Birds of the Indian Hills 



wearing her best frock. Like their sisters of 

 the plains, Himalayan streaked laughing- 

 thrushes go about in small flocks and are 

 exceedingly noisy. Sometimes a number of 

 them assemble, apparently for the sole pur- 

 pose of holding a speaking competition. 

 They are never so happy as when thus 

 engaged. 



Streaked laughing-thrushes frequent gardens, 

 and, as they are inordinately fond of hearing 

 their own voices, it is certainly not their 

 fault if they escape observation. By way of 

 a nest they build a rough-and-ready cup- 

 shaped structure in a low bush or on the 

 ground ; but, as Hume remarked, " the bird, 

 as a rule, conceals the nest so well that, 

 though a loose, and for the size of the archi- 

 tect, a large structure, it is difficult to find, 

 even when one closely examines the bush in 

 which it is." 



Three other species of laughing -thrush 

 must be numbered among common birds of 

 the Himalayas, although they, like the heroine 

 of A Bad Girl's Diary, are often heard and 

 not seen. The white-throated laughing-thrush 

 (Garrulax albigularis) is a handsome bird larger 

 than a myna. Its general colour is rich olive 



44 



