"276 
CATALOGUE. 
" The Daydl is generally spread throughout India, and frequents 
jungles, gardens, avenues, topes, &c. It is solitary ; frequenting 
thick trees and bushes; feeds on the ground, flying down from a 
low branch, its usual perch, and frequently hopping a few steps on 
the ground, jerking its tail well up every now and then. On securing 
an insect, it flies back to its perch, elevating its tail on re-seating 
itself, and uttering a pleasant warble. Towards evening, it may 
often be seen near the top of some lofty tree in the jungle, pouring 
forth its agreeable song, which, however beautiful, must yield the 
palm to the Shama {Kittacincla macrourd)^'' — (Jerd., Madr. Journ. 
X. p. 263.) 
" Arrives on the hills, up to 5,000 feet, in the beginning of April. 
It returns to the Doon and the plains in early autumn. It breeds 
in May, on the 19th of which month I took a nest from a bank by 
the roadside ; it was composed of green mosses, and lined with very 
fine roots. Eggs four, carneous cream-colour, somewhat blistered at 
the larger end ; diameter, xf Delights to sit on the top- 
most branches of a tree, generally selecting a dry and leafless twig, 
from whence it utters a pleasing song, which is replied to by another 
individual at no great distance. When on the ground, it hops with 
the wings half open or drooping, and at each hop it stops to spread 
and jerk its tail."— (Hutton, J. A. S. Beng. XYII. pt. 2, p. 686.) 
" The Dayals, if found in the wilds, tenant meadows and grass- 
land, provided with brushwood ; but they are nowhere so common as 
in- gardens and on lawns, which they enliven in spring by their song, 
and, at all times, by their vivacity and familiarity. They dislike and 
avoid the interior of woods. Their usual food is grubs, worms, 
beetles, grasshoppers, and their congeners ; rarely, in winter, they 
take unripe vetches, and such like, but never gravel, sand, or hard 
seeds. They move quickly on the ground, yet perch firmly and 
readily, frequently watching for their prey on a low twig, to which 
they return as soon as they have beaten it to death on the ground. 
They never seize on the wing. When cattle pass their way, they 
will partially attend on the herd, descending occasionally from their 
perch to snap up the insects and grubs brought to light by the act 
of grazing. These birds are perpetually in motion, and raise and 
depress the body with flirtation of the tail, exactly in the Wagtail 
manner. Their habits of society, in respect to their own kind, are 
solitary, or nearly so, except in the breeding season, when these mono- 
gamous and attached birds steadily unite to rear and defend their 
young. The female usually lays five spotted eggs, bringing up from 
