BIRDS 43 



resplendent parrots are not very numerous. But 

 these little sun-birds glitter like jewels among the 

 leafy foliage, and the lustrous metallic hues of dif- 

 ferent shades with which they are richly coloured on 

 the head and long tail-feathers change and flash in 

 the sunlight with every slightest movement. 



Not all so brilliant in colour but very delightful 

 to watch are the fly-catchers. Of these there are 

 no less than twenty-six species, the most remark- 

 able being the fairy blue-chat, which is brilliantly 

 marked with different shades of glistening blue, and 

 another which is strikingly coloured in almost uni- 

 form verditer blue. In the very lowest valleys is 

 found the beautiful paradise fly-catcher, with a long- 

 pointed black crest, the rest of the plumage white 

 with black shafts and the tail 1 4 inches in length . The 

 quickness and agility this lovely bird displays as it 

 darts and twists and turns in the pursuit of butter- 

 flies in their uneven dodging flight is one of the 

 marvels of forest life. 



Game-birds are not abundant, but four species 

 of pheasant are found, of which the largest and 

 handsomest is the moonal, bronze-green glossed 

 with gold and with a tail of cinnamon red. Sports- 

 men in the Himalaya are familiar with the sight of 

 this radiantly-coloured bird swishing down the 

 mountain-side with apparently the speed and almost 

 the brilliancy of a flash of lightning. Not so hand- 

 some as the moonal, being small and greyish in 

 colour on the back, is the blood-pheasant, remark- 

 able for its blood-red streaks on the breast and its 

 blood-red under-tail-coverts. 



Bulbuls are largely represented and may be seen 



