CHAP. Will | 



SOME OTHER A MM \i>. 



225 



disturbed from the grass as the cattle move. Oo tsionally the 



Mvnah may eat a little oats, maize, cholani or paddy grain, but any 

 damage done is insignificant in comparison with the good it d 

 destroying insects. At Nilambur this bird is reported by the Forest 

 Department as constituting an important check on the caterpillars 

 oi Hyblcea and Pyrausta which defoliate the Teak plantations. 



The Tree Pie (Dendrocitta rufa) is common in some districts and 

 occasionally does some harm by eating eggs and young birds, 

 li/ards, etc., but the " general average " of its diet shows that the 

 Tree Pie is distinctly beneficial by destroying noxious insects 

 throughout the year. 



1 ! Golden Woodpecker ( Brachypternus aurantiitsl. 



1 Blanford.) 



I In Indian Grey lit (Pants atriceps) and various other ["its 

 common in the Plains teed chiefly on injurious insects, occasionally 

 on fruit; when fruit-buds are plucked, these generally contain 

 injurious ins 



Wagtails, with the exception oi the I I Wagtail (\h>t,i- 



cilla maderaspatensis), areonly winter visitors to Madras, summering 

 and breeding in Northern India and Central Asia. They are, 

 15 



