Page:Provincial geographies of India (Volume 4).djvu/110

94 The house-crow, aptly called Corvus insolens, is ubiquitous; the jungle crow less abundant. Drongos are common, the best known perhaps being the black drongo or king-crow and the racquet-tailed drongo.

Tits, babblers, nuthatches, warblers of nearly fifty species, and a dozen kinds of shrikes are more or less common.

The Burmese talking myna, the Indian grackle, found all over the Province, is not really a myna. Many starlings and real mynas abound, the most familiar being the common or house myna and the noisy Burmese pied myna. Chats, robins, ground- and rock-thrushes, fork-tails, ouzels and other kindred species, include the pied bush chat, one of the commonest birds in Burma. The magpie-robin, a charming singer, is a familiar bird near houses and villages. Another fine song bird frequenting the forest, rather like a magpie but with a rufous breast, is the shama. Larks of various species including the skylark are seen and heard.

Weaver-birds are of several kinds, some among the best known birds in the country. The house-sparrow and the tree-sparrow flourish everywhere; and many species of swallows and martins, some migrant, others resident, abound.

Swifts of some kinds are numerous. In the islands of the Mergui Archipelago Collocalia francica, the little grey-rumped swiftlet, builds the edible bird's nests of commerce.

The hoopoe and the common Indian bee-eater are among the most familiar birds. The great hornbill abounds in all dense forests. A dozen kinds of cuckoo are widely spread. But the note of Cuculus canorus is heard only in the hills. Of the same family is the Burmese concal or crow pheasant. Of barbets, only the crimson-breasted, or coppersmith, need be mentioned.

Owls include fish, hawk and barn owls. The Burmese sarus crane is not common or widely distributed. Gulls and