably graduated, lengthened and curled. The male has a long sharp
spur above the hind toe.
Field Identification. — Easily recognised as a Jungle-Fowl by the
strong resemblance of both sexes to domestic fowls. The grey-
streaked plumage of the male, combined with the glossy black tail,
and the curious waxen spots of the hackles of the neck and rump, and
the black and white markings of the under surface of the female at
once indicate the species.
Distribution. — A purely Indian species, occurring throughout
Southern and Western India in hilly and jungly ground. A line
from Baroda to Mount Aboo and through Jubbulpore to the mouth of
the Godavari roughly indicates the northern boundary of its range
and it extends almost to Cape Comorin. It is a resident species
and occurs up to the summits of the hills.
412 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Habits, etc. — The Grey Jungle-Fowl is by preference an
inhabitant of the jungles that clothe the lower slopes and bases of
the various hill ranges, particularly when these consist of moderately
thin bamboo jungle. It is an exceedingly shy bird and remains
during the day in cover, only coming out in the mornings and
evenings to feed, and even then running back into cover at the least
alarm. It is very punctual and regular in its habits, feeding daily
at the same places and times. It roosts in trees and usually flies
up into them when pursued by a dog. It is met with solitary or in
pairs, and although numbers live in suitable jungles or collect to an
abundant food-supply, they do not as a rule associate in parties.
The food consists of grain and seeds, insects, grubs, small fruits, and
berries and tender shoots.
The male usually carries the tail low, and when running it moves
with a shame-faced crouching gait, the neck outstretched, the tail
almost to the ground.
From October to May the males are in full plumage and then
crow freely, mostly in the mornings and evenings. The crow is very
peculiar, kuch-kaya-kya-kuck, ending with a low double syllable
kyukun, kyukun, repeated slowly and softly, and only audible for a
short distance. When disturbed by a dog they have a curious cackle,
kuck-kuck-kuck.
The breeding season is very irregular, depending on rain and
food-supply. Most nests may be found from October to November
or from February to May. The nest consists of a slight collection
of sticks, leaves, bamboo spathes and other rubbish placed in a hollow
on the ground, either natural or scraped out by the bird itself.
The normal clutch consists of four to seven eggs, though as
many as thirteen have been recorded. The egg greatly resembles
that of the domestic fowls, both in colour and shape ; the surface
is fine, smooth and glossy. The colour varies from very pale cream
to rich warm buff, generally unmarked but sometimes finely freckled,
and occasionally even spotted and speckled with various shades of
brown.
The average size is 1-80 by 1-40 inches.
THE RED JUNGLE-FOWL
GALLUS CALLUS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length, male 26 to 28 inches, including tail n
to 13 inches ; female 17 inches. Adult male : Crown and neck
hackles golden-brown to orange-red, passing into golden-yellow,
generally with lanceolate dark brown shaft - streaks ; upper back,
THE RED JUNGLE-FOWL 415
flourished in the Indus Valley about 2700-2500 B.C., and though
it is commonly said not to have been figured in ancient Egyptian
monuments, this is incorrect. There is a definite drawing of a
cock's head in Rekhmara's tomb at Thebes (circ. 1500 B.C.) and
Mr Howard Carter's discoveries at Tutankhamen's tomb (circ. 1400
B.C.) include a rough drawing of a cock on a flake of limestone
in the talus slope below the tomb. It is also figured on Babylonian
cylinders between the sixth and seventh centuries B.C., while the
Greek tradition evidently was that it reached Greece by way of
Persia as Aristophanes calls it the Persian bird. The cock is
represented on the Lycian marbles (circa 600 B.C.) in the British
Museum. Curiously enough the bird is not mentioned in the
Old Testament nor directly by Homer, though one of his heroes
is called Alektor, the Greek name for a cock.
The breeding season proper is from the end of March to May,
but some nests may be found from January to October. The nest
is made on the ground in any dense thicket and is composed of dry
leaves, grass and stems, while there is a good deal of variation in the
amount of care expended on its construction. The cocks appear to
be monogamous.
The normal clutch consists of five or six eggs and probably never
exceeds nine. Four eggs are sometimes found.
The eggs vary a good deal in size and shape, but typically are
miniature hens' eggs. The shell is fine and smooth with a fair
amount of gloss, though duller and coarser specimens with visible
pores occur. They vary in colour from an almost pure white to a
deep creamy-buff.
The egg measures about 1-78 by 1-36 inches.
THE COMMON KALIJ PHEASANT
GENN^EUS LEUCOMELANUS (Latham)
Description. — Length, male 23 to 26 inches, including tail
1 1 inches, female 20 inches. Adult male : A long loose crest, and
the upper plumage black glossed with purplish steel-blue, the feathers
with whitish edges, these edges growing more marked on the rump ;
wing- and tail-feathers blackish-brown largely glossed with green ;
lower plumage dark brown merging into sullied white on the breast
where the feathers are lanceolated ; many feathers have white shafts
especially on the upper back and breast.
Female : Upper plumage, including crest, dark reddish-brown, the
feathers very faintly vermiculated with black, and with their shafts
and edges whitish ; lower plumage similar but paler in tint, the chin,
4i6
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
throat and centre of the abdomen becoming whitish ; all but the
central pair of tail-feathers black glossed with greenish.
Iris orange-brown, a bare fleshy patch round the eye scarlet ;
bill pale greenish-horn ; legs livid fleshy with a purplish or brownish
tinge. Weight, males 2 Ib. to 2 Ib. 12 oz., females i Ib. 4 oz. to
2 Ib. 4 oz.
A heavily-built, powerful bird, with short-rounded wings ; the tail
is a modification of that of the Jungle-Fowls, being long, compressed
FIG. 78 — Common Kalij Pheasant (J nat. size)
and graduated, the feathers pointed and slightly curved. The male
has a heavy spur above the hind toe.
Field Identification. — Himalayan form. Distinguish from all other
Indian Pheasants by the conjunction of the long hair-like crest with
the compressed curved and pointed tail. The glossy black and white
plumage of the males is also very distinctive.
Distribution. — The genus Gennceus includes the Kalij or Silver
Pheasants which have a wide distribution in the Oriental region and
afford, particularly in Burma, some perplexing problems in identifica-
tion and distribution. In India, however, we are concerned merely
with one species, which is found as a resident throughout the
THE COMMON KALIJ PHEASANT 417
Himalayas from Hazara to Bhutan at elevations from 1000 to
10,000 feet, being most common in a low zone from 2000 to 6000
feet. In this range there are three races, differing chiefly in the
amount of white on the males. From Hazara to the western
boundary of Nepal we have the whitest form, G. /. hamiltonii, in
which the crest is white, and the white feather edges on the rump are
very broad and conspicuous ; in Nepal there is the typical race with
the crest black and the white edges to the rump moderate in
breadth ; in Sikkim and Bhutan, G. /. melanotus has the crest black,
and entirely lacks the white edges to the feathers of the upper
plumage.
The well-known Koklas Pheasant (Pucrasia macrolopha), common
in the Western Himalayas from Western Nepal into Afghanistan, is
remarkable for its wedge-shaped tail and the unusual combination
of a long crest with still longer side tufts. The male is rich chestnut
below with the upper parts grey with black shaft-stripes, the head
being largely black glossed with green.
Habits, etc. — This is the best-known and easiest to procure of all
the Himalayan Pheasants, as it inhabits a lower zone than the others
and is less shy and retiring in its habits. It is typically a bird of
heavy undergrowth on the sides of ravines, though it is essential that
this should be in or near forest and that there should be streams in
the near vicinity. Whenever possible, it likes to move out to feed
on open ground in the mornings and evenings, and it is therefore,
when suitable conditions are present, often most numerous in the
near vicinity of villages with their attendant cultivation. A few
may always be found on the outskirts of the hill stations even during
the crowded summer months. It lives and feeds on the ground,
flying up into trees to roost and also often to avoid disturbance. The
food consists of grain, seeds, berries and tender shoots, and of a
variety of insects, worms, larvae and similar objects.
Both sexes grunt and cluck in a soft undertone as they feed on
the ground, and when flushed they give vent to a series of guinea-pig-
like squeaks and chuckles that hardly seem to proceed from a bird.
The males are very pugnacious and fight freely amongst themselves.
There is a courting display in which the male standing on the ground
draws himself up to his full height and makes a peculiar drumming
whirring noise by rapidly vibrating his extended wings. Several birds
are generally found together.
The breeding season is from the end of March to the end of June.
The nest is a collection of leaves, grass and forest rubbish in a hollow
scraped beneath the shelter of a stone or low bush or tuft of grass.
The number of eggs varies from four to fourteen, but the normal
clutch consists of seven to nine eggs. They very closely resemble
those of the domestic fowl, being smooth and rather glossy with a fine
2D
4i8 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
close grain. The colour varies from pale cream to rich reddish-buff,
without markings. The surface is sometimes pitted with minute pores
or covered with tiny white specks.
The average size is 1-95 by 1-42 inches.
THE MONAL
LOPHOPHORUS IMPEJANUS (Latham)
Description. — Length, male 28 inches, female 25 inches. Head
and crest brilliant metallic-green ; sides and back of the neck
and wing-coverts metallic-purple, gradually becoming metallic-green
towards the bend of the wing ; wing-quills black ; rump white ; upper
tail-coverts brilliant metallic-green ; tail cinnamon-chestnut ; lower
parts black, washed on the chin and throat with metallic-green.
Female : Upper plumage dark brown, the feathers with narrow
edges and broad central stripes of buff ; wing-quills dark brown,
mottled and lightly barred with rufous buff ; rump pale buff-brown,
the feathers with dark brown crescentic bars which on the tail-coverts
almost cover the buff, the tail-coverts ending in a line of white ;
tail barred, with rufous-buff and dark brown, the tips white ; chin
and throat white ; breast pale buffy -white th i feathers pointed and
lined with dark brown ; remainder of lower parts pale buffy-white,
the edges of the feathers freckled with dark brown, becoming stronger
and gathered into lines on the flanks.
The young male resembles the female, but has a black patch on
the throat.
Iris brown ; naked eye-patch blue ; bill dark horny-brown ; legs
yellowish or brownish-green, daws dark horny - brown. Weight,
males 5 to 5^ lb., females 4 to 5 Ib.
Bill stout and slightly curved ; wings and tail slightly rounded ;
the male has a marked tuft of long spatulate feathers on the top of
the head, the most brilliantly metalled plumage imaginable and heavy
blunt spurs on the legs.
Field Identification. — Himalayas only, in steep hill-side forests.
Male quite unlike any other bird of its size. Most brilliant metallic
colouring, which in distance looks blackish with white rump and
chestnut tail. Female variegated blackish-brown and buff. Peculiar
whistle uttered in flight.
Distribution. — Safed Koh ; Himalayas from Afghanistan and
Chitral to Bhutan. Breeds in the Western Himalayas usually
between 9000 and 11,000 feet and is found in winter at all elevations
from tree-limit down to 6000 feet. In Sikkim the summer range is
said to be from 10,000 to 15,000 feet. A resident species with no races.
THE MONAL 419
The Cheer Pheasant (Catreus wallichii) is another well-known
game-bird of the Himalayas at moderate elevations from Khatmandu
westwards. It is a plain-looking buff and grey and black barred
bird with a bare red eye-patch and a long narrow pointed tail,
broadly barred. Less well known but far more brilliant with their
scarlet plumage and white spotting are the Crimson Horned Pheasant
(Tragopan satyr a) found from Garhwal to Assam and the Western
Horned Pheasant (Tragopan melanocephala) found from Garhwal to
Kashmir and Hazara. The male of the former has the lower parts
chestnut-red, spotted with white. In the latter the lower parts are
black spotted with white and there is a scarlet blaze on the throat.
Habits, etc. — This magnificent Pheasant is still common in the
Himalayas where it is found in the higher forest-clad nullahs,
preferably those where forests of oaks or firs or thickets of
rhododendron are broken up by patches of grassy slope, and rocky
crags and precipices discourage the intrusions of man. In such
nullahs the Monal is often found in large numbers, not in flocks
but in twos and threes, feeding and wandering under the trees and
out on the sunlit slopes. Their favourite food is a hard knobby
tuberous root which is common on the Alpine pastures, and for it
they dig with the aid of the strong curved bill. Grass-seeds and
flower-seeds, berries, fruits, beetles and insects are also eaten. The
bird is very wary, launching itself with a series of wild ringing
whistles down the khud-side at the slightest alarm, or flying straight
out over the wide nullahs high out of shot till it looks like a Partridge
in the sky. The ringing alarm whistle is very like that of a Curlew.
In the breeding season, which is in May and June, the male
displays to the hens. On the ground he displays with the tail
spread high over the back and slightly jerked, much after the fashion
of the Peacock. He has also an aerial display in which he flies
straight into the air from a steep hill-side, moving slowly with the
wings held high above the line of the back, the tail being partly
spread and the white rump very conspicuous.
The nest is a hollow scratched in the ground by the female under
the shelter of a rock, the bole of a tree or some tuft of herbage. It
is usually lined with dry leaves, moss and similar debris.
The clutch varies from two to six eggs, but is usually composed
of four or five eggs.
The egg is a long oval, a good deal compressed towards the
smaller end. The shell is fine and compact with a faint gloss. The
ground - colour is buffy-white, spotted, freckled and occasionally
blotched with deep reddish-brown. There is a good deal of varia-
tion in the amount of marking and it is usually most conspicuous
about the middle of the egg.
The egg measures about 2-55 by 1-78 inches.
420 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE RED SPUR-FOWL
GALLOPERDIX SPADICEA (Gmelin)
Description. — Length 14 inches. Male : Top of the head dark
brown shading paler and greyer on the forehead, sides of the head
and all round the neck ; upper plumage light chestnut, the feathers
of the upper back margined with pale greyish-brown, the remainder
finely vermiculated with black and buff* ; wing-quills dark brown ; tail
blackish-brown, the central pair of feathers and the outer margins of
the next two or three pairs like the lower back ; chin whitish ; breast
and upper abdomen chestnut, the feathers margined with pale greyish-
brown ; lower abdomen and thighs brown ; a patch under the tail
rufous-brown vermiculated with black.
Female : Forehead sandy-brown, becoming dark brown on the
crown, nape and neck ; upper plumage sandy or pale rufous-brown,
each feather with two black bars, the black becoming less and the
rufous more pronounced towards the tail ; wing-quills dark brown ;
tail blackish, the central feathers with mottled buff bars that
disappear on the outer feathers ; chin and throat whitish ; neck
olive-brown, the feathers becoming rufous in the centre and tipped
with black ; breast and flanks bright ferruginous with narrow black
tips ; remainder of lower plumage brown, mottled with black and
rufous under the tail. The amount of black on the lower plumage
is very variable.
Iris dull yellow to brown ; a bare patch round the eye red ;
bill horny-brown reddish at the base ; legs brownish-red or red.
Weight 8 to 13 oz.
Wings short and rounded ; tail rather long and considerably
rounded. There are spurs on the legs in both sexes, irregular in
number and often different on both legs, up to four on one leg in
the male and two in the female.
Field Identification. — Male uniform chestnut in appearance, the
female light brown pencilled with black. Both sexes suggest a
domestic hen-bantam with a longish tail held like a Partridge. A
bird of thick jungle, remarkable for its spurs.
Distribution. — The Spur- Fowls are a small genus of three species
confined solely to India and Ceylon. The Red Spur-Fowl is
confined to India and is divided into three races. The tvpical
race is found in the terai in Oudh, and again scattered about
throughout the whole Peninsula of India south of the great
Indo-Gangetic alluvial plain, wherever there are broken hills
covered with forests or bamboo jungle. It extends as far south
as the Palni Hills. Provided that the country is of the requisite
THE ,RED SPUR-FOWL 421
type it is found at any elevation from sea-level up to 5000 feet
and occasionally higher to 7500 feet. In Travancore it is replaced
by the richly-coloured G. s. stewarti, which extends up to about
3000 feet. In the Aravalli Hills and Udaipur there is a pale race
known as G. s. caurina. All races are strictly resident.
The Painted Spur-Fowl (G. lunulata), which is also found in
Peninsular India, may easily be distinguished by the black and white
spotting of the plumage of the male, while the female is a plain
brown bird with a chestnut face.
Habits, etc. — The Red Spur-Fowls are birds of broken hilly country
and dense cover, especially affecting bamboo jungle and well-wooded
nullahs close to water. In such localities they live solitary or in
pairs, though the young birds remain in company with their parents
for some time. They live and feed on the ground in the thick cover
that they affect, and are made to take wing with the utmost difficulty,
preferring whenever possible to escape on foot, running at great
speed and being adept at dodging from cover to cover. When forced
to fly they rise with a great fluster and flapping of wings, but their
speed is not great, for a glide follows every few beats of the wings
and they soon drop back into cover. They rise with a loud cackling
noise resembling that of a domestic hen and the crow of the cock is
somewhat similar. At night they always roost on trees, and often
take refuge in them by day when pursued by dogs. They visit
cultivation and open ground more rarely than the Pheasants and
Jungle-Fowl.
The food consists chiefly of grain and seeds of all kinds, and the
different jungle fruits and berries ; quantities of insects and larvae
are also eaten. The flesh is very good for the table.
The usual breeding season is in February and March in Travancore,
and from February to June in the case of the other races. There is
no real nest, the eggs being laid in a hollow or on the bare ground
amongst dry grass and leaves. The site chosen is generally in fairly
thick scrub or forest, and there is a decided preference for bamboo
jungle with thick undergrowth.
The normal clutch consists of three eggs, but two to five may also
be found.
The eggs are miniature fowl's eggs in appearance, rather narrow
and pointed in shape ; the shell is stout and the texture fine and
smooth with a slight gloss. The colour varies from creamy white to
warm pinkish-buff, without markings.
The eggs average 1-67 by 1-28 inches in size.
2D 2
422 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE COMMON QUAIL
COTURNIX COTURNIX (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 8 inches. Male : Top of the head black
barred with brown, a pale buff line down the centre of the crown
and a broader one above each eye ; sides of the head white and
brown, ear-coverts and a streak from the gape dark brown ; upper
plumage light brown with white shaft-streaks, blotched with black
and barred with buff and rufous ; wing-quills brown barred on the
outer web with rufous except on the first primary which has the
outer web unmarked whitish ; tail-feathers blackish-brown with pale
shaft-streaks and transverse bars ; throat and fore - neck whitish,
a broad central band and a narrow cross-stripe on each side curving
up to the ear- co verts making a blackish anchor mark ; a broken
gorget of blackish-brown spots ; breast rufous-buff with pale shaft-
stripes, gradually passing into white from the lower breast downwards ;
flanks brown with blackish spots and broad whitish shaft-streaks.
The female wants the black anchor mark on the throat and has
the breast usually spotted with black.
Iris yellow-brown ; bill horny-brown ; legs pale fleshy-brown or
yellow. Weight 3^ to 4 oz.
The shape is plump and rounded and the legs lack the spurs
usual among game-birds.
Field Identification. — A miniature Partridge in appearance with
a striped head and rather sandy coloration streaked with white ; in
the male a distinctive black anchor mark on the throat. Found
often in considerable numbers in cereal crops and grass. Very
unobtrusive in habits and practically never seen except on the wing.
Distribution. — The Common Quail is a bird of very wide
distribution in the Old World, being found almost throughout Europe
and Africa and in the greater part of Asia. It is a highly migratory
species, and the majority of the birds that visit India are winter
visitors, though a number are undoubtedly resident in the country.
As a breeding species the Quail is found in some numbers from
the extreme north-west, including Gilgit, Kashmir, the North-west
Frontier Province and Baluchistan, to Purnea on the east and south
to the Deccan, though the Punjab and United Provinces are the
districts in which the bird breeds most commonly.
The migrant Quail first appear in the north-west early in August
and the passage lasts, in the main, until the end of October ; some
birds come from due west, others by a more northerly route from
over the Himalayas. They gradually spread over the whole country
except for the extreme south and Ceylon. Soon after Christmas
THE COMMON QUAIL
4*3
they commence to gather and move in a north-westerly direction
again, passing through the extreme north-west in enormous numbers
in March and April. The spring migration is always more noticeable
than that in autumn, as the birds collect into larger flocks and the
period of passage is shorter and more concentrated.
Habits, etc. — The Common or Grey Quail is extremely well
known in India as a sporting bird for the gun, a favourite delicacy
for the table, and amongst Indians as a cage-bird for fighting and
betting purposes.
In the greater part of India, Quail are regarded by sportsmen
merely in the light of an addition to a mixed bag. In the north-
west, however, on the spring migration, they are so numerous as to
FIG. 79 — Wings of (A) Common Quail ; (B) Rain-Quail (Nat. size)
be the sole object of a day's sport. At this time they are chiefly
found in the fields of growing corn, and it is the custom to collect
the birds from far and wide into one particular area by means of call
birds, set in cages on a long pole. The cornfields are then walked
with a line of beaters. The Quail rise not in coveys but singly,
though they are often so numerous that eight or ten birds may be
on the wing at a given moment and very large bags are obtained ;
fifty to a hundred couple in a day's shooting is nothing unusual for
two or three guns. The birds rise very suddenly and fly at a height
of 5 to 15 feet from the ground, but although the flight is fast it is
very straight and the birds are in consequence easy to hit.
Quail are netted alive in enormous numbers, and it is the practice
in many establishments to buy up two or three hundred and fat them
424 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
in underground pits to be killed and eaten as required. The food of
the Israelites in the wilderness (Exod. xvi. 13) is believed to have been
the Quail.
The food chiefly consists of grain and seeds, but insects and their
larvae are also eaten. All food is taken from the ground, and the
bird never perches on trees.
The usual call of the Quail is a very liquid wet-mi-lips, even perhaps
better represented by the Kashgari name of Watwalak, and it is
uttered both by day and night. This is the call of the male, but
there are other softer calls used by both sexes.
A Quail breeds, as it lives, in open country, in cultivation and
standing crops, in hayfields and rough pastures. The nest is a hollow
scraped in the ground and lined scantily with grass and a few leaves.
The breeding season in India is chiefly from March to May, but
eggs have been found as late as September. The number of eggs
is very variable, from three to ten or twelve. They are broad ovals,
a good deal pointed towards the small end ; the texture is hard and
strong with a good deal of gloss. The ground-colour is a clear
reddish or yellowish-buff, speckled, spotted and blotched in varying
degrees with deep reddish-brown or bluish-black.
In size they average about i- 18 by 0-90 inches.
THE RAIN-QUAIL
COTURNIX COROMANDELICUS (Gmelin)
(Plate xx, Fig. 3, opposite page 418)
Description. — Length 7 inches. Very similar in plumage to the
Common Quail, but easily recognised by having no rufous bars on
the outer webs of the primary quills. The dark marks on the face
and throat of the male are blacker, and in that sex there are broad
black stripes on the feathers of the breast and flanks ; in some
examples almost the whole breast is black.
Iris brown ; bill, male dusky blackish, female brownish-horn ;
legs pale fleshy. Weight 2\ to z\ oz.
Field Identification. — Very difficult to distinguish from the Common
Quail in the field except by the call and smaller size, unless the black
breast is visible. In the hand both sexes are at once distinguished
by the primary flight-feathers which are plain on the outer webs,
whereas the Common Quail has all the primaries except the first
barred with rufous on the outer webs.
Distribution. — The Black-breasted or Rain Quail is peculiar to
the Indian Empire. It is found throughout practically the whole of
India from the extreme north-west and the extreme north-east down
THE RAIN-QUAIL 425
to Ceylon ; in the three corners of this triangle, however, it is
undoubtedly very scarce and recorded only from certain localities.
In the Himalayas and other hill ranges it is found occasionally up
to 6000 or 8000 feet.
The status of this Quail is not very clear ; its name is due to
the fact that in large areas, especially in the north-west, it merely
appears during the rains and leaves after breeding ; in other parts
it appears to be largely a resident.
The tiny Blue-breasted Quail (Excalfactoria chinensis) is locally
distributed in India east of a line from Bombay to Simla. The
female in coloration recalls the Grey Quail. The male is a
handsome bird with the lower parts slate-grey and chestnut with
conspicuous black and white markings on the throat.
Habits, etc. — Like the Grey Quail, this species is purely a bird of
open country, being found in cultivation and grass crops, and often
in the close proximity of villages and houses. During the breeding
season it is found in pairs, but otherwise is a solitary bird though
suitable cover often attracts many individuals to the same ground.
In the field it is difficult to distinguish from the Grey Quail, except
from the fact that the call is different, a rapidly repeated and musical
whit-whit whit-whit .
The breeding season is in the monsoon from the end of June
until October, though the majority of eggs will be found in August
or the beginning of September. The nest is a hollow scraped in
the ground and lined sparsely with grass and leaves. It is placed
amongst standing crops or in thin grass.
The normal clutch consists of about nine eggs, though the number
is variable from four to ten or eleven.
The eggs are very variable, though the members of one clutch
resemble each other closely. In shape they are broad ovals, rather
pointed at the small end, fine and smooth in texture with a fair
gloss. The ground-colour varies from faintly yellowish-white to rich
brownish-buff ; the markings are of three types, a finely and evenly
speckled and spotted egg, a boldly blotched and freckled egg, and
a marbled egg. These markings may be blackish, purplish, olive-
brown or burnt-sienna, but all the markings on one egg are of one
colour.
The eggs average about i* 10 by 0-84 inches in size.
426 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE JUNGLE BUSH-QUAIL
PERDICULA ASIATICA (Latham)
(Plate xxii, Fig. 2, opposite page 484)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Male : Forehead and a stripe
over each eye chestnut bordered above with a buff stripe which
runs from the beak to the sides of the neck ; upper parts brown, the
crown mottled with dull chestnut and blackish-brown, the remainder
vermiculated with black and marked with buff which tends to be
in streaks on the upper back and in bars on the rump ; wings brown
vermiculated with dark brown, the feathers barred with buff, lightly
on the outermost flight-feathers, heavily on the coverts and innermost
flight-feathers, the last being also broadly streaked with buff and
blotched with black ; tail pinkish-brown with black-edged buff cross-
bars ; ear-coverts dark brown ; cheeks, chin, and throat chestnut,
a broken buff stripe under the eye and ear ; lower parts white finely
banded with black, the white gradually becoming pinkish buff under
the tail and the black bands growing wider apart and disappearing.
Female : Whole head and upper neck as in male. Upper parts
greyish-brown vermiculated with blackish ; wings as in male but
more uniform, the buff barring and banding being largely eliminated ;
lower parts uniform dull rufous with a vinaceous tint.
Iris brown ; bill blackish, base blue-grey ; legs yellowish-red.
Weight af oz.
The shape is plump and rounded. The males have a blunt
tubercular spur on the leg.
Field Identification. — Miniature Quail found in large coveys
which rise suddenly with the impression of a bursting firework, the
birds flying in all directions and settling as suddenly as they rose.
Brown and buff with chestnut faces and throats, the males with
finely barred black and white under parts, the females with uniform
vinaceous under parts.
Distribution. — Peculiar to India and Ceylon. Irregularly dis-
tributed throughout the Indian Peninsula from the foot-hills down to
Cape Comorin. It is found in the Kashmir foot-hills, the Kuchamum
Hills near Sambhar and Mount Aboo, but not west of those areas nor
east of Midnapur and the Rajmahal Hills. A resident species found
at all elevations up to about 4000 feet.
This species with its small size for a Galline bird and its habit
of making exceedingly short flights when disturbed is sedentary
beyond the average and has therefore developed into a number of races
which are very distinct. Their distribution has not yet been fully
worked out, but there is a pale race, P. a. punjaubi, in the North-west,
THE JUNGLE BUSH-QUAIL 427
a red race, P. a. vidali, in the Konkan, and a dark race, P. a. ceylonensis,
in Ceylon. The typical race of the Deccan is very black-looking.
The plumage stages and variations require much study and are hard
to understand.
For the beginner the position is complicated by the existence of
a second species, the Rock Bush-Quail (Perdicula argoondah), which
occupies much of the same distribution as the Jungle Bush-Quail
and in Mysore is represented by a brick-red race, P. a. salimalii. The
male differs in having the upper parts more barred, the chestnut of
the throat paler in colour and the buff streak above the eye wanting,
whilst the female lacks the striking head markings and has the upper
parts vinous-rufous, similar to but darker than the lower parts. There
is a certain amount of variation in both forms.
The Painted Bush-Quail (Cryptoplectron erythrorhynchum) is a
much more richly - coloured species with heavy black and white
blotching on the flanks in both sexes. The male has a black face
with a conspicuous white bar along the sides of the crown and a
large white throat-patch. It is found in the Central Provinces and
the ranges of Western and Southern India.
Habits, etc. — The Jungle Bush-Quail may be found in any kind
of dry jungle from thin grass and bush scrub in the neighbourhood
of cultivation to fairly dense deciduous forest. In ' such localities
it is found in coveys of a dozen birds or more which lead a very
united life, feeding very close together on the ground and rising
in unison when disturbed. It is always rather a startling event to
flush one of these coveys. They rise unexpectedly close to one's
feet^with a sudden chirp and whir, rather like a firework exploding,
and scatter in all directions, flying fast for a short distance and then
dropping into cover as suddenly as they rose. In a few minutes
the scattered birds start to call tiri-tiri-tiri and running in the grass
are soon reunited. The food consists of seeds and berries and small
insects, grasshoppers, and the like.
The breeding season is rather extended, from about September
till April. The nest is a pad of grass and grass roots placed in a
hollow in the ground under cover of a small bush or tuft of grass.
The clutch varies from four to seven eggs, five or six being the
usual number.
The egg is a regular oval, more or less pointed towards one end.
The texture is stout and close with a fair gloss. The colour varies
from pure white with a faint tinge of cream to light buff.
The egg measures about i-o by 0-83 inches.
4*8 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE CHUKOR
ALECTORIS GIUECA (Meisner)
Description. — Length 15 inches. Upper parts brownish-olive to
ashy, tinged across the shoulders and sometimes also the crown with
vinous -red ; sides of the crown grey bordered by a buff line over the
eye ; outer scapulars pure ashy with broad rufous edges ; wing-quills
brown partly edged with buff ; tail ashy-drab, the terminal halves of
the outer feathers pale chestnut ; ear-coverts dull chestnut, a black
band across the forehead through each eye and continued behind
the eye and round the throat as a gorget ; the enclosed area buffy-
white with a small black spot on the chin and one each side by the
gape ; breast ashy slightly tinged with brown and washed on the sides
with vinous ; remainder of lower plumage buff, darkening towards
the tail, the flanks heavily barred with black and chestnut.
Iris brown, yellowish or orange ; bill and legs red, claws brown.
Weight, male i Ib. 3 oz. to i Ib. n oz., female 13 to 19 oz.
The male has a short blunt spur above the hind toe.
Field Identification. — Hill ranges bordering North-western India.
In parties on open hill-sides. An ashy and buff Partridge at once
distinguished by the black loop on the face and throat and by the
beautiful barring of the flanks.
Distribution. — Under the name of Greek Partridge this bird has
a wide distribution in Europe and in Western and Central Asia, and
it has been divided into a number of races. We are concerned only
with the form A. g. chukar, so well known to sportsmen by its
vernacular name of Chukor, and the paler Baluchistan race known
as A. g. koroviakovi. The latter is found in Baluchistan and the
Kirthar Range dividing it from Sind and also in the Salt Range.
The former is found in the Himalayas as far east as Nepal. It is a
resident bird, found from 1000 to 15,000 feet.
The Chukor chiefly differs from the well-known French Partridge
(Alectoris rufa) of Europe in lacking the fringe of black spots outside
the gorget band, and in having two black bands instead of one on the
flank-feathers.
In the Salt Range and the lower hills west of the Indus the
See-See (Ammoperdix griseogularis), a small sandy-coloured Partridge
with striking head markings and flank-feathers in the male, is found
on the same ground as the Chukor.
Sportsmen after big game in the Himalayas above tree-level soon
make the acquaintance of the noisy Ram-Chukor or Snow Cock
(Tetraogallus himalayensis), a big Partridge-like bird found in coveys
on the alpine pastures. Weight 5 to 6 Ibs.
THE CHUKOR 429
Habits, etc. — The Chukor varies a good deal in its choice of
ground, provided that it is on a hill-side and free from trees, other
than juniper. On the frontier hills it is found on the hottest and
most barren hill-sides, which fairly justify the native saying that the
bird feeds on stones. In the Himalayas it is equally at home on
open grassy hill-sides in the low hot valleys, on stony screes covered
with a light growth of barberry bushes, and amongst the snows at
12,000 or 15,000 feet — a diversity of range unusual amongst birds.
Incessant damp and heavy rainfall and forest, however, it cannot
stand.
Except when actually breeding they are found in coveys ; these
in their origin are family parties consisting of a pair of old birds with
their last brood ; but as the winter progresses the coveys pack in
FIG. 80— Chukor (J nat. size)
suitable localities so that thirty to fifty birds may be found together
until the spring breaks them up into pairs. They live and feed on
the ground, and when approached usually run for some distance
uphill before taking wing. The flight is very strong and fast, several
wing-beats followed by a glide, and the coveys sweep round the
contours of the hills or across small valleys for some distance before
settling. They then generally scatter a little and squat and are found
again with difficulty.
The call is a loud ringing chuck-chuckor uttered in various tones.
This call and the pugnacious nature of the bird and the ease with
which it is tamed render it a favourable cage-bird in North-western
India.
The food consists largely of grain and seeds as well as roots,
green shoots and leaves and a variety of insects and larvae.
The breeding season is from April to August, early at low altitudes
430 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
and late in the higher portions of the bird's range. The nest is a
hollow scraped in the ground under the shelter of a stone or a tuft
of herbage ; it is lined with grass, dry leaves and other rubbish,
usually somewhat sparsely.
The clutch varies from five to fourteen eggs, but the usual number
of eggs is from eight to twelve. The egg is a rather pointed oval of
a close and hard texture with a fair amount of gloss. The ground-
"colour is pale yellowish or greyish-stone, freckled sparsely all over
with pale reddish-brown or pinkish-purple, a few of the freckles
becoming small blotches.
In size the eggs average 1-68 by 1-25 inches.
THE BLACK PARTRIDGE
FRANCOLINUS FRANCOLTNUS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 13 inches. Male : Top of the head and
nape blackish-brown, the feathers broadly edged with pale brown
and on the nape with white ; sides of the head with the chin and
throat black, enclosing a brilliant white patch behind the eye ; a
bright chestnut collar round the neck ; upper back black, the
feathers edged with rufous and spotted with white ; the middle
and lower back to the tail black with narrow white bars, the bars
dying away on the outer tail-feathers ; wings and their coverts dark
brown with subterminal tawny-buff bands and pale edges, the quills
also with tawny-buff transverse spots on each web forming imperfect
bars ; lower plumage from the chestnut collar deep black, the sides
of the breast and flanks spotted with white ; lower abdomen and
thighs pale chestnut stippled with white, growing darker under the
tail.
Female : Upper plumage, wings and tail as in the male, but
the black is replaced by dark brown, the chestnut collar is only
represented by a dull chestnut patch on the nape stippled with
brown, and the bars of the lower back and tail are wider ; sides of
the head clear pale buff ; ear-coverts dark brown ; lower parts buff,
the chin and throat whitish, the remainder irregularly barred with
brown, the bars on the feathers waved or arrow-head shaped and
broadest on the flanks ; a chestnut patch under the tail.
Iris brown ; bill black, in the female dusky brown ; legs brownish-
red, becoming almost orange in the breeding male. Weight, male
10 to 20 oz., female 8 to 17 oz.
The male has a blunt spur on the tarsus ; this is sometimes faintly
indicated in the female.
THE BLACK PARTRIDGE 431
Field Identification. — A typical Partridge found in thick ground-
cover, and attracting attention by its extraordinary creaking call.
Both sexes have a peculiar scaled type of coloration on the top and
sides of the body, while the male is conspicuous for its black under
parts, white cheek and chestnut collar.
Description. — This Francolin was formerly found in Southern
Europe, though it is now extinct there. At the present time it
extends in various races from Asia Minor through Persia and
Mesopotamia and Northern India to Manipur. F. f. asiae is found
throughout Northern India, excluding Sind and Baluchistan where a
paler bird, F. f. henrici, occurs along the Himalayas to Western Nepal
and in the plains to Behar. Southwards it extends to Deesa, Gwalior,
FIG. 8 1 — Black Partridge (J- nat. size)
Sambalpur, and the Chilka Lake in Orissa. In Central and Eastern
Bengal, in Eastern Nepal and in Sikkim is found the much
darker Assamese race F. f. melanotus. A resident species. In
the Western Himalayas it is found up to 8000 feet, though not
commonly above 5000 feet.
The Painted Partridge (Francolinus pictus) is found in the Peninsula
south of the range of the Black Partridge and it extends down to
about Coimbatore, though it is not found along the Malabar coast
or apparently in Mysore. In plumage the Painted Partridge some-
what resembles the Black Partridge but lacks the black on the head,
throat and under parts ; there is no chestnut collar ; the under parts
are white with black bars and shaft - stripes giving a chequered
appearance. The female has no chestnut patch on the nape.
43* POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Habits, etc. — The Black Partridge is one of the favourite game-
birds of Northern India. In the plains it is most abundant in the
high grass and tamarisk scrub alternating with patches of cultivation
which are found about the rivers of the great alluvial plains. Away
from the rivers it is found also in ordinary crops and bush jungle,
while the tea gardens of the foot-hills are very suited to its needs. It
is usually walked up with a few beaters, and rises well, flying hard
and straight, affording pleasant shots. For although several birds
may be found together in a patch of cover they do not rise in a
covey but get up in twos and threes or singly. For the table the
flesh is rather dry, being not so good as that of the Grey Partridge,
though it is the fashion to despise this latter bird.
The call-note is well known, a peculiarly loud and grating cry of
several syllables which once heard can never be forgotten, with its
ring of pride and well-being. Che-chirree, chick-chiree expresses it
well, but the Hindustani subhdn-teri-kudrat (O Omnipotent, thy
power) is the usual rendering. It is uttered from the ground but
often for the purpose the^ bird perches on an ant-heap or mound,
and I have heard of an instance when one was seen on a dead tree
some 15 feet from the ground though this is unusual. x
The food consists of grain, seeds, green shoots, ants, and various
insects.
The breeding season is somewhat protracted, from April to
October, and some pairs are probably double-brooded, though the
majority of eggs will be found in June.
