BIRDS 43 



resplendent parrots are not very numerous. But 

 these little sun-birds glitter like jewels among the 

 leafy foliage, and the lustrous metallic hues of dif- 

 ferent shades with which they are richly coloured on 

 the head and long tail-feathers change and flash in 

 the sunlight with every slightest movement. 



Not all so brilliant in colour but very delightful 

 to watch are the fly-catchers. Of these there are 

 no less than twenty-six species, the most remark- 

 able being the fairy blue-chat, which is brilliantly 

 marked with different shades of glistening blue, and 

 another which is strikingly coloured in almost uni- 

 form verditer blue. In the very lowest valleys is 

 found the beautiful paradise fly-catcher, with a long- 

 ' pointed black crest, the rest of the plumage white 

 with black shafts and the tail 14 inches inlength. The 

 quickness and agility this lovely bird displays as it 

 darts and twists and tuijis in the pursuit of butter- 

 flies in their uneven dodging flight is one of the 

 marvels of forest life. 



Game-birds are not abundant, but four species 

 of pheasant are found, of which the largest and 

 handsomest is the moonal, bronze-green glossed 

 with gold and with a tail of cinnamon red. Sports- 

 men in the Himalaya are familiar with the sight of 

 this radiantly-coloured bird swishing down the 

 mountain-side with apparently the speed and almost 

 the brilliancy of a flash of lightning. Not so hand- 

 some as the moonal, being small and greyish in 

 colour on the back, is the blood-pheasant, remark- 

 able for its blood-red streaks on the breast and its 

 blood-red under-tail-coverts. 



Bulbuls are largely represented and may be seen 



