FOR NORTHERN INDIA 182 



wood-shrikes, bulbuls, tree-pies, orioles and 

 white-eyes busily seek for food. Pied and 

 golden-backed woodpeckers, companies of nut- 

 hatches, and, here and there, a wryneck move 

 about on the trunks and branches, looking into 

 every cranny for insects. King-crows, bee- 

 eaters, fantail and grey-headed flycatchers 

 seek their quarry on the wing, making frequent 

 sallies into the open from their leafy bowers. 

 Butcher-birds, rollers and white-breasted king- 

 fishers secure their victims on the ground, 

 dropping on to them silently from their watch- 

 towers. Magpie-robins, Indian robins, red- 

 starts and tailor-birds likewise capture their 

 prey on the ground, but, instead of waiting 

 patiently for it to come to them, they hop 

 about fussily in quest of it. Bright sunbirds 

 flit from bloom to bloom, now hovering in 

 the air on rapidly-vibrating wings, now dip- 

 ping their slender curved bills into the calyces. 



On the lawn wagtails run nimbly in search 

 of tiny insects, hoopoes probe the earth for 

 grubs, mynas strut about, in company with 

 king-crows and starlings, seeking for grass- 

 hoppers. 



Overhead, swifts and swallows dash joy- 

 ously to and fro, feasting on the minute 