The nest is made in a hollow on the ground in tamarisk or grass
jungle, or in crops growing in their vicinity. The hollow is lined with
grass leaves and similar materials sometimes very sparsely, sometimes
quite thickly.
The number of eggs is variable, from four to ten, but the normal
clutch is probably from six to eight. The eggs may be described as
miniatures of the eggs of the English Pheasant. In shape they are
sphero-conoidal, stout and fine in texture, and rather glossy. The
colour varies from pale stone-colour to deep olive-brown, sometimes
with a greenish tinge. Many eggs are covered with specks of a whit§
calcareous deposit.
In size they average about 1-55 by 1-28 inches.
THE GREY PARTRIDGE 433
THE GREY PARTRIDGE
FRANCOLINUS PONDICERIANUS (Gmelin)
(Plate xxii, Fig. 5, opposite page 462)
Description. — Length 12 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head
and nape brown ; forehead, cheeks and a long broad line over the
eye rufous ; ear-coverts brown ; upper plumage light greyish-brown
mixed with chestnut, each feather crossed with a whitish band
bordered on both sides with dark brown, and many of the feathers
with glistening white shaft-streaks ; wing-quills brown mottled and
towards the body banded with whitish ; outer tail-feathers chestnut
shading towards the ends, into dark brown with pale tips ; chin and
throat rufous-buff defined by a thin blackish-brown gorget ; remainder
of lower plumage buff with narrow rather irregular blackish-brown bars
which fade out towards the tail.
Iris brown ; bill dusky plumbeous ; legs dull red, claws blackish.
Weight ii to 12 oz.
The male has a short spur above the hind toe.
Field Identification. — A typical brown-looking Partridge with
chestnut in the tail, and a distinct gorget line round the rufous throat.
Found in pairs or coveys on fairly open dry ground, and remarkable
for its readiness to perch in trees.
Distribution. — Found from the Persian Gulf through Southern
Persia, Afghanistan and Baluchistan to India. It is divided into three
races distinguished by depth of coloration. The Western race,
F. p. mecranensis, reaches Baluchistan, but in Sind merges into
F. p. interpositus, which extends throughout the whole of Northern
India to a line in Bengal roughly through Midnapur and Rajmahal.
Southward, about Ahmednagar and Belgaum, it is replaced by the
typical race. There is a special race, F. p. ceylonensis, in Northern
Ceylon. It is found up to about 1500 feet in the Himalayan foot-hills
and other ranges, and is a strictly resident species.
The Common Hill-Partridge or " Peora " (Arborophila torqueold)
found throughout the Himalayas is a tree -perching forest Partridge
best known by its plaintive call — a low melancholy whistling note
repeated at three second intervals and audible at a considerable
distance. The colour is largely olive-brown variegated with chestnut
and black with white spots on the flanks. The male has a chestnut
crown and a black and white throat enclosed in a white gorget.
The female has the throat rufous spotted with black.
Habits, etc. — The Grey Partridge is not found in heavy forest or
on swampy ground. With these exceptions it is found in every type
of country, being particularly partial to those tracts where patches
2E
434 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
of cultivation are surrounded by sandy waste ground and light
scrub jungle. It is not so dependent on thick cover as the Black
Partridge as it roosts commonly in trees, and also frequently takes
refuge in them when disturbed ; while many live in hedgerows and
thickets on the outskirts of villages.
It associates in small coveys except when breeding. When
disturbed the members of a covey do not rise together like the
English Partridge, but scatter and run with great speed until they
find thick cover in which to skulk, so that each bird has to be
pursued separately while the remainder seize the opportunity to
escape. When flushed the bird rises with a loud whir and flies
rapidly with quick strong wing - beats, but it does not as a rule
travel very far.
The males are very pugnacious, and therefore are easily captured
with decoy birds ; they are favourite cage-birds with Indians who
esteem their loud calls and also keep them for fighting. The call
is a peculiar loud shrill cry tit-ee-roo, tit-ee-roo or pat-ee-la, pat-ee-la
preceded by two or three harsh notes, similar but each time uttered
with a higher intonation as if the bird were seeking for the keynote
of its call ; morning and evening the wild ringing notes are amongst
the familiar bird sounds of India.
The food consists of grain and seeds of all kinds, as well as of
grasshoppers, white ants and other insects.
The ordinary breeding season is from February to June, but a few
nests will also be found from September to October. The nest is a
scrape in the ground under the shelter of a clod of earth, a tuft of
vegetation or a bush. The scrape is sometimes left bare, but is more
commonly lined with blades of grass and dry leaves.
The clutch consists of six to nine eggs. The eggs are moderately
long ovals, a good deal pointed towards the small end, and the texture
is fine, hard and glossy. The colour is unmarked white more or less
tinged with pale brownish.
The average size is 1-3 by 1-05 inches.
THE LITTLE BUTTON-QUAIL
TURNIX SYLVATICA (Desfontaines)
Description. — Length 5 inches. Sexes alike. Crown mixed black
and brown with a buffy-white line down the centre ; sides of the head
and a line over each eye buffy-white speckled with black ; back of
the neck rufous, the feathers edged with buff; upper plumage
chestnut-brown, each feather finely barred with black and edged
with yellowish-white, conspicuously on the shoulders and upper back,
THE LITTLE BUTTON-QUAIL 435
and on the wing-coverts so broadly as to appear entirely yellowish-
white with chestnut black-edged spots ; wing-quills brown, the outer
feathers edged with buff; lower plumage whitish, the breast buff
growing browner on the centre, the sides with black and chestnut
spots.
Iris pale yellow ; bill plumbeous ; legs fleshy-white. Weight,
i-i to i'5 oz.
A plump rounded bird with a soft pointed tail. No hind toes.
Field Identification. — A tiny, plump, Quail-like bird with a pale
stripe down the crown and a mixture of rufous-black and yellow in
the upper plumage. The three toes distinguish the family from true
Quails,- and the pointed tail at once identifies this species.
FIG. 82 — Little Button-Quail (1 nat. size)
Distribution. — The Little Button-Quail has been chosen to
represent the Order of the Hemipodii, a group of small birds that
greatly resemble the true Quails in appearance but differ markedly in
anatomy and breeding characteristics. All Indian members of the
family may at once be recognised as lacking the hind toe. This
species has a very wide distribution from the Iberian Peninsula through
Africa and Asia to Australia. All Indian birds belong to the same
race T. s. dussumier. In the greater part of India it is a resident,
but in the north-west its appearance is perhaps sporadic, depending
on the rains. It has been found up to 8000 feet in the Outer Himalayas
and other ranges, but not commonly.
The male of the Indian Button-Quail (Turnix maculatus) is very
like the Little Button-Quail but has a yellow bill and lacks the long
pointed tail-feathers. The female is easily distinguished by a broad
rufous collar. It occurs throughout most of India. The Bustard-
Quail (Turnix suscitator) is larger with the chin, throat and breast
436 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
cream-coloured barred with black, the female having also a broad
black band down the centre of those parts. The belly is brownish-
buff. Throughout India and Ceylon except in dense forest and
desert.
HabttSy etc. — This, the most diminutive game-bird of India, avoids
thick forest and hilly country, and lives by preference in cornfields
and stretches of grassy plain though it may also be found in any type
of low herbage and open scrub jungle. It is a most inveterate little
skulker and is flushed with difficulty, rising often close by one's feet.
When flushed it flies low over the ground and soon settles again, after
which it is very difficult to put up a second time.
The food consists of seeds, tender shoots and insects.
This and the other species of Turnix are chiefly remarkable for
their breeding habits. The females are larger than the males, and in
most species the more brightly coloured, and they are the dominant
factor in all domestic matters. The ordinary call-note is a soft
booming sound ventriloquial in character, and usually described as
a cross between a coo and a purr. This is uttered by the female and
attracts the male, whom she courts, turning and twisting and posturing.
The females are very pugnacious and fight amongst themselves fiercely
for the possession of the male.
When the eggs are laid the male bird is left to brood them and to
rear the chicks. The female deserts her mate and eggs and goes off
in search of a fresh male, who in turn is left with a clutch of eggs
to incubate. And it is believed that as many clutches of eggs are
laid as the female can find husbands to court.
As a result of this system the breeding season is very prolonged
and eggs may be found in almost every month of the year. The
majority however are laid from June to September.
The nest is a slight pad of grass placed in a natural hollow in the
ground where it is usually tucked away amongst the stems of a tuft
of grass. Very occasionally the grass is bent over it in a sort of canopy.
The clutch consists of four eggs. The egg is a broad oval with
the small end rather sharply pointed. The shell is very stout with
a fine and close texture and a good deal of gloss. The ground-colour
is greyish-white, sometimes with a yellowish or reddish tinge ; the
whole surface is closely stippled, speckled and spotted with
yellowish- or greyish-brown, with secondary markings of pale purple
or lavender ; there are in addition generally some bold blotches
of blackish- or dark reddish-brown, either generally distributed or
gathered in a zone round the broad end. In some eggs these bolder
markings are very numerous.
The egg averages about 0-84 by 0*66 inches.
THE WHITE-BREASTED WATERHEN 437
THE WHITE-BREASTED WATERHEN
AMAURORNIS PHCENICURA (Pennant)
(Plate xx, Fig. 5, opposite page 418)
Description. — Length 12 inches. Sexes alike. A broad mask
extending behind the eye to include the fore-neck and breast white ;
upper plumage generally and sides of the body dark slaty-grey
washed with olive ; a patch above the base of the tail olive-brown ;
quills blackish-brown, a fine white line down the edge of the wing ;
tail dark brown ; abdomen buff in the centre darkening all round to
pale dull chestnut.
Iris reddish-brown ; bill green, the frontal portion red ; legs olive-
yellow.
The legs are long and stout with very long toes.
Field Identification. — A dark-coloured bird with chestnut under
parts, and a conspicuous white mask and breast ; with ungainly feet.
Found in cover about water and often very noisy.
Distribution. — The White-breasted Waterhen is found almost
throughout the Oriental region. Of the races into which it is divided
only one, the typical race, is found throughout India, Burma and
Ceylon. In India it is found on suitable waters throughout the
country with the exception of the Upper Punjab and North-west
Frontier Province and the hill ranges. It is mainly resident, but
appears also to be locally migratory.
A smaller species, the Ruddy Crake (Amaurornis fuscus), with
the upper parts dark olive-brown and the mask and lower parts
vinous-chestnut, is common in Kashmir, Bengal and Assam, occurring
also in other parts of Northern and South-west India. A still
smaller bird (length 7 inches) is Baillon's Crake (Porzana pusilla)
often found in great numbers on the northern jheels, flying over the
water with the long legs hanging. The upper plumage is curiously
marked as with smears of white paint.
Habits, etc. — This is one of the commonest water-birds of India,
and is found wherever water is surrounded by a certain amount of
thick cover, whether in marshes and tanks, or about village cultiva-
tion and in gardens. It usually feeds in the open on the land
searching for grain, insects, mollusca and the like, and when disturbed
is loath to take to flight but runs rapidly into cover. It is rather a
quarrelsome species and is inclined to fight a good deal, the birds
sparring together like chickens.
This species is probably most remarkable for its calls, being an
exceedingly noisy bird. The ordinary note is a sharp metallic sound,
much like the noise of pounding with pestle and mortar, and this is
2E2
438 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
often kept up all night long. In the breeding season the call has
thus been described by Eha : " It began with loud harsh roars which
might have been elicited from a bear by roasting it slowly over a
large fire, then suddenly changed to a clear note repeated like the coo
of a dove."
The breeding season is in the rains frojn June to October. The
nest is a saucer of sedges, dried grass, bamboo leaves and twigs. It
is built on the water amongst rushes or bushes, or more usually in a
raised situation in bushes, clumps of bamboo or trees at varying
heights ; the vicinity of water is, however, essential, and the bird
does not fly up to the nest but climbs up the surrounding vegetation.
The eggs are four to eight in number. They are moderately
elongated ovals, rather obtuse at both ends ; the texture is hard
and fine with a slight gloss. The ground is creamy stone-colour ; the
markings consist of spots, speckles and blotches of brownish-red and
pale purple, rather sparsely distributed on the body of the egg, but
thick and confluent as a cap on the broad end.
In size they average about 1*57 by 1-18 inches.
THE WATERHEN
GALLINULA CHLOROPUS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 12 inches. Sexes alike. Head and neck
blackish-grey, passing into dark slaty-grey on the breast and flanks,
the latter with a few broad white stripes ; upper plumage brownish-
olive, the outer tail-feathers black and the wing-quills blackish-
brown, the edge of the wing finely bordered with white ; middle of
the abdomen whitish ; under tail-coverts white, a black patch in the
centre.
Iris red ; frontal shield and base of bill red, tip greenish-yellow ;
legs mixed greenish-yellow and slaty-green, with an orange-red ring
above the joint.
The toes are fringed with a membrane and are exceedingly long.
Field Identification. — A water-bird found in the vicinity of thick
cover. On land looks like a black chicken with large feet ; swims
with a characteristic bobbing action. Easily identified by the red
patch at the base of the beak, the red-gartered green legs, and by the
habit of incessantly jerking up the tail and revealing the black-centred
white patch below it.
Distribution. — The Moorhen or Waterhen is very generally
distributed in Europe, Africa, Asia, America and the Hawaiian and
other islands, and is divided into a number of sub-species, of which
only one occurs in India. This, known as G. c. indica, differs from
the typical European bird in its slightly smaller size. It is found
THE WATERMEN 439
virtually throughout India both in the plains and in the Himalayas
and Nilgiris up to about 6000 feet. A resident species, it is also
locally migratory.
The Blue-breasted Banded Rail (Hypotanidia striata) will be
familiar to naturalists in Bengal. The dark brown upper parts with
wavy white bars, the ashy-blue breast and the white bars on the
flanks are distinctive.
Habits, etc. — In India the Moorhen is found in tanks and
marshes, the two chief factors necessary to its presence being
abundance of weeds, rushes and other cover, and a perennial supply
of water. Jheels and marshes that dry up during portions of the
year only shelter occasional stragglers. On rivers and streams it is
seldom found in this country. It is essentially a water-bird, and
spends practically all its time swimming about amongst the water-
growth where it feeds largely on vegetable matter, but also on small
mollusca and aquatic insects and their larvae. It swims well, with
a characteristic jerky bobbing movement of the head, and when
necessary is a good diver, though this accomplishment does not
appear to be used except to avoid danger. On land it walks well,
with long strides, holding the tail erect so that the white under-
coverts are very conspicuous, and when walking the head and tail
are incessantly jerked as on the water. It feeds a good deal on land
in the cover round water and often wanders right out into the open,
running swiftly with head lowered back to the water on any alarm.
The call is a loud harsh prruk, with something startling and sudden
in the sound which is audible some distance away. The flight is
rather heavy and laboured and usually low over the water though the
bird is capable of rising into the air and going fairly fast. In flight
the neck and legs are held extended. The Moorhen sometimes
perches on trees climbing about the branches quite easily.
The breeding season in the plains is from July to September, but
in the hills it starts earlier, in May ; probably two broods are reared.
The nest is a mass of sedges and other vegetation heaped up to
form a hollow for the eggs ; it is placed either on the water amongst
vegetation or in tufts of grass, or even sometimes a foot or two above
the ground. According to situation it varies from a sketchy platform
to a well-built nest.
Six to nine eggs are usually laid, but fourteen have been recorded.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, rather compressed towards
the smaller end ; the shell is compact and firm with little or no gloss.
The ground is a pale stone-colour, tinged with pinkish when fresh ;
the markings consist of spots, speckles and blotches of deep red,
reddish-brown and purple, the larger markings often being surrounded
by a nimbus.
The eggs measure about 1-62 by 1-21 inches.
440 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE PURPLE COOT
PORPHYRIO POLIOCEPHALUS (Latham)
Description. — Length 17 inches. Sexes alike. Head pale brownish-
grey, tinged with cobalt on the cheeks and throat and passing on the
nape into the deep purplish-lilac of the upper plumage, flanks and
abdomen ; the sides of the wings and the breast light greenish-blue ;
wing- and tail-feathers black, the exposed portions blue ; a white
patch under the tail.
Iris deep red ; bill and casque deep red mixed with brown ; legs
pale red, brown at the joints.
The bill is thick and compressed, rather short and high and ter-
minates in a broad frontal shield or casque, square across the crown ;
legs and toes long and ungainly.
Field Identification. — A large blue and purple bird, with ungainly
legs and feet, found in reed-beds in water ; cannot be confused with
any other species.
Distribution. — This species of Purple Coot is found from the
Caspian Sea through Persia and Afghanistan to the whole of the
Indian Empire ; it extends eastwards to Siam. There are two races,
of which we are concerned only with the typical form. This is found
throughout the plains of India, east of a line through Gurdaspur and
Jhang in the Punjab to Baluchistan and Sind ; it has occurred in
Kashmir but is not normally found in the Himalayas. A resident species.
The Water-Cock (Gallicrex cinerea) is found in the more swampy
jheels of India, being particularly common in Bengal and Assam.
The males are blackish and the females brown and the name comes
from the pugnacious habits of the males and the posterior develop-
ment of the frontal shield on the crown. In the breeding season this
becomes a red fleshy horn-like peak in the male.
Habits, etc. — The Purple Coot is found wherever there are large
swamps and jheels with plenty of rushes, bushes and weeds, and in
such places it is usually abundant. It lives in small parties which
spend their lives chiefly within the reed-beds, threading their way
through the labyrinth of vegetation with remarkable ease, and clinging
to the reeds and twigs with the huge feet like gigantic Reed -Warblers ;
they not infrequently sun themselves and preen their plumage on the
broken-down reeds at the water's edge ; but otherwise on the whole
the bird is comparatively rarely seen unless beaten out of cover.
The flight is very weak and laboured, and the bird seldom goes far
on the wing, preferring to drop down again immediately into cover
and escape on foot. Its food is mainly vegetable in character, and it
does great damage amongst growing rice.
THE PURPLE COOT 441
The breeding season in India is in the rains from June to September,
but most nests will be found in July and August. The birds in one
particular jheel are all very regular in their dates of laying, but colonies
in different j heels vary a good deal in this respect.
The nest is a massive heap of sedges and rushes firmly put together
with a depression on the top for the eggs. Sometimes it is on the
ground at the edge of water ; at other times it is placed in or over
water amongst rushes, tufts of grass, or in bushes at heights up to
3 feet above the surface of the water.
The number of eggs in the clutch is variable up to ten, and there
is often a good deal of difference in the state of incubation of the eggs
in one nest.
The egg is a broad and perfect oval, much the same shape as a
hen's egg ; the texture is firm and compact, but there is very little
gloss.
When fresh the ground-colour varies from pale pinkish-stone to
pure salmon -pink, but the rosy tint fades rapidly ; the surface is
fairly thickly spotted, blotched and occasionally streaked with red,
and there are numerous secondary markings, pale purple blotches,
clouds and spots. The markings are distributed evenly over the
surface of the egg.
The average size is about 1-90 by 1-39 inches.
THE COMMON COOT
FULICA ATRA Linnaeus
Description. — Length 16 inches. Sexes alike. Entire plumage
blackish-grey, darker on the head, neck and lower tail-coverts, and
paler below ; edge of wing whitish.
Iris red ; bill and frontal shield bluish-white ; legs greenish, joints
slaty.
The bill is compressed and rather deep, with a broad frontal shield
on the forehead. The tarsus has a membranous fringe behind ; the
toes are long and fringed with a broad membrane divided into lobes.
Field Identification. — Found in flocks on open water ; the white
frontal shield shows up in contrast with the black plumage, and in
flight the bird has an ungainly appearance with the heavy feet extending
beyond the short tail.
Distribution. — The Coot is found throughout the greater part of
Europe, Northern Africa and Asia, and is replaced by closely-allied
forms in Australia and Tasmania. It is unknown in Ceylon, but in
India it is found wherever suitable water occurs, and in the Himalayas
breeds up to about 6000 or 8000 feet. It is a resident species in many
44*
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
parts of India, but in winter its numbers are greatly augmented by
immigration, and at that season it is more generally distributed.
Habits, etc. — The Coot is more definitely aquatic than most of
the Rail family, and frequents more open water, such as lakes, tanks
and slowly-moving rivers. In ordinary jheels it will always be found
out in the open water and not in the reed-beds except when breeding.
Its food consists largely of vegetable matter which is taken both on
the surface and by diving, but it also eats small fish, insects andjnollusca,
and is not above devouring the eggs and chicks of other aquatic birds.
In winter Coots collect in large herds ; they do not, however,
merge their own individuality in the herd or act entirely under mob
FIG. 83 — Common Coot (£ nat. size)
impulse, as will a flock of ducks. Disturb the Coots on the water and
you will only affect those birds within the immediate range of your
aggression ; the remainder do not move automatically in response.
The size of the herds of Coot is often incredibly large, especially
on the great lakes of Sind where the numbers of the birds may be
estimated by the square mile. On the Munchur Lake, for instance,
the water is covered with separate herds of Coot, each of which keeps
more or less to a territory of its own separated by a gap of several
hundred yards from the territory of the next herd. The noise of wings
and paddling feet when one of these gatherings takes to flight is like
the noise of great waves breaking on a shingle beach. For the Coot
rises with difficulty, pattering at first along the surface of the water ;
though once on the wing it flies strongly with neck and legs outstretched,
and rises well up into the air.
THE COMMON COOT 443
English sportsmen do not generally trouble to shoot the Coot as
it is easy to hit, and the flesh is too fishy to be palatable ; but native
fishermen regard it as a welcome article of diet, and it is netted in
hundreds on the Sind lakes. Many are killed with bow and arrow
or caught by hand. In the latter case they are grabbed from below
by a man who wades up to his neck in water with his head concealed
in a roughly-stuffed duck.
In Kashmir the Coot breeds in May and June, and in the plains in
July and August.
The nest is a large mass of rushes and flags with a depression on
top for the eggs ; it is built amongst reeds and other aquatic vegetation
either on the water or on the ground at its edge. The clutch varies
from six to ten eggs.
The egg is a somewhat broad oval, slightly compressed towards
one end ; the texture is fine and hard with little gloss. The ground-
colour is a pale buify-stone, closely and evenly stippled all over, and
also slightly spotted with black and dark brown.
In size the eggs average about 1-98 by 1-40 inches.
THE COMMON CRANE
GRUS GRUS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 45 inches. Sexes alike. Crown and a patch
in front of each eye sparsely covered with black hairs, the skin blackish
in front and on the nape dingy red and warty ; on the lower nape, a
slaty-blackish triangular patch, the point behind ; a white band down
each side of the head from the eye joining behind the nape and covering
the hind neck ; chin, cheeks, throat and foreneck slaty-blackish ;
remainder of plumage above and below ashy-grey except the outer
flight-feathers, the tips of the inner flight-feathers and the tips of the
tail-feathers which are black.
Iris orange-red to reddish-brown ; bill dingy horny-green, yel-
lowish towards the tip ; legs black, soles fleshy.
Bill pointed ; long neck and long legs ; the inner wing-feathers
(tertiaries) are long, rather pointed, loose-textured and rather curly,
hanging over and concealing the true flight-feathers and tail.
Field Identification. — A huge grey bird with long neck and legs, the
head and upper neck blackish and white with a dull red patch on the
nape. Tail concealed by a mass of drooping curly plumes. -Found
on open plains in large flocks which fly in regular formations with a
creaking trumpeting note. The black markings on the head and neck
and the black legs distinguish it from the Sarus Crane.
444 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Distribution. — A migratory bird, breeding in Northern Europe
and Northern Asia and wintering in Southern Europe, Northern
Africa, South-western Asia, Northern India and China. In India
it is found as a winter visitor through the plains of the north, extending
as far south as the Bombay Deccan and Orissa. Indian birds are said
to belong to the race G. g. lilfordi which breeds in Eastern Siberia and
Turkestan.
The Demoiselle Crane (Anthropoides virgo) is also a Common
winter visitor in flocks to Northern India. It is rather a smaller grey
bird and is easily recognised from all other Cranes by a white plume
of soft feathers behind each eye and the black under surface of the
whole neck, terminating in black plumes pendant over the breast.
Habits, etc. — The Common Crane and the Demoiselle Crane are
not usually distinguished from each other in India and are well known
collectively under the names of Kunj and Kulung. They have very
similar habits and are often found together.
The Common Crane arrives in India in late September and in
October and stays until March and the beginning of April. In North-
west India the passage may be an impressive sight. Both species
appear to travel together. The observer who is favourably situated
will hear one morning a loud clanging call and looking towards the
sound will see in the distant sky a vast tangled skein of birds. As it
approaches it resolves itself into an immense concourse of Cranes
flying at a tremendous height. The stream of birds travels across the
sky like an army. Big flocks, small parties, single birds and chevrons
extend as far as the eye can reach, all travelling the same line. Then
perhaps the leading flock circles round in a vast swirl, feeling for its
direction ; the next formations close up to it and again the army
moves forward. As they go a single bird trumpets, answered by
others.
The Crane's power of uttering these sonorous and trumpet-like
notes is usually attributed to the peculiar formation of its trachea or
windpipe which on quitting the lower end of the neck passes back-
ward through the fork of the merrythought and is received in a hollow
space formed by the bony walls of the breast bone. Here it makes
three turns and then runs upwards and backwards into the lungs.
Whilst in India the Crane is found in parties or flocks which
usually pass the middle of the day and the whole night in open river-
beds or jheels where their vigilance protects them from surprise.
Morning and evening they flight to feed in cultivation where they do
much damage to young crops and grain. After such a diet their flesh
is delicious eating. The Crane only perches on the ground.
The Common Crane breeds in the north about May and June.
The nest is a large untidy heap of vegetable matter placed on the
ground in open or thinly-wooded swamps and marshy clearings in
THE COMMON CRANE 445
forest. The clutch consists of two eggs. The egg is a long oval
narrowing to the small end, greyish-olive to greenish-brown in colour,
blotched and spotted with dark and light reddish-brown and ashy-
grey.
The egg measures about 3-75 by 2-5 inches.
THE SARUS CRANE
ANTIGONE ANTIGONE (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 5 feet. Sexes alike. Head and upper neck
bright red, ashy on the crown, bare except for black hairs, and a patch
of grey feathers on the ears ; neck white, passing at its base into the
bluish ashy-grey of the whole body plumage ; outer flight-feathers
blackish-brown, the inner flight-feathers grey and whitish.
Iris orange ; bill greenish-horny with a black tip ; legs fleshy-red.
Bill pointed ; the neck and legs are very long, the tibia being naked
for some distance above the joint.
The inner wing-feathers (tertiaries) are elongated and pointed,
and droop over the true flight-feathers.
Field Identification. — A huge grey bird with a reddish naked head
and long legs, found in pairs about marshy spots ; bold in demeanour
and always frequents the same place.
Distribution. — The Sarus Crane is found throughout northern
India, and Assam to Burma, Siam and Cochin-China. It is divided
into two races, of which we are concerned only with the typical form.
This is common over the whole of the United Provinces and Upper
Bengal, and is found, though in smaller numbers, in the Punjab south
of the Chenab, in eastern Rajputana and parts of the Central Provinces.
It is a strictly resident species.
Habits, etc. — In the area which it inhabits the Sarus Crane is well
known, as a pair may be found in every jheel and tank of importance
and in suitable stretches of rice-fields. They never perch anywhere
except on the ground. The birds pair for life, and are very devoted
and close companions, feeding together a few yards apart, and always
flying in close company one slightly behind the other. So obvious is
their affection that the legend has arisen, that if one of the pair is
killed the other dies of a broken heart. They are never molested by
the people for fear of ill-luck, and are in consequence very tame and
confiding. If caught young they become delightful pets, and kept
loose in a garden make most efficient watch-dogs. The food consists
of vegetable matter, insects, reptiles and molluscs.
Normally when feeding they are silent, but if disturbed in any
way they give vent to a loud trumpet-like call which is also uttered
446 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
freely on the wing. The flight is strong with regular rhythmic beats
of the huge wings, but the birds seldom rise high above the ground,
travelling as a rule within easy gun-shot.
FIG. 84 — Sarus Crane (TV nat. size)
f ^In the breeding season the pair frequently indulge in a striking
dance, spreading their wings and lowering their heads and leaping
into the air, trumpeting loudly the while. When disturbed at the
THE SARUS CRANE 447
nest the female lowers her head and walks away slowly in a crouching
attitude.
The main breeding season is in the rains from July to September,
though occasional nests may be found in other months.
The nest is a huge irregular mass of reeds, rushes and straw pulled
up by the roots, and therefore much mixed with mud ; it is built on
the ground in the middle of a rice-field or patch of swamp, and is often
surrounded by shallow water. There is usually no attempt at con-
cealment, the sitting bird being visible some distance off.
One to three eggs are laid, but two are the normal number. The
eggs are elongated ovals, a good deal pointed towards the small end.
The shell is very hard and strong, pitted with small pores, and fairly
glossy ; flaws in the shell are common. The ground-colour varies
from pure white to pinkish cream-colour or pale greenish. Some
eggs are unmarked, but the majority are more or less spotted, blotched
or clouded with pale yellowish-brown, purple, or purplish-pink,
though the markings are seldom heavy.
The eggs measure between 3-5 and 4-5 inches in length, and
2-35 and 2-75 inches in breadth.
THE LIKH FLORIKEN
SYPHEOTIDES INDICA (Miller)
Description. — Length, male 18 inches ; female 20 inches.
Male in breeding plumage : A tuft of narrow ribbon-like black
feathers about 4 inches long, spatulate at the ends and curved upwards,
behind each ear ; head, neck and lower plumage black except for the
chin and part of the throat which are white ; a white band across the
base of the hind neck ; back and inner portion of the wings black with
fine whitish mottling and arrow-marks, the black disappearing on the
sides of the wings except for a bar ; quills dark brown, all but the
outmost banded with ochraceous-yellow, which is largely mottled
with black ; tail whitish, buff towards the base, mottled with black
at the end and barred with black.
Male in winter plumage and female : Top of the head black,
streaked with buff, and with a pale central band ; head and neck
finely vermiculated with black, the markings coarser on the sides ;
back black, mottled with sandy-buff and with buff arrow-markings ;
sides of the wings sandy-buff with irregular black bars ; quills dark
brown, all but the outermost banded with ochraceous-yellow, which
is largely mottled with black ; tail yellow-buff with black bars and
mottled with black towards the tips, the central feathers mottled
throughout ; chin and throat white ; fore -neck and upper breast buff
448 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
with black streaks ; remainder of lower plumage buffy-white, the long
feathers under the wings black.
Iris pale yellow, clouded with dusky in the male ; bill yellowish,
dusky along the top ; legs dirty whitish-yellow.
Weight : male 14 oz. to i Ib. 4 oz. ; female i Ib. 2 oz. to i Ib.
10 oz.
The bill, neck and legs are rather long.
Field Identification. — A small, long-legged Bustard, sandyjbuff and
blackish in colour, the male in the breeding season becoming black
FIG. 85 — Likh Floriken (J nat. size)
and white with graceful curved plumes behind the ears. Found
chiefly in grassy plains, and has a curious habit of jumping into the
air above the grass.
Distribution. — Confined to India. Its main stronghold is in the
drier portions of the Peninsula lying east of the Western Ghats and
south and east of the Godavari. It has not been recorded from the
North-west Frontier Province or the Northern and Western Punjab
or east of the Bay of Bengal, but within these limits it may be found
in almost every part of India, even Lower Nepal and Baluchistan
THE LIKH FLORIKEN 449
(where specimens have been obtained), though, as it is locally migratory
and an irregular wanderer dependent on conditions of rainfall, its
appearances are often erratic.
The larger Bengal Floriken (Sypheotides bengalensis) is very similarly
coloured, but in place of the curious ear-plumes the male has a full
crest and the feathers of the chin, throat and lower neck conspicuously
elongated. This species is resident in the country between the base
of the Himalayas and the Ganges and in the plain of Assam, being most
common in the grasslands of the Terai. In the more desert country
of North-west India the common Bustard is the Houbara (Chlamydotis
undulata) which is a winter visitor from September to March. This
species has a thick ruff of black and white feathers down each side of
the neck. The lower parts are white. Beautiful bluish-grey bars
run through the tail.
The Great Indian Bustard (Choriotis nigriceps), a huge bird with
a black cap and whitish neck weighing up to 40 lb., is mostly found
in North-west India.
Habits, etc. — This beautiful little Bustard is usually found singly in
wide grassy plains or in crops of standing grain, and though numbers
often occur in such localities they do not join into flocks. It may
also be found in any other form of crop which is dry under foot, and
neither too dense to make walking difficult nor too high to prevent
it readily taking to flight. It of course never settles or feeds else-
where than on the ground. In the cover that it frequents it is not
shy, usually rising for the first time when disturbed, within easy
shot ; but after having been once flushed and allowed to settle again,
it is difficult to find a second time, for it either runs some distance
from the spot where it settled or else squats closely hidden on the
ground.
On the wing it flies with a rather peculiar wheeling flight with
quick wing-beats, but does not usually rise very high into the air.
The food consists chiefly of grasshoppers, but other insects, grain,
seeds and tender shoots are also eaten.
The main breeding season is from August to October, but as the
bird is essentially a " rains breeder," it is very irregular in its season
and many nests are found earlier and later. It should, however, be
clearly stated that wherever the bird appears as a rains visitor it is
almost certainly breeding, and sportsmen who shoot this bird in the
rains (as is unfortunately too common a custom) should understand
that they are materially contributing to the extinction of a magnificent
game-bird whose numbers are already seriously diminished.
The most marked characteristic of the species is its habit of suddenly
jumping off the ground into the air above the grass, a habit that by
revealing its often unsuspected presence, greatly adds to the ease with
which its destruction is encompassed. This is done sometimes by
2F
450 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
the female, but the vast majority of the jumping birds are males, and
as they jump they utter a guttural croak similar to that of a frog or to
the noise of two sticks being hit together. The habit may be considered
as a nuptial display. It is believed that the birds do not pair but that
the males have each a particular territory, and that the females wander
about until they succumb to the fascinations of a male and then lay
and incubate their eggs and rear the young without his help. If this
view is correct, the male would seem to jump to reveal his .presence
in the long grass and his readiness to court any female that has wandered
into his territory.
No nest is made, the eggs being deposited on the ground in some
thin patch in a field of grass. Two to five eggs are laid, but the normal
clutch consists of four.
The egg is a very 'broad oval with only a slight difference between
the two ends. The shell is stout and smooth, closely pitted with
minute pores, and usually with a good deal of gloss.
The ground-colour varies from clear green to darkish olive-brown ;
the markings consist of cloudy streaks of brown of different shades,
varying a good deal in intensity, but as a rule more marked towards
the broad end.
In size they average about 1-88 by 1*59 inches.
THE STONE-CURLEW
BURHINUS CEDICNEMUS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 16 inches. Sexes alike. Upper parts ashy-
brown to sandy-buff, the edges of the feathers rufescent, and the
shafts with black stripes ; a dark streak through the eye with a creamy
streak above and another below it ; a dark moustachial streak ; sides
of the wings brown marked with white and black, and with indistinct
white and black bars across the wing ; quills blackish-'brown enclosing
a white patch ; tail ashy-brown, all the feathers except the middle
pair with blackish tips, each crossed by a subterminal white bar ;
lower parts white, fore-neck and a patch under the tail pale rufous,
the breast region streaked with dark brown.
Iris bright yellow ; bill black, yellow about the base ; legs yellow.
The head is large with a high forehead and very large eyes ; the
legs are long and bare, with only three toes, the nail of the middle
toe dilated on the inner side ; wings long and pointed ; tail slightly
rounded.
Field Identification. — A streaked-looking brown bird with long bare
legs and a large head with huge yellow eyes ; in flight a conspicuous
white patch in the wings. Found running on sandy or stony ground.
THE STONE-CURLEW 451
Distribution. — The Stone-Curlew is widely 'distributed in Central
and Southern Europe, in Northern and Eastern Africa, and in Asia.
It is divided into several races, of which two only appear in India.
B. ce. indicus is the resident form which is found virtually throughout
India, Ceylon and Burma. A pale desert race, B. a?, saharics, found in
Africa, Transcaspia and Eastern Persia, partly replaces it in Baluchistan
and Sind and the Punjab.
The Great Stone-Plover (Esacus recurvirostris) is resident in the
wide sandy beds of the larger rivers of the plains of India, Burma and
Ceylon. It is larger than the Stone-Curlew with a heavier beak and
is greyer and more uniform in coloration, dark bands on the head and
shoulder being conspicuous by contrast.
Habits, etc. — The Stone-Curlew, Norfolk-Plover or Thick-knee
FIG. 86 — Stone-Curlew (1 nat. size)
(as it is variously called) is somewhat locally distributed in India on
account of its special requirements in the way of habitat. The country
that it inhabits must be dry with patches of scrub and low jungle, or
with large groves and dry j heels studded with tufts of grass ; in such
localities it frequents the open wastes and ploughed fields, and it is
also particularly partial to the huge old mango topes, which are charac-
teristic of parts of India, surrounded with mud walls and thinly planted
so as to be also reserves for grass.
This bird is strictly a ground species, and is largely nocturnal, as
is suggested by the large eyes. Usually found singly or in pairs, it
collects at times into parties. Owing to its shyness and protective
coloration it generally escapes notice until it suddenly takes to wing
in front of the observer ; it flies swiftly, low over the ground, with the
fang yellow legs outstretched behind, and in its manner of flight and
with the conspicuous white patches in the wings it recalls the appear-
ance of a Bustard. On the ground it runs rapidly in little bursts with
452 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
short pattering steps, with the head lowered and the neck retracted
in a thoroughly shame-faced manner. At times it squats, with the
body pressed to the ground and the head and neck outstretched.
The call is a loud curlivee, very eerie and plaintive in tone, which is
usually uttered at dusk or during the hours of night.
The breeding season varies from February to August, but most
eggs are laid about April.
The nest is a mere scrape on the ground, often amongst dry leaves
or near the base of a bush or tuft of grass. Two or very rarely three
eggs are laid. The egg is a broad oval, rather obtuse at both ends ;
the texture is fine and hard, but normally without gloss. The ground-
colour is yellowish-white or buify-brown ; the markings are spots
and specks, streaks and blotches of deep olive-brown or black, com-
bined in an endless variety of designs over the surface of the egg ;
there are a few secondary markings of pale inky-purple.
In size the eggs average 1-9 by 1-39 inches.
