OCCASIONAL NOTES FROM SIKHIM.— NO. I. 385 



their breeding- quarters, and we hoped it would always remain, 

 but one morning it was missing, and has never returned. 



Que pair of our Myuahs, at least we claim them, went across 

 the valley this year to a Tea planter on the next ridge. He is 

 a Pigeon-faucier, and had a cot of eight holes nailed up against 

 his house for his pigeons to breed in. The one pair of Mynahs 

 drove out all the pigeons, built a nest in every hole, or rather 

 stuffed them full of grass, to keep full possession I suppose, and 

 brought up a fine brood in one of them. The pigeons were 

 very much afraid of them and never ventured near. The plan- 

 ter did not like to see his pigeons ousted in this unceremonious 

 manner, but, as he said, he admired the impudence of the 

 Mynahs too much to drive them away. Mynahs may do great 

 good to Tea planters in keeping down grasshoppers, which often 

 do much inqury to young Tea plants. 



Centropus bengalensis has increased largely of late. Among 

 grassy scrub, up to 3,500 feet, it is now abundant, where, only a 

 few years ago, it was rarely to be found. In the earlier part 

 of the rainy season its odd, monotonous notes are to be heard 

 in every direction. I am not sure that the male calls, but 

 have shot the female — as I found by dissection — when 

 calling. It has a call of a double series of notes : whoot, 

 whoot, whoot, whoot ; then often a pause of four or five seconds, 

 kurook, kurook, kurook, kurook. The " whoot" is quite ven- 

 triloquistic, sounding as if it came from a distance of six or 

 eight yards from the bird. Before calling, it seats itself about 

 five feet from the ground, then you see it draw its neck and 

 body together, slightly puffing out its body feathers, raising 

 its back and depressing its tail, and for every " whoot" there is 

 a violent throb of the body as if the bird was iu great pain, at 

 the same time the motion of the throat is scarcely perceptible 

 and its bill is closed. Then, as if greatly relieved, it stretches 

 itself out, the feathers fall smooth, and with open mouth and 

 throbbing throat comes the " kurook " without the slightest 

 attempt at ventriloquism. When searching for the caller one 

 must take no notice of the " whoot " but wait for the " kurook." 

 It feeds almost entirely on grasshoppers, and frequents the open, 

 scrubby tracts only. I have never once seen it in larger forest. 



Geocichla citrina is another bird that has become common in 

 the shady Cinchona plantations. Until a year or two ago, I 

 never saw it except near the bottoms of our warmest valleys, 

 and in the Terai, where it is abundant, but this year we have it 

 in large numbers up to nearly 4,000 feet. 



We have a patch of plantains and a few plants of Passi- 



flora edulis near our house, which are great attractions to Arach- 



nothera magna. At first they were rather shy, but lately they 



