THE SPOTTED FORKTAIL 



" Striking" is, in my opinion, the correct 

 adjective to apply to the spotted forktail (Heni- 

 curus maculatus). Like the paradise flycatcher, 

 it is a bird which cannot fail to obtrude itself 

 upon the most unobservant person, and, once 

 seen, it is never likely to be forgotten. I well 

 remember the first occasion on which I saw a 

 spotted forktail ; I was walking down a 

 Himalayan path, alongside of which a brook 

 was flowing, when suddenly from a rock in 

 mid-stream there arose a black-and-white ap- 

 parition, that flitted away, displaying a long 

 tail fluttering behind it. The plumage of this 

 magnificent bird has already been described. 



As was stated above, this species is often 

 called the hill-wagtail. The name is not a 

 particularly good one, because wagtails proper 

 occur in the Himalayas. 



The forktail, however, has many of the 

 habits of the true wagtail. I was on the 

 point of calling it a glorified wagtail, but I re- 

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