Notes on the Parroc[uets of India. 339 



S^har of S. India^ Jerdon •; ? S7/bar of Dhooii and Mussooree -, 

 plains of India^ An-acan, Teiuisserim, and Malayan Peninsula 

 to the latitude of Pinang". (Blytli^'s Catalogue.) 



This species as at present recognised by naturalists^ although 

 common in the Dehra Dhoon throughout the year, never ascends 

 the hills even in the breeding season ; in the Dhoon it breeds 

 in April and even earlier, the young being- brought for sale 

 about the beginning of May. It is known in the Bhoon as the 

 S/jbar totah, and is an especial favorite with the natives. It has 

 a shrill clamourous cry which it utters on the wing and is of 

 very rapid flight, shooting past one with a rushing sound and 

 scarcely seen before it is gone again. In the gardens and 

 grain fields it is very destructive, settling on the stalks of 

 the bending corn, and not content with a few grains, it 

 wantonly ciits oif the ears and strews them in numbers on the 

 ground. 



At the pairing season the female of this species becomes the 

 most affected creature possible, twisting herself into all sorts of 

 ridiculous postures in order, apparently, to attract the notice of 

 her sweetheart, and uttering a low twittering note the while, in 

 the most approved style of flirtation, while her wings are half 

 spread and her head kept rolling from side to side in demi- 

 gyrations ; the male sitting quietly by her side looking on with 

 wonder as if fairly taken a-back, — and wondering to see her 

 make such a guy of herself. I have watched them during these 

 courtships until I have felt humiliated at seeing how closely the 

 follies of mankind resembled those of the brute creation. The 

 only return the male made to these antics was scratching the top 

 of her head with the point of his beak, and joining his bill to 

 hers in a loving kiss. 



The Sybar never acquires a wing spot even at maturity and 

 the ring round the neck, which is a miniature of that of P. 

 Alexandri (verus) does not appear until the bird is two years 

 old. Most writers say the third year, but this is erroneous, as 

 from the hatching in one year to the breeding season of the 

 third, is exactly two years, and it is then that the ring 

 appears. 



The nestling is of a uniform pale green, without any marking 

 whatever ; the tail feathers bluish and the bill pale coral red 

 above, black inside the mouth and at the base of the lower 

 mandible ; the feet, plumbeous grey. 



The mature male is a handsome bird of graceful form, with a 

 black curved line springing from the gape and passing round 

 the side of the neck to a little beyond the eye ; these two lines 

 are well defined and are united by a black patch beneath the 



