78 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



tering song, but soft and pleasing, being intermediate 

 to that of the goldfinch, and that of the small redpole 

 linnet, the call note much resembling that of a canary 

 bird. 



Rose-finches are said to be very pugnacious, and in 

 this respect they resemble their vulgar relations the 

 sparrows, but they differ from the latter in lacking 

 their fearlessness of man or beast. At the least alarm 

 a flock of rose-finches feeding on the ground scurries 

 into the nearest tree with a loud fluttering of wings. 

 The harsh cry of the king-crow or the shadow of a 

 passing kite is quite sufficient to cause the instant 

 disappearance of the little flock into the foliage. 



On an average, a feeding flock thus takes alarm at 

 least twenty times in the course of an hour. Sometimes 

 the birds take fright for no apparent reason whatever. 

 Their behaviour in this respect is exactly like that of 

 chaffinches, greenfinches, etc., in England, which 

 Edmund Selous describes so accurately in that perfect 

 nature book Bird Watching. Selous " came to 

 the conclusion that the cause of flight was almost 

 always a nervous apprehension, such as actuates 

 schoolboys when they are doing something of a for- 

 bidden nature and half expect to see the master appear 

 at any moment round the corner. Though there might 

 be no discernible ground for apprehension, yet after 

 some three or four minutes it seemed to strike the 

 assembly that it could not be quite safe to remain any 

 longer, and, presto ! they were gone." 



It is my belief that what may be called the undue 

 nervousness of little birds has been caused by the attacks 



