Birds of the Indian Hills 



of the commonest birds in India. His cheery 

 call — half-squeak, half-whistle — must be fami- 

 liar to every Anglo-Indian. As to his 

 character, I will repeat what I have said else- 

 where : " The king-crow is the Black Prince of 

 the bird world — the embodiment of pluck. 

 The thing in feathers of which he is afraid has 

 yet to be evolved. Like the mediaeval knight, 

 he goes about seeking those on whom he can 

 perform some small feat of arms. In certain 

 parts of India he is known as the kotwal — the 

 official who stands forth to the poor as the 

 impersonation of the might and majesty of the 

 British raj." 



The king-crow is fairly abundant in the hills. 

 On the lower ranges, and especially at Almora, 

 it is nearly as common as in the plains. On 

 the higher slopes, however, it is largely replaced 

 by the ashy drongo (Dicrurus longicaudatus). 

 At most hill stations both species occur. The 

 note of the ashy drongo differs considerably from 

 that of the king-crow : otherwise the habits of 

 the two species are very similar. Take thirty- 

 three per cent, off the pugnacity of the king- 

 crow and you will arrive at a fair estimate of 

 that of the ashy drongo. The latter looks 

 like a king-crow with an unusually long tail, 



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