X 



DAYALS, ETC. 



" Proud Maisie is in the wood, 



Walking so early ; 

 Sweet robin sits on the bough, 



Singing so cheerly." SCOTT. 



IN recalling the experiences of Indian gardens there 

 are very few birds to which thought reverts more 

 affectionately than to dayals or "magpie robins," 

 Copsychus saularis. 1 They have so often been the 

 occasion of "home thoughts from abroad," as 

 they superintended gardening operation almost as 

 confidently and sang almost as sweetly and 

 plaintively as robins do in England ; and, moreover, 

 they are such pretty birds the males in brilliant, 

 shining black and white and the females modestly 

 clad in slate and grey (Plate VII.), and both with 

 such large bright eyes and daintily lively ways that, 

 quite apart from old associations, they can hardly fail 

 to be objects of very friendly regard. Then, in the 

 plains of India there are so very few birds whose 

 notes really deserve to be described as songs, that 



1 They are considerably larger than common robins. 



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