Common Birds of Western Himalayas 



gives vent to a louder call, so as to inform its 

 companions that it is moving. This sound 

 seems to induce others to follow its lead. This 

 is especially noticeable in the case of the white- 

 throated laughing-thrush. I have seen one of 

 these birds fly to a branch in a tree, uttering 

 its curious call, and then hop on to another 

 branch in the same tree. Scarcely has it left 

 the first branch when a second laughing-thrush 

 flies to it ; then a fourth, a fifth, and so on ; so 

 that the birds look as though they might be 

 playing " Follow the man from Cook's." The 

 black-throated jay is noisy even for a sociable 

 bird. The sound which it seems to produce 

 more often than any other is very like the 

 harsh anger-cry of the common myna. Many 

 Himalayan birds have rather discordant notes, 

 and in this respect these mountains do not 

 compare favourably with the Nilgiris, where the 

 blithe notes of the bulbuls are very pleasing 

 to the ear. 



Jays are by nature bold birds. They are 

 inclined to be timid in England, because they 

 are so much persecuted by the game-keeper. 

 In the Himalayas they are as bold as the crow. 

 It is not uncommon to see two or three jays 

 hopping about outside a kitchen picking up 



37 



