How to Use This Book 



a striking bird. He notes that its body is 

 about the size of that of the myna, that it has 

 a long tail and that there are blue, black, 

 brown and white in the plumage, and the bill 

 is bright red. He consults in Part I of the 

 book, " Birds having the tail long in propor- 

 tion to the body." He finds there are fifteen 

 of these birds. He then refers to the class 

 " Birds of which the plumage is black, blue, 

 brown and white," and finds that there are 

 only three of these, of which only two have the 

 tail long. He is thus satisfied that the unknown 

 bird is a blue magpie. The fact that the bill 

 is red leads him to infer that it is the red-billed 

 blue magpie. A reference to the description 

 of this species in Part H confirms the diagnosis. 



I may add that the descriptions have 

 designedly been made as brief as possible. 

 Too much detail might easily hinder identifica- 

 tion, as in that case the descriptions would 

 often include inconspicuous features which the 

 observer had failed to notice. 



A full description of every bird found in 

 India is given in the Fauna of British India, 

 to which this book is really a companion and 

 a guide for the novice. 



