Habitat of Himalayan Birds 



among the hills. The dissonant voices of the 

 seven sisters no longer issue from the thicket ; 

 their place is taken by the weird but less 

 unpleasant calls of the Himalayan streaked 

 laughing-thrushes. Even the sounds of the 

 night are different. The chuckles and cackles 

 of the spotted owlets no longer fill the welkin ; 

 the silence of the darkness is broken in the 

 mountains by the low monotonous whistle of 

 the pigmy-collared owlet. 



The eye equally with the ear testifies to the 

 traveller that when he has reached an altitude 

 of 5000 feet he has entered another avian 

 realm. The golden-backed woodpecker, the 

 green bee-eater, the " blue jay " or roller, the 

 paddy bird, the Indian and the magpie-robin, 

 most familiar birds of the plains, are no longer 

 seen. Their places are taken by the blue- 

 magpies, the beautiful verditer flycatcher, the 

 Himalayan and the black-headed jays, the 

 black bulbul, and tits of several species. 



All the birds, it is true, are not new. Some 

 of our familiar friends of the plains are still 

 with us. There are the kite, the scavenger 

 vulture, the common myna, and a number of 

 others, but these are the exceptions which 



prove the rule. 



27 



