296 BOMBAY DUCKS 



the song-birds of India. According to Mr. Gates, this 

 drongo " has a really fine song, and is perhaps the best 

 singing- bird of the East." This statement should, 

 however, be accepted with reserve, for, in my opinion, 

 Mr. Gates is not a first-class judge of the quality of a 

 bird's song. He speaks of the magpie robin as only 

 " a fairly good songster." After this one is surprised 

 at no opinion of his regarding the vocal powers of a 

 bird. The truth of the matter is that the Bhimraj, 

 which is just a glorified king-crow one having a crest 

 and a tail twenty inches long is a perfect mimic. 

 According to Jerdon, it will " imitate all sorts of sounds, 

 as of dogs, sheep, cats, goats, poultry, and the notes of 

 many birds ; hence it used to be called by some Hazar- 

 dastan, or the bird with a thousand tales (not tails). 

 Blythe had one that imitated the fine song of the shama 

 to perfection." The Bhimraj makes an excellent pet. 



There are in India, as in every country, a whole host 

 of birds which perhaps scarcely merit the name of 

 song-birds, but which, nevertheless, emit very pleasant 

 sounds ; such are the bulbuls, mynas, bee-eaters, and 

 king-crows. None of these are very great musicians, 

 but we should be sorry to lose their voices. Were 

 there no bulbuls our hill stations would lose half their 

 charm, and were the mynas and the king-crows to 

 disappear the plains of India would become very 

 dreary. 



It is probably quite incorrect to include the cuckoo 

 among the song-birds. Nevertheless I am going to do 

 so, for the simple reason that there are few birds 

 of which the note is more pleasing to my ear. I have 



