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Indian birds in winter.



the misnomer is perhaps a pardonable one, for in more respects than

one the bird resembles the true Jays, and I am told that the European

Roller ( Coracias garrula), a near relative of the Indian Blue Jay, is.

known in parts of Germany as the Birch Jay. American visitors to*

India, however, make no such mistake. You never hear one of them

call the Roller a Jay. They dub him the Surprise Bird, a name which

admirably suits both him and the Paddy Bird.”


Along the railway route through Jubbulpore (and occasionally

in other parts of India), two species of birds, both small and green

of plumage, were quite numerous. These w T ere the common Indian

Bee-eater ( Merops viridis) and the Crimson-breasted Barbet (Xantlio-

Icema hamatocephala). A large flock of the Barbet 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 predominant colour is green with sulphur-yellow

trimmings about the head, and with patches of crimson on the

forehead and throat. Unfortunately for the tourists these birds are-

silent during cool weather, and we did not hear their peculiar

metallic notes that have earned for them the nickname of Copper¬

smith.


In spite of the brilliant green colouring of the Common Indian

Bee-eater, its gentle mien and fly-catching habits constantly 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 Phcebes. The books say that this,

fondness for each other’s society leads them in some places to roost

in large companies; also that they nest in burrows that they dig for

themselves in the banks of the rivers and ravines. Although their

size and colours are similar, yet their slender forms and long central

tail-feathers readily distinguish them from the short-tailed, chunky

Barbets.


The railway journey to Calcutta occupied forty-four hours,

and terminated in the grey dawn of a January day. It was in this-

city that the more leisurely observation of the birds "began. Among

the first birds noted were two representatives of a species not met

with afterward, though it is said to be a common species in winter



