74 THE SHRIKE AND THE KING CROW. 



The first onset may, perhaps, be dodged, but the nim- 

 ble bird wheels and rises and plunges again with 

 derisive screams, and again and again piling pain 

 and humiliation on the abject fugitive till it has 

 gone far beyond the forbidden limits. Then the 

 King sails slowly back to its tree and resumes its 

 undisputed reign. Over the length and breadth of 

 India this bird is found, and wherever it is found it 

 takes the first place by sheer force of character 

 and high spirit. Its cheery voice is one of the first 

 sounds that greet the dawning of the day. It has not 

 much of a song, though Jerdon says he has heard it 

 profanely called the Scotch Nightingale. It makes 

 a little cupshaped nest on any moderately high tree, 

 i^^ usually about April in this part of the country, and 

 L <rx t lays three whitish eggs with claret-coloured blotches. 

 In other parts of India there are several species of 

 Drongos besides the common one, but the only other 

 that I have ever seen in Bombay is Jerdon's White- 

 bellied Drongo (Dicrurus ccemdescens}. It is white 

 from the breast downwards and a little smaller than 

 the King Crow. It has a charming song. 



This is the proper place to mention a few birds 

 which are allied to the Shrikes and may occasionally 

 be seen in Bombay. One is a medium-sized bird, 

 with a slate-coloured, or blue-grey, back, passing 

 into white on the under parts. The male has the 

 head, throat, and breast deep black. The under- 

 parts are narrowly banded with dusky in immature 

 birds. This is the Black-headed Cuckoo-shrike (Vol- 

 vocivom sykesii\ It attracts little attention except 

 in the hot season, when it constantly utters a loud, 

 not unmusical, exclamation. I have found its nest 



