WINTER VISITORS i6i 



geese, and by hundreds of thousands of brahmany 

 ducks, mallard, gadwall, teal, wigeon, pintails, shovellers 

 and pochards. The other game birds which visit the 

 Punjab in great numbers every winter are the jack 

 and the common snipe. 



The Indian redstart or firetail [Ruticilla rufiventris) 

 is one of the most striking of our winter visitors. No 

 one but a blind man can fail to notice the sprightly 

 little bird with St. Vitus' dance in its tail. The head, 

 breast, neck, and back of the cock are grey or black 

 according to the season of the year. Birds' clothes 

 wear out just as ours do. But every bird is his own 

 tailor. When his clothes wear out, instead of resorting 

 to the West -End tailor or the humble darzi, he grows 

 a new coat. This process is technically known as the 

 moult and occurs at the end of summer in most birds. 



Each of the feathers composing the coat of the cock 

 redstart is black with a grey margin. When the 

 feathers are new only the grey edges show, the bird, 

 therefore, looks grey ; gradually the grey borders 

 become worn away, so that the bird turns black. 

 The remainder of the plumage of the cock, except 

 the two middle tail feathers, is brick red. The hen is 

 reddish brown where the cock is black or grey. As 

 the bird hops about in the garden it looks very like 

 a robin, but the moment it takes to its wings it becomes 

 transformed, as if by magic, into a flash of red. The 

 red of the tail and back is scarcely visible when the 

 bird is not flying, for the wings cover the latter and 

 the tail is closed like a fan ; the red feathers all folding 

 up underneath the middle brown ones which act as a 



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