104 M. Simdevall on the Birds of Calcutta. 



aggerated, and I wished to have gone thither, but I did not suc- 

 ceed. It is necessary to have been in Bengal in order to com- 

 prehend the difficulties which meet every deviation from the ac- 

 customed road as well as from general customs in every other 

 respect. I have been able to obtain but little information as to 

 what birds are stationary or propagate in that country, and what 

 species are migratory. I only succeeded in discovering the pro- 

 pagation of a few species, and it appeared to me as if most of 

 them intended to lay their eggs somewhat later in May, June, 

 or about the same time as most of our birds. The answer to 

 these questions is one of the most difficult tasks for a travelling 

 ornithologist, but it is of some importance both for a future 

 geography of birds as well as for a part of natural history in 

 general. 



From the following descriptions it appears that several remark- 

 able singing-birds are quite common in India. They are found 

 there as in all other countries ; and I maintain the common idea 

 with us to be wrong, that the tropical countries, which shine with 

 a luxuriancy and brightness both in plants and animals quite 

 unknown in our country, are deficient in the charms and live- 

 liness which the choir of singing-birds gives to our poorer 

 climate. 



On the contrary, I did not expect to find the singing of the 

 birds less or worse about Calcutta than in Sweden, but there are 

 some other reasons which the following facts will explain more 

 clearly : — There are a great number of ill-looking, fearfully- 

 screaming birds, of which our Crows and others can only be con- 

 sidered as insignificant representatives, besides a sufficient num- 

 ber of others, to raise in the eyes of most persons a pleasing im- 

 pression of life in our forests. In India, as well as in most warm 

 countries, they are on the other hand more numerous and scream 

 much worse : they scream or chatter with too great a constancy. 

 One class utter their frightful tones uninterruptedly in the mid- 

 dle of the day, when the heat invites both feathered and un- 

 feathered lovers of music to rest. The latter are heard more 

 than the singing- birds, and being more annoying they are more 

 easily remembered, which is the reason that several travellers 

 have complained of the singing of birds under the torrid zone. 

 It was plainly to be observed that the number both of kinds and 

 individuals was greater than with us, particularly in February 

 and March, before the birds of passage had gone towards the 

 north. Many of the common kinds shine with the most beau- 

 tiful colours, so that by this alone any one might know that he 

 was in a tropical country, but no one must conclude from this 

 that all natural products are equally grand. On the contrary, 

 the greatest part of them resemble the common productions in 



