220 PET BIRDS OF BENGAL 



it has the habit of dig^o^ino^ into the earth 

 for worms and therefore it likes feedins: on 

 damp spots. When inchned to sing, it flies 

 up to the topmost branches of big trees. In 

 the mating season its Hquid notes gush out 

 at regular intervals every morning and 

 eveninor. 



This Ouzel is not rare in Lower Bengal. 

 In early autumn it migrates from the hills 

 to the plains and spreads over the whole of 

 the Indian Peninsula except the southern 

 parts of Deccan. 



It breeds in May and June, laying three 

 or four eggs in a cup of green moss and 

 roots, lined with finer roots, placed against 

 the trunk of the tree at a place from which 

 two or three twigs spring, serving to conceal 

 the nest. The eggs are greenish or greyish 

 white, more or less thickly streaked or ir- 

 regularly blotched with dull reddish brown. 



The bird is not a very common cage- 

 favourite. But it is not altog^ether unkown 

 in the bird-market of Calcutta. It is as 

 hardy as its grey-winged cousin and thrives 



