286 



of years, in August and September. Such birds as the Black Grouse, which 

 I rarely saw by myself, bred ill certain places, though I usually only saw 

 them when they were "put up " by a setter ; and some species which I 

 have been told breed near this district, I have never seen at all, to my 

 knowledge. 



Nevertheless, with the aid of the binocular, I was able to see a good 

 deal and to make some pleasant memory pictures of the birds I saw 

 during my " Summer Holiday in the Pknninks." 



[We are indebted to Dr. W. Goodchild for the loan of the fine 

 photographs which have illustrated this article. — Ed.] 



Gbe Biros of 3noia. 



By Douglas Dkwak, I.C.S. 



[A Lecture delivered before the Indian Section of the Royal Society of Arts, 

 and reproduced by kind permission of the Author and R.S.A.~\ 

 From the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 

 {Continued from page 254.) 

 Avian Craftmanship. 

 When we turn to avian craftsmanship we find 110 lack of skilled work- 

 men among our Indian birds. The famous Weaver Bird {Ploceus baya) and 

 the less well-known Wren Warbler (Prinia inomata) are past masters of 

 the art of Weaving. The Tailor-bird {Ortholomus sutorius), as its name 

 implies, has brought the satorial art to a pitch of perfection which is not 

 likely to be excelled by any creature which has no needle other than its 



beak. 



The nests of the various species of Orioles are in their way quite as 



wonderful as those of the Tailor-bird. Each is a hammock slung by means 



of strong biesfi (frequently strips of the pliable bark of the mulberry tree) to 



a forked branch in much the same manner as a prawn net is secured to its 



wooden framework. 



vSong Birds. 



If there be any characteristic which Indian birds do not possess to a 

 degree it is perhaps the ability to sing. A notion is abroad that the birds of 

 Hindustan cannot sing, that they are able to scream, croak, and make all 

 manner of weird noises; but to sing they know not how. This idea per- 

 haps derives its origin from Charles Kingsley, who wrote : "True melody, 

 it must be remembered, is unknown, at least at present, in the tropics, and 

 peculiar to the races of these temperate climes into which the song birds 

 come in spring." This is, of course, absurd. 



.Song birds are numerous in India. They do not make the same 

 impression upon us as do our English birds, because, firstly, we are older 

 and, therefore, less impressionable when we first hear them, and, secondly, 

 their song has not those associations which render dear to us the melody of 

 birds in the homeland. Further, there is nothing in India which corres- 



