196 COMMON BIRDS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



on the walks and lawns of suburban gardens, and 

 may even now and then be seen in crowded 

 thoroughfares within the town. They arrive almost 

 simultaneously, sometimes one, sometimes the other 

 making its appearance first, but the grey bird on 

 an average a little the earlier. There are few 

 birds of more refined elegance than specimens of 

 Motacilla melanope in good plumage. They are 

 not, indeed, so surprisingly lovely as the Enicuri 

 that are to be seen on the mossy paths and the 

 beds of streams in the outer Himalaya, looking 

 as though they were always freshly dressed in 

 new suits of black and white velvet; but their 

 form is wonderful in its delicate slimness, the tints 

 of grey, white, and yellow in their feathering 

 harmonise in special and quiet beauty, and the 

 easy lightness of their gait, as they step and run 

 along the ground or suddenly dart forwards in 

 pursuit of insects, is a perfect lesson in deport- 

 ment. Then they are so alluringly tame, merely 

 running on in front of one and expostulating at 

 being disturbed ; and, if persistently followed along 

 a narrow path, making off on a brief, undulating- 

 flight to pitch anew a little way ahead in a way 

 that gives one the fullest opportunity of becoming 

 familiar with them. They seem to be very faith- 

 ful in their matrimonial arrangements, as, during 

 the whole time of their stay, they are almost 

 invariably to be found going about in pairs. 



