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[Illustration: THE GREY PELICAN. (PELECANUS PHILIPPENSIS)]




                                BIRDS OF
                               THE PLAINS


                    BY DOUGLAS DEWAR, F.Z.S., I.C.S.
                       WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS
                    FROM PHOTOGRAPHS OF LIVING BIRDS
                   BY CAPTAIN F. D. S. FAYRER, I.M.S.


                   LONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD
                   NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMIX

           WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH




                                PREFACE


It is easy enough to write a book. The difficulty is to sell the
production when it is finished. That, however, is not the author’s
business. Nevertheless, the labours of the writer are not over when he
has completed the last paragraph of his book. He has, then, in most
cases, to find a title for it.

This, I maintain, should be a matter of little difficulty. I regard a
title as a mere distinguishing mark, a brand, a label, a something by
which the book may be called when spoken of—nothing more.

According to this view, the value of a title lies, not in its
appropriateness to the subject-matter, but in its distinctiveness.

To illustrate: some years ago a lady entered a bookseller’s shop and
asked for “Drummond’s latest book—_Nux Vomica_.” The bookseller without a
word handed her _Lux Mundi_.

To my way of thinking _Lux Mundi_ is a good title inasmuch as no other
popular book has one like it. So distinctive is it that even when
different words were substituted the bookseller at once knew what was
intended. That the view here put forward does not find favour with the
critics may perhaps be inferred by the exception many of them took to the
title of my last book—_Bombay Ducks_.

While commending my view to their consideration, I have on this occasion
endeavoured to meet them by resorting to a more orthodox designation. I
am, doubtless, pursuing a risky policy. Most of the reviewers were kind
enough to say that _Bombay Ducks_ was a good book with a bad title. When
criticising the present work they may reverse the adjectives. Who knows?

                                                                   D. D.




                                CONTENTS


                                                                     PAGE
  I. British Birds in the Plains of India                               1
  II. The Bird in Blue                                                 10
  III. Sparrows in the Nursery                                         16
  IV. The Care of Young Birds after they leave the Nest                23
  V. The Adjutant Bird                                                 29
  VI. The Sarus                                                        35
  VII. The Stability of Species                                        40
  VIII. The Amadavat                                                   46
  IX. The Nutmeg Bird                                                  52
  X. The Did-he-do-it                                                  56
  XI. Cobbler or Tailor?                                               62
  XII. A Crow in Colours                                               68
  XIII. Up-to-date Species Making                                      73
  XIV. Honeysuckers                                                    78
  XV. A Hewer of Wood                                                  84
  XVI. A Feathered Sprinter                                            89
  XVII. A Bird of Character                                            94
  XVIII. Swifts                                                        99
  XIX. Birds as Automata                                              104
  XX. Playing Cuckoo                                                  111
  XXI. The Koel                                                       117
  XXII. The Common Doves of India                                     124
  XXIII. Doves in a Verandah                                          130
  XXIV. The Golden Oriole                                             135
  XXV. The Barn Owl                                                   140
  XXVI. A Tree-top Tragedy                                            145
  XXVII. Two Little Birds                                             150
  XXVIII. The Paradise Flycatcher                                     156
  XXIX. Butcher Birds                                                 163
  XXX. Ducks                                                          168
  XXXI. A Dethroned Monarch                                           173
  XXXII. Birds in the Rain                                            178
  XXXIII. The Weaver Bird                                             183
  XXXIV. Green Parrots                                                190
  XXXV. The Roosting of the Sparrows                                  197
  XXXVI. A Gay Deceiver                                               202
  XXXVII. The Emerald Merops                                          208
  XXXVIII. Do Animals Think?                                          213
  XXXIX. A Couple of Neglected Craftsmen                              219
  XL. Birds in their Nests                                            224
  XLI. Bulbuls                                                        229
  XLII. The Indian Corby                                              235




                              ILLUSTRATIONS


  The Grey Pelican (_Pelecanus philippensis_), a Bird
          of the Plains                                    _Frontispiece_
  The White-breasted Kingfisher (_Halcyon smyrnensis_)                  4
  The Redshank (_Totanus calidris_), one of the British Birds found
          in India                                                      8
  The Indian Roller, or “Blue Jay” (_Coracias indica_)                 12
  The Indian Adjutant (_Leptoptilus dubius_)                           28
  The Indian Adjutant (_Leptoptilus dubius_)                           34
  Loten’s Sunbird (_Arachnechthra lotenia_)                            78
      (Note the long curved bill, adapted to insertion in flowers.)
  The Yellow Sunbird (_Arachnechthra zeylonica_)                       80
  Nest of Loten’s Sunbird                                              82
      (Notice that it is built in a spider’s web.)
  Loten’s Sunbird (Hen) about to enter nest                            90
  The Indian Spotted Owlet (_Athene brama_)                            94
  The Indian Paddy Bird (_Ardeola grayii_)                            114
  The Common Kingfisher (_Alcedo ispida_), one of the British Birds
          found in India                                              144
  The Indian Kite (_Milvus govinda_)                                  148
  The Grey-necked Crow (_Corvus splendens_)                           190
  The Bengal Red-whiskered Bulbul (_Otocompsa emeria_)                230




                           BIRDS OF THE PLAINS




                  BRITISH BIRDS IN THE PLAINS OF INDIA


Most birds are cosmopolitans and belong to no nationality. Strictly
speaking, there is only one British bird, only one bird found in the
British Isles and nowhere else, and that is the red grouse (_Tetrao
scoticus_).

