l6o Birds seen hi flic Suburbs of Calcutta 



At the present time crows are engaged in the important 

 duty of rearing a family. Some are building, some sitting, and 

 others feeding their fully-fledged young after leaving the nest. 

 Looking up into a large tree overhanging the road, we see a 

 young speckled Koel — Black Cuckoo — (Endyuamis honurata), 

 fully fledged, sitting on a bough with wings quivering, crying 

 for food. A few feet away, one on each side of it, sit its foster- 

 parents, two crows. They seem now to realise how ihey have 

 been duped in rearing a bird of another species. They look first 

 at the quivering w'onder, then at each other, and we can almost 



fancy we hear one of them say " Well, of all the ," to which 



the other replies quietly, " Never mind, we won't tell anybody ! " 

 The modus operandi of the jiarent Koels is for the male to go 

 near the Crows' nest and persuade the owners to give chase; the 

 female then slips in and deposits her egg. The Koel's name is 

 derived from its call, " K6-el, Ixo-el," repeated many times, 

 with the accent upon the first syllable. When pursued by its 

 host, the Crow, the Koel's cry takes the undignified form of 

 " Kuk. I\uk." As a cage-bird the Koel is a favourite with the 

 natiA'es ; and is so hardy that it will thrive upon a diet of plain 

 boiled rice. 



A party of Jungle Babl)lers (Crater opus caiiorus), after 

 busily turning over leaves on the ground, fly lazily into a tree 

 overhead. The native name for the bird is Sath Bhar. literally 

 " seven brothers." The plumage is dust-coloured, and the 

 feathers are often raised in an attitude inviting feather-preening, 

 as they " snuggle " close alongside each other. An isabelline 

 freak of this species is sometimes met with. 



Walking about a cricket ground in true starling-like 

 maimer are two species of Mynah, viz. : the Connnon Mynah 

 ( Acridothcrcs tristis) and the Pied Alynah ( Sturnopastor 

 contra). The former is one of the conunonest birds of the 

 plains, and is often kept as a cage-bird by the natives; the latter 

 bird is more insectivorous than tlie former. 



A stranger would naturally ask, " What is that metallic 

 sound, ' Tonk, Tonk, Tonk," " uttered so monotonously and so 

 persistently? It is the voice of the Coppersmith Barbet {Xan- 

 tholccma luonatoeeplnila ), a l>rightly-coloured green bird, about 



