Birds of the Indian Hills 



birds of the hills. There seem to be two 

 reasons for this neglect of the latter. Firstly, 

 it is only the favoured few to whom it is given 

 to spend more than ten days at a time in the 

 cool heights ; most of us have to toil in the 

 hot plains. Secondly, the thick foliage of the 

 mountain -side makes bird-watching a somewhat 

 difficult operation. The observer frequently 

 catches sight of an interesting-looking bird, 

 only to see it disappear among the foliage 

 before he has had time even to identify it. 



The black- throated jay is a handsome bird, 

 more striking in appearance even than the jay 

 of England (G. glandarius). Its crested head 

 is black. Its back is a beautiful French 

 grey, its wings are black and white with 

 a bar of the peculiar shade of blue which is 

 characteristic of the jay family and so rarely 

 seen in nature or art. Across this blue bar run 

 thin black transverse lines. The tail is of the 

 same blue with similar black cross-bars, and each 

 feather is tipped with white. The throat is 

 black, with short white lines on it. The legs 

 are pinkish slaty, and the bill is slate coloured 

 in some individuals, and almost white in others. 

 The size of this jay is the same as that of our 

 familiar English one. Black-throated jays go 



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