Common Birds of Western Himalayas 



lines. A chocolate-brown bird, bigger than a 

 crow, and spotted and barred with white all 

 over, can be nothing other than one of the 

 Himalayan nutcrackers. It may be the Hima- 

 layan species {Nucijraga hemisfila), or the 

 larger spotted nutcracker {N. multifunctata). 



The members of the crow family which I 

 have attempted to describe above are all large 

 birds, birds bigger than a crow. It now behoves 

 us to consider the smaller members of the cor- 

 vine clan. 



The tits form a sub-family of the crows. 

 Now at first sight the crow and the tit seem 

 to have but little in common. However, close 

 inspection, whether by the anatomist or the 

 naturalist, reveals the mark of the corvidae in 

 the tits. First, there is the habit of holding 

 food under the foot while it is being devoured. 

 Then there is the aggressiveness of the tits. 

 This is Lloyd-Georgian or even Winstonian in 

 its magnitude. " Tits," writes Jerdon, " are ex- 

 cessively bold and even ferocious, the larger 

 ones occasionally destroying young and sickly 

 birds, both in a wild state and in confinement." 



Many species of tit dwell in the Himalayas. 

 To describe them all would bewilder the 

 reader; I will, therefore, content myself with 



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