Hen Koel. 

 (Ewdynamis honor ata. ) 



xvii. THE KOEL. 



" Koel, little Koel, singing on the siris bough." 



Kipling. 



IT is in my mind, as Mr. Kipling's animal say, that 

 'Our Anglo-Indian laureate has in the above-quoted passage 

 grievously mixed up the Koel with the Coppersmith, a 

 miscreant dealt with earlier in this series. For the 

 Koel is not so very small as birds go, being as big as a good 

 sized pigeon, nor, though his ' c speech " is " ceaseless ' ' 

 enough in the season of his vocalizations, is it "bell-like ;" 

 while the Coppersmith's metallic call might deserve such 

 .an epithet. I must confess to being heretical about the 

 Koel, who is not as a rule a popular character with the exile 



