NATUKALIST IN INDIA. 199. 



winding the threads round a wheel worked by the hand, 

 afterwards dried, and made up on reels. 



On the 11th of May we moved down the banks of the Lidur, 

 now a fine rapid river, to the pretty village of Mattun, situated 

 in a ^ove of magnificent chunar and walnut trees, under the 

 umbrageous boughs of which we pitched our little tent, close to 

 a square enclosed tank, which literally swarmed with the so- 

 called Himalayan trout, some to all appearance 2 lbs. in weight* 

 After the long march and exposure to the rays of a powerful 

 sun, we plunged headlong into the cold and refreshing water 

 of the tank, which is supplied by a stream that rises in the 

 neighbouring mountains. It was delightful to sit under the 

 trees and enjoy the pleasant afternoon. Sardinian starlings 

 chirped in hundreds overhead among the branches or holes 

 in the trunks of the old trees, where they build, and the spar- 

 rows in countless thousands joined in ready chorus among 

 the light-green leaves of the chunars. The above starling is 

 easily recognised by its uniform shining black plumage, and the 

 long and tapering feathers on the neck and collar. The black- 

 bird-Kke note of the Cashmere song-thrush {Turdus unicolor, 

 Tickell) was heard in all directions. A few were biulding 

 their nests among the chunars around the viQage. This 

 thrush remains in Cashmere untU winter, when it migrates 

 southward to the plains of India, and returns to the mountains 

 in spring. The changes to which its plumage is subject have 

 puzzled naturalists ; hence each variety has created for itseK 

 a name. I believe the Calcutta thrush (Latham), Turdus dis- 

 similis (Blyth), to be one of the varieties, as undoubtedly the 

 Turdvs unicolor (Gould) is another variety approaching that 



* I was unable to determine this species. It is soft-mouthed, ^nd in no 

 particular^ does it assimilate the genus salmo ; the name has arisen from its 

 frequenting hrooks ; its flesh is soft and almost tasteless. 