In this species as in most of the Plovers and Waders the " incuba-
tion patches " are found in a lateral position instead of in the normal
central position. These patches, which are physiological in origin,
are produced by a local moult with a local increase of blood supply
and serve to raise the temperature of the brooded eggs.
THE INDIAN COURSER
CURSORIUS COROMANDELICUS (Gmelin)
(Plate xx, Fig. 4, opposite page 418)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head
chestnut, darker behind where elongated feathers conceal a black
spot ; long white streaks over the eyes, meeting behind on the nape,
and bordered throughout below by a black band ; a rufous collar
behind the black ; upper plumage sandy-brown ; wing-quills black,
the innermost passing through grey and white into the colour of the
back ; a white patch on the base of the tail ; central tail-feathers
sandy-brown, the others grey-brown at the base, then black and
tipped with white, the white increasing outwards till the outermost
pair are quite white ; chin white ; neck and breast rufous passing
into chestnut on the lower breast with a black patch on the upper
abdomen ; flanks and a patch under the tail white.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs dead china-white.
The bill is slender, curved and pointed ; wings pointed and tail
short and square ; legs long with three toes.
Field Identification. — A small Plover-like bird with long white
legs which is found running rapidly on open sandy ground ; the
THE INDIAN COURSER 453
white eye-streaks bordered below with black and contrasting
with the chestnut crown, and the chestnut breast and black belly
are conspicuous.
Distribution. — This species is found in Africa and in India as well
as in the extreme north of Ceylon. In India it is found in suitable
areas from the base of the Himalayas right through the Peninsula,
but it is rare on the Malabar coast and in Lower Bengal. Birds from
India and Ceylon all belong to the typical race. On the West it
extends to about the line of the Indus Valley though it is scarce in
Northern Sind and the West and North-west Punjab, where it is
replaced by the Cream-coloured Courser (C. cursor), which lacks the
chestnut breast and black belly. A resident species.
Habits, etc. — The Indian Courser is a bird of dry open, more or
less bare and moderately watered tracts, frequenting patches of barren
stony land, or cultivation that is lying fallow. In such localities the
Courser will be found, in pairs if breeding, in small parties at other
seasons, running and feeding on the ground. When feeding this bird
has curious and characteristic movements, as owing to the long legs,
it has to dip down very suddenly and completely to reach the ground,
with usually a quick run of several mincing steps between the dips.
When disturbed the bird rises with a distinctive note and the wings
look very pointed, the flight being strong and straight with marked
beats of the wings. It does not as a rule fly very far before settling
again, and then it runs swiftly in little spurts ; but when danger really
threatens it can fly very high, fast and strongly, and no Falcon can
take this little Plover on the wing.
The food largely consists of the small black beetles that are found
on the dry ground that this species frequents. Weevils, ants, cater-
pillars and other larvae and small molluscs are also eaten.
The breeding season lasts from March to July. The nest is a
mere scrape on the ground, sometimes in the middle of a bare plain,
at other times under a tuft of grass or low bush in stunted, straggling
jungle on a dry plateau or faintly marked ridge.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs.
The eggs are almost spherical, of fine texture and without gloss.
The ground-colour varies from cream to bright buff ; the markings
consist of mottlings, clouds and spots of pale inky-grey, overlaid with
lines, scratches, spots and streaks of blackish-brown, black, and rich
olive.
The average size is 1-19 by 0-97 inches.
2F2
454 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE LITTLE INDIAN PRATINCOLE
GLAREOLA LACTEA Temminck
Description. — Length 7 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
pale sandy-grey ; forehead brown, and a band from the eye to the
beak black ; outer quills blackish, gradually growing white, inwards ;
tail and its coverts white, blackish towards the end, the black area
longest on the central feathers, which lack the brown and white tips
of the other feathers ; lower plumage smoky-brown tinged with
rufous, becoming white from the lower breast downwards ; wing-
lining black.
Iris dark brown ; bill black, basal half red, yellowish-brown at
gape ; legs black.
The bill is short and curved with a wide gape ; wings long and
narrow ; legs short, the hind toe raised above the level of the others,
the middle and outer toes united by a small web.
Field Identification. — River bird, occasionally visiting jheels ;
found in big flocks ; on the wing rather like a large brown Swallow,
with black-tipped white tail and pointed dark wings, flying rapidly
over the surface of water.
Distribution. — This Pratincole or Swallow-Plover is found in
India, Ceylon, Burma, and Assam. It is practically confined in India
to the beds of the various large rivers such as the Indus, Ganges, and
Brahmaputra with their tributary rivers, so far as they continue to be
broad streams with wide sand-banks, flowing peacefully when not in
flood. It is locally migratory.
Habits, etc. — This quaint little bird is found about the sand-
banks of the larger and more placid rivers, and only occasionally
leaves them for an evening flight to open jheels in the vicinity. It
is invariably found in large colonies, which are social in all the incidents
of their life, breeding in large numbers together, and feeding in large
flocks which skim about the surface of rivers and jheels, catching
insects on the wing. In their flight, appearance and habits they well
deserve the name of Swallow-Plover ; to the uninitiated they might
easily appear to be larger relatives of the flocks of Swallows that are
often found under similar conditions. The flight is swift and graceful,
and a curious low, rather harsh, note is freely uttered. In the evenings
the flocks usually feed flying up stream, and on occasions they mount
high up into the air and might easily be mistaken for a flock of Swifts.
The breeding season lasts from March to May. The birds nest
in large colonies on island sand-banks or on the sandy margins of
the rivers, and these colonies are frequently wiped out wholesale by
temporary rises in the river-level. These inundations appear to be
THE LITTLE INDIAN PRATINCOLE 455
the only check on the undue increase of the birds, as they have no
enemies to prey on them. Terns, Scissorsbills and various Plovers
nest in close proximity to the Pratincoles.
The nests are mere hollows scraped in the sand, often through a
hard crust that forms when alluvial mud has been deposited on top
of the sand. They are placed either in the open or in the shade of
the small tufts of tamarisk that grow on most of the sand-banks. To
approach a colony is to provoke a scene of wholesale alarm. Some
of the birds skim round about uttering their curious note, others
flutter down on to the sand and there gasp and flutter, now lying
FIG. 87 — Little Indian Pratincole ( J nat. size)
exhausted with outspread wings, now dragging themselves along in
all the apparent throes of a mortal wound ; more consummate acting
to divert the intruder from the nests could hardly be imagined.
The eggs vary in number from two to four. They are broad ovals,
pointed at one end ; the texture is close but somewhat chalky and
devoid of gloss. The ground-colour varies from pale greenish-white
to pale fawn and stone-colour ; the markings consist of spots, streaks,
blotches, lines and clouds of olive, reddish-brown or purple, but the
eggs are usually finely and lightly marked and blend fairly well with
the sand on which they lie.
In size they average about 1-05 by 0-88 inches.
456 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE BRONZE-WINGED JACANA
METOPIDIUS INDICUS (Latham)
Description. — Length n inches. Sexes alike. Head, neck and
lower parts to the abdomen black, glossed with dark green, the lower
hind neck with a purple gloss ; a white line over the eye aod a white
spot beneath it ; back and wings olive-bronze, the flight-feathers
black, glossed with dark green ; lower back to the tail and its coverts
chestnut, the tail-feathers darker ; lower abdomen and thighs dull
blackish-brown.
Iris brown ; bill greenish-yellow, reddish at base, and a broad
lappet at its base on the forehead livid ; legs dull green.
The wing has a small tubercular spur at the bend ; the toes are
long with long straight claws, the claw of the hind toe being particularly
exaggerated.
Field Identification. — A Rail-like bird with disproportionately
long toes and claws which is found walking on weeds and plants on
the surface of water. Blackish in colour with a bronze back and a
short chestnut tail, easily distinguished from the Pheasant-tailed Jacana
by this last feature.
Distribution. — This is a widely-spread bird found in India, Assam
and Burma, expending through the Malay Peninsula to Siam, Sumatra,
Java and Celebes. In India it is not found in the north-west at all,
but is very common in the moister districts of Oudh, the Sub -Himalayan
Terais of Rohilkhand and Gorakhpur and through most of Bengal,
occurring also southwards through the Central Provinces and the
Peninsula generally. It does not ascend any of the hill ranges, and
it is a resident species.
Habits, etc. — The Bronze-winged Jacana is purely a water-bird,
never frequenting rivers but living exclusively in jheels and swamps,
especially those in which the surface of the water is paved and hidden
from view by the leaves of the lotus and other water plants, with
deep reed-beds along the sides. For life in such surroundings it is
specially adapted, the toes being elongated and the claws straight
and of great length, affording a snowshoe-like surface which allows
the bird to move about on water, walking over the broad flat lotus
leaves and the flimsiest of other weeds. It can swim and dive well
when necessary, but in the choked waters that it frequents walking
is a more valuable accomplishment for it. Although a well-known
species, living often in ponds close to houses, it is rather shy, and
when alarmed will conceal itself by lying close on the weeds with the
head and neck well stretched out on a level with the body. It also,
for more effectual concealment, will half submerge its body in the
THE BRONZE-WINGED JACANA 457
water. The food consists of vegetable matter, and also of insects,
larvae, molluscs and Crustacea. It has a peculiar harsh cry.
The breeding season is in the rains from June to September. The
nest is generally rather large, composed of rushes and water-weed
twisted round and round to form a circular pad, with a depression for
the eggs in the centre. It is placed in a well-sheltered spot, usually
amongst thickly growing lotus leaves, either on the surface of the
water or on the edge of an island.
The clutch normally consists of four eggs, but more are occasionally
found.
The eggs are moderately broad ovals, a good deal pointed at one
end, and of fine hard texture. They have the most brilliant gloss of
all Indian eggs ; so brilliant indeed that persons who are shown them
for the first time will hardly credit the gloss with being natural in origin.
The ground-colour varies from pale stone-brown to deep rufous
or olive-brown. The markings vary from reddish-brown to blackish-
brown and black, and consist of the most inextricable network of
lines, some fine, some coarse, evenly dispersed over the whole surface.
In size they average about 1*47 by 1-03 inches.
THE PHEASANT-TAILED JACANA
HYDROPHASIANUS CHIRURGUS (Scopoli)
Description. — Length : Male 12 inches, 6 inches longer in summer
with the long tail plumes ; female larger, total length with plumes in
summer 21 inches. Sexes alike.
Winter plumage : Upper plumage brown, speckled with white on
the forehead and hind neck ; a white line over the eye, and from
it a pale brownish -yellow band runs down the side of the neck/bordered
below by a blackish band from the beak which expands into a broad
gorget across the breast ; remainder of lower plumage and outer tail-
feathers white ; central tail-feathers brown ; wings whity-brown
barred with dark brown, a white patch on the sides, the outer quills
black, gradually becoming white inwards.
Summer plumage : Head and front of the neck white ; a patch
on the nape and a narrow line down each side of the neck black
enclosing a patch of pale shining golden-yellow on the hind neck ; the
whole body chocolate brown, glossy on the upper parts ; tail and a
patch above it blackish ; sides and underneath of the wings white,
the quills as in winter.
Iris pale yellow ; bill bluish in summer, in winter dark brown
with the base yellow ; legs pale plumbeous in summer, dull greenish
in winter.
458
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
There is a strong sharp spur on the bend of the wing ; the first
flight-feather ends in a curious lanceolate appendage, and the fourth
flight-feather in an attenuated point ; the central tail-feathers are long
and pointed in summer plumage. The toes are very long with long
claws.
Field Identification. — A Rail-like bird with disproportionately long
toes and claws which is found walking on weeds and plants on the
surface of water. Distinguish from the Bronze-winged Jacana by
the large amount of white in the wings in flight and in the breeding
season by the long central tail-feathers.
Distribution. — This Jacana has a wider distribution than the last
species, being found throughout India, Ceylon and Burma, and
farther eastwards as far as South China, the Philippines, and Java.
In India it is very generally distributed, occurring in the Himalayas
FIG. 88 — Pheasant-tailed Jacana Summer plumage (4 nat. size)
commonly on the Kashmir lakes at 5000 feet and straggling up to
12,000 feet ; to the west it reaches Baluchistan. While for the most
part resident it is also partly migratory.
Habits, etc. — The Pheasant-tailed Jacana agrees with the Bronze-
winged species in being adapted by its configuration to a purely
aquatic life. It lives on tanks, marshes and lakes, where thickets of
reeds and lotus and other floating plants occur, over which the long
toes and claws allow it to walk at its ease ; but it differs from the
latter species in being less shy, more ready to frequent open water,
and more accustomed to wander to flood water, streams, and similar
spots free of weeds on which the Bronze-wing is never found. Although
not strictly speaking a social species, many will be found on the same
piece of water.
This bird rather resembles the Pond Heron in its capacity for
startling the unobservant. Standing on submerged weeds in the water
it easily escapes observation until it rises with a sudden startling flash
THE PHEASANT. TAILED JACANA 459
of the white wings, flitting away over the water with a Wader-like
flight until it settles again, and once more becomes invisible.
It has a very curious mewing call which might easily pass for that
of an angry cat. It feeds on fresh-water molluscs and vegetable
matter.
The breeding season is in the rains from June to August. The nest
varies ; sometimes it is a mass of weeds and rushes heaped together
on a small island or in the water amongst thick grass or growing rice.
At other times it is a floating structure of weed and grass barely able
to contain the eggs which look almost as if they were floating in
the water. In either case the eggs are half-immersed in the sun-
warmed water, and its heat with that of the decaying vegetation must
materially assist the process of incubation.
This species lays a clutch of four eggs which are arranged with
the smaller ends fitting inwards like a clutch of Plover's eggs.
The eggs are markedly pyriform in shape with a compact and
hard texture and a bright gloss. They are without markings, and
when fresh are of a rich deep bronze colour, with either a rufous or
greenish tinge ; but as incubation progresses they bleach sadly under
the combined influence of sun and water.
In size they average about 1-46 by 1-12 inches.
THE RED-WATTLED LAPWING
LOBIVANELLUS iNDicus (Boddaert)
(Plate xxi, Fig. 3, opposite page 440)
Description. — Length 13 inches. Sexes alike. Head, neck and
upper breast black, except for a broad white band from each eye
which passes down the sides of the neck and joins the white lower
parts ; upper plumage and wings brown, glossed with greenish-
bronze and slightly with red ; a white wing-bar ; the greater part of
the flight-feathers black ; sides of the lower back, rump and upper
tail-coverts white ; tail white with a broad black subterminal band,
the central feathers having this band bordered on both sides with
brown, the other feathers with white tips.
Iris red-brown, eyelids and a conspicuous wattle in front of the
eye lake-red ; bill red, tip black ; legs bright yellow.
The wing has a tubercle at the bend which becomes a horny spur
in the breeding season ; legs long with small hind toe.
Field Identification. — A tame familiar Plover found in pairs, which
rise with a loud did-he-do-it ; brown above, white below with con-
spicuous black and white head and neck and long yellow legs ; a
marked red facial wattle.
460 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
It must not be confused with the Spur-wing Plover (Hoplopterus
duvaucelii) which is confined to the beds of the larger rivers as far
south as the Godavery but excluding the Indus drainage. This has
no red-wattle, the black of the throat does not reach the breast and a
black patch on the shoulder and a black horse-shoe on the belly are
distinctive. The curious horny spur on the bend of the wing is not
visible in the field.
Distribution. — The Red-wattled Lapwing has a wide distribution
from Mesopotamia throughout India, Ceylon and Burma to Cochin -
China, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. It is divided into races,
of which two come into our area. The typical race is found through-
out Southern India and in Ceylon, occurring in the Nilgiris up to
about 6000 feet ; L. i. aigneri, a slightly larger and paler bird with
less bronze sheen, is found in Northern India generally, occurring in
the Himalayas far into the inner valleys up to 6000 feet. It iVa resident
species.
The familiar Green Plover or Peewit (Vanellus vanellus) of Europe
is a common winter visitor to North-west India in flocks, usually
found on damp ground. The combination of peculiar long narrow
pointed crest, black breast, greenish upper parts and patch of chestnut
at the base of the tail are distinctive, as are the broad rounded wings
and pied appearance in flight.
Habits, etc. — This long-legged Plover avoids both purely desert
country and thick forest, but is otherwise a familiar bird throughout
India, though it prefers open cultivation and the outskirts of tanks
and jheels. It ia found usually in pairs, and the birds seem conscious
of the fact that their striking coloration is of the " obliterative " type,
and by remaining motionless they frequently escape the notice of the
passer-by. They, of course, never perch on trees, and when disturbed
they do not fly far, but settle again quickly and then run a few steps ;
but the long wings are capable of a strong and sustained flight when
required, and good sport may be obtained by flying trained falcons
at this species. The call is a series of loud shrill notes well expressed
by the words, did-he-do-it pity-to-do-it usually uttered on the wing
when the bird is disturbed. Another common note sounds much
like the syllable ping.
The breeding season is somewhat extended from March to August,
but the majority of eggs are laid in May and June. The nest is placed
on the ground in almost any open ground provided that water is
reasonably near ; a slightly elevated situation is often chosen, such
as on a grave or small mound, and numbers of nests are placed on
the ballast of railway lines ; occasionally the nest is placed on the flat
roof of a house.
The nest is a circular depression scraped in the soil, and it is some-
times encircled with small stones or pieces of hard clay.
THE RED-WATTLED LAPWING 461
The clutch consists of four eggs. They are pyriform, that is,
broad and obtuse at one end and much pointed at the other. The
ground-colour varies from pale olive-green to yellowish or reddish-
buff. The texture is close and a little chalky with very little gloss.
The markings of deep brown or black thickly cover the surface with
blotches, streaks, spots and clouds, evenly distributed.
In size the eggs average about i • 65 by 1-2 inches.
THE YELLOW-WATTLED LAPWING
LOBIPLUVIA MALABARICA (Boddaert)
Description. — Length 10 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head
and neck black, bordered behind the eyes with a white line ; chin
black ; rest of the head, neck, upper breast, back, wing-coverts and
inner flight-feathers light brown ; wing-quills black, the bases of the
outer feathers white on the inner webs, the white increasing on the
inner flight-feathers and forming a white bar with the tips of the
largest coverts ; a patch above the tail white ; tail white, lightly
washed with brown, with a broad black band near the tip which
gradually disappears on the outer feathers ; lower parts from the
breast white.
Iris silver, grey or pale yellow ; bill black, yellow at base ; wattle
pale yellow ; legs yellow, claws black.
A fleshy wattle in front of each eye, meeting above the beak and
with a lappet descending on each side of the gape. Legs long and
slender. No hind toe.
Field Identification. — Peninsular India. A quiet brown-looking
Plover with black crown, white belly and wing-bar and long yellow
legs ; facial wattle yellow. Found in dry open country but not true
desert. Smaller than Red-wattled Lapwing and easily distinguished
from it by the colour of the wattle and by having the throat and breast
light brown not glossy black.
Distribution. — Restricted to India and Ceylon. In India it is
found in suitable country throughout the Peninsula up to the base
of the Himalayas. On the east it extends to Calcutta and Dacca.
On the west it ranges as far as the Sutlej in the Punjab and Karachi
in Lower Sind, though it is absent from most of the desert country
between those two areas. A resident species with some local migrations.
Mention should just be made of the Eastern Golden Plover (Pluvi-
alis dominica\ with its upper plumage brown spangled with golden-
yellow, which is an abundant winter visitor to Assam and parts of
Eastern India, occurring less commonly in other areas across the
Peninsula : of the Sociable Plover (Chettusia gregarid), a nondescript
462 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
brown and white bird in winter plumage which occurs commonly
in flocks in open country : and of the White-tailed Lapwing (Chettusia
leucurd), a slender brown, black and white Plover which is a jheel-
haunting species. Both of the latter are common in Northern India
in winter, growing scarcer southwards.
Habits, etc. — The Yellow-wattled Lapwing is a bird of dry and open
country where it is found on waste land and ploughed fields. In such
areas it may be met in twos and threes or small parties feeding on the
ground and searching for beetles, grubs, insects, white ants and similar
food. Unlike the Red-wattled Lapwing it avoids the neighbourhood
of water. The call is a plaintive dee-wit dee-wit, much less harsh
and loud than that of the last species and the bird is altogether less
demonstrative.
The breeding season lasts from March till the end of June, but
most eggs are to be found in April and May.
The nest is usually made in the open without any attempt at con-
cealment, and a ploughed field affords a favourite situation. The
nest is a small circular depression in the ground, scooped out by the
bird and entirely unlined. It is some 3 or 4 inches in diameter and an
inch in depth and is often deepened by the addition of a little earth
or tiny pieces of kunkur being scraped up against the margin all round.
The clutch consists of four eggs. They are pyriform, that is,
broad and obtuse at one end and sharply pointed at the other, so that
when they are arranged in the nest with the points inward to a common
centre they take up the minimum of room — an admirable provision
of nature which allows eggs large for the size of the bird to be satis-
factorily brooded by it. This arrangement is common in the Plover
family and is of course necessitated by the fact that the young Plover is
hatched in an advanced stage of development and is able to run at birth.
The egg is of hard texture with no gloss. The ground-colour
varies from buff to pale greenish or olive stone-colour, and it is fairly
thickly studded with spots, streaks and blotches of deep brown, inter-
spersed with spots and streaks of pale olive-brown and dingy inky-purple.
It measures about 1-45 by 1-07 inches.
THE LITTLE RING-PLOVER
CHARADRIUS DUBIUS Scopoli
(Plate xxii, Fig. 3, opposite page 462)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. A black band from
the forehead through the eye to the ear-coverts, joined by a broader
black band from the eyes over the top of the head, encloses a white
band on the forehead ; chin, throat and a broad collar round the neck
THE BLACK-WINGED STILT
465
Field Identification. — A slender black and white bird with long
straight beak and absurdly long red legs, always found wading in
water. It can only be confused with the Avocet (Recurvirostra avocetta),
which has the long beak curved sharply upwards.
Distribution. — A widely distributed species, the typical form
occurring in Southern Europe, Africa and Central and Southern
Asia, and being represented by other races in America, Australia,
New Zealand and Ceylon. Some individuals are resident and breed
in North-western India, in Kashmir, the Punjab, Sind, Sambhar Lake
and Baluchistan. Others are winter immigrants from the north, so
that the bird is widely distributed in India throughout the plains in
FIG. 89 — Black- winged Stilt (J nat. size)
winter. The resident race in Ceylon, H. h. ceylonensis, has less black
on the head in breeding plumage.
Three other slightly larger waders, all brownish in coloration
with white under parts, require mention as common winter visitors
to India and Ceylon. The Curlew (Numenius arquatd), remarkable
for its long down-curved beak and loud plaintive calls, a shrill cour-lie
or a musical quoy-quoy, is found both on the seashore and about inland
waters throughout India. Its smaller counterpart the Whimbrel
(Numenius phosopus) is more common on the coast. The Black-tailed
Godwit (Limosa limosa) with a long straight bill is found in flocks on
j heels in Northern India only.
Habits, etc. — The Stilt is purely a water-bird, and is found in
small parties which feed about the shallower portions of lakes, j heels
and marshes, even condescending to visit village ponds and flooded
cultivation. Owing to its long legs and long bill, it is able to wade
out into deeper water than most waders, and therefore tap supplies
2G
466 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
of food that are not available to them ; and when so wading its mode
of progression appears somewhat awkward, as for each step the long
legs have to be drawn out of the water backwards to avoid its resistance,
brought forward in the air and again deliberately placed in the water.
Stilts occasionally associate with Avocets and Godwits, similarly long-
legged birds, but they do not as a rule mix with the other waders.
The food consists of minute seeds of water-plants, insects and small
molluscs and worms. In flight the long legs are extended straight
beyond the tail. The ordinary call is very reminiscent of that of a
Tern, and the alarm-note is a shrill pipe. At the nest colonies the
birds are very noisy and demonstrative, flying towards any intruder,
and passing backwards and forwards over his head with loud cries,
though when the actual site of the nest is reached they retire and
alight at a distance.
The breeding season is from April to June. The birds nest in
colonies in shallow flooded salt-pans or about the margins of j heels,
and the nests are built actually in the water or on mud and ground
beside it. The nest is a hollow, natural or artificial, on the ground,
sometimes bare, at other times lined with pieces of kunkur or the
sticks and other debris from flood-wreck.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs which greatly resemble
those of the Red-wattled Lapwing.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, elongated and sometimes
pyriform ; the texture is fine and compact with a slight gloss. The
ground-colour is olive-brown, greenish stone-colour or creamy-buff;
the markings consist of specks, spots, blotches and streaks of black
and rich umber-brown, with a tendency to collect about the broad
end.
In size the eggs average about 1-64 by i- 13 inches.
THE COMMON SANDPIPER
TRINGA HYPOLEUCUS Linnaeus
Description. — Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. Winter plumage :
Upper plumage olive-brown and rather glossy, the feathers dark
shafted, and except on the head and neck with pale tips and a dark
subterminal bar ; the outer quills dark brown, the inner quills white
with a broad subterminal brown band ; central tail-feathers like the
back, the outer banded dark brown and white ; an indistinct pale
line above the eye ; sides of the head, neck and breast ashy-brown
with darker streaks ; lower plumage white, a few dark streaks on
the fore-neck.
THE COMMON SANDPIPER 467
In summer plumage the upper parts are darker and more heavily
marked, and the fore-neck and breast are more streaked with brown.
Iris brown ; bill greyish-brown darker at tip and greenish at base ;
legs pale green.
The bill is long, straight and slender ; the front toes are slightly
webbed.
Field Identification. — A small wader with a slender bill, upper
parts unbroken glossy brown, lower parts white, which is found
solitary, feeding about the edges of open water ; incessantly wags
the short tail up and down, has a chittering call, and in flight beats
the wings in a curious stiff manner.
Distribution. — The distribution of this Sandpiper includes the
greater part of the Old World. It breeds from the Arctic circle to the
Mediterranean Basin in Europe, and in Asia north of the Himalayas
eastwards to Japan. In winter it migrates southwards to Africa,
India, the East Indies, Australia and Tasmania.
Within our limits the bird breeds in Kashmir and Lahul, and in
the winter it is common throughout the whole of India, arriving about
August, and leaving in early May.
Habits, etc. — In India this graceful little Sandpiper is usually
found as a solitary bird feeding along the sides of ponds, rivers and
streams, of canals, and even along the seashore. Although well able
to swim, dive or wade if the necessity arises, it prefers to feed exactly
along the edge of the water, tripping along the margin of sand or
mud, just dipping its toes in the water and picking its food from the
surface of the shore. Hence it is seldom found in marshy ground
with other waders, but shares with the Green Sandpiper the edges
of tanks and village ponds. It is very busy and active, incessantly
nodding its head and jerking its tail up and down ; and when it takes
to flight flies low and swiftly just above the surface of the water with
curious stiff, downward wing-beats, the wings appearing hardly to
rise above the level of the back. A shrill note dee-dee-dee is usually
uttered on the wing. In the breeding season this is developed into a
regular song, kitty-needie, kitty-needie, kittle-needle, uttered as the bird
soars and then descends on quivering wings, while a whole series of
chittering, piping whistles betray the bird's agitation when the nest
or young are approached.
The food consists of insects and their larvae, sand-hoppers, fresh-
water shrimps and other similar small organisms.
In the Himalayas the breeding season is in May or June. The
nest is placed on the banks and islands of mountain rivers at a short
distance from the water, where low bushes grow amongst the sand
and stones. It is a slight hollow on the ground, sparsely lined with
fragments of sticks or dead leaves.
The clutch consists of four eggs. The eggs are pyriform or
468 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
elongated ovals, rather pointed towards the small end ; the texture is
fine and close, and there is a slight gloss.
The ground-colour is a creamy stone-colour or buff ; the markings
consist of specks and spots and small clouds of rich red-brown, reddish-
purple, and inky-purple, and they are not very dense though some-
times tending to form a cap at the broad erid.
In size they average about 1*45 by 1*05 inches.
THE GREEN SANDPIPER
TRINGA OCHROPUS Linnaeus
(Plate xxii, Fig. 2, opposite page 462)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Sexes alike. Winter plumage :
Top of the head and hind neck brown with an ashy tinge ; upper
plumage brown with an olive tinge, the feathers of the back and
shoulders edged with alternating wrhite and dark spots ; rump brown ;
a patch on the base of the tail white, the remainder of the tail white
barred with dark brown, the bars disappearing on the outer feathers ;
lower plumage white, the sides of the neck and breast with narrow
brown streaks ; wing-lining brown barred with white.
In summer the upper plumage is spotted with buff and white,
and the brown streaking of the lower plumage is more marked.
Iris brown ; bill dusky green, blackish at the tip ; legs dingy
green.
The bill is long and slender, and the front toes are partly joined
with a web.
Field Identification. — A solitary Sandpiper found in similar places
to the Common Sandpiper but distinguished from it by the larger
size, much darker upper parts, and by the conspicuous white tail
barred in the middle towards the end with dark brown. It rises with
a distinctive loud whistle. In the hand it may be identified by its
peculiar musky smell.
Distribution. — The Green Sandpiper breeds in Europe and Asia
north of a line roughly through Germany, Bohemia, Galicia, and
across Russia to Transcaspia and Turkestan. In winter it migrates
south to Africa, India, China and the Malay Archipelago. At this
season it is very common in the plains of Northern India, though
less abundant in the South. In the Himalayas it is a passage migrant,
halting at water at any elevation. It commences to arrive in India at
the end of July, and leaves again by the beginning of May. A few
non-breeding birds summer in India.
The Wood-Sandpiper (Tringa glareola) found throughout India
in winter is very similar to the Green Sandpiper. It differs chiefly
THE GREEN SANDPIPER 469
in its slighter build and in the paler coloration and larger spotting
of the upper parts so that in the field it does not appear so conspicu-
ously black and white. The fact that the Wood- Sandpiper collects
freely into flocks and the sharp alarm-note giff giff giff, repeated by
several birds till it becomes a chittering whistle, should enable the
two species to be distinguished fairly readily.
Habits, etc. — Except when on migration it sometimes collects
into parties of three or four individuals, the Green Sandpiper is a
solitary bird, and is very familiar owing to the fact that it drops in to
feed along the margins of any pond or tank however small, visiting
also jheels, irrigation channels and casual flood water ; salt tidal
waters,, however, it avoids. It feeds along the edge of the water in
the same manner and often the same place with the Common Sand-
piper, its tail incessantly wagging up and down. It is a curious mixture
of confidence and shyness, feeding busily in the close neighbourhood
of man until disturbed, and then becoming wild and difficult of
approach. It rises with a clear loud whistle ti-tiu9 zigzagging sharply
in its flight at first and then mounting high and flying right away or
circling in the sky like a Snipe. Individuals have marked predilections
for particular patches of water, and may be found at them day after day.
The Wood- Sandpiper and the Green Sandpiper between them
provide a large proportion of the small unidentified waders which
the sportsman in India is apt to describe collectively as " Snippets. "
As indicated above, the Green Sandpiper does not breed within
our limits. In its northern summer haunts it nests in marshy forests
from April to July, laying four eggs in the deserted nests of squirrels,
thrushes and pigeons up in trees.
The eggs are pyriform, pale greenish or buff in ground-colour,
spotted with purplish-brown and ashy-grey.
In size they average about 1-5 by i • i inches.
THE GREENSHANK
TRINGA NEBULARIA (Gunner)
Description. — Length 14 inches. Sexes alike. Winter plumage :
Top of the head and the back and sides of the neck blackish-brown,
the feathers broadly edged with white ; back and wings ashy-brown
edged with black and white and dark-shafted ; outer flight-feathers
blackish, inner flight-feathers ashy-brown, all edged with whitish ;
lower back, rump and tail white, the central tail-feathers irregularly
banded with dark brown, the bands dying away on the outer feathers ;
a line over the eye and the area round the beak whitish ; whole lower
plumage white.
2G2
470 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
In summer plumage the head is streaked with brown, and the
fore-neck and sides of the breast are spotted with brown ; the feathers
of the back have broad black centres.
Iris brown ; bill dark olive-brown, blackish at the tip ; legs
yellowish-green.
The bill is long and slightly uptilted.
Field Identification. — A solitary wader found about all types of
water ; grey and brown above, white below, to be distinguished from
the other common waders by the green legs, large size, greyer colour
and the conspicuous whiteness of the lower back, rump and tail. The
alarm whistle is also distinctive.
Distribution. — Breeds in the northern portions of Europe and
Asia, passes on migration through temperate Europe and Asia, and
winters in Africa, tropical Asia, Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand.
In winter it is generally distributed in India, Ceylon and Burma,
being most abundant in Northern India. In India it commences to
arrive about August and departs in April and May, but non-breeding
stragglers are met with throughout the summer.
The slightly smaller Redshank (Tringa totanus) and Dusky Red-
shank (Tringa erythropus), found throughout India — the latter mostly
in the north — are easily distinguished by their orange-red legs. The
Dusky Redshank is so called from its distinctive sooty-brown breeding
plumage, assumed before it leaves India. In winter dress it shows
less white in the expanded wing than the Common Redshank, owing
to the secondaries being barred brown and white instead of pure white.
The well-known Ruff and Reeve (Philomachus pugnax) are common
winter visitors to the plains, found in small flocks about shallow water,
but they are usually in winter plumage though with sometimes slight
traces of the remarkable ruff and lappets of the male breeding plumage.
Habits, etc. — The Greenshank is usually found in India, except
on migration when small parties occur, as a solitary bird feeding on
the edges of water of all kinds but preferably about the sandy margins
of rivers or the edges of those tanks and j heels where no vegetation
divides the water from the land. It is a frequent visitor to village
ponds and the smallest patches of temporary water, such as flooded
borrow-pits. Its greater size and hoary grey colour distinguish it
from the Common Sandpiper and the Green Sandpiper which have
similar habits. It is rather a shy bird, and when disturbed flies off
with swift and erratic flight rising high into the air, and as it goes it
utters a loud alarm whistle, a mellow but plaintive thew-thew — tew-
tew-theeuw. The ordinary call in flight is chee-wit. It does not probe
the mud for which its uptilted bill is not very suitable, but picks minute
life from the surface of the mud or water.
In the north it breeds from May onwards. The nest is a depres-
sion in the ground lined with a few leaves and bents, and it is usually
THE GREENSHANK 471
placed by some object such as a stone or piece of wood which serves
to mark the site of the nest. It is placed on open moorland country,
often close to forest.
The clutch normally consists of four eggs. These are broad ovals,
sharply pointed towards the smaller end, fine in texture with a fair
gloss. The ground-colour is a warm buffy-stone, spotted and blotched
with reddish-brown or chocolate and ash colour.
The eggs measure about 2-0 by 1-35 inches.
THE LITTLE STINT
EROLIA MINUTA (Leisler)
Description. — Length 6 inches. Sexes alike. Winter plumage :
A dark streak from the eye to the beak ; area round base of bill, a
streak above the eyes, and the entire lower plumage white, the sides
of the breast usually brownish and striated ; upper plumage brown,
more or less tinged with grey, the feathers with broad blackish shaft-
stripes ; wing-coverts darker brown with pale edges, and a whitish
wing-bar ; quills blackish-brown, the innermost being largely white ;
the lower back to the upper tail-coverts dark brown down the centre
and whitish at the sides ; central tail-feathers dark brown, the outer
feathers light smoky brown.
In summer the upper plumage is black with broad rufous edges ;
the fore-neck and upper breast are tinged with dull rufous and
indistinctly spotted with dark brown.
Iris brown ; bill black ; legs dull lead colour.
The bill is fairly long and slender ; the wing long and pointed,
the tail slightly graduated.
Field Identification. — A tiny wader, about the size of a Sparrow,
found in parties and flocks about water. Upper plumage dusky,
under parts white.
Distribution. — The Little Stint breeds in Siberia and the North
Russian tundras and in winter migrates to Africa and Southern Asia.
At this season it is abundant in the well-watered parts of India and
Ceylon ; it commences to arrive about the beginning of August and
departs again in April and early May.
The Dunlin (Erolia alpina), which winters in Northern India in
some numbers, is larger with the beak longer and somewhat curved.
Habits, etc. — As we know it in India in winter, the Little Stint
is an eminently social species, consorting not only in flocks composed
only of its own species, but also in company with its near relation
Temminck's Stint and with larger waders like the Dunlin and Curlew-
Sandpiper. These flocks are sometimes of considerable size, and
472 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
they are found both inland on rivers and j heels and also on the sea-
coast. The chief requirement is a broad and flat foreshore of mud
or sand on which the little birds feed at the water's edge, collecting
minute insects, Crustacea and worms, and the seeds of various aquatic
plants. They are invariably very busy, pattering along with their
tiny feet in and out of the water, their heads down busily collecting
their minute food from the surface of the mud. They are usually
tame and allow a near approach. When disturbed they rise with a
soft wick-wick-wick.
Once on the wing the flight is very swift and strong ; the birds
dart along over the shore and water with a slightly erratic course,
flashing dark and light by turns, as in unison they change their position,
sometimes flying with one wing uppermost, sometimes the other,
thus presenting the upper and lower surface alternately to the observer.
Settling again they run rapidly for a few paces and then immediately
start feeding as if there were no time to be lost.
Temminck's Stint (Erolia temminckii) may be distinguished from
this bird in the field by the much darker upper parts, by the three
pairs of white outer tail-feathers, and by the yellowish-olive legs. In
Temminck's Stint the shafts of the primaries are brown except the
first which is white ; the Little Stint has the shafts of all the primaries
largely white.
The Little Stint breeds at the end of June in grassy marshes in
the Northern latitudes to which it retires. By way of nest it lines
with willow leaves a cup -shaped depression in the swampy ground.
The clutch consists of four eggs, pyriform in shape. The ground-
colour varies from pale greenish to buffish-stone, blotched and spotted
with rich reddish-brown.
The average size is i- 10 by 0-80 inches.
THE WOODCOCK
SCOLOPAX RUSTICOLA Linnaeus
Description. — Length 14 inches. Sexes alike. Upper plumage
brownish-grey, irregularly barred, mottled and blotched with rufous,
brown and black, a black line from the bill to the eye, an imperfect
black line below the eye and two broad black bands across the back
of the head ; wings barred dark brown and rufous, the quills becoming
dark brown with imperfect rufous bars ; tail black, the feathers tipped
with dark grey above and silvery white below and with rufous spots
on their edges ; lower parts brownish-white, the chin unmarked, the
rest with narrow dark brown cross-bars which to some extent grow
black and coalesce on the throat.
THE WOODCOCK 473
There is a good deal of variation in colour, some birds greyer and
others browner, and in size, but this is individual and not connected
with age, sex or locality.
