8 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



several times did the cock descend to the ground, and 

 hop about, with tail erect. He is arrayed in black and 

 white, and a smarter-looking bird does not exist. 

 His mate also put in an appearance ; she has all his 

 sprightliness and is equally tastefully attired in grey 

 and white. 



Having spent an hour in the grove, I had to return 

 to my tent to work, without having witnessed all the 

 dramatis persona of the daily pageant. As I was leaving 

 the tope a hen brown-backed robin (Thamnobia 

 cambaiensis) hopped out of an arhar field and stood 

 beneath a mango tree, carrying her tail erect so as to 

 display the red undertail coverts. 



After I had reached my tent, fifty yards away, I 

 heard the kutur kutur kuturuk of the green barbet 

 (Thereiceryx zeylonicus), the loud tap, tap, tap of the 

 golden-backed woodpecker (Brachypternus aurantius], 

 and the cheerful notes of the king crow (Dicrurus ater). 



