Birds of the Indian Hills Part 5

From the owls to the diurnal birds of prey it is but a short step.

Next to the warblers, the raptores are the most difficult birds to distinguish one from the other. Nearly all of them are creatures of mottled-brown plumage, and, as the plumage changes with the period of life, it is impossible to differentiate them by descriptions of their colouring.

The vultures are perhaps the ugliest of all birds. Most of them have the head devoid of feathers, and they are thus enabled to bury this member in their loathsome food without soiling their feathers. In the air, owing to the magnificent ease with which they fly, they are splendid objects. Their habit is to rise high above the earth and hang motionless in the atmosphere on outstretched wings, or sail in circles without any perceptible motion of the pinions. Vultures are not the only raptorial birds that do this. Kites are almost equally skilled. But kites are distinguished by having a fairly long tail, that of vultures being short and wedge shaped. The sides of the wings of the vultures are straight, and the wings stand out at right angles to the body. In all species, except the scavenger vulture, the tips of the wings are turned up as the birds float or sail in the air, and the ends of the wings are much cut up, looking like fingers.

Perhaps the commonest vulture of the Himalayas is that very familiar fowl--the small white scavenger vulture (_Neophron ginginia.n.u.s_), often called Pharaoh's chicken and other opprobrious names that I will not mention. This bird eats everything that is filthy and unclean.

The natural consequence is that it looks untidy and disreputable.

It is, without exception, the ugliest bird in the world. It is about the size of a kite. The plumage is a dirty white, except the edges of the wing feathers, which are shabby black. The naked face is of a pale mustard colour, as are the bill and legs. The feathers on the back of the head project like the back hairs of an untidy schoolboy.

Its walk is an ungainly waddle. Nevertheless--so great is the magic of wings--this bird, as it soars high above the earth, looks a n.o.ble fowl; it then appears to be snow-white with black margins to the wings.

Another vulture frequently met with is the Indian white-backed vulture (_Pseudogyps bengalensis_). The plumage of this species is a very dark grey, almost black. The naked head is rather lighter than the rest of the body. The lower back is white: this makes the bird easy to identify when it is perched. It has some white in the wings, and this, during flight, is visible as a very broad band that runs from the body nearly to the tip of the wing. Thus the wing from below appears to be white with broad black edges. During flight this species may be distinguished from the last by the fingered tips of its wings, by both edges of the wing being black and the body being dark instead of white.

The third common vulture is the Himalayan griffon (_Gyps himalayensis_). This is distinguishable from the two species already described by having no white in the wings.

The lammergeyer or bearded vulture (_Gypaetus barbatus_) is the king of the vultures. Some ornithologists cla.s.sify it with the eagles.

It is a connecting link between the two families. It is 4 feet in length and is known to the hillmen as the Argul.

During flight it may be recognised by the whitish head and nape, the pale brown lower plumage and the dark rounded tail.

Usually it keeps to rocky hills and mountains, over which it beats with a steady, sailing, vulturine flight. Numerous stories are told of its swooping down and carrying off young children, lambs, goats, and other small animals. Those who will may believe these stories.

I do not. The lammergeyer is quite content to make a meal of offal, old bones, or other refuse.

THE FALCONIDae OR FAMILY OF BIRDS OF PREY

First and foremost of the Falconidae are the eagles. Let me preface what little I have to say about these birds with the remark that I am unable to set forth any characteristics whereby a novice may recognise an eagle when he sees one on the wing. The reader should disabuse his mind of the idea he may have obtained from the writings of the poets of the grandeur of the eagle. Eagles may be, and doubtless often are, mistaken for kites. They are simply rather large falcons.

They are mostly coloured very like the kite.

All true eagles have the leg feathered to the toe. I give this method of diagnosis for what it is worth, and that is, I fear, not very much, because eagles as a rule do not willingly afford the observer an opportunity of inspecting their tarsi.

The eagles most commonly seen in the Himalayas are the imperial eagle (_Aquila helica_), the booted eagle (_Hieraetus pennatus_), Bonelli's eagle (_Hieraetus fasciatus_), the changeable hawk-eagle (_Spizaetus limnaetus_), and Hodgson's hawk-eagle (_Spizaetus nepalensis_).

