BIRDS ON THE PULNEY HILLS. ATT 
places where the grass and fern are very long. You might go 
close to one of these places where there were several birds with- 
out seeing one, as till disturbed they are very quiet and are 
generally underneath the fern, but when once they are 
aroused they perch themselves on the topmost spray of grass 
and give forth that plaintive sort of whistle in a most per- 
sistent manner. They are shy little birds and rather hard 
to get near, and will take wonderfully long flights for so 
small a bird. One thing I noticed about their note was that 
at first it was almost impossible to tell which direction it came 
from, and sometimes one would eventually discover that it 
was in the air, high up above one’s head. I could only get a 
few specimens. I found an ordinary gun knocked them about 
too much, and it was not easy to get sufficiently close to kill 
them with a ‘450 gun, which I generally use for small birds. 
Then again I was very unlucky in losing several that I had shot 
in the long fern; in fact, I think, I lost more than half the 
number I shot in that way. I cannot tell whether there are 
two varieties of this bird or not. At first I thought they were 
male and female till I shotamale with the brown instead of 
the rufous head. The former too is a larger bird. 
*5431s.—Drymesca fusca ? Hodys. 
I am not quite certain whether this bird is fusca or not. 
I suppose it is impossible to tell without others to compare with 
it. I found it common everywhere where there was long 
grass or fern. 
*561.—Phylloscopus affinis ? Zick. 
Rather a commen bird at Pulungi. Always saw several 
together. 
*589.—Motacilla maderaspatana, Gm. 
Saw one in the end of May by the side of a stream at 
Pumbarrah. 
*592.—Calobates melanope, Pail. 
Common round the lake at Kodikanal and small streams till 
the beginning of May. 
*596.—Anthus maculatus, Hodys. 
Saw this bird frequently in March at Kodikanal, feeding with 
C. rufula. 
598.—Anthus monitanus, Jerd. 
Very common on the tops of all the hills, was breeding 
