Birds of the Indian Hills 



notes are very largely, if not entirely, replaced 

 by the yet sweeter and more cheery calls of 

 the hill-bulbul. It will be labour lost to look 

 up this name in Oates's ornithology, because 

 it does not occur in that work. The smart, 

 lively little bird, whose unceasing twittering 

 melody gives our southern hill stations half 

 their charm, has been saddled by men of 

 science with the pompous appellation Otocompsa 

 fuscicaudata. Even more objectionable is the 

 English name for the pretty, perky bird. 

 What shall I say of the good taste of those 

 who call it the red-whiskered bulbul, as though 

 it were a seedy Mohammedan who dips his 

 grizzly beard in a pot of red dye by way of 

 beautifying it ? I prefer to call this bird the 

 southern hill-bulbul. This name, I admit, 

 leaves something to be desired, because the 

 species is not confined to the hills. It is to 

 be found in most places along the west coast. 

 Nor is It the only bulbul living on the hills. 

 The justification for the name is that if a 

 census were taken of the bird-folk who dwell 

 in our hill stations, it would show that Oto- 

 compsa fuscicaudata outnumbered all the crows, 

 mynas, sparrows, flycatchers, and sunbirds put 



together. It is the bird of the southern hills. 



192 



