HOMRAI OF THE HIMALAYA. 



171 



it probable that it resorts to the valleys during the cold weather ; to the 

 proximate heights, both for coolness and for retirement in the breeding 

 season, during the hot and rainy months of the year : and, it may be 

 easily supposed to move about from district to district, vrithin the general 

 limits assigned to it by nature, in quest of those various fruits which 

 constitute its principal, if not exclusive food ; and thence to appear migreu- 

 tory to the peasantry of any one of these districts. 



« 



Having weighed attentively the substance of what is said by Cuvier, 

 by his translator, and by Shaw, respecting the habits in respect to food of 

 the birds of this Genus, I am convinced that there is a great want of well 

 ascertained facts on the subject, and that the prevalent opinion which holds 

 that these birds are, in the main, carnivorous, and feed principally upon 

 small birds, rats and mice, lizards,^ frogs and even carrion, is erroneous. 

 Mr. Griffith is assuredly mistaken in the supposition " that they do not, 

 in a natural state, ever take fruit" Cuvier, II. 431. Aves. Imp. Oct. Edi. 



Of the four species with which I am acquainted, I have myself seea 

 two take fruit, in the wild state ; and, having subsequently shot them, 

 have found their stomachs filled exclusivehj with fruit.* The remaining 

 two species I never beheld, at liberty, but have kept them, in confinement 

 for months. Both of these showed a great aversion to the frogs and 

 lizards which, in conformity with the prevalent opinion as to their habits, 

 I, at first, oftered them. Both always refused to touch mice, rats, or 

 birds ; but without manifesting any disgust at the sight of them : and, 

 lastly, both were fed entirely, after testing their palates, upon fruits and 

 boiled rice, as that sort of lood \\\nc\\ Avas ibmid to l)c most agreeable to 



* A common Imlian species, ilillVrcnt iVom eitlior of tlicsc, was described in tlie Asiatic Society's 

 Transactions so long ago as tlie lime of Sir \V. Jonls ; it is stated to be iVugivorous in tlie state of 

 nature, and to feed upon the nux vomica, voraciously, so long as such food is procurable. iMr. 

 Sthilinu notices the same fact iu his account of Cuttack, in the IGth vol. of the llescarches. 



