BIBDS. 195 



8 rosefinches, 2 sparrows, 4 or 5 mountain-finches, and as many bunt- 

 ings. During the greater part of the year the majority of them are 

 only to be found at very high elevations, but many descend as low as 

 6,000 feet in hard winters, and a few species are to be found at lower 

 elevations the year round. The most conspicuously coloured of them 

 all is ffcemaiosjma sipahi, which is gorgeously arrayed in bright scarlet 

 with brown wings and tail edged with scarlet. The female is brown 

 with a bright yellow rump. It may be seen in considerable numbers 

 as low as 5,000 feet so early in the year as October. At high 

 elevations three or four larks are to be found. 



The common swallow, Hintndo rustica, arrives about the end of 

 January and leaves again in October. It begins breeding in March 

 and brings up two or three broods in the year. The other species 

 of swallow found in Sikhim, JELlnmdo nipalensis, is readily distin- 

 guished by its rusty-coloured rump. It builds a covered nest with a 

 long tunnel for entrance, instead of the open cup-shaped nest of the 

 common swallow. Chelidon nipalensis, Hodgson's martin, is abun- 

 dant up to at least 5,000 feet, and remains the whole year, as does also 

 the Indian edible-nest swiftlet, Collocalia nidifica. There are tkree 

 goat suckers, of which Caprimulgus albonotatiis is the commonest. In 

 the breeding season its song is one of the most frequent sounds to be 

 heard after dusk in the lower valleys up to nearly 4,000 feet. It is 

 exactly the noise made by striking Avith a stone on a frozen pond. 

 Of barbets there are four species. All breed in holes of trees and 

 have monotonous calls. The largest one, Megalaima grandis, is very 

 common. It grows to 13 inches in length, and is said to be excellent 

 eating. Psarisomus Dalkousicc, a broadbill, is a very showily-coloured 

 bird, and is found in considerable flocks in the forests of the hot 

 valleys. It is about the size of a blackbird and of a green colour 

 marked with blue and yellow. 



The European raven, Corviis corax, is found at high elevations, 

 and a jungle crow, Corvus maerorhijnchus, is frequent, although not in 

 large numbers, from low elevations up to considerable heights. There 

 is one jay, and there are also several magpies of sorts, the most con- 

 spicuous of which, Cissa chitiensis, the hunting- jay, is crested and of a 

 bluish-green colom' with rufous wings. It is found up to about 4,000 

 feet elevation. Over 6,000 feet, usually in the big forests, are to 

 be found two blue-magpies with tails half a yard in length. At ele- 

 vations over 9,000 feet are to be found a nut-cracker and two choughs, 

 one with a red and the other with a yellow bill. The great hornbill, 

 Eomrains bicomis, is a most remarkable bird. It is 4 feet long, and 

 has a large yellow casque on the top of its bill. It affects the lower 

 valleys up to 3,000 feet, but occasionally ascends higher. It goes in 

 small flocks, and at times makes a loud unearthly-sounding noise, more 

 like that of some large carnivorous mammal quarrelling over its prey 



