y sing their cheerful lay, but at
this season they more often emit a plaintive call, as if they were
complaining of the cold.

Some of the sunbirds are still in undress plumage; a few have not yet
come into song, these give vent only to harsh scolding notes. From the
thicket emanate sharp sounds--_tick-tick_, _chee-chee_, _chuck-chuck_,
_chiff-chaff_; these are the calls of the various warblers that winter
with us. Above the open grass-land the Indian skylarks are singing at
Heaven's gate; these birds avoid towns and groves and gardens, in
consequence their song is apt to be overlooked by human beings. Very
occasionally the oriole utters a disconsolate-sounding _tew_; he is a
truly tropical bird; it is only when the sun flames overhead out of a
brazen sky that he emits his liquid notes. Here and there a hoopoe,
more vigorous than his fellows, croons softly--_uk_, _uk_, _uk_. The
coppersmith now and then gives forth his winter note--a subdued _wow_;
this is heard chiefly at the sunset hour.

The green barbet calls spasmodically throughout December, but, as a
rule, only in the afternoon. Towards the end of the month some of the
nuthatches and the robins begin to tune up. On cloudy days the
king-crows utter the soft calls that are usually associated with the
rainy season.

December, like November, although climatically very pleasant, is a
month in which the activities of the feathered folk are at a
comparatively low ebb. The cold, however, sends to India thousands of
immigrants. Most of these spend the whole winter in the plains of
India. Of such are the redstart, the grey-headed flycatcher, the snipe
and the majority of the game birds. Besides these regular migrants
there are many species which spend a few days or weeks in the plains,
leaving the Himalayas when the weather there becomes very inclement.
Thus the ornithologist in the plains of Northern India lives in a
state of expectancy from November to January. Every time he walks in
the fields he hopes to see some uncommon winter visitor. It may be a
small-billed mountain thrush, a blue rock-thrush, a wall-creeper, a
black bulbul, a flycatcher-warbler, a green-backed tit, a verditer
flycatcher, a black-throated or a grey-winged ouzel, a dark-grey
bush-chat, a pine-bunting, a Himalayan whistling thrush, or even a
white-capped redstart. Indeed, there is scarcely a species which
inhabits the lower ranges of the Himalayas that may not be driven to
the plains by a heavy