Iris blackish-brown ; bill dusky-brown, livid at base of lower
mandible ; legs fleshy-brown, claws blackish.
Weight 8 to 13 \ ounces.
The bill is long and slender, grooved at the sides and pitted at the
tip ; tail fan-shaped ; legs short with rather long toes.
Field Identification. — A dark-looking mottled bird, russet and black
and grey, with rather rounded wings and a long bill pointing down-
wards, which is flushed suddenly from ground cover in open woodland
and flies with a rapid twisting flight among the trees.
Distribution. — Found throughout Europe and Asia, breeding in
the north and wintering in the south. In our area the Woodcock
breeds in the Himalayas from 6000 feet upwards, no doubt to the
limit of tree growth, from Chitral and Hazara as far east as Bhutan.
In winter between the beginning of October and the middle of
March this species is to be found in the lower valleys and the foot-
hills of the whole of the Himalayas, mostly at elevations from 4000
to 8000 feet, but here and there down to the level of .the plains. On
the west they are also found sparingly in the North-west Frontier
Province and North Baluchistan. On the east they are rather commoner
in the hills and neighbouring plains of Assam.
The Woodcock is also a winter visitor to both the Eastern and
Western Ghats at all heights, being best known as a game bird in the
Nilgiris. Stragglers reach the hills of Ceylon. There are virtually no
records from the area between the winter quarters in north and south
India.
Habits, etc. — Owing to its crepuscular habits the Woodcock is
seldom seen except by the sportsman who regards it as a special prize
and therefore concentrates on its pursuit. It rests by day in brambles,
bracken and other vegetation both in open ground and more usually
under tree growth and in woods and spinneys. It flights at dusk with
great regularity to its feeding grounds. These are along the sides of
ditches and in boggy hollows where it rummages amongst the debris
of dead leaves and vegetation or probes with its beak in the soft ground.
Most forms of small invertebrate life, adult or larval, are welcome to
it, but its staple food is undoubtedly earthworms. For these it probes
in the ground, driving the beak in often up to the base. In the breeding
season this routine is diversified by the display flight known as " rod-
ing " which is familiar to those who camp in the Himalayas. In this
the male flies at dusk along the hill-sides above the tree-tops and high
in the open across the smaller nullahs following a regular circuit again
and again. Whilst roding the actual flight is fast though the wings
appear to have a slow Owl-like action, and as the bird goes it utters a
474 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
low croaking sound or a thin tsiwick. When flushed by day the bird
rises with a clatter of wings and dodges swiftly among the trees.
Few species can be more beautifully adapted to their mode of life.
The long bill has its tip slightly swollen to accommodate a rich supply
of sensory nerves. The ear has been shifted forward from the usual
position to one close to the gape so that the bill must act as a telephone
for it. Tactile sense and hearing thus help its random probings to
discover the hidden earthworm, and when the worm is found its
capture is assisted by the fact that the mandibles are very flexible at
their tips. They can thus be opened sufficiently to capture the worm
without the great effort involved if the whole of the beak had to be
opened in the ground. The huge eyes, mark of a nocturnal creature
— and the Woodcock may as well have the protection of darkness for
daylight is unnecessary to its specialised feeding, — are set well towards
the top of the skull. This gives a great range of vision in the normal
feeding position to ensure the bird's safety, but to compensate for it
the Woodcock has to hold its bill inclined downwards in flight and at
rest. Finally, the beautifully marbled and barred plumage which
ensures the invisibility of the bird as it rests on the ground by day
amongst fallen leaves and dry stems also provides a perfect example
of Protective Coloration. The minute first primary or outer flight-
feather is the well-known " painting feather," a trophy beloved of
sportsmen.
This species is also remarkable for the ability to transport its chicks
from one place to another, flying with them held between the legs.
The breeding season in the Himalayas is from early May to late
July. The nest may be found in any type of forest and is often placed
in a damp ravine under or amongst fairly thick cover. It is merely a
hollow scratched amongst dry leaves or bracken, enough of which is
left to form a dry bed for the eggs.
The clutch consists of four eggs. Their shape is a broad blunt
oval sometimes rather pointed at the smaller end. The texture is fine
with a certain amount of gloss. The ground-colour varies from pale
creamy-white to warm buff. The markings, which are generally
numerous towards the larger end and scanty elsewhere, consist of
large and small blotches of reddish-brown with secondary clouds and
mottlings of lavender and grey.
The measurement is about 1-75 by 1-30 inches.
THE COMMON SNIPE 475
THE COMMON SNIPE
CAPELLA GALLINAGO (Linnaeus)
Description. — Sexes alike. Length n inches. Top of the head
black with a broad buffish-white band down the centre and a whitish
stripe above each eye ; chin and sides of the head whitish with a dark
brown band from the beak through the eye ; neck and upper breast
buff streaked with dark brown ; back black with a broad rufous-buff
band down each shoulder, the feathers of the lower back fringed and
barred with white ; rump and upper tail-coverts rufous-buff marked
with black ; wings dark brown, the feathers more or less edged and
tipped with whitish ; ' tail black, the feathers tipped with buff and
with rufous cross-bands near their ends ; lower plumage white, the
under wing-coverts and flanks barred with brown ; lower tail-coverts
banded buff and blackish.
Iris dark brown ; bill blackish-brown, rufous-brown at base ; legs
olive-green.
Weight, 3-|- to 5 02.
Bill long and slender, thickening at the end, where it is honey-
combed with nerve cells ; eyes set far back in the head with the orifice
of the ear below their hinder edge ; twelve to eighteen tail-feathers,
but usually fourteen.
Field Identification. — A small long-beaked bird which springs
suddenly with a harsh call out of marshy herbage and mounts high
in the air with rapid twisting flight ; plumage dark brown streaked
and variegated with black, rufous and buff, the lower parts white.
Distribution. — The Common or Full Snipe (also called Fantail
Snipe in contra-distinction to the next species) is very widely distri-
buted in Europe, Asia, Africa and America, and is divided into several
races. Our Indian bird belongs to the typical race. This breeds over
the greater part of Europe from Scandinavia to the Pyrenees and in
Central and Northern Asia. In the Indian Empire it is known to
breed in Kashmir and the Santhal Parganas. In winter numbers
migrate southwards, and at that season they are found about the
Mediterranean, in Northern and Eastern Africa, and throughout
India, Ceylon and Burma to the Malay countries.
The Common Snipe commences to arrive in India in August,
though not in numbers until October, and the great majority have
gone again by the middle of May. This is the Snipe of the Upper
Indo-Gangetic plain, of Sind and the Punjab, Rajputana, Guzerat,
the United Provinces, and Northern Bengal. It is more numerous
than the Pintail in the Peninsula north of the Godavari, but it is rare
in Southern India.
476
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Habits, etc. — The Snipe in India is found in a variety of situa-
tions where soft mud and water are found combined with cover. Its
favourite haunts vary in different localities and probably depend on
some food factor which is at present unknown. In one part it haunts
rice-fields to the virtual exclusion of ordinary marshy ground, in other
places the reverse. As the large eye indicates it is mainly nocturnal,
but it also feeds a good deal in the early mornings and evenings. The
rest of the day it drowses away in the shade of a tuft of grass er rushes,
and when the sun is particularly hot even leaves the jheels to shelter
in the cool depths of luxuriant crops or patches of scrub. It feeds
on the seeds of marsh plants and small molluscs, but a great portion
of the food consists of minute worms and larvae obtained by boring
FIG. 90 — Tails of (A) Common Snipe ; (B) Pintail Snipe (l.nat. size)
in soft mud. To this end the long beak is specially adapted, furnished
with sensitive nerves at the end and muscles which allow the terminal
half to open when the base is closed. Another curious feature in the
bird is the position of the orifice of the ear, but the explanation of this
is still unknown.
During the noontide siesta the Snipe is often very sluggish and
unwilling to rise. At other times it is shy and active, rising off the
ground very suddenly with an alarm-note of scap-scap (or pench pro-
nounced sharply with a nasal twang) ; it zigzags quickly over the
ground, and if not minded to go far drops sharply again into cover
with the wings high over its head as it drops. But if thoroughly
alarmed it mounts into the sky at a great pace ; though it is always
reluctant to leave its chosen spot and often flies round at a great height
in wide circles, calling occasionally, and then if the coast seems clear
THE COMMON SNIPE 477
drops suddenly back into cover near the place where it originally
rose. On the ground it is very jerky and nervous in its movements.
During the breeding season it develops two special characteristics,
the habit of perching on dead trees and posts where it stands nodding
its head, and a nuptial display. In this it flies in wide circles high
over the nest place, uttering a call of chip-per, chip-per, and alternating
this with sudden downward plunges in which a loud bleating sound
is produced by the outermost pair of tail-feathers, which stand out
separate to the others, and catch the air. This is known as "drumming."
In Kashmir the Snipe nests in May and June. The nest is a
shallow cup of dried grass placed in the centre of a clump of thick
grass in marshy ground.
The clutch consists of four eggs. In shape they are broad ovals,
very compressed and pointed towards the smaller end. The texture
is smooth and close with a fair gloss. The ground-colour varies
from pale greenish or bluish to pale brown, blotched and spotted
with various shades of sepia and ash colour. The markings tend to
collect towards the broad end, but in many eggs they are disposed
in lines with a distinct spiral twist owing to rotation of the egg in the
oviduct. They are very large for the size of the bird and measure
about i -60 by 1-15 inches.
THE PINTAIL SNIPE
CAPELLA STENURA (Bonaparte)
Description. — So similar to the Common Snipe that no separate
description is required. It is slightly duller in colour with less white
in the wings. It may be identified at once by the tail which consists
of twenty-six feathers, of which the outermost eight on each side are
stiff, narrow and wire-like, and explain the name of Pintail.
Weight, 3! to 5 oz.
Field Identification. — Almost impossible to distinguish from the
Common Snipe in the field except by a very slight difference in the
call and by the slower heavier flight.
Distribution. — Breeds in Eastern Siberia as far west as the Yenesei
Valley, and migrates in winter to South-eastern Asia and the Malay
Archipelago. The Pintail enters India over the Eastern Himalayas,
and is very common in Eastern and Southern India, growing scarcer
towards the north and west. In Sind a few have been recorded, but
it is unknown in the Punjab, North-west Frontier Province, Balu-
chistan and Kashmir. In Eastern India it arrives early in August and
leaves again by the end of April.
4?8 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The Wood-Snipe (Capella nemoricola), a slightly larger and darker
species with barred under parts, is best known in India as a winter
visitor in small numbers to the hill ranges of the south.
The Jack- Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus) is a common winter
visitor to India, and a scarce one in Ceylon and Burma. It is readily
identified by its small size, wedged-shaped tail of twelve pointed
feathers, and the patches of glossy green on the upper plumage.
Habits, etc. — The Pintail Snipe is found in India, like the Common
Snipe and in many areas in company with it, in every type of marshy
and flooded ground where soft mud combines with cover. It is,
however, also occasionally found in dry grass, stubbles or low scrub,
and this difference is due to the fact that the Pintail has not such a
highly specialised bill as the Common Snipe, and therefore feeds less
on worms and more on insects, larvae and mollusca. On the wing
the Pintail is a heavier and darker-looking bird, and there is a little
difference in the alarm-call with which it rises ; the flight also is not
so swift. These differences are, however, very slight and only to be
appreciated by the few.
In Eastern Siberia the Pintail breeds about June. The courting
display appears to be very similar to that of the Common Snipe, while
the nest and eggs also closely resemble those of the better-known
species.
THE PAINTED SNIPE
ROSTRATULA BENGHALENSIS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length, male 10 inches, female n inches. Male :
Upper plumage olivaceous-brown indistinctly barred with blackish,
the scapulars and inner wing-coverts with broad, dark green bars
edged with white ; a broad buff band down the middle of the crown
from the beak, and another behind the eye and encircling it ; a broad
buff band down each side of the back ; on the tertiaries and wing-
coverts, buff black-edged bands come in and pass externally into
spots ; wing-quills bluish-grey finely barred with wavy black lines,
oval buff spots on the outer webs which are black towards the base ;
rump and tail bluish-grey finely barred with black and conspicuously
spotted and faintly tipped with buff ; chin whitish ; sides of the
neck, throat and breast brown streaked with white, defined with a
blackish gorget ; lower plumage white extending in a narrow band
on each side behind the gorget to join the buff shoulder lines ; sides
of the breast behind the white band olive-brown and black.
Female : A broad buff band down the middle of the crown ; a
white band behind the eye and encircling it ; remainder of head
and neck dull chestnut, becoming lighter towards the throat and
THE PAINTED SNIPE
479
darkening towards a blackish pectoral band ; mantle grey washed
with olive and narrowly barred with blackish ; a broad buff band
down each side of the back ; a tuft of pure white lanceolate feathers
underlying the scapulars ; wing-coverts and inner flight-feathers
bright olive-green closely barred with black ; wing-quills, rump and
tail and remainder of lower plumage as in the male.
Iris brown ; bill pale fleshy-brown, darker towards the tip ; legs
greenish, claws brown.
Weight, male 3-5 to 4/9 02., female 4-4 to 6-4 oz.
Bill long and slender, slightly swollen and bent downwards at
the tip ; legs with long toes, the tibia partly naked ; wings short,
broad and ample.
FIG. 91 — Painted Snipe (J nat. size)
Field Identification. — Heavy Rail-like flight, wonderfully painted
plumage and clumsy build distinguish it from all other waders ; the
buff band along the crown and the heavy spectacle markings are
distinctive.
Distribution. — The Painted Snipe is very widely distributed in
Africa, Asia, Australia and Tasmania, the birds from the two latter
places being separated from the typical form as another subspecies.
In India it is found practically throughout the country, occurring
even in the Himalayas and other mountain ranges up to 5000 feet
wherever suitable swamps occur. In the main a resident species, it
is also a local migrant.
Habits ', etc. — The Painted Snipe is found in swampy ground in
jheels and along the edges of water channels where small patches
of open water alternate with heavy cover. In such places they are
found singly or in parties of ten to a dozen birds which lie closely
and are flushed with difficulty. They rise from the ground heavily
480 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
like a Rail, with trailing legs that are not tucked into place until the
bird has flown several yards, and they fly with heavy laborious action
till they drop back into cover a short distance away ; at the first oppor-
tunity they run back to the spot whence they were flushed. In habits
they are largely crepuscular, feeding morning and evening and perhaps
at night as well, and resting during the warmer hours. When feeding
they often leave the swampy ground and work out into the open on
to grassland or plough, running back to cover with lowered heads
and shame-faced demeanour if disturbed. When necessary they can
swim excellently.
The exact relationship of this species is not clear, but it is certainly
not a true Snipe, and as a game-bird is neither worth shooting nor
eating and should always be spared.
The call is a rather deep mellow note resembling the noise made
by blowing into the mouth of a bottle, without blowing hard enough
to produce a whistle.
As in the case of the Button-Quails, where also the females are
larger and brighter than the males, the Painted Snipe is believed
to be polyandrous. The point has not yet been settled beyond dispute,
but it is apparently the case that the birds do not pair except very
temporarily. As soon as the eggs are laid the male bird proceeds to
incubate them and rear the chicks, while the female again pairs with
another male who in turn is also provided with similar duties. To
this state of affairs is attributed the fact that males are more numerous
than females, and also the prolonged breeding season which extends
virtually throughout the year, wherever conditions of food and water
are suitable.
Another remarkable feature of the bird is its display, used both
in courtship and as a protection against danger. In this the wings
are spread and brought forward to beyond the top of the beak, while
the tail is simultaneously expanded, until the bird becomes a patch
of brightly-spotted markings. This is accompanied by a hissing,
swearing note.
The nest is a compact flat pad, slightly depressed in the centre,
of grass, straw, rushes and weeds, placed on the ground or in a tuft of
herbage in any spot contiguous to water, usually in a wet situation
but occasionally out in a dry field. The clutch consists of four eggs.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, with the small end rather
compressed and lengthened. The shell is very hard and of a close
compact texture with a slight gloss. The ground-colour is clear
bright yellow, thickly and boldly blotched and streaked with an intensely
deep and rich brown.
The egg measures about 1-40 by 0-99 inches.
THE BLACK-HEADED GULL 481
THE BLACK-HEADED GULL
LARUS RIDIBUNDUS Linnaeus
Description. — Length 16 inches. Sexes alike. Winter plumage :
Head, neck, rump, tail and entire lower plumage white, a small brown
mark in front of the eye and another behind the ear ; back and wings
pearl-grey, the outer flight-feathers with their coverts white and their
tips conspicuously marked with black.
In summer plumage a deep brown hood is assumed covering the
whole head and upper neck.
Iris dark brown ; eye-rims, bill and legs deep red.
The bill is stout and compressed, the upper mandible curved and
bent down over the tip of the lower mandible which has a conspicuous
angle below near the end ; wings long, exceeding the square tail ;
hind toe small ; front toes fully webbed.
Field Identification. — A typical small Gull, easily recognised in
winter plumage by the dark spot behind the ear and the white edge
to the front of the end of the wing. It must, however, be distinguished
from the Brown-headed Gull (Larus brunneicephalus), also common
on the Indian coasts, a larger bird in which the point of the wing is
black enclosing white patches called " mirrors." Breeds in Ladakh.
Distribution. — This Gull breeds in temperate Europe, southwards
to the Mediterranean, and also in Western Asia. In winter it is also
found in Northern Africa and Southern Asia as far south as India.
In Eastern Siberia, China, Japan and the Philippines it is replaced by
another race.
In India it commences to arrive in August and leaves towards the
end of March, though some birds remain until early May. It is
common in Kashmir and about the coasts and rivers of Northern
India ; on the west coast it is found as far south as Travancore.
Habits, etc. — This familiar European Gull is found in India both
on the sea-coasts and inland, about tanks, jheels, and the larger
rivers.
On the sea-coast it is most common in and around the harbours,
where it is very much of a scavenger about the shipping, taking dead
fish, Crustacea and garbage of all kinds from the surface of the water
or from where the tides have thrown it up along the shore. It cannot
dive and, therefore, seldom catches live fish. Like all Gulls, it is a
bird of very active habits and strong flight, flying and wheeling back-
wards and forwards over the water with an untiring buoyancy that is
its essential characteristic. Numbers are found together and con-
stitute large loosely-connected flocks which, when not feeding, rest
either on the sea or sands and sometimes on level ground inland,
2H
48z POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The cry is a querulous scream, kree-ah> and very little excites the birds
to noisy vociferations of it.
Inland its distribution is somewhat difficult to understand. At
some of the larger lakes it may be met with during the winter months,
but it is probably safe to say that the bird is usually found inland while
migrating ; then also it is found in flocks which travel up the course
of the larger rivers and break their stay for a short time on big tanks
and lakes. In such places its food is largely of an animal nature,
including all the smaller forms of invertebrate life that come within
its ken.
In Europe the breeding season is from April onwards. The bird
breeds in large colonies which are found in various situations on
island-studded lakes, on sand-hills by the sea, in bogs and marshes
often far inland. The nests are heaps of vegetable matter with a
hollow for the eggs, and they are built on the ground or in reed-beds
with no attempt at concealment. The eggs are frequently collected
for human food and are freely sold under the name of Plover's
The normal clutch consists of three eggs, but two to four are
found. The egg is a broad oval, rather pointed at one end. The
ground-colour varies from light stone to dark brown, spotted and
blotched with deep blackish-brown and purplish.
The egg measures about 2-05 by 1-5 inches.
THE WHISKERED TERN
CHLIDONIAS HYBRIDA (Pallas)
Description. — Length 10 inches. Sexes alike. The crown of the
head greyish streaked with black, becoming more marked on the nape,
and also forming an indefinite band through the eye ; remainder of
head, neck and lower parts white ; remainder of upper plumage light
ashy-grey, the flight-feathers being darker and with their concealed
portions brown.
In summer plumage the top and sides of the head are black and
the ashy-grey of the upper plumage becomes darker ; fore-neck and
breast dark grey passing into sooty black on the abdomen.
Iris brown ; bill red ; legs dull red.
The bill is short, slight and marginally compressed. The feet are
weak with deeply-scalloped webs between the toes ; the tail is short
and very slightly forked, and the closed wings project beyond it.
Field Identification. — A graceful whitish bird, in summer with a
black cap and belly, which feeds in companies over water or rice-
fields, delicately capturing insects ; distinguish in the field from the
THE WHISKERED TERN 483
other common inland Terns by the short, scarcely forked tail, and in
the hand by the very slight webs between the toes.
Distribution. — The Whiskered Tern is found in several races in
the temperate parts of Europe, the whole of Africa, Southern Asia,
the Malay Archipelago and Australia. The breeding race of India
has been separated as smaller than the typical European bird under
the name of Ch. h. indica. It breeds in Kashmir and in the United
Provinces, and at other seasons may be found in suitable places through-
out India, Ceylon and Burma. Another race, Ch. h. javanica, in which
the lower parts are virtually black in breeding plumage, breeds in
Assam and Burma and eastwards through the Malay States to Java,
Borneo and Celebes. A migrant species, but its movements have not
been worked out.
Habits, etc. — This species is one of the Marsh Terns as opposed
to the River and Sea Terns. Except on migration, when it travels
along the course of rivers, it lives and breeds on lakes and tanks, pre-
ferably those which are partly overgrown with lotus and other aquatic
vegetation ; though it strays a good deal to rice-fields, small ponds
and inundated areas in search of the insects which form the greater
part of its food.
These birds feed on the wing in small companies in the most
methodical manner, starting at one end of the jheel and working up
against wind to the far end ; as they go each bird dips down incessantly
to pick food off the water or weeds. Dragon-flies and their larvae
appear to be their staple food, but water-beetles and other aquatic
insects are freely taken. Arrived at the end of the jheel the flock flies
back to the start again ; those that are satisfied rest on a rocky islet or
the bough of some water-logged fallen tree and preen their plumage ;
the unsatisfied commence another beat in search of further food.
The breeding season lasts from June to August. The nest is a
slight platform of rushes and long trailers of weed wound round and
round in circular form and placed on the broad leaves of lotus plants
with which they are firmly intertwined. It is placed out in deep
water in the centre of the chosen lake or jheel, free of the reeds and
rushes.
The number of eggs varies from two to four, but the normal clutch
probably consists of three eggs.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, a good deal pointed at one
end ; the texture is fine and close but there is little gloss. The ground-
colour is generally a pale, clear olive-green, but it varies also from
pale olive stone-colour to rich blue-green. The markings consist of
streaks, spots and blotches of deep blackish-brown or reddish-brown,
with secondary markings of pale purplish-brown. There is a good
deal of variation in the character and extent of these markings.
The egg measures about 1-51 by 1*09 inches.
484 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
•
THE COMMON RIVER TERN
STERNA AURANTIA Gray
Description. — Length 16 inches. Sexes alike. Winter plumage :
Crown dull grey ; upper plumage french-grey, paling to pearl-grey
on the rump and tail ; lower plumage very delicate greyish-white.
In summer plumage the top and sides of the head are black glossed
with green, with a whitish spot under each eye.
Iris brown ; bill deep yellow ; legs red.
* FIG. 92 — Comjnon River Tern (J nat. size)
Bill long, slender and compressed ; feet small with the front toes
webbed ; wings and tail long, the latter deeply forked.
Field Identification. — A very graceful grey and white bird with
long pointed wings and a long deeply-forked tail and usually a black
cap, which is invariably found by water. For differences from other
Terns see under the next species.
Distribution. — This Tern is found throughout India and Burma
and in the Malay Peninsula. It is not found in Baluchistan or in the
mountain areas, but is otherwise fairly generally distributed through-
out India. It is a resident species, though individuals wander about
a good deal according to the water-supply.
PLATE XXIII
[Face f>. 484
THE COMMON RIVER TERN 485
Habits, etc. — This Tern is essentially a river bird occurring singly
or in small parties about all the rivers of India where they flow through
the plains, and leaving them only for temporary visits to jheels and
tanks. Only stragglers ever visit tidal waters. These Terns spend
the greater portion of their time fishing. They fly along some 20 to
30 feet above the surface of the water, the strong, deep, regular beats
of the long pointed wings producing a distinctive but slightly jerky
flight, and as they fly their keen eyes watch the water below for shoals
of the small fishes on which they feed. The actual capture of a fish
is effected by a perpendicular drop into the water and it is eaten on
the wing, swallowed invariably head foremost. Once a suitable fishing
ground is discovered the direct purposeful flight is abandoned for
graceful wheeling curves which show to the full the powers of flight
that have earned the marine Terns their name of Sea- Swallows. After
their appetites are satisfied they sit in parties on the sand -banks near
the water's edge, often in company with other species. They never
perch on trees, nor do they settle on the water or swim.
The River Tern breeds from March till May on the bare, glittering
sand-banks of the rivers, generally on islands, but also along the shore.
Several pairs generally breed near one another, and the same sand-
banks are usually tenanted by colonies of Skimmers, Little Indian
Pratincoles, Black-bellied Terns, Little Terns, and pairs of the Great
Stone-Plover, the Spurwing-Plover, and the Little Ring-Plover.
The nest is a small depression scraped in the sand which is at
this season almost too hot to touch with the naked hand. During
the daytime therefore the Terns are very casual about brooding their
eggs and spend much of their time fishing in the vicinity. A human
being has, however, only to set foot on the sand-bank for a scene of
great excitement to ensue. Sitting birds rise from the nests, others
arrive from the river, and while the sand is covered with Pratincoles
fluttering and staggering in simulated death throes, the air is filled
with Terns flashing backwards and forwards and wheeling round and
round overhead, their shrill plaintive cries indicating only too surely
the presence of the eggs and offspring they seek to protect.
The clutch consists of two or three eggs. They are broad ovals
in shape, very smooth and fine in texture with little gloss. The ground
is a delicate greenish-grey or buffy stone-colour. This is covered
with small blotches, lines and streaks of dark brown, and with second-
ary markings underlying them of clouds and streaks of pale inky-
purple.
In size they average about 1-65 by 1-25 inches.
2H2
486 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE BLACK-BELLIED TERN
STERNA MELANOGASTER Temminck
(Plate xxii, Fig. 4, opposite page 462)
Description. — Length 13 inches. Sexes alike. Top and sides
of the head black ; upper plumage ashy-grey slightly tinged with
brown on the innermost flight-feathers, the outer flight-feathers
frosted and whitish with their inner webs brownish ; tail paler grey
than the back, the long outer feathers* white ; lower plumage white
on the chin gradually passing through grey on the neck into chocolate
and then into black from the breast to the tail ; wing-lining white.
For a short period after breeding the black cap and dark under
parts become white.
Iris dark brown ; bill orange-yellow ; legs orange-red.
Structure as in the Common River Tern.
Field Identification. — Five species of Tern are found commonly
inland in winter in India. All may have the cap black according to
age and season. The Whiskered Tern may at once be separated from
the other four by the short almost square tail and the deeply-scalloped
webs of the feet. It shares with the Black-bellied Tern the further
distinction of a black belly in full plumage.
The other four species have long deeply-forked tails and fully-
webbed feet. The black bill and legs distinguish the Gull-billed Tern
(Gelochelidon niloticd) at all seasons, while the Little Tern (Sterna
albifrons) may always be known by its small size. The others being
thus eliminated, it should always be possible to separate the River
Tern and Black-bellied Tern by size and build alone, the former
being a heavier and more clumsy bird, while the latter generally has
the black belly or some traces of it.
Distribution. — This Tern is peculiar to India, Burma and Ceylon.
In India its western boundary appears to be the Indus Valley, and it
is not found in the Himalayas above 2500 feet. It is very abundant
in Northern India but less common in the South. A resident species,
though individuals wander a good deal.
Habits, etc. — The habits of the Black-bellied Tern are very similar
to those of the Common River Tern, in company with which it is
generally found. Its main habitat is in the beds of the big rivers of
the plains, where it fishes in the channels and nests upon the sand-
banks, but it also freely visits jheels and tanks ; it flies and fishes
singly and in parties. It has much the same flight and methods of
fishing as the River Tern, but it is more of an adept at catching insects,
lifting them from the surface of water with a gentle glide or chasing
them over land in the evenings. The flight is swift enough for the
THE BLACK-BELLIED TERN 487
capture of tiger-beetles, and grasshoppers and termites are eaten in
quantities. Fish are swallowed head first, so that the sharp fins fold
against the body and do not harm the gullet. Prawns for the same
reason are swallowed tail first, as their sharp points are the legs and
mandibles which project forwards.
As indicated under the last species it breeds on the sand-banks
of the larger rivers from March to May, sometimes solitary, but
usually in the mixed colonies with other species.
The nest is a mere scrape in the sand, and the clutch in this species
varies from two to four eggs. The eggs may generally be distinguished
from those of the River Tern by their smaller size and more elongated
shape. They are broad ovals, and generally without gloss. The
ground-colour is cream or buffy-brown of various shades, speckled,
streaked and spotted, and with a few blotches of reddish or purplish
brown ; there are also faint secondary markings of spots, clouds and
streaks of pale purple.
In size they average about 1*25 by 0-95 inches.
THE INDIAN SKIMMER
RHYNCHOPS ALBICOLLIS Swainson
Description. — Length 17 inches. Sexes alike. The top of the
head blackish-brown ; back and wings blackish-brown, the inner
flight-feathers broadly tipped with white ; a line down the centre of
the rump to the inner webs of the central tail-feathers blackish-brown ;
remainder of plumage white.
Iris brown ; bill deep orange, the tips of the mandibles yellow ;
legs bright vermilion.
The curious bill is described below ; wings very long and pointed,
tail short and slightly forked ; feet small and webbed.
Field Identification. — A white Tern-like bird, with a black cap
and back and immensely large black wings, which can be mistaken
for nothing else, as the curious beak and the feeding habits correlated
with it are unique. It occurs only by water.
Distribution. — Found on the larger rivers .of India and Burma,
extending to the west as far as Persian Baluchistan. A local migrant.
Habits, etc. — The Skimmer or Scissorbill is purely a water-bird,
found almost entirely on the larger, broader rivers where their course
is placid, flowing smoothly between sand-banks. Occasionally it
visits j heels and tanks in the neighbourhood of such rivers, but only
when there is a clear expanse of water free of weeds. For of all the
curious and specialised birds of India the Skimmer is one of the
most curious and highly specialised. In appearance at a distance it
488 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
would pass for a very clumsy black and white Tern, remarkable for
the expanse of wing and the deep deliberate flapping of its flight ;
but at a short distance attention is attracted by the curious bill. Of
this both mandibles are deep and greatly compressed, much as if two
knife-blades had been set edge to edge ; the upper mandible is con-
siderably shorter than the lower which projects beyond it. The
reason for the shape of this curious organ is soon apparent, as one
cannot watch a party of Skimmers on the wing for long without seeing
it in use. Singly or in parties of ten to twenty birds they fly slowly
backwards and forwards along the surface of the water as if they were
ploughing it, the elongated portion of the lower mandible cutting
through the surface, leaving scarcely a ripple. The older writers
attributed this habit to a meaningless fascination in disturbing the
placid surface of the waters ; but the more prosaic habit of mind of
the modern naturalist has ascertained by observation that the bird is
FIG. 93 — Indian Skimmer (J nat. size)
catching fish. It skims with the beak wide open in shallow water,
the lower mandible below the water, the upper mandible clear of the
surface ; a small fish strikes the razor edge and runs up the incline,
and the jaws close swiftly across the fish, held crossways firmly in
three cutting edges ; for an examination of the beak shows that the
two mandibles close together in the same fashion as a curling-iron.
The nestling Scissorsbill has the perfectly normal bill of a young
Tern.
The breeding season lasts from March to May. The nest is a
mere scrape on the bare sand-banks of the rivers that this species
frequents, and the colonies are always shared by Terns and Pratincoles.
When disturbed the birds flap lazily round in the neighbourhood
uttering all the while a ceaseless twittering cry.
The full clutch consists of four eggs.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, more or less pointed towards
the smaller end ; the texture is fine and compact and there is a slight
gloss.
THE INDIAN SKIMMER 489
The ground-colour is variable, delicate greenish or greyish-white,
pale salmon-colour or pale buff. The markings consist of bold blotches
and streaks, chiefly the latter, of rich umber-chocolate or reddish-
brown, underlaid by similar streaks and blotches of more or less pale
inky-purple ; there is as a rule a considerable twist apparent in the
markings of the eggs as if they had been deposited while the egg was
rotating.
The average size is about 1-60 by igi8 inches.
THE SPOTTED-BILLED PELICAN
PELECANUS ROSEUS Gmelin
Description. — Length 5 feet. Sexes alike. Full adult breeding
plumage : White almost throughout, crown and neck feathers short
and curly with their bases dark brown ; lower back, rump, flanks,
and a patch below the tail vinaceous-pink ; a slight crest and a mane
of larger feathers down the back of the neck brownish ; the flight-
feathers blackish-brown, growing white inwardly, the larger wing and
upper tail-coverts with black shafts ; tail light ashy-brown.
In other plumages the vinaceous-pink tinge is lacking and the
plumage is much sullied with brown.
Iris white or yellowish, bare skin round the eye yellow and livid ;
bill pinkish-yellow, the sides of the upper mandible with large bluish-
black spots, tip of the mandibles orange-yellow ; pouch dull purple,
blotched and spotted with bluish-black ; legs dark brown.
The upper mandible is long, flat and boat-shaped, terminating in
a hooked nail ; the lower mandible consists of two flexible arches
which support a huge elastic pouch ; body large and squat with short
legs and webbed feet.
Field Identification. — The huge squat Pelican with its enormous
beak and elastic pouch is familiar to every one through picture, story
and Zoo, though the identification of the various species in the field
is a matter of difficulty. In flight the birds appear white with the
points of the wings black.
Distribution. — Throughout the better watered tracts of India,
Ceylon, and Burma and the whole Oriental region. A migratory bird.
Two other species of very similar appearance, the Rosy Pelican
(Pelecanus onocrocotalus) and the Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus\
are found in North-western and Northern India respectively.
Habits, etc. — This Pelican is purely a water-bird, being found
wherever there are large expanses of water suitable for it to fish in.
It is found singly or in small parties, but also often in large flocks.
It is seldom seen on land, as it is a bad and clumsy walker, but in
490 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
the water it swims well and buoyantly. The food consists of fish
which are caught not by diving, of which the bird is incapable, but
by scoops of the great lower mandible with its pendant and elastic
pouch of naked membrane which acts as an ideal landing-net. When
in flocks Pelicans capture their prey by forming a line or lines across
FIG. 94 — Spotted-billed Pelican (J nat. size)
the water and driving the fish before them into shallow water by beating
the water with their wings.
On the wing the Pelican flies well, with the neck bent and the
head close to the shoulders, the great wings beating in rhythmic
unison. The flocks fly in regular lines or wedges like Geese and often
ascend to a great height in the air.
THE SPOTTED-BILLED PELICAN 49i
In India the Pelican is only known to breed in the Madras Presi-
dency, where a few small colonies may be found in the first half of
the year. Other colonies breed in Ceylon, but the majority of this
species nest in Burma where they collect for the purpose in November.
Gates has described a vast breeding colony in the forests of the Sittang
in Burma, which he calculated to be twenty miles long and five miles
broad. Here this Pelican was nesting in company with Adjutants,
and the total number of birds was estimated in millions. The huge
nests were composed entirely of sticks without lining, and three to
fifteen nests would be placed in a single tree at the height of 100 feet
from the ground. The most striking point about this Pelicanry was
the complete silence that prevailed, save for the whistle of the wings
of birds flying far overhead which sounded like the music of an seolian
harp.
The clutch consists of three eggs. The egg is long and narrow,
equally pointed at both ends. The true shell is smooth and white
but it is covered with an outer coating of chalky texture. This, when
the egg is fresh, is pure white, but it gradually becomes stained, and
is dark brown or black by the time that the chick hatches.
The egg measures from 2*65 to 3*3 inches in length by about
2- 10 inches in breadth.
THE LITTLE CORMORANT
PHALACROCORAX NIGER (Vieillot)
Description. — Length 20 inches. Sexes alike. Black throughout
with a slight green gloss ; a white patch bordering the throat pouch ;
the scapulars and wing-coverts are dark silvery-grey with broad black
borders to the feathers.
In the breeding season the white throat is lost, but scattered white
feathers grow on the head and a few white hair-like plumes on the
sides of the neck.
Iris greenish-brown ; bill brown, livid purple while breeding ;
eyelids and the gular pouch and legs blackish, livid while breeding.
Bill rather slender and compressed, rounded and sharply hooked
at the end ; a gular pouch under the bill ; tail wedge-shaped ; toes
flattened and webbed.
Field Identification. — A water-bird, dark glossy black, with an
upright carriage and a habit of sitting on stumps and trees with the
wings outspread. Swims and dives excellently and flies well. Dis-
tinguish by small size from other Cormorants.
Distribution. — Found throughout India, Ceylon, Burma, the
Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo. In India it is not found
492 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
in the Himalayas or other hill ranges, in Baluchistan, or in the extreme
north-west of the Punjab or in the North-west Frontier Province,
but it is otherwise found wherever suitable water exists. It is a resident
species.
The Common Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), in addition to
being much larger, is distinguished in the breeding season by more
white on the head and neck and a large white patch on each flank.
Immature birds are browner with white under parts. It 4s found
throughout India.
Habits, etc. — This is the commonest species of Cormorant in
India and is often very abundant. Although occasionally found on
FIG. 95 — Little Cormorant (J nat. size)
the sea-coast it is a bird of fresh water, preferring marshes and
tanks even to rivers. It is found singly and in parties, and in suitable
localities large numbers collect though not as one flock; they roost
in company in trees.
The Little Cormorant lives on small crabs, tadpoles, frogs and
fish which it catches under water, swimming and diving with the
utmost ease ; compared with a duck it swims very low in the water,
and at a hint of danger it can submerge leaving only the head and
neck above the surface like a periscope. It rises with difficulty from
the water with a long flapping struggle, but once on the wing flies
strongly and swiftly with the head and neck outstretched in front and
the feet stretched straight behind. Out of the water it perches both
on the ground and on rocks and on trees, but its favourite perch is a
THE LITTLE CORMORANT 493
low stump sticking out of water ; it stands very upright and has the
family habit of sitting for long periods with the wings outstretched
to catch the sun.