The imperial eagle has perhaps the darkest plumage of all the eagles.

This species does not live up to its name. It feeds largely on carrion, and probably never catches anything larger than a rat. The imperial eagle is common about Mussoorie except in the rains. Captain Hutton states that he has seen as many as fifty of them together in the month of October when they rea.s.semble after the monsoon.

The booted eagle has a very shrill call. Its lower parts are pale in hue.

Bonelli's eagle is fairly common both at Naini Tal and Mussoorie.

It is a fine bird, and has plenty of courage. It often stoops to fowls and is destructive to game birds. It is of slighter build than the two eagles above described. Its lower parts are white.

The changeable hawk-eagle is also a fine bird. It is very addicted to peafowl. The hillmen call it the _Mohrhaita_, which, being interpreted, is the peac.o.c.k-killer. It utters a loud cry, which Thompson renders _whee-whick_, _whee-whick_. This call is uttered by the bird both when on the wing and at rest. Another cry of this species has been syllabised _toot_, _toot_, _toot_, _toot-twee_.

Hodgson's hawk-eagle is also destructive to game. It emits a shrill musical whistle which can sometimes be heard when the bird is so high as to appear a mere speck against the sky. This species has a narrow crest.

Allied to the true eagles are the serpent-eagles. In these the leg is not feathered to the toe, so they may be said to form a link between the true eagles and the falcons.

One species--the crested serpent-eagle (_Spilornis cheela_)--is common in the Himalayas up to 8000 feet.

This eagle is perhaps the most handsome of the birds of prey. The crest is large and imposing. The upper parts are dark brown, almost black, with a purple or green gloss. The breast and under parts are rich deep brown profusely dotted with white ocelli. On the tail and wings are white bars. The wing bars are very conspicuous during flight.

The crested serpent-eagle flies with the wings held very far back, so that it looks, as "Exile" says, like a large b.u.t.terfly. When flying it constantly utters its shrill, plaintive call composed of two short sharp cries and three prolonged notes, the latter being in a slightly higher key.

Of the remaining birds of prey perhaps only two can fairly be numbered among the common birds of the Himalayas, and both of these are easy to recognise. They are the kite and the kestrel.

The common pariah kite (_Milvus govinda_) is the most familiar raptorial bird in India. Hundreds of kites dwell at every hill-station.

They spend the greater part of the day on the wing, either sailing gracefully in circles high overhead or gliding on outstretched pinions over mountain and valley, with head pointing downwards, looking for the refuse on which they feed. To mistake a kite is impossible. Throughout the day it makes the welkin ring with its querulous _chee-hee-hee-hee-hee_. Some kites are larger than others, consequently ornithologists, who are never so happy as when splitting up species, have made a separate species of the larger race. This latter is called _Milvus melanotis_, the large Indian kite. It is common in the hills.

The kestrel (_Tinnunculus alaudarius_) is perhaps the easiest of all the birds of prey to identify. It is a greyish fowl with dull brick-red wings and shoulders. Its flight is very distinctive. It flaps the wings more rapidly than do most of its kind. While beating over the country it checks its flight now and again and hovers on rapidly vibrating wings. It does this when it fancies it has seen a mouse, lizard, or other living thing moving on the ground below. If its surmise proves correct, it drops from above and thus takes its quarry completely by surprise. It is on account of this peculiar habit of hovering in the air that the kestrel is often called the wind-hover in England. Needless to say, the kestrel affects open tracts rather than forest country. One of these birds is usually to be seen engaged in its craft above the bare slope of the hill on which Mussoorie is built. Other places where kestrels are always to be seen are the bare hills round Almora. The nest of this species is usually placed on an inaccessible crag.

THE COLUMBIDae OR DOVE FAMILY

The cooing community is not much in evidence in the hills. In the Himalayas doves do not obtrude themselves upon our notice in the way that they do in the plains.

The green-pigeon of the mountains is the kokla (_Sphenocercus sphenurus_), so called on account of its melodious call, _kok-la_, _kok-la_. In appearance it is very like the green-pigeon of the plains and is equally difficult to distinguish from its leafy surroundings.

