Sei“t. 30, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
511 
THE INDIAN PARADISE FLYCATCHER. 
This pretty little bird with its many names 
and several changes of tints and plumage (at 
the different stages of its existence) is found all 
over Indian and Ceylon, as well as further north 
—in Turkistan and Afghanistan. 
The male bird of this species is a particularly 
beautiful little creature, and, as is generally the 
way in the kingdom of the birds, the lady bird 
is quite a sober little person, comparatively, and 
wears her quiet colored brown frock all through 
life. But her partner changes his, partially or 
•entirely, quite remarkably often. They begin by 
being dressed alike. The tail, wings, and upper 
plumage are a rich chestnut color, then, with 
the top of the head and crest, black with just a 
suspicion of blue. The sides of the head and 
throat, in fact the neck all round, are ashy 
brown, which becomes paler on the breast and 
still paler lower down, until it is quite white on 
the under portions of the body. These colors 
the hen bird retains, as I said before, but the 
male bird only keeps them till nearly a year 
old, till just before his second autumn as a 
matter of fact, when he grows darker about the 
throat and sides of the head, occasionally quite 
black, though the breast still keeps a little of 
the ash shade. After moulting the second time 
—in the next autumn—his head and crest are a 
shining black, but he remains a brilliant beauti¬ 
ful chestnut otherwise, and begins now to grow 
his long tail feathers. These grow to a remark¬ 
able length for so small a bird. 
When he decks himself out the third autumn, 
he again keeps the chestnut coat, but is white 
from the throat downward, the latter remaining 
black. Then he starts gradually to don his 
white plumage, beginning with tail and wings, 
but the change is not complete till he has fin¬ 
ished his fourth moult in his fourth autumn. 
This white costume he retaims henceforth. 
White all over except for the head, crest and 
throat, with just the quills, or stems, of the 
feathers of the wings and tail black. Now his 
beak and the margin line of the eye are a beau¬ 
tiful blue, the beak shading darker to the tip; 
the feet a metallic blue with the claws of a 
darker shade, and the eye dark brown. His tail 
feathers may grow to a length of sixteen or 
seventeen inches, giving him an entire length of 
perhaps twenty-one inches. He is found in the 
Himalayas, and Cashmere, of course, but only 
in the warmer months, after which he retreats 
to warmer quarters. The eggs are laid just be¬ 
fore the rains and are four, sometimes five in 
number, and pale pink in color, with spots of a 
reddish brown tinge. They are about four-fifths 
of an inch long. The nest is. of course, small 
and rather deep, being lined with grass or moss 
where moss is to be had. 
Well, in “Olden Times,” so the story goes, 
the Paradise Flycatcher Rocket bird. Shah Bul- 
j bul, Doodhraj or Sultana Bulbul, whichever you 
choose to call him (though he has still a few 
more names—Tirpsiphone Paradise being the 
grandest sounding and most scientific) was ad¬ 
mitted to be one of the most beautiful birds of 
paradise in which he dwelt. He was now white 
all over and white always. He had twelve long 
drooping white feathers in his tail, and owned 
a sweetly melodious voice, besides all of which 
lie was declared to be a special favorite with 
Allah. But he was a discontented little fellow 
for all his beauty and charm, and was not satis¬ 
fied with being only “one of the most beauti¬ 
ful ’ birds in paradise. He laid claim to be first 
the most beautiful, and as the justice of the 
other inhabitants would not yield him so great 
a tribute, he spent his time grumbling and fret¬ 
ting until to prove himself wrong in his esti¬ 
mate of his own beauty, lie was introduced to 
the real bird of paradise. But he was not 
humbled as he was expected to be, only more 
discontented, and began to wonder why Allah, 
under whose special patronage he was, could 
not, or would not, give him an appearance more 
charming than that possessed by his now very 
much-hated rival. So he made up his mind to 
try and alter the state of affairs and went be- 
toip the Ruler of Paradise with his petition— 
demand rather. But instead of the beauty lie 
FISHING IS FUN. IF- 
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ado-Mork 
inordinately desired, lie had, for his greed, ever¬ 
lasting punishment measured out to him and 
his descendants for evermore. The favor of 
his Allah was lost to him for all the years to 
come, he was forcibly expelled from paradise, 
and it was further ordained that he and his 
would in the endless ages of the future have to 
live the greater part of their existence in a 
modest suit of brown, but after a certain period 
of humility, the male birds should regain their 
white plumage, to remind them of what they 
had lost, only the heads remaining black. This, 
to the oriental mind, is a certain sign of dis¬ 
grace, the blackening- of heads and faces, and 
as the legend is an Indian one, the point is in¬ 
dispensable. Furthermore his delightful voice 
was taken from him, and the call that he was 
given instead was harsh and discordant, and to 
crown even this terrible disaster the twelve 
snowy plumes of his tail were reduced to two. 