The breeding season in India is from July to September, and the
birds breed in colonies often of great size. The nest is a flattish
cup of sticks which is comparatively small for the size of the bird,
and sometimes, indeed, was originally the property of a crow or egret ;
old nests are repaired from year to year. They are occasionally placed
in reed-beds, but the majority of colonies are built in trees standing
in water or in its immediate vicinity by j heels and tanks. A number
of nests may be found in one tree, and the trees are often of small
size.
The clutch consists of three to five eggs.
The eggs are long ovals, pointed towards the small end ; the
shell is firm and hard, greenish-blue in colour, but covered with an
exterior chalky coating, which, when laid, is white or bluish-white,
but is soon stained to yellow or brown. Portions of this chalky coat
flake off in the nest, revealing the greenish-blue shell beneath.
In size the eggs average about 1-75 by 1-15 inches.
THE INDIAN DARTER
ANIIINGA MELANOGASTER Pennant
Description. — Length 3 feet. Sexes alike. Crown and neck
brown, all the feathers with pale edges, the back of the neck blackish ;
a fine line over the eye, chin, throat and a separate line half-way down
the sides of the neck white ; upper back black with brown edges ;
remainder of the plumage glossy black, the wing-feathers nearest the
body and the coverts with silvery-white shaft-streaks.
Iris yellow ; bill blackish-brown, lower mandible yellowish ; legs
black.
Bill straight, slender and sharply pointed ; neck long and slender ;
scapulars long and lanceolate ; tail long and wedge-shaped ; feet
webbed.
Field Identification. — A large black water-bird with long snaky
neck and spear-like beak, and white on the throat and neck ; swims,
dives and flies well and perches on trees.
Distribution. — Throughout the Oriental region. This bird is
found throughout India in suitable localities from the valley of the
Indus eastward, but it does not ascend the hills. A resident species.
Habits, etc. — The Darter frequents fresh water, whether rivers,
lakes or j heels, the only requisite being that the water should be deep
494 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
enough for it to swim and dive in. It does not visit the sea, though
it may be found in tidal estuaries and creeks. It is a social bird,
found in parties at all seasons and it has a predilection for the society
of the Little Cormorant, both species breeding, fishing and resting
in company.
This bird is a highly specialised form whose whole structure and
habits are adapted to one end, the capture of fish. It is a most wonder-
ful swimmer and diver. It swims very low in the water, with, as a
rule, only its head and neck uncovered ; and as it moves along the
head turns from side to side and the long neck twists and bends with
FIG. 96 — Indian Darter (i nat. size)
snake-like movements that at once suggest the name of Snake-bird,
so often applied to the species. As a fish rises or swims past the beak
darts forward with the velocity of a spring impaling it or seizing it
between the mandibles ; the sudden rapier-like thrust is explained
by a bend in the neck at the 8th and Qth vertebrae which straightens
for the thrust and acts as a spring. It follows fish and captures them
under water, diving whilst swimming or with a plunge from its perch.
It emerges with the captured fish in its beak, throws it up into the
air and catches it in position to swallow head foremost.
When sated these birds emerge from the water and settle on
trees and stumps in company with Cormorants, and, like them, hang
THE INDIAN DARTER 495
out their wings to dry. When approached they crane their long
necks and tiny snake-like heads at the intruder in a most ridiculous
manner, till too near an approach sends the whole lot off into the
water with mighty flappings and splashings. Close to the ground or
water they are very ungainly on the wing, but once high in the air
they can fly strongly like a Cormorant. The voice is a hoarse dissyllabic
croak.
The breeding season is in January and February or from June to
August according to the influence of the monsoon in different parts
of India. The birds build in colonies in company with Cormorants
and Herons, constructing rough unlined stick nests in clumps of
trees ; the same sites and nests are used year after year.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs.
The egg is a much elongated oval, more or less pointed towards
one end ; the true shell is of a somewhat pale greenish-blue tint,
only visible in places after the flaking off of a superimposed chalky
greenish-white coating which is gradually stained brown as incubation
proceeds.
The egg measures about 2' 15 by 1*37 inches.
THE WHITE IBIS
THRESKIORNIS MELANOCEPHALUS (Latham)
Description. — Length 30 inches. Sexes alike. Head and neck
naked, dark bluish-black in colour ; the plumage is white through-
out, the tips of the primaries mottled with brown and the ends of
the tertiaries slaty-grey.
In breeding plumage these grey tertiaries are longer and looser
in texture, and the feathers round the base of the neck and on the
upper breast become more plume-like.
Iris red-brown ; bill black ; legs glossy black.
The bill is long, slender and curved ; the long toes are edged
with a membrane which makes them slightly webbed at the base.
Field Identification. — A large white bird with a long curved black
beak, long black legs and a naked black head and neck. Found about
water.
Distribution. — Throughout India, Ceylon and Burma, and also
in China and Southern Japan. It is found everywhere in India,
in suitable localities as far westwards as the Jhelum River in the
Punjab and the Indus in Sind, and in Las Belas, but it does not ascend
any of the hill ranges. A resident species, wandering locally in different
years.
Habits, etc. — The White Ibis is a bird of inland waters, chiefly
496
POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
preferring the larger marshes and jheels where wide areas of water
are covered with bushes and trees ; it is also found about rivers,
tanks and inundated cultivation, and near such places also wanders
on to the neighbouring grasslands. It is found in small parties
FIG. 97 — Black Ibis and White Ibis (J nat. size)
which associate freely with other forms of Ibis and Storks. These
birds wade about in the water or stalk along the edges of it collecting
the molluscs, crustaceans and similar organisms on which they feed ;
when sated they rest in little groups standing on the sand-banks or
in shallow water or perched on favoured groups of trees. This species
is said to have a peculiar booming call, but it is as a rule silent.
THE WHITE IBIS 497
The breeding season lasts from June to August. The nests are
built in small colonies of less than a dozen pairs which breed either
by themselves or in company with Herons, Egrets and Cormorants ;
it is immaterial whether the locality chosen is in wild secluded j heels
or on the outskirts of villages.
The nest is composed of sticks, unlined, but with a fairly deep
hollow for the eggs ; it is placed on small trees in jheels or on large
trees near villages.
The clutch varies from two to four eggs.
The egg is very variable in size and shape ; typically it is a long
oval, much pointed at the smaller end and rather chalky in texture.
When freshly laid it is of a delicate bluish or greenish-white, but
this soon stains to a dull and dirty brown. Occasional eggs are delicately
spotted with yellowish-brown.
The average measurement is 2-50 by 1-70 inches.
THE BLACK IBIS
PSEUDIBIS PAPILLOSUS (Temminck)
Description. — Length 27 inches. Sexes alike. Head naked,
covered with black skin except for an area on the crown which is
covered with red papillae (hence the name Warty-headed Ibis some-
times used) ; wings black, glossed with purplish and green, and with
a large white patch on the coverts ; remainder of the plumage dark
olive-brown, with a slight greenish gloss on the back.
Iris dull orange-red ; bill greenish-leaden ; legs brick-red.
Bill long, slender and curved ; the toes are bordered by a membrane
which makes them slightly webbed at the base.
Field Identification. — A large black bird easily identified by the
bare head, long curved beak and conspicuous white wing-patch ;
perches on trees and feeds on the ground.
Distribution. — The Black Ibis is found from Continental India
through Assam to parts of Burma, Siam and Cochin- China. It is
divided into two races, of which we are concerned only with the
typical form. This is found throughout the plains of India from
roughly the valley of the Indus on the west to as far south as Mysore
and east to Assam and Arrakan. It avoids the west coast of India
and also Lower Burma. It is a resident species.
The Glossy Ibis (Plegadis fakinellus) is also common locally
throughout India as a breeding species. This is a smaller species,
blackish and chestnut in colour with metallic reflections and may
be known by the feathered head.
21
498 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Habits, etc. — The Black Ibis is less of a marsh bird than the White
Ibis, and is generally found in open country or in cultivation, feeding
on the ground in pairs or parties. They appear to be less inclined
to rest and meditate than the other large birds to which they are
related, such as the White Ibis, Storks and Herons, and always are
busily engaged in searching the ground for fallen grain, insects, worms,
Crustacea and similar food. They roost, as they breed, in trees, and
they have regular lines of flight to and from the roosting places, flying
in wedge-shaped formation like Geese and Cranes. The call is similar
to that of a bird of prey, a screaming cry of two or three notes.
The breeding season is rather irregular from March to November,
varying in different localities and also perhaps in different years.
The nest is a large structure of sticks, with the egg cavity lined
with straw, grass, feathers and rags. It is built high on the top of a
large tree, and though, as a rule, the nest is solitary, occasionally two
or three may be found together. It is not unusual for old nests of
the larger Raptorial birds to be adopted by this species.
The clutch consists of three or four eggs.
The egg is a moderately long oval, more or less pointed towards
one end. The texture is rather coarse, and the colour is a beautiful
sea-green ; most eggs are unmarked, but a few are spotted, speckled
or streaked with brown or yellowish-brown.
In size the egg averages 2*43 by 1-7 inches.
THE SPOONBILL
PLATALEA LEUCORODIA Linnaeus
Description. — Length 33 inches. Sexes alike. Pure white through-
out, a patch of cinnamon-buff on the lower fore-neck in adults. A
crest of pointed and drooping plumes is assumed in the breeding
season.
Iris red ; bill black, yellowish towards the tip ; a patch of bare
yellow skin between the eye and the beak ; bare skin on the throat
reddish-yellow ; legs black.
The bill is broad, long and flattened, expanding into a flat spoon
at the tip ; neck and legs long, the toes bordered by a membrane
and webbed at the base.
Field Identification. — Found in parties about water ; a tall white
long-legged bird immediately identified by the black spoon-shaped bill.
Distribution. — Widely spread through Central and Southern
Europe, in Africa and in Asia, the Spoonbill is divided into two races.
The larger Eastern race, P. /. major, is found from Egypt through
THE SPOONBILL
499
Central Asia to India, Ceylon, Burma, China and Japan. It is found
throughout India, except in the drier and the more hilly regions, and
is a resident bird. The typical race is said to appear in India as a
winter migrant.
Habits, etc. — The Spoonbill in India is found in flocks which
rest by day on the bare margins of the larger more open jheels, the
shores of tidal creeks, and the sand-banks of the rivers. They occa-
sionally feed by day in company with the numbers of other water-
FIG. 98 — Spoonbill (J nat. size)
birds that frequent similar situations ; but more usually the flocks
are to be seen standing at the edge of the water idly dozing in the
sunlight, though not bereft of caution, and as evening falls they flight
to the feeding grounds in shallow water. They travel in single file
in long white gleaming lines at a considerable height above the ground ;
they fly with the long necks and legs extended, and move in a very
regular and stately manner.
The food consists largely of vegetable substances, but all sorts
of aquatic insects and their larvae, frogs, molluscs and small fish are
also eaten. The feeding action is most remarkable ; the bird wades
quickly through the water with its neck stretched out and the beak
500 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
half-immersed, turning from side to side with a regular sweeping
action like a man scything grass, so that the beak is passed sideways
open through the water to close on anything palatable.
The only call is a low grunting note, inaudible save at close quarters.
The breeding season varies a good deal according to locality, but
it appears to last mainly from August to November.
The Spoonbill nests in colonies which are often of considerable
size and usually close to, but separate from, colonies of Ibises, Storks
and other similar birds. These colonies build in large trees close
to a lake or jheel, and it seems a matter of no moment to them whether
the spot is lonely and secluded or in the middle of a village site.
The nest is a large massive platform of sticks, used and repaired
year after year.
The usual clutch consists of four eggs, but five are sometimes
laid. The egg is an elongated oval, much pointed towards the smaller
end. The texture is somewhat coarse, slightly chalky and entirely
without gloss. The ground-colour is white, not quite pure in tint,
and the markings consist of smudged and ill-defined blotches and
spots of brown of various shades sometimes dark and clear in tint,
at other times feeble and half -washed out ; these markings are mostly
confined to the broad end, and are generally all of the same character
on one egg.
The egg measures about 2-70 by 1-80 inches.
THE WHITE-NECKED STORK
DISSOURA EPISCOPUS (Boddaert)
Description. — Length 36 inches. Sexes alike. Crown black
glossed with green ; remainder of head and neck and the lower
abdomen to and including the tail, white ; the rest of the plumage
black glossed with purple and green.
Iris crimson ; facial skin plumbeous ; bill black, tinged in places
with red ; legs red.
Bill long, stout and pointed ; neck and legs long, wings and tail
short ; the three front toes are united by a web at the base ; much
bare skin about the base of the beak.
Field Identification. — This large Stork can be confused with no
other species owing to the distinctive plumage, the white neck contrast-
ing with the glossy black crown, back, breast and wings.
Distribution. — The White-necked Stork has a wide distribution
through Africa, India, Ceylon and Burma, Siam, and the Malay
States to the Philippines. It is divided into two races, of which only
THE WHITE-NECKED STORK
501
the typical form is found in our area. This is found from the
Salt Range in the north-west (though there is only one record
for Sind, at Sukkur) practically throughout India. It is a resident
species.
Habits, etc. — This solemn-looking Stork is found singly, in pairs
or in small parties in open well-watered country, frequenting flooded
or irrigated land, small patches of marsh, and rice-fields, and in such
situations it ascends the foot-hills of the Himalayas up to about
4000 feet. It is very quiet and sedentary in its habits, for the most
part standing about in meditation on the ground or feeding in company
with other Storks and Ibises. Out of the breeding season it seldom
FIG. 99 — White-necked Stork (TV nat. size)
settles on trees, and I have only once seen a pair sitting on a building.
It is, however, a good flier, and at times may be seen soaring like
other Storks and Vultures at a great height from the ground.
The diet is very mixed, consisting of reptiles, frogs, fish and a
variety of other living creatures that it finds in the vicinity of
water.
The breeding season is rather extended ; the majority of nests
will be found from June to August, but some birds breed in practically
every month of the year. The nest is a large rudely-constructed cup
of twigs and small branches, sometimes thinly lined with down and
feathers, and at other times densely lined with these materials and
straw and dry grass.
The nests are built in large trees, sometimes at some distance
from water or in a village site, and they are placed at a height of 20 or
30 feet from the ground.
212
502 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The clutch consists of three or four eggs. They are rather variable
in shape, and have a fine but chalky texture without gloss. In colour
they are a faintly bluish-white, unmarked, but in the nest they gradu-
ally become stained to a dirty earthy-brown colour.
In size they average about 2*5 by 1*83 inches.
THE BLACK-NECKED STORK
XENORHYNCHUS ASIATICUS (Latham)
Description. — Length 52 inches. Sexes alike. Head and neck
black, richly glossed with bluish-green except for a patch on the nape
coppery-brown, passing into purple on the edges ; a broad patch
down each side of the upper surface including the innermost flight-
feathers and the largest wing-coverts, a line of coverts under the wing
and the whole tail black, richly glossed with metallic green ; rest of
plumage white.
Iris bluish-brown ; bill black, gular skin and eyelids dusky purple ;
legs coral-red.
Bill very long and massive, slightly uptilted ; neck long ; legs
very long. Four toes, moderate in length, the front three united by
a small web at the base.
Field Identification. — A gigantic Stork with a very massive beak
and long legs which is found solitary or in pairs. In flight appears
pied black and white, the wings from beneath showing white with
a black line along the arm and another along the body edge. The
combination of black beak, black feathered head and neck and red
legs effectually establishes the identity. The Black Stork (Ciconia
nigra\ a winter visitor to Northern India, is the only other species
with a black feathered head and neck but the bill and the legs are red
and in flight the whole wing appears black from below.
Distribution. — Widely distributed from Ceylon and India to
Australia. The typical race is found in Ceylon, India, Burma, Siam,
Cochin-China and the Malay States. In India it is very generally
distributed in suitable areas as a resident species.
The famous Adjutant Bird (Leptoptilos dubius) of old Calcutta
stories, a winter visitor to Bengal and Assam, is the largest and most
impressive of the Indian Storks. The Smaller Adjutant (Leptoptilos
javanicus) is resident in parts of Southern and Eastern India. Both
these species are distinguished from all other Indian Storks by the
naked head and neck, the larger bird being essentially a scavenger.
Habits, etc. — This fine Stork is not a gregarious species and it is
usually to be met with solitary or in pairs resting on the top of trees
THE BLACK-NECKED STORK 503
or feeding along the edges of rivers, tanks and marshes. It is also
partial to salt-water lagoons with shallow foreshores in which it wades
out far from the edge of the water, its length of leg giving it great
powers of exploration and enabling it to keep so far out in the open
that it is with difficulty approached. When disturbed it flies off with
slow and heavy flaps of the wings and after acquiring sufficient impetus
sails quietly along on outstretched wings. It feeds on fish, reptiles,
frogs, crabs, molluscs and similar forms of life.
The Black-necked Stork has a singular habit of dancing. A pair
will gravely stalk up to each other and when about a yard apart will
stand face to face, extend their long wings and while they flutter
these very rapidly, so that the points of the wings of the one flap
against the points of the other's wings, advance their heads till they
nearly meet ; both simultaneously clatter their bills like a couple of
watchman's rattles. This display lasts for nearly a minute, after
which one walks a little apart, to be followed after a moment by the
other, when they repeat the performance, and so on perhaps for a
dozen times.
The breeding season extends from October to January. The nest
is built at the top of a tree, usually a very large one, and it is always
solitary, never in the colonies of other Storks, Ibises and Herons.
It is always a large structure and is sometimes enormous, measuring
as much as 6 feet by 3 feet and deep in proportion. Externally it is
composed of sticks and small branches. Internally it is carefully
lined with rushes, grass, water-weeds and similar material, whilst very
occasionally there is a regular parapet of mud. In some cases the
nest is used year after year.
The clutch usually consists of four eggs, three to five being some-
times laid. The egg is normally a broad oval, compressed at one end
so as to be slightly pyriform. The texture is rather coarse with the
surface smooth though dull and mostly glossless. When fresh the
egg is nearly pure white, with a very faint tinge of bluish-grey but it
soon becomes dirty and stained.
In size the egg measures about 2-90 by 2- 10 inches.
THE PAINTED STORK
IBIS LEUCOCEPHALUS (Pennant)
Description. — Length 40 inches. Sexes alike. The whole head,
neck and body white with a broad black band glossed with green
across the breast ; wings black glossed with green, the smaller coverts
above and below with broad white edges and the greater coverts rosy
504 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
pink ; feathers at the junction of the wings and body pink with white
edges ; tail black.
Iris pale yellow ; bill and bare facial skin orange-yellow, plumbeous
at the base of the bill ; legs brown.
Bill long, broad at the base and curved at the tip with both man-
dibles partly cylindrical ; front of head naked ; legs long with long
toes and the tibia half-naked.
Field Identification. — A large long-legged Stork with a bill*curving
down towards the tip. Plumage white with a black band across the
breast, the wing- and tail-quills black, but most easily identified by the
conspicuous pink patch on the side of the wing. Common in parties
on rivers and jheels.
Distribution. — Found throughout India south of the Himalayas
as well as in Ceylon, Burma, Southern China and Cochin-China. A
resident with local seasonal movements.
Habits, etc. — The Painted Stork (or, as it is sometimes called, the
Pelican Ibis) is a common bird in well-watered parts of India, frequent-
ing rivers, tanks, ponds and marshes usually in parties but occasion-
ally solitary. It stalks about the shallows with its bill in the water
partially open and ready to seize any fish, eel, frog or crab that comes
its way. If the fish be a spiny one it crushes the spines between its
strong mandibles and then swallows it head foremost. During the
heat of the day it stands motionless in water digesting the morning
meal. Like other Storks these birds have a habit of clattering the
mandibles and shaking the head from side to side. Except for the
ability to make a harsh croaking noise they are said to be voiceless.
If brought up from the nest this species makes an excellent pet, becom-
ing very docile and tame, answering to its name like a dog.
The breeding season follows immediately on the monsoon and is
somewhat irregular and extended, lasting from September till April.
The birds nest in colonies, seventy to a hundred nests being found
together on trees, so closely packed that half a dozen trees may suffice
for the whole colony. Some colonies are in remote swamps on the
large trees that rise among the water-logged grass and scrub. Others
are to be found in the middle of villages or over village tanks where
the birds pay no attention to the busy activities below them. Tamarind,
peepul and banyan trees are usually chosen, and the nests are built
on the tops of the upper boughs often 60 or 70 feet from the ground
so that the birds can arrive or leave without brushing their wings.
The Painted Storks are of course usually only part of still larger
colonies of a number of other species of water-birds, the Storks' nests
being surrounded by those of Spoonbills, Cormorants, Darters,
Herons and Egrets, the whole forming a picture of bird-life hard to
surpass.
The actual nests are loose ragged platforms composed of thin
THE PAINTED STORK 505
sticks and twigs with a hollow for the eggs. They strike one as rather
small for the size of the bird.
The usual clutch consists of two to four eggs. These vary a good
deal in size and shape but are typically elongated ovals, a good deal
compressed towards one end. The shell is rather fine and compact
but it is entirely devoid of gloss. In colour it is dull white, occasion-
ally with a few dingy brown spots and streaks but it soon becomes
stained and soiled as incubation progresses.
In size the egg averages about 2-77 by i«88 inches.
THE OPEN-BILL
ANASTOMUS OSCITANS (Boddaert)
Description. — Length 32 inches. Sexes alike. Entire plumage
white except for the wing-quills^ their neighbouring line of coverts
and the tail which are black, glossed with dark green and purple.
In many birds the white is sullied with smoky grey, darkest on
the nape and upper back. There has been some dispute about the
identity of this grey phase, but it may represent the breeding plumage.
Iris pale brown ; bill dull greenish, tinged with reddish beneath ;
bare facial skin blackish ; legs pale fleshy.
Bill long and stout with both mandibles slightly curved so as to
meet along the base and at the tip, leaving a wide gap just beyond
the centre, the upper edge of this gap provided with lamellae. Neck
and legs long and the toes proportionately longer than in most Storks.
Field Identification. — A small white Stork with the tail and the
flight-feathers black. Identified at once by the curious beak of which
the mandibles do not meet properly, leaving a gap between them
which is visible even in flight at a distance. In coloration it can only
be confused with the slightly larger white Stork (Ciconia ciconia) of
Europe, which is at once identified by the bright red normal shaped
bill and the red legs.
This occurs in winter throughout India and in Ceylon, but is
rare south of the Deccan. It is a common species in the plains of
the north-west/
Distribution. — India, Ceylon, Assam, Burma, Siam and Cochin-
China. No sub-species. It is found throughout India in suitable
areas and is resident, though it moves about locally in accordance
with water conditions.
Habits, etc. — The Open-Bill is probably the commonest and
most widely distributed Stork in India, being found in all well-watered
districts in the vicinity of rivers, lakes and marshes. It also visits
506 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
irrigated land. It is a social bird and often gathers into considerable
flocks. There is little to remark about the ordinary habits of the
Open-Bill beyond the fact that it indulges in the dances common to
most members of the family, that it makes the usual clattering noise
with the beak and that it is a strong flier, accustomed to soar for long
periods high in the air. Interest must be chiefly centred in the mean-
ing of the curious beak and this is still a point which needs investiga-
tion. The chief food of the Open-Bill is undoubtedly fresh-water
mollusca, though it occasionally eats fish, crabs and similar food. It
has been suggested, therefore, that the gap in the beak is caused by
wear, due to the constant crushing of the shells of mollusca. This
explanation seems hardly adequate as it neither accounts for the
unusual shape of the beak as a whole, the presence of the lamellae on
the upper mandible or the fact that similar wear does not take place
FIG. 100 — Open-Bill ('-! nat. size)
in other Storks which also to some extent feed on mollusca. The
problem may be commended to field observers in India.
The breeding season in Northern India is in July and August.
In Ceylon it is in January, February and March, and in Southern
Madras eggs are said to have been taken in December.
The species is colonial in its breeding habits, and as many as
400 or 500 pairs have been found in a single colony. As a rule the
colony only consists of the one species. At other times it includes
other Herons and Ibises. The nest is a circular platform of sticks
with a slight depression in the centre, scantily lined with grass and
leaves. It is built on large trees and a single tree may contain as
many as 60 nests. The condition of the branches and the ground
under such trees may easily be imagined, and the fact that the lining
of the nests is usually wet adds to the decay and fermentation character-
istic of such a colony.
The clutch consists of four or five eggs.
The egg is usually a typical oval in shape, with a texture close
and satiny. When fresh the colour is a kind of creamy-white without
THE OPEN-BILL 507
markings, but this soon becomes soiled, and the egg then appears the
dirty yellowish-brown common to incubated eggs of many water-
birds.
The egg measures about 2-25 by 1*6 inches.
THE COMMON HERON
ARDEA CINEREA Linnaeus
Description. — Length 40 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head
and crest and a band behind the eye purplish-black, the rest of the
head white ; neck white, tinged with greyish-lilac and streaked on
the lower fore-neck with black ; upper plumage ashy-grey, paler on
the outer wing-coverts and with elongated whitish tips to the feathers
of the shoulders ; flight-feathers bluish-black ; long breast plumes
white ; a black patch of long plumes on each side of the breast con-
tinued as a black band down each side of the body ; sides of body and
wing-lining grey ; remainder of lower plumage white.
Iris golden-yellow ; a bare patch of greenish skin in front of the
eye ; bill dusky yellow, culmen brownish ; legs greenish-brown and
greenish-yellow.
Bill long, compressed and pointed ; neck and legs long ; wings
ample and rounded ; tail short ; toes long and slender with a slight
web between the outer and middle toes ; middle claw pectinated.
There are concealed patches of powder-down on each side of the
rump and breast.
These patches, found in most members of the family, are believed
to be connected with the cleaning of the plumage of the sticky slime
inherent in a fish diet.
Field Identification. — A tall grey bird marked with black and
white and with a sharp long bill, which broods almost motionless
by the side of water. In flight recognisable at all distances by the
slow flapping of the heavy rounded wings and by the long legs projecting
behind.
Distribution. — The Common Heron is one of the widely spread
and familiar birds of the Old World, being found through the greater
part of Europe, Asia and Africa. It is divided into races, and birds
found in India, Ceylon and Burma are said to belong to the Eastern
race, A. c. rectirostris, though the typical race of Europe may occur
in North-western India as a migrant. In India it appears to be mainly
a resident species ; it is generally distributed in the plains and in the
hills up to about 5000 feet.
The Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) found in suitable places
throughout India is far more retiring and is usually flushed out of
508 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
reed-beds. The rufous-buff neck, darker upper parts and chestnut
under parts distinguish it from the Common Heron.
Habits, etc. — Although gregarious in the nesting season, and
occasionally met in small parties or flocks at other times, the Heron
is essentially a solitary bird ; and in that character it is familiar to
the mass of mankind, who in the gaunt, motionless, silent figure see
a suitable foil to the majesty of the scenery in which it is usually
found. Mountain lake and purling mountain stream, the Sand-banks
and broad waters of the mighty rivers of the plains, tropical jheel,
and dirty village pond, all alike afford the spectacle of a Heron at
its fishing. Sometimes it wades in shallow water with slow deliberate
paces, the neck outstretched ; more often it stands motionless at the
edge of the water, the head sunk between the shoulders, and nothing
but the cold keen eye to show that it is not asleep ; but woe betide
the luckless frog or fish that trades on this immobility and ventures
within reach. A thrust of the long neck and spear-point beak and the
Heron has fed. Small mammals and birds, mollusca, insects and
Crustacea are also eaten, but the diet mainly consists of fish, whose
scales are ejected in the form of castings.
The flight of the Heron is very majestic and characteristic, and
when travelling the bird mounts high in the air and is recognisable
a long way off. The head is drawn back within the shoulders and
the long legs trail behind, while the large rounded wings beat with
a slow methodical laboured rhythm. The call is a loud harsh frarnk,
usually uttered in flight. The bird is partly nocturnal in its
habits.
In India the breeding season extends from March to August.
The nest is a large, flat, loosely-built structure of twigs and sticks,
scantily lined as a rule with straw and leaves. It is placed in trees
at a considerable height from the ground. Many pairs breed in
company, sometimes in a colony by themselves, at other times in
company with different species of Egret. Occasionally they breed
in reed-beds and then the nests are made of rushes and reeds.
The clutch in India normally consists of three eggs.
The egg is a moderately broad oval with a firm and rather coarse
shell studded with minute pores, slightly chalky in texture and entirely
without gloss. The colour is a delicate sea-green which soon fades.
In size the eggs average about 2-27 by i'66 inches.
THE LITTLE EGRET 509
THE LITTLE EGRET
EGRETTA GARZETTA (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 25 inches. Sexes alike. Entire plumage
pure white. In the breeding season the feathers of the breast are
lengthened and lanceolate in shape and there is a crest of two long
attenuated feathers. The feathers of the back are also greatly elongated
and turn upwards at their ends, the rami being widely spaced, long
and drooping ; these are the " Egret " or " Osprey " plumes of the
millinery trade.
Iris yellow ; bill black, the base of the lower mandible and a bare
patch round the eye greenish-yellow ; legs black, toes and extreme
base of tarsus yellow.
A miniature Heron in structure.
Field Identification. — A long-legged, long-necked, white bird,
found generally in parties, about the neighbourhood of water. The
pointed beak and small size at once separate it from the Spoonbill.
Difficulty is sometimes found in identifying it in the field from the
Large Egret (Egretta alba), the Smaller Egret (Egretta intermedia),
the Reef Heron (Demiegretta ashd) and the Cattle Egret, all white
Herons, locally common. The points to remark for the Little Egret
are its small size, the black beak at all seasons, and the two long crest
plumes in breeding plumage. The Cattle Egret has the beak always
yellow. The Reef Heron, a dimorphic bird, white or grey in colour,
found along the west coast of India and in the Andaman Islands, has
the beak and legs variable in colour but never black. The Large
Egret and the Smaller Egret have the beak black whilst breeding, but
yellow at other seasons. The former is generally solitary, and may
be at once known by its size equal to that of the Common (Grey)
Heron. In breeding plumage it has neither crest nor breast plumes.
The Smaller Egret has no crest plumes in breeding plumage, but both
breast and dorsal plumes, the latter being very long and exaggerated.
Distribution. — The typical race is widely distributed in Southern
Europe, Africa and Southern Asia to Africa and Japan. It is common
throughout the plains of India, Ceylon and Burma. There is a closely
allied race in the Malayan Archipelago and Australia.
Habits, etc. — The Little Egret is found very generally throughout
India wherever water is plentiful. Paddy-fields, marshes and tanks,
rivers and creeks, and even irrigated fields and the neighbourhood
of canals are all frequented by the birds. They live in parties and
feed on the ground, wading about in the shallow margins of the water
or stalking over the neighbouring grassland. Their food consists
very largely of fish and frogs, but lizards, worms, grasshoppers, locusts,
5io POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
aquatic insects, freshwater mollusca and Crustacea are all eaten. They
rest either on the ground or on trees. The flight is rather slow and
laboured with regular beats of the broad rounded wings, and in flight
the head is retracted to the shoulders, and the legs outstretched beyond
the tail.
The outstanding characteristic of the bird is, of course, the wonder-
ful nuptial plumes from which the name is derived. These plumes
have long been used amongst Eastern nations as an ornament to the
FIG. 1 01 — Little Egret (Tir nat. size)
head-dress, and the gift of a jewelled aigrette was one of the most
distinguished compliments that an Oriental ruler could pay. Such a
compliment was paid to Nelson by the Sultan after the Battle of the
Nile. These aigrettes have an ungraceful copy in the stiff plumes
mounted on the front of the Hussar busby and other military head-
dresses.
In the last century the Little Egret with others of the family
suffered greatly from the depredations of the plume-trade, since
the aigrettes were in great demand for ladies' fashions. As the birds
nest in large colonies and the aigrettes are only donned in the breeding
season, much harm was done and great cruelty inflicted, whole colonies
THE LITTLE EGRET 511
being wiped out by the adults being shot and the young left to starve
in the nests. It was discovered in Sind, however, that the birds would
breed in confinement and that the plumes could easily and more
profitably be harvested from the captive birds. Egret-farming has
since rapidly spread, and under present conditions it is permissible
to hope that the Egrets may not be exterminated in India as they
almost were in Egypt.
The breeding season in Northern India is in July and August,
and in December in the south. This Egret invariably breeds in
colonies in trees, generally in company with other species of Herons
and Ibises, the various nests all jumbled up indiscriminately. The
colonies are often placed in the centre of towns and villages. The
nest is a rough shallow cup of sticks, occasionally lined with a little
sedge or coarse grass.
The clutch consists of four or five eggs. They are moderately
broad ovals, with a firm and rather coarse glossless shell fitted with
minute pores. The colour is a delicate sea-green or bluish-green
which soon fades.
The egg measures about 1-73 by 1-32 inches.
THE CATTLE EGRET
BUBULCUS IBIS (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 20 inches. Sexes alike. Entire plumage
pure white.
When breeding hair-like plumes appear on head and neck, except
on the forehead and the chin, and long " egret " plumes are developed
on the back ; all these are orange-buff.
Iris pale golden-yellow ; a patch of bare skin from the eye to the
beak greenish-yellow ; bill yellow ; legs black, in places mottled with
yellowish.
A miniature Heron in structure.
Field Identification. — A slender white bird with long neck and
legs usually found in attendance on herds of cattle. In the breeding
season the buff egret plumes distinguish it from all other species,
though it still looks white at a distance ; but when these are shed it
is difficult to distinguish from the other species of Egret, which are
also pure white in colour. The yellow bill separates it from the
Little Egret, the black legs from the Reef Heron (Demiegretta asha),
and size alone from the Large Egret (E. alba) and the Smaller Egret
(E. intermedia).
Distribution. — The Cattle Egret is a widely spread species inhabit-
ing the warmer parts of Europe and Asia and the whole of Africa.
5i2 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
It is divided into two races : the typical form is found in Europe and
Africa, while B. i. coromandus, the race which is found in India, Ceylon
and Burma, extends also to Southern Japan. In India it is generally
spread throughout the plains except in the drier portions of the north-
west. It is not found in the hills. A resident species.
Habits, etc. — The Cattle Egret or Buff-backed Heron is common
enough in the well-watered parts of India where jheels, rivers, and
inundations occur and cause the formation of grazing grounds for
cattle, with lush green grass. This species, however, is not nearly so
much a bird of the water as most of the Herons and Egrets, but it has
specialised in the direction of attendance on cattle. Where herds of
cattle commonly graze, there will this Egret be found, in parties large
or small, attending the cattle closely, sometimes perching on their
backs but more generally stalking round their legs. For though it
feeds sometimes on small fish, tadpoles, and aquatic insects, its chief
food consists of grasshoppers and flies, and these it obtains in plenty
while attending the cattle, pecking them off the grass, and off the
animals themselves. It also performs a definite service by ridding
their skins of leeches, ticks and other parasites. It is a tame, confiding
bird and is not molested by the cattle-herds, nor are its nuptial plumes
sought after by plume-hunters, who confine their attention to the
White Egrets.
The breeding season is dependent on the monsoons, in Northern
India from June to August, and in the south in November and Decem-
ber. It breeds in colonies, usually in company with other similar species.
The nest is a rough unlined structure of sticks placed in trees,
often at a considerable height from the ground.
The clutch consists of four or five eggs. The egg is a rather broad
oval, somewhat pointed towards one end ; the texture is compact and
fine without gloss. The egg of this species is nearly always distin-
guishable from those of the other small Herons by its colour, white
with a faint blue or green tinge, as opposed to the usual delicate sea-
green tint.
The average measurement is 1-71 by 1-32 inches.
THE PADDY-BIRD
ARDEOLA GRAYI (Sykes)
(Plate xxii, Fig. i, opposite page 462)
Description. — Length 18 inches. Sexes alike. Winter plumage :
Head and neck dark brown streaked with pale yellowish-buff, darker
on the crown and paler on the fore-neck ; chin and throat white ;
the back and the shoulders ashy-brown with pale yellowish stripes on
THE PADDY-BIRD 513
the latter ; remainder of the plumage white, the upper breast streaked
with brown.
In breeding plumage the head and neck are light yellowish-brown,
the crown brown, and the chin and throat white ; a white crest of
long pointed feathers ; back deep maroon, the feathers long and hair-
like with dark slaty ends, and a line of brownish-buff feathers as a
border ; upper breast ashy-brown with narrow whitish streaks, the
feathers long and rather disintegrated.
Iris bright yellow ; eyelids greenish-yellow ; bill bluish at the
base, yellowish about the middle, and black at the tip ; legs dull
green.
The neck and legs are shorter than in the true Egrets.
Field Identification. — A very small Heron, the commonest of its
family in India, found by every piece of water ; it escapes notice by
its dingy coloration until it springs to life'with a flash of white wings.
Distribution. — The Paddy-bird or Pond-Heron is found in the
west as far as the Persian Gulf, and from there extends throughout
India, Ceylon and Burma to the Malay Peninsula. Within our area
it is found practically everywhere in the plains, extending also in the
hills up to 4000 feet. In the main a resident species it is locally
migratory.
Habits, etc. — This must be one of the commonest and most familiar
birds in India, being found wherever there is water. It feeds chiefly
on frogs, crabs, small fishes, insects, and the other miscellaneous life
that has its being in or near water ; in pursuit of this mixed dietary
the Paddy-bird spends its life on the edge of water, fresh or salt, in
mangrove swamp, jheel and river, on lake and village pond, in road-
side ditch or borrow-pit. No puddle is too small, no water too dirty
for its attention. It sits there motionless on the mud, or ankle-deep
in water, hunched up with the head and long neck drawn back within
the shoulders, or stalks slowly along moving each foot with slow
meticulous caution. But the quick stab of the pointed beak with all
the length of the neck behind it is too quick for fish or grasshopper,
and the little Heron never goes hungry in its hunting, for all its slug-
gard aspect. Its dull colours assimilate with the mud and herbage,
and the bird is tame and confiding, with the result that it is seldom
noticed until it rises close to the passer-by, springing into life with a
sudden flash of the white wings, and a harsh croak which expresses
its annoyance at the disturbance. To this invisibility is due the name
of " blind heron " that it bears in several dialects. Though seemingly
a misanthrope by nature, the Paddy-bird is found in great numbers
in suitable places, and the birds collect to roost or to rest in shady
branches in the daytime. They breed also more or less in company
though hardly in defined colonies, and numbers of their nests will
be found wherever Night Herons and Egrets collect to breed.
2K
5i4 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The breeding season lasts from May to September, and locally
apparently to December, but most nests will be found in July and
August.
