Birds in and about the Station. 207 



it is only the very old birds that are pure black. iTill 

 the season's young appear I have never seen any white marks 

 upon them. Of birds that are found breeding both in the 

 hills and the plains I fancy it is only the old ones that 

 venture up. This is borne out in the case of the Paradise 

 Flycatcher, a common summer visitor, which will be men- 

 tioned later in these notes. Writers from the plains always 

 remark on the preponderance of red -tailed cocks. With this 

 species the cocks do not attain their full plumage till after 

 the fourth autumn moult. This can hardly be stated as a 

 fact, but the deduction appears accurate. With us red -tailed 

 birds (and then only birds in their fourth year) are very rare, 

 I have never seen more than one in a season and some 

 observers have not seen even that one. wdiich apparently makes 

 its headquarters in our compound, though without nesting. A 

 pair of Magpie Robins (Dyals) that nest every year in our 

 cook-house must be very old, as the cock has been in the 

 habit of asking for tit-bits in the same place in the verandah 

 for four or five years. He is always the first! that I see 

 every year. 



To get back to our black friend, he is about 12.5 

 inches over all. His tail is deeply forked, and the outer 

 feathers curl slightly upwards, length from 6 to 7 inches. 



Creepers : We get a Tree-creeper, which is com- 

 mon in winter in Bakloh, and common in summer in Dalhousie, 

 at ifrom about (),000 feet up. I cannot say I know much 

 about it though I have found it in my nets more than once 

 and it would be extremely easy to catch if one wanted it. 

 It appears to be a bit larger and brighter than the English 

 one, of the same type of colouration and of the same habits. 

 I have not compared the bird in the liand with a description 

 but believe it to be the Himalayan Tree-creeper (Certhia 

 himalai/ana) . 



The Wall -creeper {Tichodroma muraria) is a com- 

 mon ana very noiiceaDle winter visitor in and below Bakloh. 

 It is a familiar bird and does not resent being closely watched 

 as it runs about the steep cliffs and rocks which' it frequents. 

 It has an uncreeper-lilve tail, soft and rounded; the wings are 

 comparatively very large and are rounded. It has a very 

 pretty butterfly -like, rather weak -looking flight; it can do long 



