INDIAN SONG-BIRDS 293 



pours forth its song in a blase, unfeeling sort of way, and 

 thus reveals its own character, for it is a solitary bird ; 

 the male is but rarely seen about with his wife. As 

 Mr. Hudson has pointed out, the charm of the song 

 of some birds — as, for instance, that of the willow wren 

 — consists in the very human character of their notes, 

 a feature which makes their song sink deep into one's 

 heart. There is but little of this in the voice of the 

 magpie robin, but, for all that, he is no mean singer and 

 daily pours forth his beautiful notes, which fall on the 

 dull senses of the stolid native or the unhearing ears 

 of the indifferent European. 



No account of the songsters of India would be com- 

 plete which did not notice the dainty pied wagtail — the 

 most charming of birds, which nests about our houses 

 and gladdens them with the soft, sweet song, which it 

 pours forth at all seasons of the year. 



The Indian robin is another of our singing birds. It 

 is found all over India ; but robins south of the Goda- 

 veri River differ slightly from those which dwell in 

 Northern India. Hence ornithologists recognize two 

 distinct species of Indian robin. It is not a difficult 

 bird to recognize, being quite a robin in build and 

 habits. It differs from the robin we know in England 

 in wearing, instead of a red waistcoat, a red seat to 

 its trousers. The cock bird is blackish and the hen 

 brownish ; both have a narrow white bar in the wing. 

 It hops about the garden in a very familiar way, just 

 as the English robin does. It nests in all manner of 

 queer places, in a hole under the thatch, in the midst of 

 a pile of stones, or in a cranny in a wall. The nest is 