The nest is a rough shallow cup of sticks, often small and very
loosely put together ; it is placed in the smaller forks of trees or large
bushes, at heights varying from 10 to 30 feet from the ground, and
the little Herons scramble and clamber along the branches with great
facility, an accomplishment shared by the chicks when they are two-
thirds grown.
The clutch varies from four to six eggs. The eggs are slightly
elongated ovals, often perceptibly pointed at both ends ; the texture
is compact and fine, somewhat chalky and without any gloss. In
colour they are a deep sea-green or greenish-blue, which is very
liable to fade.
In size they average about 1-48 by !• 17 inches.
THE NIGHT HERON
NYCTICORAX NYCTICORAX (Linnaeus)
(Plate xxiv, Fig. 2, opposite page 506)
Description. — Length 23 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head
with a drooping crest and the back black glossed with metallic green ;
a few long narrow white feathers of great length spring from the
crest ; forehead, a streak over the eye, cheeks and the lower plumage
white ; sides and back of the neck, flanks, wings, rump and tail light
ashy with a faint pinkish tinge.
Iris blood-red ; bare skin from the eyes to the beak yellowish-
green, dull livid in the breeding season ; bill black, yellowish at the
base except when breeding ; feet yellowish-green.
The bill is stouter and deeper than in the other Herons, and the
neck is short and thick.
Field Identification. — A small heavy Heron largely nocturnal in
its habits, and sleeping by day in thick trees. The grey colour with
white on the face and under surface, and the greenish-black crown
and back are distinctive.
Distribution. — The typical race is found through South and Central
Europe as well as nearly the whole of Africa and the greater part of
Asia ; other races are found in North America and the West Indies.
In India it is very general, being found throughout the plains and in
the North-western Himalayas up to 5000 or 6000 feet. In the main
a resident species, it is also locally migratory.
Another heavy looking species of similar size is the Bittern (Botaurus
stellaris) which may be flushed from reed-beds in winter in Northern
THE NIGHT HERON 515
India. The colour is buffy-brown, streaked, barred and mottled with
dark brown and black.
Habits, etc. — The Night Heron is very common and abundant,
though like many species that are colonial in their habits and dependent
on water, its distribution is rather irregular. It is definitely a nocturnal
species and is very shy and secretive.
The members of a colony spend their day sleeping and brooding
in the thick foliage of a clump of trees, waiting till the fall of dusk.
Then the whole colony moves off to the feeding grounds, in a con-
tinuous stream, each bird flying separately and each at intervals
uttering the harsh raucous wock, which is almost a quack rather than
a croak. The flight is dignified and moderately fast, the bird looking
very short and heavy with its head tucked into its shoulders and the
regularly flapping broad round wings. The roosting place once left
behind, the birds spread far afield for the night's fishing in every little
pond and jheel and stretch of water. The food is varied, like that of
all the Herons, and consists of small fish, amphibia, Crustacea, and
aquatic insects.
The breeding season is in July and August in the plains, but
early in April and May in Kashmir. The nest is a rough and slight
structure of sticks, unlined, and placed in a tree, usually at a good
height from the ground. A few nests are solitary, but usually the
birds build in colonies, and generally these colonies are in association
with those of other species of Herons and Egrets.
The clutch consists of four or five eggs.
The egg is a moderately broad oval, as a rule rather obtuse at
both ends. The texture is fine and hard, without gloss. The colour
is a delicate pale sea-green, without markings.
The eggs measure about 1*92 by 1-35 inches.
THE CHESTNUT BITTERN
IXOBRYCHUS CINNAMOMEUS (Gmelin)
Description. — Length 15 inches. Male : whole upper plumage
including the wings and tail rich chestnut, somewhat variable in
tint ; the whole lower plumage rich tawny ochraceous, the concealed
bases of the feathers white, and a white stripe on each side of the
throat ; traces of a brown stripe down the middle of the fore-neck ; a
patch of black, buff-edged feathers on each side of the breast, largely
concealed by the breast feathers.
Female : Upper parts dull chestnut-brown, washed with sooty on
the crown ; wings paler, the coverts mottled with buff and dark
brown, the quills dark brown towards their bases ; lower parts yellowish
5i6 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
tawny streaked with dark brown, a darker broken band down the
centre of the throat and neck.
Iris yellow to pale red ; bill yellow, blackish along the top ; facial
skin reddish-purple in males, yellow in females ; legs yellowish-green,
soles yellow.
Bill stout, straight and pointed. Head narrow continuing the
long neck ; wings rounded ; tail short. The feathers of the upper
breast are elongated.
Field Identification. — A miniature Heron which lives by day in
dense patches of reeds from which it is flushed with great difficulty.
The rich tawny-chestnut colour, which includes the wings, separates
it from all other forms. In flight the head is drawn back to the body,
the rounded wings flap slowly and the legs are held out straight behind.
Distribution. — No sub-species. Widely distributed in India,
Ceylon, Burma, China and the Malay States to the Philippines and
Celebes. Very generally distributed throughout India, but dependent
on suitable reed-beds for its distribution. A local migrant, but its
movements are not properly known.
The Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus) and the Yellow Bittern
(Ixobrychus sinensis) are two other species of similar size and habits,
but immediately separated by having the wing-quills black. The
Little Bittern breeds very commonly on the Kashmir Lakes and less
commonly in Sind. The male is easily recognised in flight by the
black crown and black back. The female is not ordinarily distinguish-
able in the field from both sexes of the Yellow Bittern, though these
latter may be known in the hand by the vinaceous red sides to the
neck, this part being yellowish-brown in the female Little Bittern.
The Yellow Bittern is found more or less throughout India in large
reed-beds. Another miniature Heron found by suitable water through-
out India, but not in reed-beds, is the Little Green Heron (Butorides
striatus) which may be recognised by the amount of green in its plumage.
Habits, etc. — The Chestnut Bittern has been chosen to illustrate
the habits of the three species mentioned above which individually
are seldom found in any numbers and yet collectively are very char-
acteristic birds of the jheels of India. They are largely nocturnal in
their habits. By day they hide in dense cover in reed-beds, swamps
or rice-fields and can only be driven out by careful beating. By night
they fly out to fish in more open places where they catch a miscellaneous
diet of fish, frogs, worms and various water-insects and larvae. Like
the larger Herons they have the gift of patience and sit solitary waiting
for their prey ; but they can also be very active, climbing about the
reeds and stems on foot. All three species probably have the habit,
known in the Little Bittern when danger threatens, of standing with
the head and neck extended skywards, the feathers closely pressed
against the skin, the whole attitude and coloration being protective
THE CHESTNUT BITTERN 5I7
amongst the varied lights and shades of a reed-bed. To this the
streaking on the lower plumage greatly contributes. The ordinary
call is a slight croak.
The breeding season is in the rains from June to September.
The nest is a slight shallow pad composed of short lengths of
sedge, lined with rather finer grass. It is built, of course, in a dense
reed-bed, and may be placed near the surface of the water on the
roots of the reeds or at any height in the reed-bed, either on a bush
or more usually on a number of reeds bent down for the purpose.
The clutch consists of four or five eggs.
The egg is a broad regular oval, very fine and compact in texture
but without gloss. The colour is dull white, sometimes with a very
faint bluish tinge, but the egg very quickly becomes dirty and stained.
Both sexes incubate, and incubation in this genus usually starts with
the laying of the first egg so that the young found in a nest are of
different sizes.
The egg measures about 1*30 by 1-05 inches.
THE NUKTA
SARKIDIORNIS MELANOTOS (Pennant)
Description. — Length, male 30 inches ; female 26 inches. Male :
Head and neck white, spotted with glossy black, the black prevailing
along the top of the head and back of the neck ; a collar round the
lower neck, and the lower plumage pure white, washed with pale
ashy-grey on the sides of the breast and flanks ; the whole upper
plumage, wings and tail, except the brownish-grey lower back, black
glossed with green, purple and blue, a black bar extending on to each
side of the upper breast and another on to the lower flanks.
The female is similar but smaller, with more black on the head
and neck and less gloss elsewhere.
Iris brown ; bill black ; legs greenish-plumbeous.
The male has a black fleshy knob (the comb) on the top of the
beak which becomes greatly developed in the breeding season.
Field Identification. — A large Goose-like duck, glossy black above
white below, with a spotted head and neck. The size and coloration
is distinctive apart from the curious comb of the drake.
Distribution. — Found in India, Ceylon and Burma in suitable
localities ; also in Africa south of the Sahara and in Madagascar.
The typical race is found virtually throughout India except in
the North-west Frontier Province and Baluchistan, the Northern
and Western Punjab, and the north-western portions of Sind ; it
is confined to the plains and appears to be a local migrant.
2K2
5i8 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
The Flamingo (Phcenicopterus ruber) is usually placed near the
geese and ducks. The rosy-pink and white plumage with black flight-
quills, the long legs and neck and the unique bill bent downwards
and adapted for feeding in an inverted position render identification-
easy. It is found on lagoons throughout India, but is most numerous
as a non-breeding visitor to North-west India. It breeds in Cutch.
Habits, etc. — The Nukta or Comb-duck is common in well-watered
and well-wooded parts of India, and is generally found in large marshy
tanks and jheels with reedy margins and plenty of trees in the vicinity.
In such places it is found in pairs and family parties, and not being
semi-nocturnal in its habits like most of the ducks and geese, is to
/v /
FIG. 102 — Nukta (| nat. size)
be seen moving about freely on the wing at all times of day. It roosts,
as it nests, in trees.
The flight is powerful and fairly rapid, and when a pair are on
the wing together the male usually leads. The voice is more like
that of a goose than a duck, and in the vicinity of the nest the bird
tends to be rather noisy, heralding the approach of an intruder with
loud trumpet-calls ; the ordinary note of the male is a low grating
noise. It is not a particularly wary species, but as the flesh is very
indifferent for the table it is a pity to shoot so handsome a bird.
The food consists largely of the grains of wild and cultivated
rice, but the roots, seeds and shoots of various water-plants are also
eaten, as well as a certain amount of worms and spawn and larvae
of aquatic insects.
The breeding season is from June to September, depending a
good deal on the commencement of the rains.
THE NUKTA 519
The nest is normally built in trees and is a rough structure of
sticks and grass lined with a few dead leaves and feathers ; it is placed
either in a hole in a trunk, or in the depression so often found where
several large branches join the trunk of a tree ; mango trees are usually
favoured.
The normal clutch consists of seven to twelve eggs, but the number
frequently exceeds this, and forty eggs have been recorded in a single
nest, though these may have been the product of two females.
The eggs are very regular ovals, slightly pointed at one end. The
texture is wonderfully close and compact, and when fresh, the eggs
both in colour and appearance seem made of polished ivory ; with
the progress of incubation some of the gloss departs and the shells
become stained and dirty.
In size the eggs average about 2^40 by 1*70 inches.
THE COTTON-TEAL
#
NETTAPUS COROMANDELIANUS (Gmelin)
(Plate xxiii, Fig. 3, opposite page 484)
Description. — Length 13 inches. Male in summer plumage :
Top of the head dark brown ; a black collar glossed behind with
green round the lower neck ; remainder of the head and neck white ;
upper plumage dark brown glossed with metallic-green or purple ;
primaries dark brown on their basal halves, then white with the tips
black ; secondaries dark brown glossed with metallic-green or purple
and tipped with white ; upper tail-coverts dark brown mottled and
finely barred with white ; lower plumage white, the sides finely
vermiculated with brown ; wing-lining and a patch under the tail
dark chocolate- brown.
In winter the male loses its collar and resembles the female except
for the white wing-bar and some of the green gloss on the upper
plumage and wings.
Female : Top of the head and a line through the eye brown ;
remainder of head and neck and lower parts sullied white, the head
and neck being speckled with brown marks that become defined
wavy lines on the breast ; upper parts, wings and tail brown, the
inner wing-quills tipped with white and the upper tail-coverts mixed
with it.
Iris red in males, brown in females ; bill brown above yellowish
below, in breeding males black ; legs greenish-yellow, in breeding
males black and dusky yellow.
The beak is short and Goose-like, that is, very high at the base
and narrowing gradually in front.
520 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Field Identification. — The smallest of the Indian Ducks, being
easily recognised by its size and the predominance of white in the
plumage. The drake in full plumage is dark glossy brown above
with a white wing-bar and a black collar ; the female is brown above
and lacks the wing-bar and collar.
Distribution. — The Cotton-Teal is found in India, Ceylon and
Burma, and it extends eastwards through the Malay countries to
China and southwards to the Philippines and Celebes. * In India
it is generally distributed in the plains except along the western
border from Malabar to the Northern Punjab, where it is scarce or
wanting. A resident species, it is also locally migratory.
HabttSy etc. — This curious little Duck finds its usual habitat in
those overgrown ponds and broad dykes and channels where much
of the water is choked with a growth of grass and weeds. It may
also be found on open sheets of water, but even then it keeps to the
weediest stretches and the near neighbourhood of cover. It lives
in parties and small flocks, and by nature, when undisturbed, is
familiar and unwary. It spends all its time in the water and dives
well, but being a poor walker it seldom ventures out on to land though
it perches at times on trees. The flight is fast, and as a rule it flies
low over the water, twisting and turning skilfully to avoid stumps
and clumps of vegetation. On the wing it is very noisy, uttering a
peculiar cackling note which has been likened to the words fixed bayonets.
The breeding season is from June to August.
This Duck nests in the holes and hollows of trees in the near vicinity
of water ; the site may be at any height from the ground, from near
water-level to about 30 feet up ; though the majority of nests are placed
at a height of about 10 or 15 feet. The hole is thickly lined with twigs,
grass and feathers, all the work being done apparently by the female alone.
The normal clutch varies from eight to fourteen eggs, but as many
as twenty-two have been recorded.
The egg is a very regular oval, almost indeed spherical in shape.
The shell is very fine and smooth in texture, ivory-white in colour
with a high gloss.
In size it averages about 1-7 by 1-29 inches.
THE BAR-HEADED GOOSE
ANSER INDICUS (Latham)
Description. — Length 30 inches. Sexes alike. Head white, with
two short black bars on the nape ; a white band down each side of
the neck ; hind-neck dark brown, passing into the pale ashy-grey of
the upper plumage ; on the upper back and shoulders the feathers
THE BAR-HEADED GOOSE
521
have paler tips and the greater coverts are broadly edged with white ;
flight -feathers black, the outer ones with much of the base grey ;
tail pale grey with white edges ; fore-neck brownish-ashy, passing
gradually into whity-brown on the breast ; sides of the breast browner,
darkest on the flanks, barred with the pale tips of the feathers ;
remainder of lower plumage white.
Iris brown ; bill yellow, with the nail blackish ; legs orange.
A heavily-built bird, with a long neck and short rounded tail.
Bill short and high at the base, almost conical in shape ; legs short
and stout with webbed toes.
FIG. 1 03 — Bar-headed Goose (i nat. size)
Field Identification. — A typical Goose, grey-brown and white in
colour and easily identified from all other species by the two dark
bars on the back of the head.
Distribution. — In summer the Bar-headed Goose breeds in Central
Asia and Western China southwards as far as Ladakh and Tibet.
In winter it moves south to India and Burma, arriving in October
and leaving in March.
In Northern India it is abundant in winter from the Indus Valley east-
wards across to Assam, most numerous on the west and less so to the east.
About the Central Provinces it grows less common and south of that it
is scarce, though stragglers are found right down into Southern India.
The Greylag Goose (Anser anser) is also a common winter visitor
to Northern India, where it is abundant in Kashmir, the Punjab,
Saa POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
Sind and the United Provinces. The white nail to the bill and the
grey rump assist its identification. Considerable doubt attaches to
the identity of other species found in India, but the White-fronted
Goose (Anser albifrons) with a white nail and a dark greyish-brown
rump occurs in small numbers in the North-west. In this species a
white band about the base of the beak is most distinct.
Habits, etc. — This typically Indian Goose is found on the larger
lakes and j heels of Northern India but it is chiefly a riverain species,
spending the hours of rest and daylight on the sand-banks of the
great rivers of the north and feeding by night in the cultivation that
extends about their banks. These, like other species of geese, graze
on green vegetable food, and they do a lot of damage to the young
shoots of wheat, barley and rice, and also in the grain-fields, which
are visited night after night. There is a well-marked morning and
evening flight to and from the feeding grounds, and where the birds
are not much disturbed they start feeding early in the evenings and
also continue after dawn.
At all times they are very wary and difficult to approach, and the
flocks are usually credited with posting definite sentinels.
This Goose is found normally in large flocks of 20 to 100 birds,
but occasionally small parties and pairs separate off by themselves.
They fly high in the air with a very measured beat of the wings
and keep in regular formations of lines and wedges. The call is
a deep sonorous note, uttered by several birds in unison and usually
described as " gaggling."
In Ladakh and Tibet the eggs are laid in May and June. The
nests are placed on islands of the salt lakes at 13,000 and 14,000 feet
elevation, and are mere hollows in the soil lined with the bird's own
down. Where suitable islands do not exist, nests are placed on the
ledges of cliffs.
The full clutch usually consists of five or six eggs. The egg is a
long-pointed oval, strong in texture with a rather coarse grain and
little gloss. The colour is a very pale creamy-white which soon
becomes soiled.
The egg measures about 3*20 by 2-23 inches.
THE WHISTLING TEAL
DENDROCYGNA JAVANICA (Horsfield)
Description. — Length 17 inches. Sexes alike. Top of the head
brown, darkening behind ; remainder of head and neck light brown,
darkening behind and paling to almost white on the chin and throat ;
back and shoulders dark brown, with broad pale rufous tips to the
THE WHISTLING TEAL 523
feathers ; wings black with a chestnut patch on the shoulder ; rump
blackish ; upper tail-coverts chestnut ; tail dark brown ; lower
parts light ferruginous, becoming pale yellowish-brown on the upper
breast and whitish below the tail ; flanks light brown, with broad
whitish shaft-streaks. .
Iris brown, eyelids bright yellow ; bill brownish-blue, the nail
nearly black ; legs brownish-blue.
The nail at the tip of the bill is prominent and sharply bent down-
wards ; wings broad and rounded ; legs long and stout.
Field Identification. — A heavy dark brown Duck with rounded
wings which frequents overgrown swamps and settles in trees ; the
whistling call is distinctive. The chestnut upper tail-coverts distin-
guish it from the Larger Whistling Teal, in which they are whitish.
Distribution. — Found in India, Ceylon and Burma, extending also
eastwards to the Malay Peninsula, Siam, Cochin-China, Southern
China, Sumatra, Borneo and Java. In India it is found almost through-
out the plains except in the North-west Frontier Province and in the
Northern and Western Punjab. A local migrant, its movements
depending on the water-supply.
The Larger Whistling Teal (Dendrocygna fulva) has a remarkable
distribution in India, Burma and Ceylon, Africa and Central and
South America. In our area it sqems to be common only in Lower
Bengal and Assam.
Habits, etc. — This Duck avoids rivers and open weedless stretches
of water and prefers tanks, backwaters, swamps, and lakes where
there is an abundant growth of weeds and vegetation. Trees also
are essential to its comfort, as it not only breeds in them but roosts
and rests on the branches often in preference to water. It is usually
found in flocks of fifty individuals and more, and in specially favoured
localities it collects in vast numbers, surpassing those of all other
Duck. Its dietary is very varied, but a vegetable diet seems to be
preferred, and large quantities of mollusca are devoured. It is not
suitable for the table.
The Whistling Teal is a strong quick swimmer and it dives well ;
the flight is not very fast, though the wings are beaten very rapidly
and with great effort. As the name denotes, the call is a regular
whistle, not very clear, rather sibilant, and by no means harsh or
shrill. It is constantly uttered on the wing, especially when the bird
first takes to flight. There is also a low chuckling call, almost a
quack.
The breeding season is from late June until September. A certain
number of nests are to be found on the ground or a few feet above
it in masses of dense herbage. But the ordinary nest is in a tree,
either in the deserted nests of crows and kites, or in hollows in the
trunks and branches or between the boughs. The trees chosen are
524 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
usually in the vicinity of water ; and the nest is seldom more than
20 feet from the ground.
In the more open situations in trees the nest is a well-made struc-
ture of twigs and sticks lined with grass and a few feathers, but in
deeper holes in trees the eggs are sometimes merely laid on the
natural debris in the bottom of the hole.
The average clutch consists of eight to ten eggs, though more or
less are often laid.
The egg is a spherical oval, very smooth and fine in texture, neither
close-grained nor glossy, but rather chalky. The colour is ivory
white, which soon becomes stained.
It measures about 1-85 by 1-50 inches.
THE RUDDY SHELDRAKE
CASARCA FERRUGINEA (Pallas)
(Plate xxiv, Fig. 3, opposite page 506)
Description. — Length 26 inches. Male : Head and neck buff,
passing on the neck into the orange-brown of the body plumage ;
lower back and rump vermiculated with black ; wings whitish-buff,
quills black, the inner quills with the outer webs metallic-green and
bronze ; tail and its upper coverts black ; lower abdomen chestnut ;
wing-lining white. There is sometimes a black ring round the
neck.
The female is sometimes duller in tint with the head paler, almost
whitish ; she lacks the black neck ring.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Very similar to a goose in structure, but the bill is flatter and
more duck-like.
Field Identification. — Easily distinguished from all other ducks
by its bright orange-brown coloration and paler head and neck, con-
trasting in flight with the black quills and white wing-lining. Chiefly
found on the sand-banks of rivers, and usually in pairs.
Distribution. — Breeds from South Russia and the Balkan Peninsula
eastwards through Middle Asia to China and Japan. In winter it
moves southwards to North Africa, India, Ceylon and Burma, and
Southern China to Formosa. In India it arrives about October and
stays until April, and is found throughout the length and breadth of
the country in suitable places.
The Sheldrake (Tadorna tadorna) can be confused with no other
Indian duck, with its white plumage banded with black and chestnut,
the greenish black head and bright green speculum. It is an un-
common winter visitor to Northern India.
THE RUDDY SHELDRAKE 525
Habits, etc. — The Ruddy Sheldrake or Brahminy Duck in India
is essentially a bird of the larger rivers where the water is clean and
free'of vegetation and there are extensive sand-banks and sandy islets
left by the falling floods of the summer. In such localities it is found
in pairs which spend the greater portion of their time on the sandy
margins of the water, comparatively seldom entering it ; but when
they do so they swim well, with the head erect, the front half of the
body low and the stern held high ; on land they walk with ease.
During the day they generally rest, sitting and standing about together,
and at night they feed, often separating in the process. This has
given rise to the native legend that in the pairs of Brahminies are
enshrined the souls of erring lovers doomed as punishment to remain
in sight and hearing but separated by the flowing stream ; the ordinary
call which is freely uttered is a loud rather melodious a-onk, which
for the purposes of the legend is considered to form the names of
Chakwa and Chakwi, and the lovers are credited with the eternal
query in hope Chakwa aunga (Chakwa, shall I come ?) answered
sadly in the terms of the punishment Chakwi na ao (No, Chakwi).
A warning note — a rolling k-r-r-r-rew — seems to be uttered only by
the male.
In the absence of rivers and sand-banks the Brahminy visits lakes
and large tanks, but only those of the most open character. On the
wing they rise high into the air and fly strongly with rather slow wing-
beats, and through this and their bright coloration which catches the
sun they are easily recognisable at a great distance. On migration
numbers of pairs collect into loose flocks. Calm and confiding in its
demeanour when danger does not threaten, it is one of the wariest of
the family, and to bring it to bag is always a triumph for the sports-
man. In the main it is a vegetable feeder, and is therefore, as a rule,
quite good eating ; though there is a prejudice against it for the table
as it is supposed to feed on carrion.
The breeding season in Ladakh is in May and June. Here it
nests in holes and crevices of the high cliffs that overhang the rivers
and lakes, building a nest of down and feathers. Six to ten eggs are
laid. The egg is a moderately broad oval, slightly pointed at one end.
The texture is fine and smooth with a slight gloss and the colour is
creamy-white.
The egg measures about 2-5 by 1-8 inches.
526 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE MALLARD
ANAS PLATYRHYNCHA Linnaeus
Description. — Length 24 inches. Male : Head and upper neck
glossy emerald-green divided by a white ring from the deep chestnut
breast ; upper back finely vermiculated with brown and white washed
on the shoulders with chestnut ; middle back dark brown ; rump and
a patch above and below the tail black, partly glossed with purple or
green ; wings brown, the speculum * metallic violet-purple between
two white bars edged interiorly with black ; tail greyish-white, the
four central feathers black glossed with blue-green and curled over
backwards ; lower plumage finely vermiculated grey and white ;
under surface of wings white.
Female : Brown above, the feathers edged with buff, and on the
upper back and shoulders with concentric buff bands ; sides of the
head paler than the crown, with a darker streak through the eye ;
chin and throat brownish-buff ; wings as in the male ; under parts
buff with brown centres to the feathers, the upper breast browner ;
tail brown with whitish-buff edges.
Iris brown ; bill greenish-yellow, blackish towards the tip, duller
and yellower in the female ; legs orange-red.
After breeding, the drake moults about June into a plumage
resembling that of the female, and reassumes his own distinctive
dress by another moult in September. This is known as the " eclipse,"
and as the wing-quills are shed simultaneously and not in pairs in
the usual manner, the bird is, for a time, virtually flightless. The
female undergoes similar moults, and these are found in most of those
species of duck in which the males are brilliantly coloured and do not
assist in rearing the young. With the exception of the Spotbill all
the following species have an " eclipse " plumage.
Field Identification. — The most generally known of all wild duck.
The mottled brown and buff duck and the greyish- white-looking drake,
with his dark green head and chestnut breast separated by a white
ring, are easily identified by the violet-purple speculum bordered
above and below by black and white bands.
Distribution. — The Mallard breeds throughout the Northern
Hemisphere, and in winter is found southwards to Northern Africa,
Madeira, the Canaries and Northern India. It is found also in North
America (though the Greenland and Iceland birds have been separ-
ated as sub-species), wintering south to Mexico, the West Indies and
Panama. Within our limits it breeds in very great numbers in Kashmir
* Speculum is the name applied to the rectangular patch of metallic colour
found on the wing of many freshwater ducks.
THE MALLARD 527
and great numbers winter there. It is abundant also in winter in
the North-west Frontier Province, Baluchistan, the Punjab, Sind,
and in lesser numbers in the United Provinces. A few wander to
Rajputana, the Central Provinces, Bombay, Bengal and Assam, but
it is unknown in Southern India. It is most numerous from December
to February.
Habits, etc. — The Mallard in India is found in pairs, small parties,
and in flocks numbering up to forty or fifty birds, which may be
found in all places where wild duck congregate, jheels, rivers, lakes
and tanks, small reedy channels and irrigated cultivation. They swim
and walk well, and when feeding do not dive, though they frequently
depress the head and neck so far below water that their bodies are
vertically inclined, the tail sticking straight into the air, while their
feet paddle to maintain the balance. They rise quickly into the air
straight off the surface of the water, and once on the wing the flight
is very fast, the strong regular beat of the wings producing a whistling
sound audible some distance away. They feed both by day and night,
and have a regular flight to and from favoured feeding grounds at
dusk and dawn ; though this habit is not quite so marked in India
as in the west, owing to the greater abundance of safe feeding places.
The ordinary note of the male is a low and soft sound between a croak
and a murmur, while the female has a louder and clearer jabber. But
when flushed both sexes quack, that of the female being also louder.
The breeding season in Kashmir is in May and June. The nest
is built of coarse flags and grasses, more or less lined with feathers
and down from the bird's own breast ; it is placed in clumps of rushes
along the edges of jheels and water-courses.
The clutch consists of six to twelve eggs.
The egg is a moderately broad regular oval, of a fine and smooth
texture with a slight gloss. Freshly laid it is of a dull pale greenish
tint, but this soon fades and stains into a dingy brown colour.
In size the eggs average about 2-20 by 1-60 inches.
THE SPOTBILL
ANAS PCECILORHYNCHA Forster
Description. — Length 24 inches. Sexes alike. Head and neck
whitish with brown streaks except on the chin and throat, the marking
being heaviest on the top of the head and in a band through the eye ;
upper back brown with pale edges to the feathers ; wings brown,
the speculum bright metallic-green, between two white bars edged
interiorly with black, above the speculum a broad white streak ; lower
back, tail and a patch above and below black ; breast and lower
528 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
abdomen fulvous-white spotted with brown ; lower abdomen dark
brown ; under surface of wings white.
Iris brown ; bill black with a yellow tip and a red spot on each
side of the base ; legs orange-red.
Field Identification. — A large duck in which both sexes wear a
grey version of the plumage of the female Mallard. They are readily
distinguished from her by the green (as opposed to purple) speculum,
the bright red spots at the base of the beak, and the clumsier
build.
Distribution. — The Spotbill is found almost throughout the
Indian Empire, Siam, Cochin- China, China and Eastern Siberia.
It is divided into three races, but we are only concerned with the
typical form which occurs in India, Ceylon and Assam north of the
Brahmaputra. In India it is very generally distributed south of
the Himalayas from the Indus Valley eastwards, being most common
in North-western and Central India. It is only locally migratory.
Habits, etc. — Apart from the fact that it is a resident species, the
Spotbill differs from most of our Indian migratory ducks in its lack
of sociability ; it rarely associates closely with other species, and is
usually found only in pairs or small parties of ten to a dozen birds
of its own species. These avoid large open waters, and prefer small
weedy j heels with plenty of cover or straggling creeks well screened
by trees. Fresh water is essential to them, even brackish water, like
the Sunderbunds, not being to their taste.
The Spotbill is a good bird for the table, as it is largely a vegetable
feeder, and indeed often does a good deal of damage to the rice crops,
trampling down and spoiling as much as it eats ; water-molluscs, frogs,
worms, and insects are also eaten. From the sporting point of view
it is less interesting than most of our other ducks. It is not shy,
and resting amongst cover often gets up practically at the feet of the
sportsman, rising slowly and with a good deal of fuss, but once well
on the wing it is a most deceptive bird to shoot, its size making the
flight appear slower than it really is.
When wounded it dives well and conceals itself skilfully in the
weeds or under water, holding itself submerged with only its bill
exposed for air.
The ordinary note is a quack, very similar to that of the Mallard.
The breeding season is rather variable, from March to December,
according to locality and the state of the rainfall, and at times the
bird appears to be double-brooded.
The nest is a compact well-made structure of grasses, rushes and
weeds, lined with the down of the parent bird. It is well concealed
in herbage on the ground on small islands or bunds at the edge of
streams and ponds, or even in grass some distance away from
water.
THE SPOTBILL 529
The clutch consists of eight to ten eggs, and fourteen have been
recorded. The egg is a broad regular oval, rather pointed at the
small end and the texture is smooth and fine with a slight gloss. The
colour is a pale buffy-drab, which grows stained with incubation.
The eggs measure about 2' 15 by 1-70 inches.
THE GADWALL
CHAULELASMUS STREPERUS (Linnaeus)
(Plate xxiii, Fig. 4, opposite page 484)
Description. — Length 20 inches. Male : Head and neck greyish-
white speckled with brown, the crown and a band through the eye
chiefly brown ; lower neck and upper back dark brown with concentric
whitish bars ; back brown, the feathers edged and vermiculated with
fulvous white ; rump1 and a patch above and below the tail black ;
wings greyish-brown, the speculum white, edged exteriorly with black
and divided by a broad shaded black bar from a patch of chestnut
on the wing-coverts ; tail greyish-brown ; lower plumage whitish
with heavy brown crescents on the breast and narrow wavy brown
bars on the sides and flanks.
Female : Head and neck streaked brown and white, browner
above and whiter beneath ; upper plumage dark brown, the feathers
edged with rufous buff ; rump blackish-brown ; wings and tail as
in the male except that the chestnut patch is very indistinct ; breast
pale rufous spotted with brown ; abdomen white.
Iris brown ; bill leaden-grey, in female dusky with orange sides ;
legs dull orange-yellow, webs dusky.
Field Identification. — A large, rather dully-coloured duck which
may be recognised at once by the white speculum divided by a black
bar from a patch of chestnut on the wing-coverts. The drake has
the tail set in a patch of velvet black, with the breast boldly marked in
brown and white crescents.
Distribution. — The Gadwall is found throughout the Northern
Hemisphere, breeding in the temperate portions of Europe, North-
western Asia and America. In winter it migrates southwards to
Abyssinia, India, Burma, China, Mexico, and Florida. In India
it is a most abundant winter visitor from about October to April,
found in great numbers through Northern India down to Northern
Bombay. South of that it grows less common until Mysore is its
southern limit.
The Wigeon (Mareca penelope) is also a common winter visitor
to India, being most numerous in the North-west. The drake is
unmistakable. His creamy-golden forehead and crown stand out
2L
530 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
in contrast with the chestnut head and neck ; the back and flanks are
vermiculated grey, whilst sharply-defined black under tail-coverts and
a large white shoulder-patch are points to observe. The female is
slighter in build than the Gadwall and more rufous and has the tail
slightly pointed. The Marbled Duck (Marmaronetta angwtirostris)
is far scarcer and more irregular in appearance in Northern India.
It is remarkable for the curiously mottled grey and brown plumage
of both sexes and the absence of a speculum.
Habits, etc. — Except that it avoids the sea-coast the Gadwall is
found in India wherever other ducks are found, in all types of river,
marsh and tank, and it is certainly one of the most abundant species
throughout the whole of Continental India. It is usually found in
flocks of ten to thirty individuals and is not particularly shy though
it is a fine sporting bird, rising quickly and cleanly from the water
and flying after the fashion of a Teal, fast and high with noisy wings,
which appear more pointed than those of the Mallard. On the water
it sits higher than the Mallard, with the stern more elevated. Normally
it does not dive, but can do so strongly when wounded.
The call may be described as a chuckling croak. The flesh is
very good eating, as the bird is chiefly a vegetarian, and feeds largely
on rice, becoming very fat, and in the varied bags of duck that are
obtainable in India the Gadwall holds a high place.
In the north the breeding season is about May.
The nest is placed in a hollow of the ground amongst thick
vegetation on the edge of water and is made of reeds and grass with a
mixture of down and feathers.
The normal clutch consists of six to ten eggs, but as many as
sixteen have been found. The egg is a regular blunt oval, fine and
smooth in texture with a slight gloss ; in colour it is a warm yellowish
cream.
It measures about 2-26 by 1-51 inches.
THE COMMON TEAL
NETTION CRECCA (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 15 inches. Male : Head and upper neck
chestnut, with a broad metallic-green band edged with a buff line
running back from the eye and enclosing it, a buff line also connects
it with the side of the chin ; chin blackish-brown ; lower neck all
round, back and sides of the body narrowly barred black and white ;
a broad buff line edged exteriorly with black along each shoulder ;
rump brown ; upper tail-coverts black edged with fulvous ; wings
THE COMMON TEAL 531
brown, the speculum bright emerald-green edged with velvet-black
more broadly towards the edge of the wing, and divided by a pale
cinnamon and white bar from the lesser wing-coverts ; tail brown ;
breast whitish spotted with black ; abdomen white ; under the tail
a black patch with buff sides.
Female : Upper parts, wings and tail dark brown, the edges
of the feathers paler ; wings as in the male ; lower parts whitish,
the sides and lower surface of the head and neck marked with brown,
and the breast spotted with brown.
Iris brown ; bill dark slaty-grey ; legs brownish or greenish-grey.
Field Identification. — A very small duck, distinguished from
other Indian species by the conspicuous emerald green and black
speculum and the pale cinnamon bar on the coverts. The chestnut
head and buff-edged green eye-patch, the fine black and white barring
of the body and the black and white line down the shoulders of the
drake in full plumage are very distinctive.
Distribution. — The Teal is very generally distributed in Europe,
Northern Africa and Asia, breeding in the northern and more temperate
parts of this area and moving southwards in winter. Another race
occurs in North America. The typical race does not breed anywhere
within the confines of the Indian Empire, but in winter it is very
generally distributed in India, Burma and Ceylon from about October
to March, a few being met with from August to May.
The Garganey (Querquedula querqueduld) is found throughout
India and is one of the earliest ducks to arrive, at the end of August.
The broad white eye-stripe, the pale blue shoulder to the wing and
the elongated scapulars of the male are distinctive. The female
resembles the duck Teal but is paler. The Baikal Teal (Nettion
formosum), with its green and creamy-white head markings, and the
Falcated Teal (Eunetta fakata), with bushy green crest and long
sickle-shaped tertiaries, are both rare stragglers to India and Burma.
Habits, etc. — The Teal is one of the most abundant and favoured
by the sportsman of the many species of wild-fowl which congregate
in India in winter. It is found in any type of water or marshy ground,
on rivers and lakes, in j heels and irrigation, in the muddy village
pond or the roadside ditch ; its numbers vary with the accommodation
from single birds and pairs to flocks many hundreds strong, though
probably the most usual formation in which to find it is a flock
numbering some thirty or forty birds ; these associate with other
species of duck on the water and when disturbed often fly with them,
but the alliance is only temporary, the association of the hour.
The Teal is very largely a night feeder, and is, therefore, one
of the species most frequently observed at the flight, and though it
feeds a good deal by day numbers will be flushed from thick cover
about the edges of water, where they idly doze away the hours of
53a POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
sunshine in the shade. The bird is chiefly a vegetable feeder, and
obtains much of its food on foot, for it is a good walker, dredging
and sifting the mud in shallow water with its beak. It also feeds while
swimming, and though not a diver, except when wounded, is able to
" stand on its head " in the water, tail in air, after the fashion of the
domestic duck and its wild progenitor, the Mallard.
The flight is exceedingly swift and strong, and on the wing the
bird is a master of the art of twisting and wheeling. It is not a noisy
duck ; the note of the male is a low far-sounding krit-krit, while the
female has a short sharp quack.
In the North, about April or May, the Teal breeds in boggy
patches on moorland, in the glades of woods or in marshes. The
nest is placed on the ground and is a mass of leaves, grasses, bracken
and other vegetable matter, lined with down and a few feathers.
It is well concealed under tufts of grass or bushes.
The clutch varies from eight to twelve eggs, but as many as twenty
have been found. The egg is a broad regular oval, compressed towards
one end ; the texture is fine, close and smooth and there is a slight
gloss. The colour is a pale uniform buff, sometimes tinged with green.
