ORNITHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 265 



the tongue could by this route easily reach the nectar. 

 The difficulty seems to lie in the fact that the sunbird 

 is unable to hover in front of a flower in the manner 

 characteristic of a humming-bird, but has rather to 

 cling to the flower stems before it can seek its food. 

 From the stem of the bignonia it would be quite 

 unable to reach the mouth of the flower, and has 

 therefore to penetrate the petals with its beak. I 

 have no doubt that the sunbird is an active agent 

 in fertilizing certain flowers, but from its method of 

 penetrating the blossoms of the bignonia it can play 

 no part in the fertilization of that plant. The bird, 

 however, gains one advantage by this mode of feeding, 

 as it is able to remove the nectar from the unexpanded 

 blossoms and thus steal a march on the insects which 

 compete with it for the precious honey but which can 

 enter only the expanded flower. 



I will here mention a few observations on nesting 

 habits that bear on the mentality of birds. 



The Himalayan whistling-thrush, MyiopJioneus tem- 

 7nincki, looks at first sight like an English blackbird, 

 though it is in reality more closely related to the 

 laughing-thrushes and the babblers. It haunts the 

 moist glens, gorges and ravines, and is always to be 

 seen about the torrential mountain streams. It often 

 displays a remarkable foresight in selecting the site 

 for its nest. It is in the habit of choosing a place 

 close to a torrent and of lodging its nest on the side 

 of the gorge immediately above the stream. It does 

 not place its nest high up on the cliff; it rather looks 

 for protection in a more ingenious way. It seeks out 

 a part of the torrent where there is a waterfall or a 

 deep pool and places its nest on a ledge of rock only 



