For the benefit of those unacquainted with the ways of the koel it is necessary to state that that bird spends much of its time fleeing before the wrath of crows. It lays its eggs in the nests of these. And, if one may judge from their behaviour, they suspect the koel. The other two calls are heard at all hours of the day and night, and it makes no difference to the koel whether it is the sun or the moon, or only the stars that are shining. He is always merry and bright. The second call, however, is usually reserved for the dawn. Hence this particular vocal effort is rendered all the more exasperating, coming as it does precisely at the time when, after the departure of a “sable-vested night” straight from Dante’s Inferno, which has been embellished by the sluggishness of the punkawalla, a certain degree of coolness sets in to give some chance of a little refreshing sleep. Then is it that the jaded dweller in the plains, uttering strange oaths, rushes for his gun and seeks out the disturber of his slumber. In case there be any unable to identify the koel, let it be said that the cock is black from head to foot, that he possesses a wicked-looking red eye, that he is about the size of a crow, but has a slighter body and a longer tail. The hen is speckled black and white. This bird spares not even Sind or the Punjab. It visits every part of the plains of India, wintering in the south and summering in the north.
The third of the triumvirate, the common Indian cuckoo (Cuculus micropterus), although in its way a very fine bird, is not of the same calibre as its confrères. It stands to them in much the same relation as Trinity College, Dublin, does to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. It has quite a pleasant note, which Indians represent as Boutotaka, but which is perhaps better rendered by the words “wherefore, therefore,” repeated with musical cadence. It does not call much during the middle of the day. It usually uplifts its voice about two hours before sunset, and continues until the sun has been up for a couple of hours. This cuckoo is very common in the Himalayas and in the plains of India from Fyzabad to Calcutta. Fyzabad ought really to be renamed Cuckooabad. It is the habitation of untold numbers of cuckoos. There during the merry month of May the cuckoos spend the night chanting anthems of which the refrain runs kui-il, ku-il, ku-il, wherefore, therefore, brain-fever, brain-fever, brain-fever. The Indian cuckoo is very like the English cuckoo in appearance, and it victimises the seven sisters (Crateropus canorus) and other babblers, as does the brain-fever bird.
The night-loving cuckoos have demanded so much space that the other vocalists of the hours of darkness will have to be content with very brief notice.
The night heron (Nycticoran griseus) makes the welkin ring with his guttural cries of “waak, waak,” uttered as he flies after nightfall from his roost to the pond where he will fish till morning. As he fishes in silence the addition he makes to the noises of the night is not great. The large family of plovers must be dismissed in a single sentence. They, like many cuckoos, regard sleep as a luxury; hence their plaintive cries are heard both by day and by night. The most familiar of their calls is the “did-he-do-it, pity-to-do-it,” of the red-wattled lapwing (Sarcogrammus indicus). The notes of the rest of his family consist of variations of the words titeri, titeri.
In conclusion, mention must be made of the nightjars or goatsuckers, as they are sometimes called after the fashion of the Romans, who believed that these birds used to sally forth at night and milk goats. This belief was based on two facts. First, the udders of goats were often found to be empty in the morning; secondly, the broad gape possessed by the nightjar. However, the character of these birds has now been cleared. We know that their bills are wide in order to seize large insects on the wing, and that if goats yield no milk in the morning it is not the nightjar who is to blame. Nightjars are brownish grey birds, mottled and barred all over like cuckoos, for which they are often mistaken. Two are common in India. The first of these is Caprimulgus asiaticus, the common Indian nightjar, whose call is heard only after nightfall, and resembles the sound made by a stone skimming over ice. The other nightjar is that of Horsfield (Caprimulgus macrurus). Its note has been compared to the noise made by striking a plank with a hammer. The distribution of nightjars is capricious. They are fairly common in the western districts of the United Provinces.
Horsfield’s nightjar is abundant in the sal forests of the Pilibhit district.