The egg measures about 1-60 by 1*20 inches. <
THE PINTAIL
DAFILA ACUTA (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 22 to 29 inches, of which 5 to 8 inches
belongs to the tail. Male : Head and fore-neck umber-brown ; hind-
neck black ; a white band down each side of the neck from the nape
to join the white of the lower parts ; upper plumage and sides of the
body finely barred and vermiculated with black and white ; longer
scapulars lanceolate in shape, velvet-black, edged with light brown ;
wings greyish-brown, the speculum metallic-green edged on three
sides with black, the black being deepest and widest interiorly, a
buff bar above the speculum and a white bar below it ; upper tail-
coverts black and grey ; tail brown, the long central feathers black ;
breast and abdomen white, speckled with grey towards the tail ;
lower flanks buff ; a black patch below the tail.
Female : Greyish-brown above, streaked paler, with concentric
pale bars on the back ; wing greyish-brown, the speculum dull and
ill-defined with little trace of green or black, and set between two
white bars ; chin and throat white ; lower plumage whitish marked
with dusky brown.
Iris dark brown ; bill bluish-plumbeous, black along the top ;
legs greyish-plumbeous.
THE PINTAIL 533
The neck is long and the central tail-feathers long and pointed.
Field Identification. — A very slender and graceful duck with long
neck and sharply-pointed tail. The drake is easily distinguished by
the brown head, the white line running down the sides of the neck
to the white breast, and the buff spot before the black patch under
the tail. In the absence of a distinctive speculum and marking,
the female is difficult to recognise except by her shape, but she is
only likely to be confused with female Gadwall and Wigeon. In
both of these, however, the speculum has a white inner border formed
by the outer web of the next secondary.
Distribution. — The typical race of Pintail breeds in the Northern
Hemisphere across Northern Europe, Northern and Central Russia
and Northern Asia, migrating south in winter to Central and Southern
Europe, Northern Africa and Southern Asia, including India, Ceylon
and Burma. American birds have been separated sub-specifically.
In India it is purely a winter visitor, arriving at the end of October
and leaving in March, and it is found practically throughout the
country, though it is by no means universally distributed.
Similarity of name must not lead to confusion with the Stiff-tailed
Duck (Erismatura leucocephald) which is a scarce visitor to North
West India. This is a curious brown bird with a white face, and it
is remarkable for its diving powers and the habit of swimming with the
tail erect.
Habits, etc. — The Pintail easily holds the first place amongst the
ducks of India as a sporting bird, as a good bird for the table, and
for grace of shape and carriage. It is always found in flocks, seldom
in number less than twenty birds, and often numbering several
hundreds ; and as by day these flocks keep to fairly open water well in
the middle of j heels where a light growth of weeds and lilies gives
them a measure of concealment without obstructing their view they
are difficult to approach. They rise from the water with some difficulty,
but once on the wing they fly very swiftly, their whole build being for
speed, and soon rise out of shot. It is a peculiarity of this species that
the adult males usually gather into separate flocks, apart from the
ducks and immature males, and it is usually the latter which do not
fly so high that come into the shooter's bag.
As divers the Pintails are of no account but they swim well, sitting
very lightly on the water, and with their long necks and pointed tails
attain an unmistakable grace and beauty of carriage. They walk well,
but are seldom seen on land except when feeding on irrigated or
flooded land where they are sometimes found in the early mornings ;
for they feed at night and then leave the safety of the waters, where
they spent the day, to visit secluded creeks and channels and canal
irrigation. s
They are easily recognised on the wing by their long necks and
2L2
534 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
tails, and by the low hissing swish of their wings. Usually a silent
species, they occasionally utter a soft quack, generally as an alarm-note.
The breeding season in the North is from April to August. The
nest is built on islands in the middle of lakes or in swampy marshes
with little open water. It is the usual duck nest of flags and grasses,
with an inner lining of feathers and down, placed on the ground and
well concealed amongst herbage.
The clutch consists of six to eight eggs. These are* very fine
and close in texture with a fair amount of gloss ; the shells are thinner
than those of most ducks. The colour is a pale dull greenish-stone.
In size the egg averages 2-15 by 1-5 inches.
THE SHOVELLER
SPATULA CLYPEATA (Linnaeus)
Description. — Length 20 inches. Male : Head and upper neck
glossy green ; hind neck and back dark brown, the feathers pale
edged ; rump and upper tail-coverts black glossed with green ; tail
dark brown, the outer feathers broadly edged with white ; sides of the
wings bluish-grey divided by a broad white bar from the green
speculum ; scapulars long and pointed, bluish-grey and black, with
white shaft-streaks ; wing-quills dark brown ; lower neck and breast
with a line to the scapulars pure white ; lower breast and abdomen
chestnut, with a white patch on the lower flanks ; under the tail a
patch of black glossed with green.
Female : Upper plumage brown, each feather with a pale reddish
border, and most of the feathers, except of the head and neck, with
concentric rufous bands ; sides of the wings dull bluish-grey divided
by a broad white bar from the green speculum ; wing- and tail- quills
brown ; lower plumage brownish-buff more rufous on the abdomen,
the fore-neck speckled with dark brown, and the breast and flanks
marked with crescentic brown bars which fade away towards the
tail.
Iris yellow, brown in the female ; bill black in adult male, dark
brown with the lower mandible dull orange in females and young
males ; legs orange-red.
The bill is long and flat, twice as broad at the tip as at the base,
and the sides of the upper mandible are much turned down near the
tip ; the sides are set with fine exposed plates (lamellae) like the teeth
of a comb.
Field Identification. — Heavy spatulate beak, conspicuous in flight
and at rest, separates this duck from all other Indian species. The
full-plumaged male is also easy to recognise, with the green head,
THE SHOVELLER 535
white breast and scapular line and the chestnut under parts, but it
must be remembered that this plumage is not usually fully developed
in India till February. In both sexes the green speculum divided
by a white bar from the blue-grey shoulder are distinctive.
Distribution. — Breeds throughout the greater part of Europe,
Northern Asia and North America, migrating in winter to the
Mediterranean Basin, Egypt, Tropical Africa, and most of Southern
Asia to China and Japan ; also in America southwards to the West
Indies and Central America. In winter it is found throughout India,
arriving about the end of October and staying latfer than most ducks
until the end of April. Common in the North, it grows scarcer
towards the South.
Habits, etc. — The Shoveller is usually found singly, in pairs or
in parties of ten or a dozen individuals, and therefore, though common,
FIG. 104 — Shoveller (J nat. size)
it is never so abundant numerically as the other species of ducks
which collect into large flocks. It is a specialised form, its bill being
developed for the purpose of sieving mud and muddy water for the
minute living organisms and aquatic seeds that they contain ; for this
reason it is less seldom found on the open clearer waters than in the
shallower, more dirty and weedy jheels and ponds where, as a rule,
it feeds about the margins. It is more likely than other ducks to be
found about small and filthy village ponds, and at such places if
undisturbed it becomes very tame and bold, living in them for weeks
and feeding on all sorts of miscellaneous foods. Small wonder is it
then that the flesh of the Shoveller is rank and unpleasant to eat and
that experienced sportsmen neglect the bird. Nor is it interesting to
shoot : it is easily approached when on the water and rises heavily
and awkwardly, taking some time to get under way, though once in
the air it flies well and strongly. It is a poor swimmer and diver,
as is only to be expected of a bird that spends most of its time with its
536 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
head and neck under water straining mud ; it is, therefore, easy to
retrieve when wounded.
As a rule a silent bird, it occasionally utters a creaking quack or
a low look-took in flight.
In the North the breeding season is from April onwards. The
nest is built in meadows near water or in marshy ground, and is
well concealed in herbage on the ground. It is rather a bulky structure
made of soft reeds and rushes with a lining of down.
Eight or nine eggs are usually laid, but sixteen have been recorded.
They are rather long ovals, pointed at the smaller end, fine and close in
texture with a fair gloss. The colour is yellowish-grey with either
a green or cream tinge.
The average size is 2*1 by 1-45 inches.
THE POCHARD
NYROCA FERINA (Linnaeus)
(Plate xxiv, Fig. i, opposite page 506)
Description. — Length 18 inches. Male : Head and neck rufous-
chestnut ; base of neck all round with upper back and breast glossy-
black ; lower back and a patch above and below the tail black ;
remainder of plumage pale grey finely vermiculated with black except
the quill-feathers which are brown, greyer in the wings and darker
in the tail.
Female : Head, neck and breast rufous-brown, blackish on the
crown and mixed with greyish-white on the cheeks and throat ; back,
shoulders and wing-coverts grey, more or less vermiculated with
black ; rump and upper tail-coverts blackish ; wing- and tail-feathers
brown ; lower parts sullied white turning brown on the flanks and
under the tail.
Iris reddish-yellow ; bill bluish-grey, the tip and base black ;
legs bluish-grey, the webs blackish.
The hind toe is broadly lobed, as in all diving ducks.
Field Identification. — A squat, heavily-built duck. The drake
is easily distinguished by the vermiculated grey plumage ending
sharply in black on the breast and tail, and the bright chestnut head.
The duck is a dull grey and brown bird with whitish throat and
abdomen, which lacks the white wing-bar of the White-eye and
Tufted Duck.
Distribution. — The Pochard breeds throughout a large area of
Northern and Central Europe and across Siberia. It is largely migra-
tory, and in winter occurs throughout temperate Europe, Egypt,
THE POCHARD 537
North-western Africa and Southern Asia to China and Japan. Another
sub-species is found in North America.
In India the Pochard arrives about the end of October, but is
not common till November, and it leaves again about March, a few
staying into April. It is found throughout Northern India in large
numbers, growing scarcer towards the south, being very rare in
Mysore.
The Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) is a winter visitor to
Northern and Central India. The male may be known by the com-
bination of red head and crimson bill, glossy black under parts, white
wing-bar and white shoulder-patch. The female is much duller and
lacks the black under parts, but the dull red bill and the contrast
between the dusky crown and whitish cheeks and throat are marked.
Habits, etc. — With the Pochard we have the first of the diving
ducks which obtain the greater part of their food, consisting of the
roots and buds of aquatic plants, by diving deep under water. This
explains, therefore, the fact that this species in India is mainly met
with in the larger j heels and tanks out in the open deeper water free
from surface vegetation. It mostly feeds by night, and by day rests
in flocks on the water, riding with the body low in the water very
much down by the stern, and the head and neck drawn in on the
body. It swims well, but seldom visits the land, where it walks but
poorly.
In rising from the water the Pochard is slow and awkward, but
once on the wing it is a straight and strong flier with quick beats of
the short wings which make a peculiar rustling sound. The flocks
travel in a mass and not in formation, and mount high into the air.
The note is a harsh croak kurr-kurr.
The breeding season in the north is in May.
The nest is built in rough grass or reed-beds either on the land
at the edge of the water or actually on the water. On land it consists
of a hollow in the ground roughly lined with grass and reeds together
with feathers and down ; but out amongst the reeds on the water it
is a most solid structure like the nest of a Coot.
The clutch consists of eight or ten eggs, but fourteen have been
recorded. The eggs are very regular broad ovals, smooth in texture
but dull and glossless. In colour they are a dull greenish-grey.
They measure about 2-30 by 1-70 inches.
538 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
THE WHITE-EYE
NYROCA NYROCA (Giildenstadt)
Description. — Length 16 inches. Male : Head, neck and breast
dull chestnut, a white spot on the chin and a blackish-brown collar
round the lower neck joining the upper back ; upper plumage blackish-
brown ; wings dark brown, a broad white band running through the
flight-feathers ; tail dark brown ; lower plumage white, sullied with
brown on the lower abdomen, the sides of the body reddish-brown
growing darker towards the tail.
Female : Similar but duller ; head and neck reddish-brown ;
upper plumage brown ; the reddish-brown of the breast is mixed
with white and is not sharply divided from the white of the lower
plumage as in the male.
Iris white in male, brown in female ; bill bluish-black ; legs
plumbeous-grey, webs blackish.
Field Identification. — A small dark duck with white under parts
and a white bar through the wing ; the white eye of the drake con-
trasting with the reddish-brown head is distinctive. Females and
young males must not be confused with those of the Tufted Duck,
a heavier bird with less white in the wing and less rufous in
colour.
Distribution. — The typical race breeds in the Basin of the Medi-
terranean in Central and Eastern Europe and in Western Asia as far
as Kashmir. In winter it extends into Africa as far south as the
Canaries and Abyssinia, and in Asia to India and Arrakan.
In India proper the typical race arrives about the end of October
and leaves again in March. It is very abundant in Continental India,
but gradually grows rarer southwards, and is not found at all in Southern
India.
The Eastern race, N. n. baeri, which breeds in Eastern Siberia
and winters in China and Japan occurs as far west as Bengal. In
this the head is black or blackish-brown glossed with green.
The Tufted Duck (Nyroca fuligula) is a common winter visitor to
all except the extreme south of India. The drake is glossy black
with a long pendant crest and white under parts, appearing on the
water as coal-black with an oval white flank. His yellow eye leads
to confusion with the Golden-eye (Bucephala clanga), a rare winter
visitor to northern India, whose male also looks vivid black and
white but may be known by a circular white patch below the eye.
Another black and white bird is the drake of the Smew (Mergellus
albellus) in which the head is white with a broken black line through
the eye. This also winters in northern India but is commoner.
THE WHITE-EYE 539
Habits, etc. — The White-eye may be found on every type of water,
fresh or salt, either in the hills or plains or along the sea-coast. It is
by preference, however, a bird of the more secluded and weedy jheels,
where the whole shores are overgrown with herbage and occasional
patches of open water are surrounded by water-lilies and rushes.
. In such places this duck is very abundant in small flocks, though
the members of a flock scatter amongst the cover to rest and rise only
two or three at a time.
Although retiring in its habits the White-eye is neither shy nor
difficult to approach ; it rises rather badly for a duck and at first flies
low over the water, though once on the wing it travels fast and high.
It is a most expert swimmer and diver, and one dropped wounded
into the weedy water that it frequents is seldom brought to bag.
The food is very varied, consisting of vegetable matter and aquatic
seeds, of inserts and their larvae, small fish and especially molluscs.
The flesh in consequence varies, and is sometimes excellent for the
table, sometimes almost uneatable.*
The harsh call rather resembles that of the Pochard, and is variously
expressed by the syllables kek-kek-kek or koor-kirr-kirr.
In Kashmir the breeding season commences in April, and the
majority of eggs are laid about June. It was at one time customary
for the fishermen to collect large cargoes of ducks' eggs, both of the
White-eye and Mallard, for sale in the markets of Srinagar, but this
has now been stopped.
The nest is built either on the ground or in the water amongst
rushes and other vegetation ; it is a moderate-sized structure of dry
rushes and sedges with an inner lining of finer grasses and weeds ;
feathers and down are padded round the eggs. The egg is a regular
perfect oval, smooth and fine in texture with very little gloss. The
colour is a delicate tint of cafe-au-lait.
The average size is 2-1 by 1-5 inches.
THE LITTLE GREBE
PODICEPS RUFICOLLIS (Pallas)
Description. — Length 9 inches. Sexes alike. Summer plumage :
Top of the head and hind-neck blackish-brown ; face round the bill
and chin blackish ; sides of the head and of the neck, throat and
fore-neck chestnut ; upper parts dark brown, the outer flight-feathers
paler brown with their bases white and the inner flight-feathers almost
entirely white ; breast, flanks and under the tail dark brown mixed
with white ; abdomen silky white.
540 POPULAR HANDBOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS
In winter plumage the crown and hind-neck are brown, the chin
white, and the chestnut of the neck is replaced by rufous.
Iris red-brown ; bill black with a white tip, the base greenish-
yellow ; legs blackish-green, inside of the tarsus pale olive-green.
Bill compressed and sharply pointed ; tail quite rudimentary,
consisting of short downy feathers ; legs compressed, with broad
lateral lobes coalescing at the base and not contracted at the joints
as in the Coot. The plumage is very silky and waterproof.
Field Identification. — The smallest of the true water-birds of
India, swimming low in the water and disappearing under it at the
least provocation. Its size at once distinguishes it.
Distribution. — The Little Grebe has a very wide distribution,
being found in various races throughout the greater part of Europe,
Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. P. r. capensis, the form
FIG. 105 — Little Grebe (4 nat. size)
found in India, Burma and Ceylon, distinguished from the typical
race by the white bases to the primaries and the greater amount of
white in the secondaries, is also found in Persia, Turkestan and por-
tions of Africa. Within our limits it is found everywhere on suitable
water both in the plains and in the hills up to 5000 feet, and in the
Nilgiris up to 8000 feet. It is partly resident and partly migratory.
The Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) is found in Northern
India as a fairly common winter visitor to the larger jheels and in some
areas it undoubtedly breeds. It is much larger than the Little Grebe,
and in the water appears as a slender long-necked sharp-beaked bird,
dark above and white below. In the breeding season conspicuous
black " ear-tufts " on the crown, chestnut tippet and flanks make it a
most handsome species.
Habits, etc. — The Little Grebe or Dabchick is an example of a
family which is highly specialised for a purely aquatic life. It is
found in tanks and the deeper jheels. It may > be said virtually never
THE LITTLE GREBE 541
to land on terra firma ; except when travelling it spends its whole
life in the water swimming like a Cormorant, very low in the beam
and ready to dive at the least sign of danger. Much of its food in the
way of small fishes is captured under water, for it dives well and can
swim far beneath the surface ; though it also feeds on the surface
and there procures vegetable matter, small mollusca and water insects.
Quantities of their own feathers are found in the gizzards of Grebes,
either with or without pebbles, and they are apparently swallowed
for the same digestive purposes for which the latter are swallowed
by most birds.
It rises from the water with some difficulty owing to the com-
paratively small size of its wings, but once in the air travels well and
fast. On settling it strikes the water with the breast, which is well
cushioned with fat, down and feathers, instead of thrusting forward
its feet as a brake after the fashion of ducks and geese.
The wing-feathers in autumn are shed simultaneously as in the
ducks, so that for a short period the bird is quite flightless.
Ordinarily it is found singly or in small parties, but on the Manchar
Lake in Sind it gathers in winter into enormous flocks, hundreds
strong. Numbers breed on the same water, but their nesting habits
can hardly be called colonial.
The breeding season extends from May to September.
The nest is a mere mass of water-weed, based on a tuft of grass
or aquatic plants, but practically floating in water as a rule. On this
three to seven eggs are laid, and they are covered over with a pad of
weed by the parent bird when she leaves the nest, however hurriedly.
The combined heat of the sun and the fermentation of this decaying
vegetable matter in the water is largely responsible for the incubation
of the eggs which commences as soon as the first one is laid, with
the result that there is always a slight difference between the ages
of the young Grebes. The young are remarkable for their striped
coloration ; they leave the nest as soon as hatched and swim instinc-
tively, keeping up all the time a low monotonous chirrup.
The egg is a moderately elongated oval, much pointed at both
ends ; the texture is fairly close and chalky with little or no gloss.
When first laid the eggs are unmarked white, faintly tinged with blue
or green, but they rapidly become discoloured to dark earthy-brown.
In size they measure about 1*40 by i inch.
INDEX
[The scientific names are in italics, and the names of genera
are indicated by capitals.]
abbotti (Cyanosylvia), 102
abuensis (Octocompsa), 74
Accipiter, 380
AcridothereSy 203 /
AcrocephaluSy 161
acuta (Dafila), 532
acutirostris (Calandrella), 256
Adjutant, 502
smaller, 502
Sy 2,6
a> 62
cenea (Cha tia)> 155
cenea (Muscadivora), 391
ceruginosus (Circus), 374
JEihiopsar, 206
JEthopyga, 265
affinis (Coracias), 294
(Micropus), 311
(Mir afro), 258
(Monticola), 118
(Pericrocotus), 147
(Perisosspisa), 218
(Tephrodorms), 146
(Turdoides), 43
fl^z/e (Piprisoma), 274
agricola (Acrocephalus), 163
(Streptopelid), 394
aigneri (Lobivanellus), 460
Alauda* 253
(Egretta), 509
(Motacilla), 237
), 347
(Mergellus), 538
albicaudata (Eumyias), 125
albicilla (Siphid), 121
albicollis (Leucocirca), 101, 135
(Rhynchops), 487
albifrons (Anser), 522
(Sterna), 486
albirictus (Dicrurus), 155
alboeincta(Turdus)t 112
albogularis (Dumetia), 50
(Frankltnta), 172
(Garrulax), 32
alboides (Motacilla), 243
542
albosuperciliaris (Seicercus), iSo
Alcedoy 301
Alcemerops, 298
alchata (Pterocles), 406
Alcippe, 54
Alcurus, 77
AlectortSy 428
alexandrinus (Leucopolius), 463
almorce (Sitta), 29
alpina (Erolia), 471
althaea (Sylvia], 174
<z/«ro (Strix), 339
amandava (Amandavd), 216
Amaurornis, 437
AmmomaneSy 261
Ammoperdix, 428
^4mw, 526
Anastomus, 505
andamanencis (Gracula), 194
angustirostris (Marmaronetta), 530
Anhinga, 493
anser (Anser), 520
AnthropoideSy 444
AnthuSy 250
antigone (Antigone), 445
apiaster (Merops), 297
apicicauda (Sphenocercus)t 390
aplonotus (Machlolophus), 23
<2/>ws (Micropus), 312
Aquila, 360
Arborophila, 433
Ardea, 507
Ardeola, 512
argentauris (Mesia), 61
argoondah (Perdiculd), 427
^^^«, 43
arquata (Numenius), 465
ArtamuSy 153
arvensis (Alaudd), 254
(Demiegrettd)y 509
(Francolinus), 431
asiatica (Cyanops), 290
(Perdicula)y 426
asiaticus (Caprimulgus), 316
(Cmnyris), 268
(Xenorhynchus), 502
INDEX
543
Asio, 342
assamica (Mir afro), 256
Astur, 380
Athene, 347
athertoni (Alcemerops), 298
atra (Fulica), 441
atrata (Saxicola), 86
atricapilla (Munia), 215
atriceps (Rhopocichla), 56
atrogularis (CEnanthe), 92
(Turdus), 113
0tt/7M (Alcedo), 301
aurantia (Sterna), 484
aureola (Leucocirca), 135
auriceps (Dry abates), 279
aurifrons (Chloropsis), 65
aurocristatus (Dryonates), 282
australis (Alauda), 254
Avadavat, 216
Avocet, 465
avocetta (Recurvirostra), 465
asurea (Hypothymis), 132
B
BABBLER, Abbott's, 54
Black-headed, 56
Common, 43
Jungle, 40
Large Grey, 45
Nepal, 54
Quaker-, 54
Red-capped, 50
Rufous-bellied, 50
Scimitar-, see Scimitar-Babbler
Spotted, 53
Striated, 44
White-headed, 42
Yellow-eyed, 51
badia (Ducula), 391
badius (Astur), 381
baeri (Nyroca), 527
baileyi (Leioptila), 58
bakeri (Cuculus), 319
bakkamcena (Otus), 345
barbatus (Gypdetus), 358
Barbet, Blue-throated, 290
Crimson-breasted, 292
Crimson-throated, 292
Great Himalayan, 287
Green, 289
Lineated, 289
Small Green, 289
Bassant Bairi, 285
batassiensis (Cypsiurus), 313
Baya, 209
Baz, 381
Bee-Eater, Blue-cheeked, 291
Blue-bearded, 298
Blue-tailed, 297
Chestnut-headed, 298
European, 297
Green, 295
beema (Motacilla), 249
beludschieus (Merops), 296
bengalensis (Alcedo), 301
(Bubo), 342
(Centropus), 331
(Molpastes), 69
(Ploceus), 212
(Pseudogyps), 353
(Psittacula), 336
(Sypheotides), 449
benghalensis (Brachypternus), 285
(Coracias), 293
(Rostratula), 478
Bhim-raj, 160
Bhringa, 160
bicincta (Dendrophassa), 388
bicolor (Saxicola), 85
bicornis (Dichoceros), 304
biludshicus (Merops), 289
birostris (Tockus), 306
bispecularis (Garrulus), 16
Bittern, 514
Chestnut, 515
Little, 516
Little-green, 516
Yellow, 516
Blackbird, Grey-winged, in
Nilgiri, no
White-collared, 112
Blue-Bird, 189
Blue-Chat, 81
Blue-Jay, 293
Blue-Magpie, 10
Red-billed, 10
Yellow-billed, 10, n
Bluethroat, 101
blythi (Sylvia), 174
blytkii (Sturnia), 196
borealis (Psittacula), 326
Botaurus, 514
boulboul (Turdus), in
bourdilloni (Rhopocichla), 56
(Turdus), in
brachydactyla (Calandrella), 255
Brachypternus, 285
brachyura (Pitta), 275
brachyurus (Micropternus), 282
544
INDEX
Brain-fever bird, 321
brama (Athene), 347
brevicaudata (Prinia), 184
brevicaudata (Riparia), 235
brevirostris (Cinnyris), 268
(Pericrocotus), 148
Broadbill, Long-tailed, 276
brodiei (Glaucidium), 346
brucei (Alcippe), 54
bruniceps (Emberiza), 233
brunnea (Luscinia), 83
brunneicephalus (Larus), 481
brunnescens (Acrocephalus), 161
Bubo, 342
Bubulcus, 511
Bucephala, 538
buchanani (Franklinia), 170
Bulbul, Black, 66
Black-crested Yellow, 74
Brown-eared, 76
Common, 68
Green, 64
Red-vented, 68
Red-whiskered, 73
Rufous-bellied, 67
Striated Green, 77
White-browed, 74
White-cheeked, 71
White-throated, 75
Yellow-browed, 75
Bullfinch Nepal, 220
Red-headed, 220
Bunting, Black-headed, 232
Crested, 233
Meadow-, 230
Red-headed, 233
Striolated, 230
White-capped, 229
Burhinus, 450
burkii (Seicercus), 180
burmanicus (Ploceus), 210
Bush-Chat, Dark-grey, 89
Pied, 85
Bush-Lark, Bengal, 256
Madras, 258
Red-winged, 258
Singing, 257
Bush-Quail, 426
Bush- Warbler, Pale, 188
Strong-footed, 188
Bustard, Houbara, 449
Indian Great, 449
Bustard-Quail, 435
Butastur, 366
Butcher-bird, 143
Buteo, 378
buteo (Buteo), 379
Butorides, 516
Button-Quail, 434
Indian, 435
Buzzard, Common, 370
Honey-, 363
Long-legged, 378
White-eyed, 366
cachinnans (Trochalopteron), 37, 325
Cacomantis, 185, 322
ccerulescens (Dicrurus), 158
cceruleus (Elanus), 367
(Myophonus), 119
cafer (Molpastes), 68
Calandrella, 255
caligata (Hippolais), 164
calliope (Calliope), 102
callipyga (Leiothrix), 61
calvus (Sarcogyps), 350
cambaiensis (Saxicoloides), 105
cambayensis (Streptopelia), 398
campestris (Anthus), 252
caniceps (Carduelis), 223
(Lanius), 142
(Thereiceryx), 289
canorus (Cuculus), 85, 318
canus (Picus), 276
capensis (Podiceps), 540
(Ranphalcyon), 302
Capella, 475
capistrata (Leioptila), 58
(CEnanthe), 91
capitalis (Hemipus), 144
caprata (Saxicola), 85
Caprimulgus, 316
c0r£>o (Phalacrocorax), 492
Carduelis, 223
Carpodacus, 220
caryocatactes (Nucifraga), 16
Casarca, 524
caschmirensis (Parus), 19
cashmirensis (Sitta), 28
castanea (Sitta), 28
Catreus, 419
Cattle Egret, 509
caudata (Argya), 43, 325
caurina (Galloper dix), 421
cenchroides (Astur), 381
Centropus, 331
Cercomela, 94
Cere, 333
Certhia, 77
INDEX
545
Ceryle, 299
ceylonense (Dtcceum), 272
ceylanensis (SpizaStus), 363
ceylonensis (Copsychus), 107
iCulicicapa), 128
(Dissemurus), 160
(Eremopteryx), 262
(Francolinus), 433
(Himantopus), 465
(Hypothymis), 134
(Oriolus), 193
(Perdicula), 416
(Pericrocotus), 150
(Streptopelia), 396
(Tchitrea), 131
(Upupa), 309
Chaimarrhornis, 98
Chakwa, Chakwi, 525
Chalcophaps, 395
Ckaptia, 155
Charadius, 462
Chat, Blue-, 83
Chat, Bush-, see Bush-Chat
Rock, 94
Stone, 87
Chaulelasmus, 529
cheela (Heematornis), 364
Cheer Pheasant, 419
chendoola (Galerida), 259
cherrug (Falco), 383
Chettusia, 461
Chibia, 155
chicquera (Falco), 384
Chiffchaff, 175
chinemis (Cissa), 10
(Excalfactoria), 425
(Streptopelia), 386
chirurgus (Hydrophasianus), 457
ChlamydotiSy 449
Chlidonias, 482
chlorogaster (Crocopus), 378
Chloropsis, Gold-fronted, 65
Jerdon's, 64
Orange-bellied, 65
Chloropsis, 62
chloropus (Gallinula), 438
Choriotis, 449
Chough, 17
Alpine, 17
chrysaStus (Aquila), 360
Chrysocolaptes, 286
Chrysomma, 51
chukar (Alec torts), 428
Chukor, 428
Chukor, Ram-, 428
aa (Emberiza), 230
Ciconia, 502
ciconia (Ciconia), 505
cinclus (Cinclus), 82
cinclorhyncha (Monticola)t 116
cinerea (Ardea), 507
(Gallicrex), 440
(Motacilla), 246
cinnamomeus (Ixobrychus), 515
(Passer), 228
cinnamoventris (Sitta), 29
Cinnyris, 268
Circaetus, 365
Ctraa, 374
cirrhatus (Spizagtus), 361
Cissa, 10
Cisticola, 168
citreola (Motacilla), 249
citrina (Geokichla), 114
Clamator, 42, 45, 324
danga (Bucephala), 538
Cliff-Swallow, 239
clypeata (Spatula), 532
collybita (Phylloscopus), 175
Columba, 392
columboides (Psittacula), 326
Comb-Duck, 507
compressirostris (Leucocirca), 135
concinnus (&githaliscus), 26
concolor (Riparia), 236
contra (Sturnopastor), 207
Coot, Common, 441
Purple, 440
Coppersmith, 292
Copsychus, 1 06
Coracias, 293
corallina (Sitta), 31
cora* (Corvus), i
Cormorant, 491
Common, 492
Little, 491
coromandelianus (Nettopus), 519
coromandelicus (Coturnix), 424
(Cursorius), 452
coromandus (Bubo), 344
(Bubulcus), 511
(Clamator), 324
coronata (Hemiprocne), 314
owojte (Corvws), 3
Corvus, i
Coryllis, 337
Cotton-Teal, 519
coturnix (Coturnix), 422
Coucal, 313
Lesser, 331
2M
546
INDEX
Courser, Cream-coloured, 453
Indian, 452
Crag-Martin, 236
Crake, Baillon's, 437
Ruddy, 427
Crane, Common, 443
Demoiselle, 444
Sarus, 445
crecca (Nettion), 520
Creeper, Tree-, 77
Wall-, 79
Criniger, 75
crinigera (Suya), 181
crispus (Pelecanus), 489
cristata (Galerida), 259
cristatus (Lanius), 136
(Pavo), 407
(Podiceps), 541
Crocopus, 388
Crow, Carrion, 3^
Common House, 5, 327
Jungle, 3
King-, 155
-Pheasant, 331
Cryptoplectron, 427
Cuckoo, Banded Bay, 323
Common, 318
Drongo-, 325
Hawk-, 42, 321
Himalayan, 319
Indian, 2, 340
Little, 319
Pied Crested, 40, 42, 45, 46, 324
Plaintive, 185, 189, 322
Red-winged Crested, 324
