404 A Description of Kwnaon, [Sess. 



ancients, and were first sent from India to Greece by Alex- 

 ander the Great and his generals. Another characteristic 

 group are the barbets. The great barbet {Megalaima virens) 

 cries all summer in the Kumaon forest. Its loud, continuous 

 wailing cry is, according to the natives, not owing to a love 

 disappointment, as one would expect, but to its having lost 

 a lawsuit. The blue -throated barbet {Cyanops asiatica) is 

 equally noisy, but in the Ihabur forests, not the hill forests. 

 Its cry is syllabicated by Mr Blyth as "Kuru wuk, kuru 

 wuk." To me it sounded like " Put her out, put her out." 

 Next come the cuckoos, which are very numerous in India, 

 both in species and in individuals. There are fifteen species 

 at least in India, but I will only mention the Kumaon ones. 

 These are — (1), Cuculus canorus, the European cuckoo ; (2), C. 

 himalayanus ; (3), C. poliocephala ; (4), C. micropterus, known 

 to every native in Kumaon, because it says most distinctly 

 " Kaphul pako," meaning, " The kaphul " {Myrica sapida) " is 

 ripe," and it says this just when the fruit really is ripe ; (5), 

 Hierococcyx sparveroides, which says " Pi kahan ? " " Where is 

 my sweetheart ? " — exactly the same cry as the Hierococcyx 

 varius of the plains, but it is a bigger bird. In the forest 

 these five birds may often be heard calling within a few 

 minutes of each other, as also the so-called plaintive cuckoo 

 (Folyphasia nigra) — a humbug of a bird, whose cry is a poor 

 imitation of that of Hierococcyx sparveroides. Lastly, the 

 green-billed Eudynamis orientalis, or " koil," so called from 

 its cry. It has, however, another cry, sounding exactly like 

 the English words, " Who are you ? " which it repeats persist- 

 ently. The male is black, the female green spotted and 

 banded with white. This bird deposits its eggs in the nests 

 of crows — generally of the common crow, more rarely of the 

 carrion-crow. I had a nest of the common crow, with a 

 young cuckoo in it, taken from a tree, and carried to a ver- 

 andah. The parent crows were quite fearless, and fed their 

 spurious offspring most diligently till it was able to provide 

 for itself. 



With reference to crows, I may here notice one great dif- 

 ference between British and Indian ideas. In a delightful 

 book, ' Birds of lona and Mull,' recently published, there are 

 the following passages : " The hoodie-crow has got a terribly 



