Birds of the Indian Hills 



and it is less aggressively bold. The pretty 

 little western blossom-headed paroquet (P. 

 cyanocephalus) ascends the hills to a height of 

 some 5000 feet. It is recognisable by the 

 fact that the head of the cock is red, tinged 

 with blue like the bloom on a plum. 



THE STRIGID^E OR OWL FAMILY 



We now come to those much-abused birds 

 — the owls. The Himalayas, in common with 

 most other parts of the world, are well stocked 

 with these pirates of the night. The vast majority 

 of owls, being strictly nocturnal, escape observa- 

 tion. Usually the presence of any species of 

 owl in a locality is made known only by its 

 voice. I may here remark that diurnal birds 

 know as little about nocturnal birds as the man 

 in the street does, hence the savage manner in 

 which they mob any luckless owl that happens 

 to be abroad in the daytime. Birds are in- 

 tensely conservative ; they resent strongly what 

 they regard as an addition to the local avifauna. 

 This assertion may be proved by setting free a 

 cockatoo in the plains of India. Before the 

 bird has been at large for ten minutes it will 



be surrounded by a mob of reviling crows. 



88 



