106 COMMON BIRDS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



is to be heard. As the thermometer rises above 

 the prohibitive limit they begin to call more and 

 more frequently, until in the height of summer the 

 monotonously metallic ringing of their notes goes 

 on, almost constantly, from dawn to sunset. When 

 preparing to call they usually take up a prominent 

 place in the crown of a tree, often clinging to the side 

 of an upright twig ; and all the time that they cry 

 they go on constantly turning their heads from side 

 to side whilst their throats swell and their whole 

 bodies thrill with the force of their vocal efforts. 

 The movements of the head give rise to a strangely 

 ventriloquial effect, so that the successive sounds 

 might readily be mistaken for the answering notes 

 of two birds instead of the continuous call of one. 

 Towards the end of the hot weather, and during 

 the early part of the rainy season, they cease to 

 cry so incessantly, because the care of their young 

 families takes up too much time to leave them 

 much leisure for any other occupation. 



With the onset of the hot weather, they begin 

 to nest, usually choosing a place on the under 

 surface of a slanting dead bough, especially at a 

 point where a side branch has been broken off 

 and the wood has been softened by the invasion 

 of fungal mycelium. Though preferring sites of 

 this nature in cases where they propose to excavate 

 on their own account, sloth very often prompts 

 them to make use of ready-made hollows in other 



