38 A BIRD CALENDAR 



pared to the sound made by striking a plank 

 sharply with a hammer. 



March is the month in which the majority 

 of the shrikes or butcher-birds go a-courting. 

 There is no false modesty about butcher-birds. 

 They are not ashamed to introduce their un- 

 melodious calls into the avian chorus. But 

 they are mild offenders in comparison with the 

 king-crows (Dicrurus ater) and the rollers 

 (Coracias indie a). 



The little black king-crows are at all seasons 

 noisy and vivacious : from the end of February 

 until the rains have set in they are positively 

 uproarious. Two or three of them love to sit 

 on a telegraph wire, or a bare branch of a tree, 

 and hold a concert. The first performer draws 

 itself up to its full height and then gives vent 

 to harsh cries. Before it has had time to 

 deliver itself of all it has to sing, an impatient 

 neighbour joins in and tries to shout it down. 

 The concert may last for half an hour or 

 longer ; the scene is shifted from time to 

 time as the participants become too excited 

 to sit still. The king-crows so engaged appear 

 to be selecting their mates ; nevertheless nest- 

 construction does not begin before the end of 

 April. 



