Birds of the Plains

Part 1

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, and, like them, thieves from man and delights to tease and annoy birds bigger than itself by pulling their tail! But there exist ravens of all sizes intermediate between the large European form and the small Indian one, so that it is not possible to find a point at which a line may be drawn between them. For this reason the Indian raven is now held to be one and the same species as the English bird—Corvus corax.

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