250 Birds In and Ahoiif. Ihe Statio?i. 



cniii-age and came right iii'o the vc uidah to do her duty. 

 The food chiefly coiisisled oT young " smelly beetles/' a shi(dd 

 shaped insect, which can at cei'tain or rather uncertain times 

 of the year emit a most searching and al)ominalile odour when 

 touched. Those given were i:i the grei'n stage, and inofiensive. 

 I had neither the time nor the food ingredients to risk keeping 

 the bird so let it go after about ten days' confinement. 



They nest in May and .June. The nest is very well 

 concealed, being placed on a thickish l)ranch fairly high up, 

 and covered with moss and lichen. I have seen them round 

 here as far up as I have been nearly 9,000 in summer and 

 as low down as 4,500. In winter they de>cend almost to 

 the plains and may be seen at above 5,500 feet, hi Chitral 

 I never saw them at all in winter, although T occasionally 

 Avent down as Ioav as 4,000 feet, ]>erhap^ a bit lower. Scully 

 reports them as pre-ent all the year in Ne.ial and as present 

 in the winter in Gilgit. I cannot remember the height of 

 Gilgit, but to put it mildly, it is considerably over 5,000 

 feet, and very cold. 



Description: Head and back l)!ack; the rump ami entire 

 lowei" plumage crimson; other jjarts Jjlack picked out with 

 crimson. Female: Forehead, rump, and en'i.e lower plujiiage 

 yellow; crown of head and back adiy green: tail b!a;'k i)icked 

 out with yellow; other parts brown picked out Avitli yellow. 

 Length about 7.5 inches, tail 4.. 



The Ro!hy Minivet (/'. rosciis) is hai'dly a Station l)ird 

 as I have never seen it above 2,000 feet, and one thousand 

 feet down seems far more out of the Station than a couple 

 of thousand up. It is smaller and duller than the last, yet 

 it is a most desirable bird. I know little about it, and it 

 is some time since I have seen it. It goes about in small 

 flocks of half-a-dozen or so, and has a pleasing note. 



Rough Descri2)tion: General colour brown or ashy 

 brown; rump rosy red; a scarlet patch on the wing; chin 

 and throat whitish; remaining under parts rosy red. The 

 female roughly has the red parts replaced by yellow. Length 

 7 inches, tail 3.5, but hardly looks as large. 



ORIOLES: The only Oriole we get is the Indian (Ori- 

 ohis kundoo) . It arrives from the plains towards the end 

 of April, as a rule, though sometimes earlier, and soon settles 



