8 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



several times did the cock descend to the ground, and 

 hop about, with tail erect. He is arrayed in black and 

 white, and a smarter-looking bird does not exist. 

 His mate also put in an appearance ; she has all his 

 sprighthness and is equally tastefully attired in grey 

 and white. 



Having spent an hour in the grove, I. had to return 

 to my tent to work, without having witnessed all the 

 dramatis personcB of the daily pageant. As I was leaving 

 the tope a hen brown-backed robin {Thamnobia 

 camhaiensis) hopped out of an arhar field and stood 

 beneath a mango tree, carrying her tail erect so as to 

 display the red undertail coverts. 



After I had reached my tent, fifty yards away, I 

 heard the kutur — kutur — kuturuk of the green barbet 

 {Thereiceryx zeylonicus), the loud tap, tap, tap of the 

 golden-backed woodpecker {Brachypternus aurantius), 

 and the cheerful notes of the king crow {Dicrurus ater). 



