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Mr. Aubyn Trevor-Battye,



primaries and secondaries. One can get quite close to the bird as it

hunts about in its busy, pre-occupied way.


The Warblers shall be passed over, because here I feel on too

uncertain ground, though members of this large group may be seen

every day, from a Reed-warbler by a jhil to the little Green (Prima

inornata ) that haunts the compound shrubs. The same may be said

of the Shrikes, for though one often saw a Shrike perched on the

telegraph wires or hawking from the top of the aloe stems or round

about the jungle, I could seldom identify them with any certainty.

One was certainly the Indian Great Grey Shrike ( Lanius lahtora ) and

another most probably the Rufous-backed Shrike (L. erythronotus ),

and at that we must leave them.


Considering the brightness of the Orioles, they are not very

noticeable in the sun-washed trees ; only on one or two occasions I

saw one singing on the top of a tree or bush. And I never re¬

member to have seen a Grackle ( Eulabes) in the wild state, though

one commonly saw them in cages.


The Rose-coloured Starling ( Pastor rosaceus ) is often seen.

It is one of those birds that comes to the Jains’ feeding-towers in

the city of Ahmadabed. The Indian Starling (, Sturnus menzbieri)

seemed to me to be almost exactly like our own and had just the

same ways. This brings us to the Mynas, a group of birds which,

with the Crows and Kites, are the most familiar birds in town and

country. The Common Myna ( Acriclotheres tristis) is everywhere

and always. Its specific name is most unfair, for it is one of the

cheeriest birds that fly. This delightfully industrious and confident

bird is not confined to the plains, it goes well up into the mountains ;

we saw it in Nepal. The Bank Myna ( A. ginginianus ) is much

more local. I never saw it in large parties as one sees the former

species. A pair frequented the lawn of a house where I was staying

in Benares, and hunted carefully the grass when just mown by a

large mowing-machine drawn by two splendid oxen ; and there were

always a few on the banks of the Ganges at the foot of the town.

A third quite familiar bird is the Black-headed Myna ( Temenuchus

pagodarum). Its habits are much like those of the others.


I saw many Flycatchers in Sikhim, among them a lovely

cobalt blue one, which was probably one of the Niltava genus.