Hard indeed was his sentence! and now, shorn 
of much of his old-time beauty, and with no 
hope of regaining paradise, he flits about India 
and the neighboring countries, striving to be 
contented with what a kind Providence has 
spared him; verily! a sadder and a wiser bird.— 
The Asian. 
WHALE OIL GLYCERIN IN EXPLOSIVES. 
The statement published in the Natal Mercury 
to the effect that a Durban concern had discon¬ 
tinued the use of whale oil glycerin in the manu¬ 
facture of high explosives because it was found 
unsatisfactory was incorrect. The plant was dis¬ 
mantled, as stated, but for reasons other than 
assigned by the Mercury. A letter from the 
manager of the firm contains the following state¬ 
ments : 
Glycerin of commence is obtained from animal 
and vegetable oils, without any distinction, con¬ 
sequently the buyer is ignorant of its source— 
so that a statement that glycerin obtained from 
an animal oil, such as whale oil, cannot be pro¬ 
duced suitable for explosive purposes is incor¬ 
rect. The further statement that the glycerin 
made from whale oil at the Bluff is unsuitable 
for nitration purposes is opposed to the results 
we have obtained from, and to our researches 
on, this product, which have conclusively shown 
us that it gives as good and even better results 
on stability tests made of the nitration products 
than ordinary imported dynamite glycerins.— 
Consular and Trade Reports. 
FISH DESTRUCTION. 
The laudable efforts of the State fish commis¬ 
sioners to stock the rivers with trout are largely 
defeated by the destruction of the young spawn 
from the use of the water of the main rivers 
for irrigation. 
The writer has just had occasion to notice 
that nearly every irrigation ditch along the 
upper course of the Provo, for example, fairly 
teems with the very small fish but recently 
hatched from the eggs. 
The young fish, as is well known, prefer the 
shallow water. They are, therefore, caught in 
great numbers by every canal or ditch that gets 
its water from the sides of rivers. They drift 
a'ong with the water that finally finds its way 
upon the fields where the young fish perish in 
countless numbers. 
One has but to stand by any large stream taken 
from any of our rivers in the canons to see the 
vast numbers of young spawn thus being carried 
to speedy destruction. 
Though the writer is not given t-o fishing, yet 
it is plain that large numbers of our citizens are. 
Most of them fish, however, without much result, 
chiefly because many of the streams contain com¬ 
paratively few fish, which can be taken by ex¬ 
pert anglers only. Judging from the large num¬ 
bers who attempt to fish we should say that to 
provide an abundance of trout in the streams 
would be a public benefaction. 
We therefore favor the work of the State Fish 
and Game Commission, but this work must re¬ 
main largely ineffective unless some means of 
saving the spawn can be devised. We think the 
young fish should be screened out of irrigating 
ditches by fine meshed wire placed somewhere 
along these artificial water courses. It seems to 
us, moreover, that the expense of the screens 
should be borne by the State, and perhaps that 
part of the expense of keeping the screens in 
order should be borne by the main users of the 
irrigating water, the owners of the canals. Only 
thus, it is probable, can the screens be kept in 
order, for many users of water have been known 
to tear them out simply because they somewhat 
hinder the flow of their streams.—Deseret Eve¬ 
ning News. 