Cuckoo-Dove, Bar-tailed, 402
Cuckoo-Shrike, Black-headed, 151
Large, 151
Dark-grey, 152
cucullata (Urocissa), 10
cuculoides (Glaucidium), 349
Cuculus, 40, 318
Culicicapa, 128
culminatus (Corvus), 3
Curlew, 465
Stone-, 450
curonicus (Charadrius), 463
curruca (Sylvia) , 173
cursitans (Cisticola), 169
cursor (Cursorius), 453
Cursorius, 452
cyaneus (Circus), 377
cyanocephala (Psittacula), 336
Cyanops, 290
Cyanosylvia, 101
cyanotus (Geoktchla), 115
Cyanura (lantkia), 103
Cyanuroptera (Sivd)t 60
Cypsiurus, 313
D
DABCHICK, 540
Dafila, 532
dalhousice (Psarisomus), 276
Darter, 493
Daulias, 70
daurica (Htrundo), 241
Dayal-bird, 106
dehrce (Sturnopastor), 208
delesserti (Garrulax), 33
Demiegretta, 509
Demoiselle, 444
Dendrocitta, 12, 13
Dendrocygna, 522
DendronanthuSy 249
Dendrophassa, 388
Desert- Lark, 261
deserti (Ammomanes), 261
(CEnanthe), 92
deserticolor (Otus), 345
diezxz (Galerida), 259
Dicceum, 272
Dichocerqs, 85, 304
Dicrurus, 155, 325
" Did-he-do-it,'* 460
diluta (Riparia), 235
dilutus (Brachypternus), 286
Dinoptum, 286
Dipper, 82
discolor (Certhia), 78
Dissemurus, 159
Dissoura, 500
domesticus (Passer), 226
dominica (Pluvialis), 461
Dove, Common Turtle-, 394
Emerald, 395
Indian Ring-, 399
Little Brown, 397
Red Turtle-, 401
Rufous Turtle-, 394
Spotted, 396
Drongo, Black, 151
Bronzed, 155
' Hair-crested, 155
Indian Grey, 158
Large Racket-tailed, 159
Lesser Racket-tailed, 160
White-bellied, 158
Drongo-Cuckoo, 317
Dryobates, 279
Dryonastes, 34
INDEX
547
dubius (Charadrius), 462
(Leptoptilus), 502
Duck, Brahminy, 525
Comb-, 518
Marbled, 530
Stiff-tailed, 533
Tufted, 538
White-eyed, 538
Ducula, 391
dukhunensis (Calandrella), 256
(Motacilla), 244
Dumetia, 50
dumetorum (Acrocephalus), 163
Dunlin, 471
dussumier (Turnix), 435
dussumieri (Astur), 371
duvaucelii (Hoplopterus), 460
E
EAGLE, Bonelli's, 362
Crested Hawk-, 361
Crested Serpent-, 364
Golden, 360
Grey-headed Fishing-, 368
Hodgson's Hawk-, 363
Pallas' Fishing-, 367
Short-toed, 365
Steppe, 360
Tawny, 360
Eagle-Owl, Dusky, 344
Rock, 342
ear Hi (Argya), 44
eclipes (Argya), 44
" Eclipse " plumage, 526
Egret, cattle, 509, 511
Larger, 509, 511
Little, 509
Smaller, 509, 511
Egretta, Egrets, 509
Elanus, 377
ellioti (Pterocles), 406
elphinstonii (Columba), 393
Eniberiza, 229
emeria (Otocompsa), 75
Enicurus, 95
episcopus (Dissoura), 500
epops (Upupa), 308
Eremopteryx, 262
Erismatura, 522
ermanni (Streptopelia), 398
Erolia, 470
erythrinus (Carpodacus), 220
erythrocephala (Pyrrhula), 219
(Streptopelia), 394
erythrocephalum (Trochalopteron), 33
erythrocephalus (Harpactes), 309
erythrogenys (Pomatorhinus), 48
erythronotus (Lanius), 142
erythroptera (Mirafra), 258
erythropus (Tringa), 470
erythropygia (Hirundo), 241
erythropygius (Pericrocotus), 150
erythrorhynchos (Dicceum), 272
erythrorhynchum (Cryptoplectron), 427
EsacuSy 451
Eudynamis, 325
eugenei (Myophonus), 119
Eumyias, 124
Eunetta, 531
eupatria (Psittacula), 332
eurdpceus (Caprimulgus), 317
Eurystomus, 294
Excalfactoria, 425
excubitor (Lanius), 137
exustus (Pterocles), 405
fairbanki (Trochalopteron), 37
falcata (Eunetta), 531
falcinellus (Plegadis), 497
Fafco, 382
Falcon, Lugger, 382
Peregrine, 383
Saker, 383
Fantail-Warbler, 168
fasciatus (Harpactes), 309
(Hieraetus), 363
ferina (Nyroca), 536
fernandonis (Orthotomus), 166
/<?ro* (Circaetus), 365
/<?rra* (Rhodophila), 89
ferruginea (Casarca), 524
filifera (Hirundo), 238
Finch-Lark, 262
Finch, Mountain-, 228
Fish-Owl, Brown, 340
Fishing-Eagle, 367
Flamingo, 518
flammeus (Asio), 342
(Pericrocotus), 147
/tavtf (Motacilla), 248
flavala (Ixos), 67
flaviceps (Ploceus), 212
flavicollis (Ixulus), 61
flaviventris (Otocompsa), 74
flavirostris (Urocissa), 10
Floriken, 447
Likh, 448
Bingal, 449
Flower-Pecker, Nilgiri, 272
INDEX
Flower Thick-billed, 274
Tickell's, 272
fluvicola (Hirundo), 239
Flycatcher, Black and Orange, 127
Black-naped, 133
Blue-throated, 123
Brown, 129
Fantail-, 101, 123, 135
Grey-headed, 128
Nilgiri Blue, 125
Orange-gorgetted, 121
Paradise, 131
Red-breasted, 121
Slaty-blue, 123
Sooty, 124
Tickets Blue, 122
Verditer, 124
White-eyebrowed Blue, 123
Flycatcher- Warbler, Black-browed, 180
Grey-headed, 179
Fork-tail, 95
formosa (Stictospiza), 217
formosee (Dendrocitta), 12
formosum (Nettwri), 531
fortipes (Homochlamys), 188
Fowl, see Jungle-Fowl or Spur-Fowl
francolinus (Francolinus), 430
Franklima, 170
franklinii (Prinia), 187
French Partridge, 428
Fringillauda, 228
frontalis (Phcenicurus), 97
(Eremopteryx), 262
(Sttta), 30
frugilegus (Corvus), 3, 9
Fulica, 441
fulicata (Saxicoloides), 104
fuliginosa (Rhyacornis), 100
fuligula (Nyroca), 538
Full Snipe, 475
fulva (Dendrocygna), 523
fulvus (Gyps), 352
fusca (Cercomela), 94
(Halcyon}, 303
(Printa), 184
fuscicaudata (Otocompsa), 74
fuscus (Amaurornis), 437
(Artamus), 153
(JEthiopsar), 206
(Mthiopsar), 206
GADWALL, 529
Galertda, 259
Galltcrex, 440
gallinago (Capella), 464
Gallinulla, 438
Galloper dixy 420
gallus (Gallus), 416
ganeesa (Microscelis), 67
gangetica (Prima), 186
gangeticus (Otus), 345
Garganey, 531
garrula (Coracias), 294
Garrulax, 32
Garrulas, 14, 15
garzetta (Egretta), 509
Gelochelidon, 486
Gennceus, 404
gentilis (Astur), 381
Geokichla, 114
#/fei'£ (Trochalopterori), 38
ginginianus (Acridotheres), 205
(Neophron), 356
Glareola, 454
glareola (Tringa), 468
Glaucidium, 346, 348
Goatsucker, 318
Godwit, Black-tailed, 465
Golden-eye, 538
Goldfinch, 222
Goose, Bar-headed, 520
Grey-lag, 521
White-fronted, 522
Goshawk, 381
govinda (Milvus), 372
Grackle, 194
gracilis (Franklima), 182
(Prinia), 178
Gracula, 194
graculus (Pyrrhocorax), 17
gr&ca (Alectoris), 428
Grammoptila, 38
grandis (Dtssemurus), 160
(Ntclava), 130
granti (Pellorneum), 53
Graucalus, 151
grauculus, 151
^r^rv* (Ardeola), 512
Grebe, Great Crested, 540
Little, 539
Greenfinch, Himalayan, 222
Greenshank, 469
gregaria (Chettusia), 461
Griffin's Pheasant, 323
Griffon, Himalayan, 352
grisea (Eremopteryx), 262
griseigularis (Passer), 226
griseogularis (Ammoperdtx), 428
griseus (Tockus), 306
INDEX
549
Grosbeak, Black and Yellow Allied, 218
Ground-Thrush, Orange-headed, 114
Grouse, see Sandgrouse
grus (Grus)y 443
gulgula (Alauda), 253
Gull, 481
gularis (Crimger), 75
(Tephrodornis), 146
guttacristata (Chrysocolaptes), 286
guttatus (Enicurus)y 95
guzerata (Orthotomus), 166
GymnorhiSy 224
Gypaetusy 358
Gyps, 352
H
HcematorriSy 364
htzmacephala (Xantholtema), 292
Halcyon, 303
Haliaetus, 367
halicztus (Pandion), 369
Haliastur, 370
hamiltonii (Gennceus), 417
hardwickii (Chloropsts), 63
(Dryonates), 282 •
haringtoni (Pomatorhimis), 49
Harpactesy 309
Harrier, Hen, 377
Marsh, 374
Montagu's, 377
Pale, 375
Pied, 377
Hawk-Cuckoo, 321
Hawk-Eagle, 361
Hodgson's, 363
hemachalanus (Gypaetus), 358
Hemichelidon, 124
Hemiprocne, 314
HemipuSy 144
HenicuruSy see Enicums, 92
henrici (Francolinus), 43 1
Heron, Buff-backed, 501
Common or Grey, 507
Little Green, 516
Night, 514
Pond-, 513
Purple, 507
Reef, 509, 511
Hieraetus, 363
HierococcyXy 42, 321
himalayana (Certhia\ 77
(Psittacula), 336
himalayensis (Dryonates), 279
)> 352
), 28
(Tetraogallus), 428
himalayanus (Pyrrhocorax), 17
HimantopuSy 464
HippolatSy 164
HirundinapuSy 312
Hirundoy 237
hodgsoni (Anthus), 245
(Franklinia), 172
holdsworthi (Pomatorhinus), 47
HomochlamySy 168
Honey-Buzzard, 363
Honeysucker, see Sunbird
Hoopoe, 308
HoplopteruSy 460
Hornbill, Great, 304
Grey, 306
Hemipodii, 435
Malabar Grey, 306
horsfieldii (Myophonus), 119
(Pomatorhinus), 47
hortensis (Sylvia), 174
hottentotta (Chibia), 155
Houbara, 449
House-Crow, 5
/EfOTie*' (JEgitftina), 63
(Micropternus), 283
(Microscilis), 67
/mmn (Molpastes), 71
(Phylloscopus), 176
(Sturnus), 199
humilis (CEnopopelia), 401
Humming-bird, 269
huttoni (Argya), 44
hybrida (Chlidonias), 482
Hydrocissa, 304
HydrophasianuSy 457
Hypacanthis, 222
hyperythra (Dwnetia), 50
(Siphia), 121
hypoleucus (Chrysomma), 52
(Tringa)y 466
Hypotcenidia, 439
HypothymiSy 133
I
lanthia, 103
lanthocinda, 34
/Wj, 503
ifcis (Bubulcus), 5 1 1
Ibis, Black, 497
Glossy, 497
Pelican, 504
Warty-headed, 497
White, 495
ichthyaetus (Icthyophaga), 368
Jeter oides (Perissospiza), 218
2M2
550
INDEX
Icthyophaga, 368
icterica (lole), 75
ignotincta (Mm/a), 63
imbricatum (Trochalopteron), 38
impejanus (Lophophorus), 418
inconspicua (Alauda), 254
Mica (Athene), 347
(Chalcophaps), 395
(Chltdonias), 483
(Coracias), 294
(Gallinula), 438
(Gracula), 194
(Kittacincla), 109
(Riparia), 235
(Saxicola), 87
(Sypheotides), 447
(Xantholoema), 292
indicus (Anser), 520
(Burhinus), 451
(Caprimulgus), 317
(Dendronanthus), 249
(G&w). 352
(Haliastur), 170
(Lobivanellus), 459
(Metopidius), 456
(Passer), 226
(Pterocles), 404
indoburmanicus (Psittacula), 333
indranee (Strix), 340
zWttf (Haliastur), 370
infumatus (Cypsiurus), 314
infuscata (Taccocua), 330
ii^f/tn (Prinia), 184
inornata (Prinia), 187
inornatus (Phylloscopus)y 176
(Thereiceryx), 283
insolens (Corvus), 5
wwtt/d? (Pycnonotus), 77
insularis (Prinia), 187
intemior (Passer), 228
intermedia (Alauda), 254
(Columba), 393
(Egretta), 509
(Gracula), 194
(Saxicoloides), 105
intermedium (Brachypternus), 286
(Coratf), 3
(Dicrurus), 158
(Mo//>as^), 69
(Parus), 15
interpositus (Francolinus), 433
inter stinctus (Falco), 386
/o/e, 75
lora, Common, 62
Marshall's, 63
iredalei (JEgithaliscus), 26
iranica (Sitta), 29
/rg«a, 189
isabellina ((Enanthe), 93
uabellinus (Lanius), 140
Ixobrychus, 515
Zvof, 67
Ixulus, 6 1
Yellow-naped, 61
j
JACANA, Bronze-winged, 456
Pheasant-tailed, 457
Jackday, 8
Jack-Snipe, 471 ^
jacobinus (Clamator), 40, 42, 45, 46, 324
japonica (Hirundo), 241
javanense (Dinopium), 286
javanica (Chltdonias), 483
(Dendrocygna), 522
(Hirundo), 240
(Mirafra), 257
javanicus (Leptoptilus), 502
(Merops), 297
javensis (Graucalus), 151
Jay, Black-throated, 15
Blue-, 293
Himalayan, 15
jerdoni (Charadrius), 463
(Chloropsis), 64
(Micropternis), 283
(Trochalopteron), 37
jocosa (Otocompsa), 73
yw^er (Falco), 382
juncidis (Cisticola), 168
Jungle-Fowl, Grey, 410
Red, 412
Jurra, 381
Jjwc, 286
K
KALIJ or Kaleej Pheasant, 404
kaschmiremis (Parus), 15
Kastura, 108
kelaartii (Uroloncha), 213
Kestrel, 385
Ketupa, 330
King-Crow, 155, 325
Kingfisher, Common, 301
Himalayan Pied, 300
Pied, 299
Stork-billed, 301
White-breasted, 303
kinnisii (Turdus), in
Kite, Black- winged, 367
Brahminy, 370
INDEX
Kite, Common Pariah, 371
Red, 372
Kittacincla, 108
Koel, 325
Koklas, 406
korovtakovi (Alectoris), 428
krameri (Psittacula), 334
Kulung or Kunj, 433
kundoo (Oriolus), 191
kunsarensis ((Leiothrix), 61
lactea (Glareola), 454
lahtora (Lanius), 137
Lai, 212
Lalage, 151
Lammergeier, 358
lanceolatus (Garrulus), 15
Lanius, 137
lanka jerdonii (Micropternus), 277
Lapwing, 310
Red-wattled, 459
White-tailed, 462
Yellow- wattled, 461
Lark, Bush-, see Bush-Lark
Crested, 259
Desert-, 261
Finch-, 262
Little, 253
Malabar Crested, 259
Rufous- tailed, 261
Sand-, 256
Short-toed, 255
Sky-, 254
Syke's Crested, 259
Larus, 481
Laughing-Thrush, Black-gorgetted, 33
Necklaced, 33
Nilgiri, 37
Red-headed, 34, 36
Rufous-chinned, 34
Rufous-necked, 34
Streaked, 38
Striated, 38
Variegated, 35
White-crested, 32
White-throated, 32
Wynaad, 33
lathami (Melophus), 233
latirostris (Muscicapd), 129
leggei (Hemipus), 144
(Kittacincla), 109
Leioptila, 58
Leiothrix, 61
Leiothrix, Red-billed, 59
lepida (Prinia), 182
Leptoptilos, 502
leschenaultii (Ketupa), 341
(Merops), 298
(Taccocua), 329
lettia (Otus), 346
leucocephala (Chaimarrhornis), 98
(Erismatura), 533
leucocephalus (Ibis), 503
Leucocirca, 135
leucogaster (Tchitrea), 131
leucogastra (Dendrocitta), 12
hucogenys (Molpastes), 71
leucogrammicus (Alcurus), 77
leucolophus (Garrulax), 32
leucomelanura (Ceryle), 300
leucomelanus (Gennaus), 415
leuconota (Columba), 393
Leucopolius, 463
leucopsis (Motacilla), 244
(Sitta), 28
leucorodia (Platalea), 496
leucoryphus (Haliaetus), 367
leucotis (Molpastes), 71
leucura (Chettusia), 451
(Saxicola), 88
lhamarum (Alauda), 254
Lt/5/z, 449
hlfordi (Grus), 444
//mes (Certhia), 78
limnaetus (Spisaetus), 363
limosa (Limosa), 465
lineatum (Trochalopteron\ 38, 325
lineatus (Milvus), 372
(Thereiceryx), 283
Uneoventer (Uroloncha), 215
/rota (Columba), 392
Lobipluvia, 461
Lobivanellus, 459
longicaudatus (Dicrurus), 158
longipennis (Calandrella), 250
longirostris (Monticola), 118
Lophophanes, 24
Lophophorus, 407
Lorikeet, Little, 337
lotentia (Cinnyris), 268
ludlowi (Phylloscopus), 178
Lugger Falcon, 372
lugubris (Ceryle), 300
(Surniculus), 325
lunulata (Galloper dix), 421
Luscinia, 83
/u/ea (Leiothrix), 61
luteolus (Pycnonotus), 76
Lymnocryptes, 478
55*
macei (Dryobates), 279
Machlolophus, 22
macrocercus (Dicrurus), 155, 325
nacrolopha (Pucrasia), 417
Macropygia, 402
macrorhynchos (Corvus), 3
macrourus (Circus), 375
macrurus (Caprimulgus), 317
maculatus (Enicurus), 95
(Turnix), 435
maderaspatanus (Oriolus), 193
maderaspatensis (Motacilla), 245
(Pomatorhinus), 47
mtfgwa (Galerida), 259
magnirostris (Psittacula), 333
Magpie, 9
Blue-, 10
Green, 10
Magpie-Robin, 106
mahrattarum (Parus), 19
mahrattensis (Mthiopsar), 206
(Dryobates), 280
(Turdus), no
mo/or (Parus), 18, 20
(Platalea), 498
malabarica (Galerida), 259
(Kittacincla), 108
(Lobipluvia), 461
(Sturnia), 200
(Uroloncha), 213
malabaricus (Dissemnrus), 160
(Pericrocotus), 150
(Turdoides), 41
malacca (Munia), 215
Malacocincla, 54
malayensis (Anthus), 252
malcolmi (Argya), 45, 325
Malkoha, 328
Green-billed, 328
Mallard, 526
mandellii (Pellorneum), 53
(Phylloscopus), 177
Mango-bird, 191
manillensis (Psittacula), 334
many or (Ploceus), 211
maratha (Otus), 345
Mareca, 529
Marmaronetta> 530
marshallorum (Megalcema), 288
Martin, Crag-, 236
Sand-, 235
mcclellandii (Ixos)y 67
Meadow-Bunting, 225
INDEX
mecranensis (Francotinus), 433
meena (Streptopelia), 394
Megalcema, 287
melanocephala (Emberisa), 232
(Tragopan), 419
(Urocissa), 10
melanocephalus (Threskiornis), 495 „
Melanochlora, 26
melanogaster (Anhinga), 493
(Sterna), 486
melanogrisea (Motacilla), 249
melanoleucus (Circus), 377
melanolophus (Lophophanes), 24
melanope (Motacilla), 247
melanosternus (Acridoiheres), 203
melanotis (Hcematornis), 365
melanotos (Sarkidiornis), 517
melanotus (Francolinus), 431
(Gennceus), 417
melanurus (Pomatorhinus), 47
melaschista (Lalage), 152
we/&<2 (Micropus), 312
Melophus, 233
Mergellus, 527
meridionale (Trochalopteron), 37
meridionalis (Acrocephalus), 162
Merlin, Red-headed, 384
Merops, 295
merulinus (Cacomantis), 185, 195, 322
Mesia, 61
Silver-eared, 61
Metopidius, 456
Microdchla, 95
Micropternus, 282
micropterus (Cuculus), 40, 311
Micropus, 311
Microscelis, 66
migrans (Milvus), 371
fmVw (JEthopyga), 266
milvus (Milvus), 373
Minah, see Mynah
minima (Cinnyris), 271
minimus (Lymnocryptes), 478
Minivet, Little, 149
Orange, 147
Rosy, 149
Scarlet, 147
Short-billed, 148
White-bellied, 150
Minla, 63
Red-tailed, 63
wiwor (Dicrurus), 155
(Sturnus), 199
minula (Sylvia), 174
minullum (Dic&um), 272
INDEX
553
minuta (Erolia), 471
minutus (Ixobrychus), 516
Mirafra, 258
modestum (Piprisoma), 268
Molpastes, 68
Monal, 418
monedula (Corvus), 8
moniiiger (Garrulax), 33
montanus (Passer), 226
Monticola, 116
monticolus (Caprimulgus), 317
(Parus), 21
Moorhen, 427
Mosque-Swallow, 236
Motacilla, 243
Mountain-Finch, Stoliczka's, 228
multicolor (^Egithina), 63
Munia, Black-headed, 215
Chestnut-bellied, 215
Green, 217
Rufous-bellied, 213
Spotted, 215
White-backed, 213
White-throated, 213
muraria (Tichodroma), 79
murghi (Gallus), 414
Muscadivora, 391
Muscicapa, 129
Muscicapula, 122
musooriensis (JEthopyga), 266
Mynah, Bank, 205
Brahminy, 201
Common, 203
Grey-headed, 200
Jungle, 206
Pied, 207
Myophonus, 119
N
nanus (Dryobates), 282
nasutus (Lanius), 138
nebularia (Tringa), 469
neglecta (Columba), 383
nemoricola (Capella), 478
(Fringillauda), 228
Neophron, 356
nepalensis (Alcippe), 54
(Lanius), 138
(Musdcapuld), 123
, 537
Nettapus, 519
Nettion, 530
nicobarica (Tchitrea), 131
n^er (Phalacrocorax), 491
Nightingale, 70
Nightjar, European, 317
Franklin's, 317
Horsfield's, 317
Indian, 316
Jungle, 317
Hfgra (Ciconia), 502
nigriceps (Choriotis), 449
(Leioptila), 58
nigrifrons (Rhopocichla), 56
nigrimentum (Trochalopteron\ 34
nigrolutea (&githina), 63
nigrorufa (Ochromela), 127
nilgiriensis (Saxicola), 85
(Zoster ops), 264
nilotica (Gelochelidori), 486
Niltava, 130
nipalensis (JEthopyga), 267
(Aquila), 360
(Hirundo), 241
(Parus), 19
(Pftto), 276
(Psittacula), 333
(Pyrrhula), 219
(Spizaetus), 363
m'sws (Accipiter), 380
m'ftWwj (Phylloscopus), 178
nuchalis (Parus), 19
Nucifraga, 15
Nukta, 517
Numenius, 465
Nutcracker, 16
Nuthatch, Chestnut-bellied, 28
Himalayan, 28
Kashmir, 28
Rock-, 29
Velvet-fronted, 30
White-cheeked, 28
nycticorax (Nycticorax), 514
nyroca (Nyroca), 538
O
objurgatus (Falco), 386
obscurus (Pomatorhinus), 47
ocellatum (Strix), 339
occidentis (Zosterops), 264
occipitalis (Phylloscopus), 178
Ochromela, 127
ochropus (Tringa), 468
ochrurus (Phosnicurus), 97
oedicnemus (Burhinus), 450
(Enanthe, 90
(Enopopelia, 340
omalura (Cisticola), 169
onocrotalus (Pelecanus), 489
554
Open-bill, 505
opistholeuca (CEnanthe), 91
optatus (Cuculus), 319
oreophila (CEnanthe) , 93
orientalis (Corvus), 3
(Eurystomus), 294
(Merops), 295
(Pterocles), 403
(Streptopelia), 384
(Turdoides), 41
(Upupa), 309
Oriole, Black-headed, 192
Golden, 191
Maroon, 193
oriolus (Oriolus), 191
Orthotomus, 166
oscitans (Anastomus), 505
Osprey, 369
Ossifrage, 358
Otocompsa, 73
O*w*, 345
(^4«o), 342
Owl, Barn, 347
Brown Fish-, 340
Brown Wood-, 340
Collared Scops-, 345
Eagle, see Eagle-Owl
European Brown, 339
Long-eared, 342
Mottled Wood-, 339
Short-eared, 342
Owlet, Jungle, 348
Large Barred, 349
Pygmy, 346
Spotted, 347
pacificus (Micropus), 312
Paddy-bird, 512
pagodarum (Temnuchus), 201
pallasii (Alcedo), 301
(Cinclus), 82
pallida (Dendrocitta), 12
pallidior (Culicicapa), 128
pallidogula.ru (Cyanosylvia), 99
pallidus (Homochlamys), 188
(Molpastes), 69
(Pericrocotus), 150
(Tephrodornis), 146
palpebrosa (Zosterops), 264
paludicola (Riparia), 235
Pandion, 369
pandoo (Monticola), 118
Papaya, 202
INDEX
papillosus (Pseudibis), 497
par (Emberiza\ 231
paradiseus (Dissemurus), 159
paradisi (Tchitrea), 130
Parrakeet, Blossom-headed, 336
Blue-winged, 334
Green, 334
Large Indian, 332
Slaty-headed, 336
parroti (Centropus), 331
Partridge, Black, 430
Chukor, 428
French, 428
Grey, 433
Hill-, 433
Painted, 431
Parus, 1 8
parva (Siphia), 121
parvula (Dendrocitta), 12
Passer, 226
passer inus (Cacomantis), 323
Pastor, Rosy (Pastor), 196
patia (Orthotomus), 167
Pavo, 407
Pawi, 202
Peafowl, 407
pectoralis (Calliope), 102
(Garrulax), 33
(Leucocirca), 135
(Franklinia), 172
Peewit, 460
peguensis (Ploceus), 212
Pekin-Robin, 61
Pelecanus, 489
Pelican, Dalmatian, 489
Rosy, 489
Spotted-billed, 489
Pellorneum, 53
penelope (Mareca), 529
peninsularis (Dircrurus), 155
(Gracula), 194
Penthoceryx, 323
Peora, 433
percnopterus (Neophron), 356
Perdicula, 426
peregrinus (Falco), 383
(Pericrocotus), 149
Pericrotus, 147
Perissospiza, 218
Pernis, 363
personata (Motacilla), 243
persicus (Merops), 297
phaioceps (Micropternus), 283
Phalacrocorax, 492
Pharaoh*s Chicken, 357
INDEX
555
Pheasant, Cheer, 419
Crow-, 331
Griffin's, 331
Horned, 419
Kalij, 415
Koklas, 417
Monal, 418
philippinus (Ploceus), 209
phillipsi (Dumetia), 50
Philomachus, 470
philomela (Daulias), 70
PhtenicopteritSy 518
phoenicopterus (Crocopus), 388
phoenicura (Amaurornis), 437
(Ammomanes), 261
phvenicuroides (Lanius), 141
(Phcenicurus), 97
Phoenicurus, 97
phoeopus (Numenius), 465
Phylloscopus, 175
pica (Clamator), 324
(P/ra), 9
picata (CSnanthe), 90
P/CMS, 277
picatus (Hemipus), 144
/>zcfas (Francolinus), 431
Pie, see Tree-Pie
Pied-Shrike, 144
Pigeon, Blue Rock, 392
Common Green, 388
Green Imperial, 391
Grey-fronted Green, 388
Jerdon's* Imperial, 391
Kokla Green, 389
Nilgiri Wood-, 393
Orange-breasted Green, 388
Pin-tailed Green, 390
Snow-, 393
pileata (Timalia), 50
Pintail, 532
Pipit, Hodgson's, 251
Indian, 250
Indian Tree-, 252
Richard's, 252
Rock, 252
Tawny, 252
Tree-, 250
Piprisoma, 274
Pitta, Pitta, 275
Blue-naped, 276
Platalea, 498
platyrhyncha (Anas), 526
PlegadiSy 486
Ploceus, 209
Plover, Eastern Golden, 461
Plover, Green, 460
Kentish, 463
Little Ring-, 462
Norfolk-, 451
Sociable, 461
Spur-wing, 460
plumipes (Otus), 345
Pluvialisy 461
Pochard, 536
Red-crested, 537
Podiceps, 539
poedlorhyncha (Anas), 527
poioicephala (Alcippe), 54
poliocephalus (Cuculus), 319
(Porphyrio), 440
poltaratskyi (Sturnus), 199
Pomatorhinus, 47
pompadora (Dendrophassd), 388
Pond-Heron, 513
pondicerianus (Francoltnus), 433
(Tephrodornis), 145
Porphyrio, 440
porphyronotus (Sturnus), 199
Porzana, 437
prateri (Sitta), 29
Pratincole, 454
Prinia, 182
protegatus (Corvus), 5
provincialis (Otocompsa), 74
przewalskii (Saxicola), 88
Psansomus, 276
Psaroglossa, 196
psar aides (Microscelis), 66
Pseudibis, 497
Pseudogyps, 353
Psittacula, 332
Pterocles, 403
ptilogenys (Gracula), 195
ptilorhynchus (Pernis), 363
ptymatura (Saxicoloides), 105
Pucrasia, 417
puella (Irena), 189
pugnax (Philomachus), 470
punctatum (Pellorneum), 53
puncticollis (Brachypternus), 286
punctulata (Uroloncha), 215
punjaubi (Alauda), 254
(Perdicula), 426
purpurea (Ardea), 507
pusilla (Porzana), 437
(Muscadivora), 391
Pycnonotus, 76
pygargus (Circus), 377
pyrrhocorax (Pyrrhocorax), 17
Pyrrhulay 219
556
INDEX
Q
QUAIL, Black-breasted, 424
Blue-breasted, 425
Bush-, 426
Bustard-, 435
Button-, 435
Common or Grey, 422
Rain-, 424
Quaker-Babbler, 54
querquedula (Querquedula), 531
querulus (Cacomantis), 323
R
radiatum (Glauctdium), 348
Rail, Blue-breasted Banded, 439
Rain-quail, 424
Ram-Chukor, 428
rama (Hippolais), 165
Ramphalcyon, 302
rapax (Aquila), 360
Raven, i
raytal (Calandrella), 256
rectirostris (Ardea), 507
Recurvirostra, 465
recurvirostris (Esacus), 451
Redshank, 470
Dusky, 470
Redstart, Black, 97
Blue-fronted, 97
Plumbeous, 100
White-capped, 98
Reed- Warbler, Blyth's, 163
Great, 161
Reef-Heron, 509
Reeve, 470
religiosa (Gracula), 194
remifer (Bhringd), 160
Rhodophila, 89
Rhopocichla, 56
Rhopodytes, 328
Rhyacornis, 100
Rhynchops, 487
richardi (Anthus), 252
ridibundus (Larus), 481
Ring-Dove, 399
Ring-Plover, 463
riparia (Riparia), 235
risoria (Streptopelia), 399
Robin, Indian, 104
Magpie-, 106
Pekin-, 59
Red-flanked Bush, 103
robusta (Cyanosylvia), 102
Rock-Chat, Brown, 94
Rock-Pigeon, 382
Rock-Thrush, 116
Roller, 294
Rook, 3, 9
roseatus (Anthus), 251
(Carpodacus), 215
Rosefinch, 220
roseus (Pastor), 196
(Pelecanus), 489
(Peregrinus), 149
Rostratula, 478
rubeculoides (Muscicapula), 123
ruber (Phaenicopterus), 518
rubricapilla (Xanthol&ma), 292
rubricaptllus (JEgithaliscus\ 26
Rubythroat, 102
Himalayan, 102
rudis (Ceryle)y 300
rufa (Dendrocitta), 12
RufF, 470
(Alectoris), 428
ruficeps (Pellorneum), 53
ruficollis (Dryonastes), 34
(Podiceps), 539
rufina (Netta), 537
rufinus (Buteo), 378
rufiventris (Monticola), 116
(Phcenicurus), 97
rufogularis (lanthocincla), 34
rufonuchalis (Lophophanes), 24
rufulus (Anthus), 252
rupestris (Riparia), 237
rustica (Hirundo), 238
rusticola (Scolopax), 472
rutilans (Passer)^ 228
saharue (Burhinus), 451
salimalii (Cisticola), 169
(Perdicula), 427
(Zosterops), 264
Sandgrouse, Common, 405
Imperial, 403
Painted, 404
Pin-tailed, 406
Spotted, 406
Sand-Martin, Common, 230
Indian, 235
Sandpiper, Common, 466
Green, 468
Wood, 468
Sarcogyps, 350
INDEX
557
Sarkidiornis, 517
Sathbhai, 41
saturata (A$thopyga), 267
saturatior (Chrysomma), 52
saturatus (Molpastes), 69
satyr a (Tragopan), 419
saularis (Copstchus), 106
Saxicola, 85
Saxicoloides, 104
schach (Lanius), 137
schistaceus (Enicurus), 95
schisticeps (Pomatorhinus), 49
Scimitar-Babbler, Deccan, 47
Rusty-cheeked, 48
Slaty-headed, 49
scindianus (Dry abates), 280
Scissorbill, 487
scolopaceus (Eudynamis), 325
Scolopax, 472
Scops-Owl, 345
schaferi (Passer), 228
India, 346
Himalayan, 346
scouleri (Microcichla), 95
SCM//Z (Hirundo), 241
See-see, 428
seherue (JEthopyga), 266
Seicercus, 179
semenovi (Coracias), 294
semiruber (Pericrocotus), 147
senegalensis (Streptopelia), 397
senegallus (Pterocles), 406
sepiaria (Malacocincla), 54
septentionalis (&githina), 63
Serpent-Eagle, 364
setafer (Trochalopteron), 38
" Seven-sisters," 41
Shama, 108
Sheldrake, 524
Ruddy, 524
Shikra, 380
s/zora (Dinopium), 286
Shoveller, 534
Shrike, Bay-backed, 139
Black-headed, 142
Brown, 140
Cuckoo-, 151
Great Grey, 139
Pale Brown, 140
Pied-, 144
Rufous-backed, 141
Swallow-, 153
Wood-, 145
Sibia, Black-headed, 58
sibirica (Hemichelidon), 124
siccata (Eremopteryx), 262
sikkimensis (Irena), 185
simile (Trochalopterori), 36
similis (Anthus), 252
simillimus (Turdus), no
sindianus (Mirafra), 258
(Phylloscopus), 175
(Turdoides), 41
sinensis (Centropus), 331
(Chrysomma), 51
(Ixobrychus), 516
siparaja (JEthopyga\ 265
Siphia, 121
sirkee (Taccocua), 329
Sirkeer, 321
5fcte, 28
Siva, Blue-winged, 60
Stripe-throated, 59
Skimmer, 487
Skylark, 253
Smew, 527
smithii (Hirundo), 237
smyrnensis (Halcyon), 303
Snipe, Common, 475
Fantail, or Full, 475
Jack-, 478
Painted, 478
Pintail, 477
Wood, 478
Snippet, 425
Snow-Cock, 428
Snow-Pigeon, 383
socialis (Prinia), 183
solitaria (Monticola), 117
somervillei (Turdoides), 40, 325
sonnerati (Gallus), 401
sonneratii (Penthoceryx), 323
spadicea (Galloper dix), 420
Sparrow, Cinnamon, 228
House, 226
Tree-, 226
Yellow-throated, 224
Sparrow-Hawk, 380
Spatula, 534
speciosus (Pericrocotus), 147
Speculum, 526
spensei (Turdus), 1 1 1
Sphenocercus, 389
sphenurus (Sphenocercus), 389
spilocephalus (Otus), 346
spilogaster (Hcematornis), 365
spiloptera (Psaroglossa), 196
spinoides (Hypacanthis), 222
Spizaetus, 361
splendem (Corvus), 5, 327
558
Spoonbill, 498
Spotbill, 527
Spur- Fowl, Painted, 421
Red, 420
squamatus (Picus), 277
Stare, Spotted-wing, 196
Starling, 198
stejnegeri (Saxicola), 88
stellar is (Botaurus), 514
stentoreus (Acrocephalus), 161
stenura (Capella), 477
Sterna , 484
stevensi (Dicrurus), 154
(Prinia), 183
stewarti (Emberiza), 229
(Galloper dix), 421
(Prinia), 184
Stictospiza, 217
Stilt, Black-winged, 464
Stint, Little, 471
Temminck's, 474
Stonechat, 87
Stone-Curlew, 450
Stone-Plover, 451
Stork, Black, 502
Black-necked, 502
Painted, 503
White, 505
White-necked, 500
stracheyi (Emberiza), 231
streperus (Chaulelasmm), 529
Streptopelia, 384
striata (Grammoptila), 38
(Hypotcenidta), 439
(Uroloncha), 213
striatula (Suya), iSi
striatus (Butorides), 516
(Turdoides), 40
strigula (Siva), 59
striolata (Emberiza), 230
strophiata (Siphia), 121
<S7m?, 339
stupce (Parus), 19
Sturnia, 200
Sturnopastor, 207
Sturnus, 198
sty am (Hypothymis), 134
subcorax (Corvus), i
subcristata (Melophus), 234
Sultan-Tit, 26
sultanea (Melanochlora), 26
Sunbird, Loten's, 268
Purple, 268
Purple-rumped, 270
Small, 271
INDEX
Sunbird, Yellow-backed, 265
sundara (Niltava), 130
s7/ma (Otus), 346
superciliaris (Muscicapula), 123
superciliosus (Merops), 297
suratensis (Streptopelia), 396
Surniculus, 325
suscitator (Turnix), 435
sutorius (Orthotomus), 166
Suya, 181
svecica (Cyanosylvia), 101
Swallow, Cliff-, 239
Common, 238
Mosque, 241
Nilgiri, 240
Red-rumped, 241
Striated, 241
Wire-tailed, 237
Swallow-Plover, 454
Swallow-Shrike, Ashy, 153
Swift, Alpine, 312
Common, 312
Crested, 314
Indian, 311
Needle-tailed, 312
Palm-, 313
White-rumped, 312
sykesi (Lalage), 151
sylvatica (Muscadivora), 381
(Prinia), 185
(Turnix), 434
Sylvia, 173
Sypheotides, 449
Taccocua, 329
tadorna (Tadornd), 524
tceniura (Certhia), 78
Tailor-bird, 166
taprobanus (Alcedo), 301
Tchitrea, 131
Teal, Baikal, 531
Common, 530
Cotton-, 519
Falcated, 531
Larger Whistling, 523
Whistling, 522
teesa (Butastur), 366
tehmince (Brachypternus), 286
telephonus (Cuculus), 319
Temenuchus, 201
temminckii (Erolia), 472
(Myophomus), 119
tenuirostris (Cinclus) 82
INDEX
559
Tephrodornis, 145
tephronotus (Lanius), 142
Tern, Black-bellied, 486
Common River, 484
Gull-billed, 486
Little, 486
Whiskered, 482
terricolor (Prinia), 187
(Turdoides), 41
Tetraogallus, 428
thalassina (Eumyias), 124
Thereiceryx, 289
Thick-knee, 451
Threskiornis, 495
Thrusk, Black-throated, 113
Ground-, 114
Laughing, see Laughing-Thrush
Rock-, 117
Tickell's, 113
Whistling-, 119
thunbergi (Motacilla), 248
tibetanus (Corvus), 2
Tichodroma, 79
tickellice (Muscicapula), 122
Timalia, 50
tinnunculus (Falco), 385
tiphia (Mgithina), 62
Tit, Crested Black, 24
Great, 19
Green-backed, 21, 25
Indian Grey, 18
Red-headed, 25, 26
Sultan-, 26
White-winged Black, 19
Yellow-cheeked, 22
Tockus, 306
tophorhinus (Dissenurus), 160
torquata (Saxicola), 87
torqueola (Arborophila), 433
torquilla (Jynx), 286
totanus (Tringa), 470
Tragopan, 419
traillii (Oriolus), 193
tranquebarica ((Enopopelia), 401
transfuga (Gymnorhis), 225
travancoreensis (Ploceus), 210
(Pomatorhinus), 47
(Machlolophus), 23
Tree-Creeper, Himalayan, 77
Sikkim, 78
Tree-Duck, 512
Tree-Pie, Himalayan, 13
Indian, 12
Southern, 13
Tree-Pipit, 250
tricolor (Muscicapula) , 123
Tringa, 466
frafr's (Acridotheres), 203
(Phylliscopus), 175
(Rhopodytes), 320
trivialis (Anthus), 241
Trochalopteron, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38
trochiloides (Phylloscopus), 177
troglodytes (Troglodytes), 81
Trogon, Malabar, 309
Red-headed, 309
Turdoidesy 40
Turdus, 110
, 434
Turtle-Dove, j^ Dove
ft/rft/r (Streptopelia), 394
Turumtee, 384
Tjfo, 347
U
undulata (Chlamydotis), 449
unchalla (Macropygia)y 402
unicolor (Turdus), 113
Upupa, 308
Urocissa, 10
Urolonchciy 215
vagabunda (Dendrocitta), iz
valida (Pnma)y 186
vanellus (Vanellus), 460
variegatum (Trochalopteron), 35
varius (Hierococcyx), 42, 321
vernalis (Coryllis), 337
vernayi (Dendrocitta), 12
t'iV£i/t' (Perdicula), 427
vigor si (JEthopyga), 267
vindhiana (Aquila), 360
a/r#0 (Anthropoides), 444
viridirostris (Rhopodytes), 328
viridis (Thereiceryx), 289
r;/re«5 (Megalcema), 287
viridanus (Phylloscopus), 177
vittatus (Lanius), 139
vividus (Pericrocotus), 150
vulgaris (Sturnus), 198
Vulture, Bearded, 358
Black, 351
Egyptian, 356
Himalayan Griffon, 352
King-, 350
Long-billed, 352
Neophron, 356
, Pondicherry, 351
White-backed, 353
INDEX
W
WAGTAIL, Forest, 249
Grey, 246
Large Pied, 245
Pied, 238
White, 243
Yellow, 248
Yellow-headed, 249
waitei (Anthus), 252
Wall-Creeper, 79
wallichii (Catreus), 419
Warbler, Booted, 164
Brown Hill-, 181
Fantail-, 168
Flycatcher, see Flycatcher- Warbler
Grey-headed Flycatcher, 179
Orphean, 174
Paddy-Field, 163
Reed-, see Reed-Warbler
Tree-, 165
Wren-, see Wren- Warbler
Yellow-browed, 176
Waterhen, 438
Eastern Black-headed, 249
Grey-headed Yellow, 249
Sykes Yellow, 249
White-breasted, 437
Water-Cock, 440
Weaver-bird, Baya, 209
Black-throated, 212
Striated, 211
zveigoldt (Alauda), 254
Wheatear, Desert, 92
Isabelline, 93
Pied, 90
Red-tailed, 93
Strickland's, 91
White-capped, 91
Whimbrel, 465
whistleri (Garrulax), 32
Whistling-Schoolboy, 119
Whistling Teal, 523
Whistling-Thrush, 119
White-eye, 264
White-eye (Duck), 538
Whitethroat, Lesser, 173
Humes', 174
ivickhami (Luscinia), 84
Wigeon, 529
Willow- Wren, Greenish, 177
Large Crowned, 178
Woodcock, 472
Wood-Owl, Brown, 340
Mottled, 339
Woodpecker, Black-naped Green, 278
Brown-fronted Pied, 279
Fulvous-breasted Pied, 279
Golden-backed, 285
Golden-backed, Three-toed, 286
Himalayan Pied, 279
Pygmy, 282
Little Scaly-bellied, 278
Mahratta, 280
Rufous, 282
Scaly-bellied Green, 277
Sind Pied, 280
Tickell's Golden-backed, 286
Wood- Shrike, 145
Nepal, 146
Wren, 81
Wren- Warbler, Ashy, 183
Franklin's, 172
Indian, 187
Jungle, 185
Rufous-fronted, 170
Streaked, 182
Wren, Willow, see Willow-Wren
Wryneck, 286
X
xanthocollis (Gymnorhis), 224
xanthocycla (Streptopelia), 400
xanthogenys (Machlolophus), 22
Xantholcema, 292
xanthoprymna ((Enanihe), 93
xanthopygeeus (Picus), 278
xanthornus (Oriolus), 192
xanthoschistos (Seicercus), 179
Xenorhynchus, 501
zeylanicus (Thereiceryx), 289
zeylonensis (Ketupa), 340
zeylonicum (Piprisoma), 274
zeylonicus (Cinnyris), 270
ziaratensis (Parus), 19
(Trochalopteron), 38
ZosteropSj 264
zugmateri (Corvus), 5
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