Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches
It is not of the bigger jungle folk that I write—of lions, tigers, leopards, bears, bison, or even deer and antelopes; for of these it is vouchsafed to no man—not even to the _shikari_, who spends years in the jungle—to obtain more than an occasional fleeting glimpse.
The rufous-backed shrike (_Lanius erythronotus_) is the only butcher-bird that is abundant on the Bombay side. It is about the size of a bulbul. It sits bolt upright, with tail...
3. Part 3In India one often sees a white-eyed buzzard, some mynas, a pair of doves, several bee-eaters, one or two king crows, and a roller, sitting, all in a row, on a telegraph wire wi...
2. Part 2The standard books on Indian ornithology give inaccurate accounts of the distribution of some species of birds. In certain cases the mistakes are due to imperfect knowledge, in...
7. Part 7But his splendour is not without alloy. It is marred by the tiny, black, beady eye, which gives the bird an evil-tempered, sinister expression. This expression is in keeping wit...
14. Part 14Ornithological public opinion has decreed that as regards the specific names of birds the race is to the swift: the first name hurled at a bird, no matter how inappropriate, is...
15. Part 15The yellow-eyed babbler is a sprightly little creature not much larger than a sparrow. Its upper plumage is a rich reddish brown, changing to cinnamon on some of the quill feath...
13. Part 13I am inclined to think that _Sturnopastors_ pair for life, but that does not prevent them from performing the antics of courtship at the nesting season. This is a fact of some i...
5. Part 5Squirrels are sociably inclined creatures; when not engaged in rearing up their families they live in colonies in some decayed tree. At sunrise they issue forth from the cavity...
6. Part 6The bald coot is, as we have seen, a rail that has taken thoroughly to an aquatic life. The purple coot may be described as a rail, which, while displaying hankerings after a li...
8. Part 8Green bulbuls are essentially arboreal birds. In the olden time when India was densely wooded I believe that there was but one species of _Chloropsis_, even as there is but one...
10. Part 10The grey lag goose of India is, I believe, identical with the wild goose of England. This is a belief not shared by everyone. For over a century this species has been the playth...
9. Part 9The Indian pitta is a bird which likes warmth, but not heat, so that it refuses to live in the Punjab, where the climate is one of extremes—a spell of cold, then a headlong rush...
12. Part 12In conclusion, note must be made of the fact that fly-catchers, although they subsist almost entirely upon insect diet, appear but rarely to devour butterflies. I have watched f...
11. Part 11Before discoursing upon its nesting habits it is fitting that I should try to describe the night heron, so that the bird may be recognised when next seen. I presume that everyon...
18. Part 18AN IRISH BEAUTY OF THE REGENCY: By Mrs. Warrenne Blake. Author of “Memoirs of a Vanished Generation, 1813-1855.” With a Photogravure Frontispiece and other Illustrations. Demy 8...
1. Part 1It is not of the bigger jungle folk that I write—of lions, tigers, leopards, bears, bison, or even deer and antelopes; for of these it is vouchsafed to no man—not even to the _s...
17. Part 17T _Taccocua leschenaulti_, 14 Tailor bird, 7, 16, 176 _Tamarix articulata_, 72 _Teesa_, the, 32-6 _Terpsiphone_, 179 Tern, 110-15 —, black-bellied, 112 —, Indian river, 112 —, l...
16. Part 16Michelet construes these facts as proof that the art of nest-building is not innate in birds, but has to be learned. As a matter of fact they prove exactly the opposite. The Fre...
19. Part 19THE HOUSE IN ST. MARTIN’S STREET. Being Chronicles of the Burney Family. By Constance Hill, Author of “Jane Austen, Her Home, and Her Friends,” “Juniper Hall,” etc. With numerou...