FOR NORTHERN INDIA 41 



the rosy starling are glossy black, and the 

 remainder of the plumage is pale salmon in 

 the hen and the young cock, and faint rose- 

 colour in the adult cock. 



Rosy starlings feed chiefly in the morning 

 .and the late afternoon. During the hottest 

 part of the day they perch in trees and hold 

 a concert, if such a term may be applied to a 

 torrent of sibilant twitter. 



Buntings, like rosy starlings, are social birds, 

 and are very destructive to grain crops. 



As these last are harvested the feeding area 

 of the buntings becomes restricted, so that 

 eventually every patch of standing crop is 

 alive with buntings. The spring cereals ripen 

 in the south earlier than in northern India, 

 so that the cheerful buntings are able to 

 perform their migratory journey by easy 

 stages and find abundant food all along the 

 route. 



There are two species of corn-bunting the 

 red-headed (Emberiza luteola) and the black- 

 headed (E. melanocephala). In both the lower 

 plumage is bright yellow. 



Among the earliest of the birds to forsake 

 the plains of Hindustan are the grey-lag goose 

 and the pintail duck. These leave Bengal in 



