?HE SPARROWS, BUNTINGS AND LARKS. 145 



noticeably longer bird, and its colours are different. 

 In a mature bird the whole head and face are black 

 and contrast with the bright yellow of the breast. 

 The shoulders and upper back are rich chestnut. 

 In the Deccan the Black-headed Bunting visits the 

 bajree and jowaree fields in hordes and takes toll from 

 the poor farmer. Many are trapped and brought to 

 Bombay for sale. They are handsome but uninter- 

 esting pets. 



The Red-headed, or Chestnut-headed, Bunting 

 (Euspiza hiteola] is another species which is not 

 unlikely to be met with in Bombay. 



The Larks constitute our last group of little seed- 

 eating birds. After them we pass on to pigeons and 

 game-birds. In a former paper I referred to the 

 sort of man who holds the dogma that in India 

 birds do not sing. Of course that man never 

 saw a Lark in this country and does not believe it 

 contains such a thing. He disputed the point with 

 me once from dinner till bed-time, propping himself 

 with pegs as he went along. As a matter of fact the 

 Indian Skylark (Alauda gulgula), which is scarcely 

 distinguishable from the English bird in colour and 

 not distinguishable in habit or song, is found through- 

 out this country wherever there is an acre of corn land 

 or open grassy ground. I have pleasant recollections 

 of standing on the Flats in Bombay and watching it 

 " float and run in the golden lightning of the sunken 

 sun," till it was out of sight, and then listening to 

 the shower of melody which it continued to pour 

 down. I suppose it is less common there now. 

 Town sweepings and refuse are not conducive to 

 Larks. 



