82 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



watering, mowing, and rolling is green and velvet- 

 like. This lawn is a popular resort for many birds 

 of the vicinity. 



In England blackbirds, thrushes, robins, starlings, 

 and sparrows are the birds which frequent lawns. 

 Of these the sparrows are the only ones found in 

 our Indian gardens. Sparrows are very partial to 

 my lawn. Throughout the day numbers of them 

 hop about on the turf, looking for objects so small 

 that I have not been able to make out what they 

 are. The fact that sparrows are greatly addicted to a 

 lawn that is watered and mown twice a week serves 

 to show that Passer domesticus is not so black as he 

 is painted by his detractors. The sparrows cannot 

 come to my lawn for any purpose other than that of 

 looking for insects. 



The first birds to visit the lawn every morning are 

 a pair of coucals, or crow-pheasants {Centropus sinensis). 

 They appear on the scene with great punctuaUty 

 about an hour before sunrise. The crow-pheasant 

 is one of the most familiar of Indian birds. It is 

 neither a crow nor a pheasant, nevertheless there is 

 much to be said in favour of its popular name, because 

 the bird has altogether the appearance of a crow that 

 has exchanged wings and tail with a pheasant. It 

 is black all over save for its ruby-coloured eye and 

 chestnut-hued wings. It belongs to the cuckoo 

 family, but, unlike the majority of its brethren, 

 builds a nest and incubates its eggs. It is charac- 

 terised by an elongated hind toe, which he who lies 

 behind the mosquito net may observe as its possessor 