For this reason some apology seems necessary for the heading of this
article. “Birds common to the Plains of India and the British Isles”
would doubtless be a more correct title. However, I write as an
Englishman. When I meet in a foreign land a bird I knew in England I like
to set that bird down as a fellow-countryman.

In India most of the familiar birds: the thrush, the blackbird, the robin
redbreast, the wren, the chaffinch, and the blue tit are conspicuous by
their absence; their places being taken by such strange forms as _mynas_,
_bulbuls_, seven sisters, parakeets, etc. The Englishman is therefore
prone to exaggerate the differences between the avifauna of his own
country and that of India. The dissimilarity is indeed great, but not so
great as is generally supposed.

A complete list of British birds comprises some four hundred species; of
these nearly one-half occur in India. But a list of British species is
apt to be a misleading document. You may keep a sharp look-out in England
for a lifetime without ever setting eyes on many of the so-called British
birds. Every feathered thing that has been blown by contrary winds, or
whose dead body has been washed by the waves, on to the shores of Albion
has been appropriated as a British species. This sounds very hospitable.
Unfortunately the hospitality is of a dubious nature, seeing that every
casual bird visitor promptly falls a victim to the gun of some
self-styled naturalist. Having slaughtered his “feathered friend” the
aforesaid naturalist proceeds to boast in the press of his exploit.

I do not deem it correct to speak of these occasional visitors as British
birds. On the other hand, I think we may legitimately call the birds we
see constantly in England, at certain or all seasons of the year, English
birds. Of these many are also found in India. More of them occur in the
Punjab than in any other part of the country because of our long cold
weather, and because, as the crow flies, if not as the _sahib_ travels,
the Punjab is nearer England than is any other province.

The ubiquitous sparrow first demands our attention. This much-abused
little bird is, thanks to his “push,” quite as much at home in the
“Gorgeous East” as he is in England. He is certainly not quite so
abundant out here; the crows and spotted owlets take care of that. They
are very fond of sparrow for breakfast. Nevertheless, _Passer domesticus_
is quite plentiful enough and is ever ready to nest inside one’s
bungalow.

The Indian cock sparrow differs slightly in appearance from the English
bird, having more white on the sides of his neck. This is not, as might
be supposed, due to the fact that he is not coated with soot to such an
extent as the cockney bird. Every widely distributed species, including
man, has its local peculiarities, due to climatic influences, isolation,
and other causes. If the isolation be maintained long enough the process
of divergence continues until the various races differ from one another
to such an extent as to be called species. Local races are incipient
species, species in the making. The barn owl (_Strix flammea_) is another
case in point. This is a familiar owl in England, and is common out here,
but not nearly so abundant as the little spotted owlet that makes night
hideous by its caterwaulings. The Indian barn owl, which, in default of
barns, haunts mosques, temples, deserted buildings, and even secluded
verandahs, differs from our English friend in having stronger claws and
feet, and the breast spotted instead of plain white. These trivial
differences are not usually considered sufficient to justify the division
of the barn owl into two species.

Some of our English birds assume diminutive proportions in India, as, for
example, the kingfisher and the raven. This may perhaps be attributed to
the enervating Indian climate. The common kingfisher (_Alcedo ispida_) is
exceedingly common in all parts of India except the Punjab. It does,
indeed, occur in that province, but not abundantly. The commonest
kingfisher in the Land of the Five Rivers is the much more splendid
white-breasted species (_Halcyon smyrnensis_), which may be recognised by
its beautiful blue wings with a white bar, and by its anything but
melodious “rattling scream.”

This winter the ravens are invading Lahore in very large numbers. It is
impossible not to notice the great black creatures as they fly overhead
in couples or in companies of six or eight, uttering solemn croaks.

But the Indian raven, large as it is, is a diminutive form; its length is
but twenty-four inches as compared with the twenty-eight of its English
cousin. Moreover, there are slight anatomical differences between the two
races; hence the Indian bird was at one time considered to be a separate
species and was called _Corvus lawrencii_. There certainly does seem to
be some justification for this procedure, since the Indian raven has not
the solitary, shy, and retiring disposition of the bird at Home. It
consorts with those feathered villains the Indian crows,