186 COMMON BIRDS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



astonishing variety of notes, almost all of them 

 charmingly melodious in character. As a rule, 

 they go about in pairs, who pass from tree to 

 tree " crying and calling " to one another at brief 

 intervals. When they are in their very fullest voice 

 the one bird cries, " Yu, hu a yu," and the other 

 almost immediately replies, " Tu hu ee " ; when very 

 much out of voice they often can do no more than 

 cry "Te hee," like Alisoun in the Millers Tale; 

 and between these extremes there is a whole range 

 of very distinct calls that only agree in conveying 

 a sense of joy and fulness of life and melodious 

 contentment with it. All of these are highly 

 characteristic and distinct from the notes of any 

 other kinds of birds, save one or two of the most 

 fluty cries of the common tree-pies. It is delightful 

 to see any living things so full of the pure joy of 

 existence as a pair of orioles always seem to be 

 when they come leaping through the air into a 

 garden, calling as they go ; or, after they have 

 alighted in a tree, chasing one another about from 

 bough to bough with their golden plumage shining 

 out among the surrounding green. Now and then 

 a solitary bird will take to haunting a garden for 

 a time, making its appearance regularly day after 

 day at a particular time, in order to visit certain 

 trees and talk softly to itself as it goes on its 

 way ; but it is only when in pairs, or in a small 

 family party of three or four birds, such as may 



