BIRD NOTES BY THE WAY IN KASHMIR. 1311 



On the 10th of June at Gund, 14 miles below Sonemarg in the Sind 

 Valley, I saw large flocks of Gold-fronted Finches (Metaponia pusilla) on the 

 open hillsides. This finch, like " Stoliczkas," seems to keep in flocks 

 throughout the breeding season. The call-note is a twice quickly-repeated 

 note like ' chup '. It did not occur in Sonemarg. 



The 39 miles of cart road running through the rice fields of the Vale of 

 Kashmir from Baramulla to Srinagar is bordered on either hand by a 

 monotonous row of tall poplars planted close together. In the 

 breeding season every third or fourth poplar holds a nest (bulky, untidy 

 structures of grass), some hold four or more. These are nests of the migra- 

 tory sparrow {Passer do?nesticus) mentioned (ibid). The number of nests along 

 this stretch must run nto thousands. But this is only a very small por- 

 tion of the breeding area of this sparrow in Kashmir. The origin of the 

 vast hordes of sparrows, which descend upon the cornfields of North- West 

 India during the spring passage and hurry through to Central India in 

 autumn, is thus partly revealed. If not a blessing in disguise to the 

 Kashmiri zemindar (as it is a curse and curse only to the farmer of the 

 plains of North- "West India) this sparrow at any rate compensates him for 

 any damage done to the rice crops later in the summer by the prodigious 

 quantities of green caterpillars which it destroys to supply the needs of the 

 young in the nest. 



Breeding, as described, along a roadway on which there is a consider- 

 able traflic, these birds are aff'orded protection to a great extent from their 

 natural enemy the Sparrow Hawk {Accipits nisus). But they have one enemy 

 which nests among them and has no fear of the traflic, namely, the Rufous- 

 backed Shrike {Lanius ery thronotus) . That this shrike takes a heavy toll of 

 the sparrows in the shape of young is pretty certain. Indeed, I believe the 

 Rufous-backed shrike to be somewhat addicted to sparrow fare, as where- 

 ever sparrows occur in numbers either nesting or roosting, in this part of 

 India, this shrike is pretty sure to be common. A good illustration of its 

 propensities in this respect was afforded me one November afternoon while 

 standing in the club verandah at Nowshera. Over the porchway was a 

 heavy creeper in which sparrows roosted in numbers. While these were 

 noisily settling down for the night a shrike of the above species darted in, 

 took a sparrow, and flew with it to a small tree a few yards away. The fortu- 

 nate observers of this incident attracted others to the scene, and the strange 

 spectacle was witnessed of a shrike breaking up and devouring his quarry 

 while perched on a small branch some 6 feet or so above the head of the 

 big drummer of the band of an Indian regiment which was playing at the 

 time on the club lawn. Evidently this particular shrike appreciated 

 music at his meals. 



Nesting colonies of the above migratory race of P. domesticus also occur 

 in Peshawar. In remote corners of this district away from villages n 



