On the Malabar Thrush.



129



THE MALABAR THRUSH*


By Miss Fitz-Gerald.


The Malabar Thrush, or, as it is now commonly called.

The Idle or Whistling Schoolboy, inhabits the Nilgiri Hills in-

Madras, and is a remarkably handsome and interesting bird,

only a little larger than the English Blackbird, and of a dark

blue-black all over, excepting the forehead and wing-butts,

which are a light cobalt blue. Its nest is made of dry thin roots

and grass, and is generally built on ledges and in dark caves

near little mountain streams, as its food consists of snails, land

crabs, and tadpoles, which inhabit shady and damp spots ; and

thus it can obtain a livelihood more easily.


The Idle Schoolboy’s whistle is very human, in fact it is

exceedingly like that of an idle schoolboy wandering through the

woods whistling no particular tune. I have heard some people

assert that its whistle is like that of an organ, very rich and

mellow, but this I cannot vouch for.


The young birds are very difficult to rear, being very

delicate, and require to be fed 011 worms, land crabs, and tad¬

poles. The only person I have ever known who has reared them

is a coffee planter in the Nilgiris, where these birds are

numerous ; and he taught them to whistle tunes beautifully with

the help of a flageolet; among other tunes he taught them

“Merrily danced the Quaker’s wife” and “Ehren on the

Rhine,” which they whistled very well, much to the astonish¬

ment of everyone.


He has taken a great deal of trouble with these birds; and

I believe, when they were quite young, he had to sit up several

nights with them to keep them alive.


In the early rains up here (Ootacamund, Madras

Presidency), if you walk along any wooded road or path, you

will hear the Idle Schoolboys singing all around.



* Horsfield’s or The Malabar Whistling- bird, Alyiophoneus horsfieldi ., the “Whistling

Tom” of p. 184 of Vol. VII. of our Magazine. Since writing that page, I have satisfied

myself that Whistling Tom is not M. temmincki, as I then thought possible, but Miss

Fitz-Gerald’s bird, A/. horsfieldi.— R. P.