INDEX
A Accipiter nisus, [70], [164] Acridotheres ginginianus, [53], [113], [225]-30 — tristis, [113], [225]-30, [241] Adam, Mr. R. M., [222] Adams, [77] Adjutant, [86] Aegithina tiphia, [213] Aesalon chicquera, [117]-20 — regulus, [116], [117], [164] Aitken, Mr. James, [154], [155] Alaudarius, Tinnunculus, [164] Alba, Herodias, [38] —, Motacilla, [162] Albifrontata, Rhipidura, [4], [214] Albinos, [42] Anas boscas, [64] — poecilorhyncha, [40], [64] Anastomus oscitans, [45] Anthus rufulus, [6] Antigone, Grus, [38], [197]-203 Aquila bifasciata, [164] — vindhiana, [163] Arachnechthra asiatica, [3], [99], [218]-224 — lotenia, [218] — zeylonica, [218] Ardea cinerea, [38] Ardeola grayii, [85], [106]-15 Argya caudata, [65] — malcomi, [51] Asiatica, Arachnechthra, [3], [99], [218]-24 Asiaticus, Caprimulgus, [253] Astur badius, [70], [164] Ater, Dicrurus, [8], [41], [227], [236] Athene brama, [246] Aurantius, Brachypternus, [8] Auriceps, Dendrocopus, [33] Avocet, [44] Avocetta, Recurvirostra, [44]
B Babbler, grey, [51] — jungle, [51] — white-headed, [212] Badius, Astur, [70] Bajra, [178] Baker, Stuart, [50], [91] Bamboo sparrow, [77] Banjo-bill, [44] Bank myna, [53], [113], [182], [225]-30, [235] Banta, Mr., [242], [243] Barbet, green, [8], [19] Barn owl, [248] — swallow, [151] Barred-headed goose, [160] Batassiensis, Tachornis, [215] Batesian mimicry, [239] Baya, Ploceus, [180] Bay-backed shrike, [213] Bee-eater, [6], [19], [98], [213], [215], [244] — blue-tailed, [98], [156] — little green, [98], [156] Belenois mesentina, [241] Bengalensis, Bubo, [248] —, Pseudogyps, [6], [60] Bingham, Col. C. T., [240] Biology, peculiar position of, [238] Birds and Butterflies, [238]-45 “Birds of Calcutta,” [224] “Birds of the Plains,” [222] Birostris, Lophoceros, [86]-90 Black-bellied tern, [40], [216] Blackbird, [211] —, Brewer, [242] Black bulbul, [49] Blackcap, [211] Black-headed bunting, [179] Black-winged kite, [165] Blanford, Dr., [66], [223] “Blue jay,” [119], [182], [216] Blyth, [77], [123] “Bombay Ducks,” [55] Bonner, [57] Bourdillon, Mr. T. F., [17] Brachypternus aurantius, [8] Brachyura, Pitta, [19] Brahmany duck, [161] — kite, [212] — myna, [212], [217] Brain-fever bird, [51], [80], [249] Brarna, Athene, [246] Brassicae, Pieris, [241] Brewer blackbird, [242] Brown fish owl, [175] Brown-fronted pied woodpecker, [33] Brown tree snake, [144] Bryden, Mr. A. H., [236] Bubo bengalensis, [248] Bubulcus coromandus, [45] Buchanani, Emberiza, [179] Bulbul, [146], [147] — (nightingale), [146] — basta, [147] — black, [49] — bostha, [147] — kola, [49] —, red-vented, [163], [212] —, red-whiskered, [4], [130]-44 Bulbuls’ nests, [130]-44 Bulbul, white-browed, [212] — white-eared, [163] Bunting, [178]-81 — black-headed, [179], [180] Bunting, grey-necked, [178], [180] — red-headed, [179], [180] Bush chat, [182] Bush-lark, [212] Butcher-bird, [182], [213] Butreron, [130] Butterflies, Birds and, [238]-45 Buzzard, long-legged, [163]
C Caerulus, Elanus, [165] Californica, Eugonia, [242] Calvus, Otogyps, [60], [235] Cambaiensis, Thamnobia, [8], [162] Candidus, Himantopus, [45] Canorus, Crateropus, [51], [252] —, Cuculus, [50], [53], [116] Caprimulgus asiaticus, [253] — macrurus, [253] Carpodacus erythrinus, [75] Cattle egret, [45], [212] Caudata, Argya, [65] Centropus rufipennis, [6] — sinensis, [82], [248] Ceryle rudis, [168] Ceylonensis, Culicicapa, [5] — Ketupa, [175] Chaffinch, [211] Chapman, Mr. Abel, [96] Chat, Bush, [182] Chicquera, Aesalon, [117] Chloropsis, [19] Cinerea, Ardea, [38] Coccystes jacobinus, [48] Collaris, Corvus, [231] “Colour Meanings of some British Birds and Quadrupeds,” [188] Columbidæ, [130], [172], [173] Comb-duck, [40] “Common Birds of Bombay, The,” [70] Communis, Coturnix, [159] Coppersmith, [212] Copscychus saularis, [7] Coracias indica, [119], [182] Corby, [192], [236] Coromandelianus, Nettopus, [39] Coromandus, Bubulcus, [45] Correlation of Characters, [47] Corvus collaris, [231] — frugilegus, [166] — macrorhynchus, [192], [236] — monedula, [166], [231]-3 — splendens, [165], [225], [231] Cotton teal, [39] Coturnix communis, [159] Coucal, [82], [248] “Country Life,” [28], [234] “Country-side Monthly,” [66] Crane, sarus, [38], [197]-203 Crateropus canorus, [51], [252] Crested lark, [180] Cripps, Mr. J. R., [17] Cristata, Galerita, [180] Crocopus, [130] — chlorogaster, [127] — phoenicopterus, [127] Crow, [85], [100], [165], [192], [212], [225], [231], [236], [250] — jungle, [212] Crow-pheasant, [6], [82], [212] Cuckoo, common, [116], [211] — Indian, [251] — pied crested, [48]-54 Cuckoo’s mate, [121] Cuckooabad, [251] Cuculus canorus, [30], [53], [116] — micropterus H., [251] Culicicapa ceylonensis, [5] Cunningham, [172] — Col., [249], [250] Currie, Mr., [176], [177] Cyanocephalus, Euphagus, [240] — Palaeornis, [7] Cyornis tickelli T., [5]