The bronze-winged dove (_Chalcophaps indica_) I have never observed at any hill-station, but it is abundant in the lower ranges and in the Terai. Every sportsman must be familiar with the bird. Its magnificent bronzed metallic, green plumage renders its identification easy. The commonest dove of the Himalayan hill-stations is the Indian turtle-dove (_Turtur ferago_). Its plumage is of that grey hue which is so characteristic of doves as to be called dove-colour. The turtle-dove has a conspicuous patch of black-and-white feathers on each side of the neck. The only other dove seen in the hills with which it can be confounded is the little brown dove (_T. cambayensis_). The latter is a much smaller bird, and I have not observed it anywhere higher than 4500 feet above the sea-level.

The spotted dove (_T. suratensis_) occurs in small numbers in most parts of the Himalayas up to 7000 feet. It is distinguished by the wing coverts being spotted with rufous and black.

The Indian ring-dove (_T. risorius_) also occurs in the Western Himalayas. It is of a paler hue than the other doves and has no patch of black-and-white feathers on the sides of the neck, but has a black collar, with a narrow white border, round the back of the neck.

One other dove should perhaps be mentioned among the common birds of the Himalayas, namely, the bar-tailed cuckoo-dove (_Macropygia tusalia_). A dove with a long barred tail, of which the feathers are graduated, the median ones being the longest, may be set down as this species.

THE PHASIANIDae OR FAMILY OF GAME BIRDS

The Himalayas are the home of many species of gallinaceous birds.

In the highest ranges the snow-c.o.c.ks, the tragopans, the blood-pheasant, and the glorious monaul or Impeyan pheasant abound.

The foothills are the happy hunting-grounds of the ancestral c.o.c.k-a-doodle-doo.

As this book is written with the object of enabling persons staying at the various hill-stations to identify the commoner birds, I do not propose to describe the gallinaceous denizens of the higher ranges or the foothills. In the ranges of moderate elevation, on which all the hill-stations are situated, the kalij, the cheer, and the koklas pheasants are common. Of these three the kalij is the only one likely to be seen in the ordinary course of a walk. The others are not likely to show themselves unless flushed by a dog.

The white-crested kalij-pheasant (_Gennaeus albicristatus_) may occasionally be seen in the vicinity of a village.

The bird does not come up to the Englishman's ideal of a pheasant.

The bushy tail causes it to look rather like a product of the farmyard.

The c.o.c.k is over two feet in length, the hen is five inches shorter.

The plumage of the former is dark brown, tinged with blue, each feather having a pale margin. The rump is white with broad black bars. The hen is uniformly brown, each feather having a narrow buff margin.

Both s.e.xes rejoice in a long backwardly-directed crest and a patch of bare crimson skin round each eye. The tail is much shorter and more bushy than that of the English pheasant. The crest is white in the c.o.c.k and reddish yellow in the hen. Baldwin describes the call of this pheasant as "a sharp _twut_, _twut_, _twut_. Sometimes very low, with a pause between each note, then suddenly increasing loudly and excitedly."

The kalij usually affords rather poor sport.

The koklas pheasant (_Pucrasia macrolopha_) is another short-tailed species; but it is more game-like in appearance than the kalij and provides better sport.

It may be distinguished from the kalij by its not having the red patch of skin round the eye. The c.o.c.k of this species has a curious crest, the middle portion of which is short and of a fawn colour; on each side of this is a long lateral tuft coloured black with a green gloss.

The cry of this bird has been syllabised as _kok-kok-pokra.s.s_.

In the cheer-pheasant (_Catreus wellichi_) both s.e.xes have a long crest, like that of the kalij, and a red patch of skin round the eye.

The tail of this species, however, is long and attenuated like that of the English pheasant, measuring nearly two feet. Wilson says, of the call of this bird: "Both males and females often crow at daybreak and dusk and, in cloudy weather, sometimes during the day. The crow is loud and singular, and, when there is nothing to interrupt, the sound may be heard for at least a mile. It is something like the words _chir-a-pir_, _chir-a-pir_, _chir-a-pir_, _chirwa_, _chirwa_, but a good deal varied."