Birds of the Indian Hills 



nor, I fear, does the pretty little forktail. As 

 I have already hinted, forktails are rather shy 

 birds. If they think they are being watched 

 they become restless and stand about on 

 boulders, uttering a prolonged plaintive note, 

 which is repeated at intervals of a few seconds. 

 When startled they fly off, emitting a loud 

 scream. But they are pugnacious to others of 

 their kind, especially at the breeding season. 

 I once saw a pair attack and drive away from 

 the vicinity of their nest a Himalayan whistling- 

 thrush {Myiofhoneus temmincki) — another bird 

 that frequents hill-streams, and a near relation 

 of the Malabar whistling-thrush or Idle School- 

 boy. 



The nursery of the forktail, although quite 

 a large cup-shaped structure, is not easy to 

 discover ; it blends well with its surroundings, 

 and the birds certainly will not betray its pre- 

 sence if they know they are being watched. 

 The nest is, to use Hume's words, " sometimes 

 hidden in a rocky niche, sometimes on a bare 

 ledge of rock overhung by drooping ferns and 

 sometimes on a sloping bank, at the root of 

 some old tree, in a very forest of club moss." 

 I once spent several afternoons in discovering 



a forktail's nest which I was positive existed 

 IS4 



