5794 Birds. 



When stationed at Cochin, there was one about the house, be- 

 longing to a servant, which had been taught not only to repeat 

 the name and rank of an officer of the regiment, but to go through 

 the platoon exercise. 



Black Robin of the Carnatic (Tatiagra nigricollis, Linn.). Many 

 years since, when stationed for a time at Combaconune, a place situated 

 to the south-eastward of Trichinopoly, and not far distant from Tan- 

 jore, I first noticed this bird, which, from the striking resemblance it 

 bears, both in form and habits, to the redbreast, I used in after years 

 to speak of and designate as the "black robin of Combaconune," 

 never having, that I can remember, met with it elsewhere. I was 

 doomed to pass several long and dreary months there, with no other 

 companions but my two black friends, who became so familiar that 

 they were seldom out of the house, hopping about the floor, and 

 perching on the backs of the chairs, perfectly regardless of my pre- 

 sence. The male was an exceedingly handsome bird, with glossy jet- 

 black plumage, excepting a spot or bar of white on the wings ; but the 

 female was clad in more sober colours, being of a sooty black, looking 

 like a robin that has just come down a chimney. They bear a greater 

 resemblance to the pied flycatcher than to any other bird that I know 

 of; but the latter is shy and solitary, the former just the reverse: be- 

 sides I never observed them catching flies, but think it possible they 

 may have been attracted to the house by the innumerable little red ants 

 with which it swarmed, and were to be seen daily issuing forth from the 

 numerous holes with which the floor was perforated in long continuous 

 lines or columns, not unlike an army on the march, but occasionally 

 diverging or taking ground to the right or left, to see — or rather try — 

 of what one's legs were made of; and their bite is not only painful, but 

 causes an irritable sensation for a long time after. The black robins 

 were frequently to be seen during the day, perched on the ledge or 

 coping of the wall beneath the roof or ceiling of the bungalow, and 

 had, I fancy, constructed their nest in some hole or corner of the 

 building, as they were seldom absent from it. The description I have 

 seen of the little black Tanagra seems to answer pretty well, although 

 I think it must be somewhat larger than my black robin, as it is said 

 to be about six inches and a half in length. The male wholly black, 

 except a spot of white on the wing ; the female rufous and ash- 

 coloured. It is also described as being so familiar as to visit the 

 dwellings. Probably some reader of the ' Zoologist,' more conversant 

 with the birds of Southern India than I profess to be, can identify it, 

 as possibly it may be common enough in other parts of India. 



