384 OCCASIONAL NOTES FROM SIKHIM. — NO. I. 



feeble, song from these dead tops, and many other birds are 

 regular frequenters of them. The moral of all this is : never 

 cut away a dead tree top if you wish to do the birds a good 

 turn. Man is far too ready to take it for granted that every- 

 thing in this world has been made for his sole use and benefit 

 and to act in a cruel and inconsiderate manner towards what 

 he is pleased to call the lower members of the animal kingdom, 

 Not very long ago I heard a high official, of an imaginative 

 turn of mind, wonder why there should be inaccessible raviues 

 filled with trees where they could be of no earthly use that he 

 could see, quite overlooking the evident fact that the world was 

 not made for the exclusive use of mankind. I was not so 

 rude as to say so, but I thought " were you a Hornbill, or Bear, 

 or Monkey, or even a wild Pig, you would wonder why there 

 should be any other sort of places." These inaccessible spots 

 now provide more food, and safer breeding places for many 

 birds and other animals than all the gentle slopes put together. 

 Our first pair of Mynahs (Acridotheres tristis) made their 

 appearance about five years ago. They, and their progeny, 

 have bred with us every year since, and now there are one or 

 two good-sized flocks of them. To my great disappointment 

 they shun our house, which is on a -dry ridge ; and keep near 

 another house about half a mile distant. It has a stream near 

 it which may be the attraction. Its occupier was very proud 

 of his Mynahs, and though he knew how disappointed I was 

 that none of them would come our way, would, every time 

 I went across, say with a most tantalizing smile of exultation, 

 " You see the Mynahs stay with me." But this was endurable 

 compared with his crowing about a one-legged Motacilla luzo- 

 niensis which took up its quarters about his house. There it 

 stuck, mouth after month, without moving forty yards away, 

 and never once came near us. It was a lovely specimen, as 

 plump as it could be, and not a feather out of place, and so 

 tame. It would pick up bread crumbs and rice — rather 

 unusual for a Wag-tail, I think — from under our feet. 

 At night it perched on the ledge of a warm chimney. It 

 really was a treat to see the little creature hopping about 

 so nimbly on its one leg, and looking so comfortable and 

 contented. How I envied its possessor, to be sure ! I would 

 sometimes point out our Minivets, Spider-hunters, Swallow 

 Shrikes, &c, when he came our way, but he would, with 

 the most superior air, say, " Oh ! Ah ! they are very fine, but 

 you, should just come over and see my one legged Wagtail/' 

 and then I could but swallow my envy and mortification as best 

 I could, and admit the inferiority of our possessions. It stayed 

 on till well into the rains, long after all its tribe had left for 



