The Common Birds of the Nilgiris 



red or crimson, notably one on the rump. The 

 amount of crimson varies considerably ; in the 

 breeding season nearly the whole of the upper 

 plumage of the cock is crimson. Amadavats 

 go about in flocks and utter a cheeping note 

 during flight. Their happy hunting grounds 

 are tangles of long grass. Amadavats occur all 

 over the Nilgiris. 



THE FRINGILLID^ OR FINCH FAMILY 



Finches arc seed-eating birds characterised by 

 a stout bill, which is used for husking grain. 



The common sparrow {Passer domesticus) is 

 the best known member of the finch family. 

 Most of us see too much of him. He is to be 

 observed in every garden on the Nilgiris, looking 

 as though the particular garden in which he 

 happens to be belongs to him. As a rule, 

 sparrows nest about houses, but numbers of 

 them breed in the steep cuttings on the road 

 between Coonoor and Ootacamund. 



The only other finch common on the Nilgiris 



is the rose-finch (Carpodacus erythrinus). This, 



however, is only a winter visitor : it departs 



from the Nilgiris in April and does not return 



until the summer season is over. 

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