i^bffajhe Birds of Calcutta* ># g . r j/ 383 



season only. Some of the Drongos have agreeable loud notes, 

 especially the 'Bhuchanga , (Chaptia anea, Vieillot), but there is 

 too much repetition of the same stave : and, lastly, the Mynahs, 

 or ' Mainas/ and other Sturnidce, and also the ' Bayas ' (Ploceus), 

 very commonly indulge in a loud screeching chatter, which, if 

 song, can only by courtesy be termed musical. The tout ensemble 

 is sufficiently humble, even though eked out by the melodious 

 cooing of different kinds of Dove, and the more or less pleasing 

 voices of sundry other tribes of birds, which may harmonize with 

 the scenery around or derive interest from their associations. 



M. Sundevall begins his list with Oriolus melanocephalus, L., 

 respecting which I have only to remark that I can make nothing 

 of the native name he assigns to it, unless it can mean Huldea 

 Bulbul (i. e. ' Turmeric-coloured Bulbul '), which is not impos- 

 sible. The bird is as familiar to every Bengalee as the blackbird 

 and thrush are to the inhabitants of England; and seems to be 

 universally known to Hindoos as the Bdnay-bOjOO, or Bania-ba y oo, 

 of the Musselmans, signifying ( goldsmith's wife/ but at the 

 same time a sort of imitation of the bird's note. Adult females 

 differ in no respect from adult males, except in not being quite 

 so bright on the back : the black hood is alike in both, extending 

 for some distance beyond the ear-coverts ; whereas in the African 

 O. monachus (Gm.), v. larvatus, Licht., v. capensis, Sw., it termi- 

 nates in a line with the ear-coverts, — this being one of several 

 constant differences by which the two species may be readily di- 

 stinguished. 



Turdus cafer apud Sundevall is my Pycnonotus bengalensis, 

 being distinct from the allied African species, or P. cafer (verus), 

 L. — P. jocosus is called Sipahi Bulbul about Calcutta, Kurra 

 Bulbul at Chandernagore : the name Sonna (sona ? ■ golden ') I 

 never heard applied to it. 



Dendrocitta rufa, No. 7 (p. 168). The Bengalee name of this 

 bird should be spelt Hdrichdchd : it is also called Takka-chor, or 

 ' Rupee-thief/ 



Dicrurus rnacrocercus, Vieillot, No. 9. The name Bhuchanga, 

 or Boojoonga, as M. Sundevall spells it, refers to the next species 

 upon his list, the Chaptia cenea. 



Tchitrea paradisi (No. 11) is the Shah Bulbul of the natives, 

 which name M. Sundevall assigns erroneously to their Ch&k- 

 Dhyal (Leucocerca fuscoventris, which is quite distinct from Mr. 

 Jerdon's L. pectoralis) . 



Muscicapa parva apud Sundevall (No. 15), the Turra of the 

 Bengalees, is the M. leucura, Gm. ; a closely allied, but I believe 

 a distinct species from the European M . parva. The rufous throat 

 is obtained by the males only, at the commencement of the hot 

 weather. The name Toontoonu, which he cites, belongs properly 



