o be looked for carefully, for it is of shy
and retiring habits, and a small bird of such a disposition is apt
to elude observation. In one respect the plains (let us give even
the devil his due) are superior to the hills. The naturalist usually
experiences little difficulty in observing birds in the
sparsely-wooded flat country, but in the tree-covered mountains the
feathered folk often require to be stalked. If you would see the
Pekin-robin in a state of nature, go to some clearing in the Himalayan
forest, where the cool breezes blow upon you direct from the snows,
whence you can see the most beautiful sight in the world, that of
snow-capped mountains standing forth against an azure sky. Tear your
eyes away from the white peaks and direct them to the low bushes and
trees which are springing up in the clearing, for in this you are
likely to meet with a small flock of Pekin-robins. You will probably
hear them before you see them. The sound to listen for is well
described by Finn as "a peculiar five-noted call,
_tee-tee-tee-tee-tee_." As has been stated already, most, if not all,
birds that go about in flocks in wooded country continually utter
a call note, as it is by this means that the members of the flock
keep together. Jerdon states that the food of the _liothrix_ consists
of "berries, fruit, seeds, and insects." He should, I think, have
reversed the order of the bird's menu, for it comes of an insectivorous
family--the babblers--and undoubtedly is very partial to insects--so
much so that Finn suggests its introduction into St. Helena to keep
them down. At the nesting season, in the early spring, the flock breaks
up into pairs, which take upon themselves what Mr. E. D. Cuming calls
"brow-wrinkling family responsibilities," and each pair builds in
a low bush a cup-shaped nest.

_BLACK BULBULS_

All passerine birds which have hairs springing from the back of the
head, and of which the tarsus--the lower half of the leg--is shorter
than the middle toe, plus its claw, are classified by scientific men
as members of the sub-family Brachypodinae, or Bulbuls. This
classification, although doubtless unassailable from the standpoint
of the anatomist, has the effect of bringing together some creatures
which can scarcely be described as "birds of a feather." The typical
bulbul, as exemplified by the common species of the plains--Molpastes
and Otocompsa--is a dear, meek, unsophisticated little bird, the kind
of creatur