FOR NORTHERN INDIA 156 



By the end of September the bird chorus 

 has assumed its winter form, except that the 

 grey-headed flycatchers have not joined it in 

 numbers. 



Apart from the sharp notes of the warblers, 

 the cooing of the doves, the hooting of the 

 crow-pheasants, the wailing of the kites, the 

 cawing of the crows, the screaming of the 

 green parrots, the chattering of the mynas 

 and the seven sisters, the trumpeting of the 

 sarus cranes and the clamouring of the lap- 

 wings, almost the only bird voices commonly 

 heard are those of the fantail flycatcher, the 

 amadavat, the wagtail, the oriole, the roller 

 and the sunbird. 



The cock sunbirds are singing brilliantly 

 although they are still wearing their worka- 

 day garments, which are quaker brown save 

 for one purple streak along the median line 

 of the breast and abdomen. 



Many birds are beginning to moult. They are 

 casting off worn feathers and assuming the new 

 ones that will keep them warm during the cool 

 winter months. With most birds the new 

 feathers grow as fast as the old ones fall out. In 

 a few, however, the process of renewal does not 

 keep pace with that of shedding ; the result 



