II 



go under the water. The little Forktail sticks to one heat for some 

 time, hut then he may move off quite a long way, and owing to 

 comparative paucity has no need to stick to a stretch. The 

 Spotted Forktail is much the same as regards a beat, probably 

 for the same reason. He is a handsome bird with his long tail, 

 but neither so daring nor so interesting to watch. He is much 

 more in evidence but is more shy than his smaller and less 

 striking relative. The White-capped Redstart always catches the 

 eye, also the ear with their sharp call note. I have never heard 

 any other note from them except the harsh alarm note of the Chat 

 and Robin type. It is curious how all these stream birds have a 

 very similar call note, it would take a smart ear to distinguish the 

 call notes of these six at a distance, i.e., the Forktails, Redstarts, 

 Dipper, and the Whistling Thrush. Of course it does not 

 follow that the Whitecap has not got a song as I have never heard 

 the Plumbeous sing when wild, though now I know, from seeing 

 him in the aviary, that I must often have seen him singing when 

 having a rustle-up with a rival, but the sound of rushing waters 

 in such streams drowns everything but a short shrill note. The 

 White-capped Redstart and the Little Forktail go up higher to 

 breed. I think my favourite bit of stream is at its best about this 

 time (autumn) of year. In Chitral such bits were especially good 

 at the beginning of the spring migration, as the waste land made 

 splendid Chat country and one could generally count on seeing 

 (beside the above) Guldenstad's Redstart, probably also Evers- 

 man's, several Chats, Strickland's, the Siberian, Redtailed and 

 the Wheatear ; several Finches, the Gold-fronted and Mongo- 

 lian Desert for nearh r certain ; the Wallcreeper and the Blue 

 Rock Thrush ; a greater variety of Wagtails with the Kingfisher 

 and a few Sandpipers in variety. Of course one did not get all 

 these everywhere along the river, but there were lots of places 

 where all these and more could be seen in ten minutes without 

 moving a yard. In really good places one had to move only a 

 very short way to get among the tree birds, Orioles, Minivets, 

 Drongos, etc. My thoughts ran on beautiful aviaries then but I 

 think I was always keenest on a rocky stream aviary in natural 

 surroundings, probably because the bird inhabitants were more 

 in evidence, and it was easier to study their interesting little 

 wavs. 



