Read Ebook: Indian Birds: Being a Key to the Common Birds of the Plains of India by Dewar Douglas

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 483 lines and 44637 words, and 10 pages

PAGE Preface 5 Preface to Second Edition 14

PART II Descriptive List of the Common Birds of the Plains of India 89 Index to Descriptive List 229

PART I

A. HINDUSTANI NAMES OF COMMON BIRDS

In all cases the number in brackets which follows the name of a bird is the number of the bird in the Descriptive List that composes Part II of this book.

The following words are used by Indians as equivalent to the English word "nest."

B. CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO STRUCTURAL PECULIARITIES

C. CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO COLOUR

Colour affords the easiest means of identifying the great majority of birds, but in many cases the colours displayed, although conspicuous and easily recognised, are not of a nature to admit of strict classification. Take, for example, the blues--various species display almost every known shade from slaty grey to turquoise, from purple to ultramarine and indigo. To attempt to distinguish in the lists between the many shades of blue would have led to inevitable confusion. I have, therefore, divided my blues into bright blue, dark blue, and slaty blue. My method is probably inartistic, but it will, I hope, facilitate the task of identification.

Again, it is no easy matter to draw the line between greyish and brownish birds, hence I have included some species under both heads. The reader should bear in mind that, while nothing is easier than to identify some birds by their colour, in the case of others colour is at the best a rough guide--one, but only one, of the clues which have to be followed up before the identity of the species can be established. In the case of Raptorial birds colour is of very little assistance, since the great majority of them are of the same colour, moreover, individuals vary greatly in colouration at different stages of their existence.

The Rose-coloured Starling .

The Rose-coloured Starling .

The Velvet-fronted Blue Nuthatch .

The Indian Hoopoe .

The Common Flamingo .

The Indian Blue Rock Pigeon .

The number of birds of which the predominating hue is brownish is very considerable, and as these usually have nothing striking about their appearance, they are among the most difficult birds to identify. Birds which appear to be a uniform earthy brown will be found on closer inspection almost invariably to be brighter in hue below than above. This is largely counteracted by the fact that the lower parts are in the shade. Most birds which look a uniform earthy brown are in reality a cream colour below, and are described as such in systematic works on ornithology. But as this book is intended for the field naturalist, I shall describe them as they appear to the ordinary observer.

The Indian Hoopoe .

Rose-coloured Starling .

N.B.--Many birds are so coloured that it is not easy to know whether to class them as grey or as brown birds.

The Kestrel .

The Woodpeckers .

The Pond Heron .

The Yellow-throated Sparrow .

The Brahminy Duck .

D. CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO HABITS

Since habits of birds vary according to circumstances, none of the lists given are exhaustive. They merely serve as rough guides. Thus, if a nest be found in the compound it is in all probability the nest of one of the species set forth in the list given, but it may, of course, belong to some other species. The list is nevertheless useful, as out of twenty nests found in any garden in the plains nineteen of them will also certainly belong to birds set forth in my list. Having determined that a given bird in all probability belongs to one of these species, it should not be difficult to arrive at its name by a process of elimination.

Call Name of Bird No. of Bird in Part II

Squeaks like that of a revolving axle that requires oiling The Seven Sisters 6

A striking whistle, like that of a human being The Idle Schoolboy 11

A sweet little tinkling song The Bulbuls 15-22

A cheery whistle, heard chiefly at dawn, which Cunningham describes as "ch?yk, ch?chi ch?yk, ch??k ch?chi ch?? ch??h" The King Crow 25

A snapping noise Ashy Wren-warbler 31

A whistle of about six notes, like the first bars of the "Guards Valse" The Fantailed Flycatchers 58-60

A song like that of a canary Purple Sunbird 107

A loud, screaming call Golden-backed Woodpecker 111

A loud, rattling scream White-breasted Kingfisher 120

A shrill, trembling scream The Swift 124

A sound like a stone sliding over ice The Common Nightjar 126

Loud screams uttered during flight The Paroquets 132-134

A weird screech, heard at night The Barn Owl 136

Loud resonant calls uttered when the bird is high up in the air The Fish-Eagles 148-150

Peculiar squeaking wail uttered while the bird is sailing in the air The Brahminy Kite 151

A sharp double whistle The Shikra 158

A very loud, hoarse, reiterated call, not easy to describe The White-breasted Water-hen 174

Loud, penetrating, trumpet-like calls The Cranes 177-179

Wild-sounding cry, heard at night The Stone Curlew 180

A loud, shrill "Did he do it? Pity to do it!" The Red-wattled Lapwing 183

Like the above, but shorter The Yellow-wattled Lapwing 184

Clappering of the beak The Storks 216-221

The Finch-Larks .

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet