Sherman — Birds by the Wayside 249 



and later I found a similar spirit animating the English 

 press. It offered a problem that defied analysis until the 

 thought suggested itself, that here were examples of that 

 so-called " industrial rivalry '' or " commercial jealousy " of 

 which we hear sO' much. That these were unsuccessiful 

 efforts of the British to rival similar sneers, lies;, and mis- 

 representations " made in Germany." It was a hopeless 

 competition, yet it rendered none the less amusing the scram- 

 ble, after August 5, 1914, of the English and Germans for 

 our good will and good opinion. 



Along the railway route through Jubbulpo-re (and occa- 

 sionally in other parts of India), two species of birds, both 

 small and green of plumage, were quite numerous. These 

 were the Common Indian Bee-eater (Merops viridis) and 

 the Crimson-breasted Barbet {Xantholcema hceniatocephala). 

 A large fiock of the Ba-rbet was seen daily near my hotel in 

 Delhi, and they were quite plentiful on Mount Abu. They 

 are rather droll, clumsy-looking, little fellows, as one would 

 'expect to be true of a species closely related to the wood- 

 peckers. Their p-redominant color is green with sulphur- 

 yellow trimmings about the head, and with patches of crim- 

 son on the forehead and throat. Unfortunately for the tour- 

 ists these birds are silent during cool weather, and we did 

 not hear their peculiar metallic notes that have earned for 

 them the nickname of Coppe«rsmith. 



In spite of the brilliant green coloring of the Common 

 Indian Bee-eater its gentle mien and flycatching habits con- 

 stantly remind one of the Phoebe, and the impression is 

 deepened, when we find three or four of them sitting closely 

 together on a branch in the exact fashion of a brood of young 

 Phoebes. The books say that this fondness fo-r each other's 

 society leads them in some places to roost in large com- 

 panies ; also that they nest in burrows that they dig for them- 

 selves in the banks of the rivers and ravines. Although 

 their size and colors are similar, yet their slender forms and 

 long central tail-feathers readily distinguish them from the 

 short-tailed chunkv Barbets. 



