Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/102

86 Then there is the Idle School Boy (Myiophonus horsfieldii) better known to the ear than the eye, for few birds have been endowed with so rich a voice, and it would be world-famous as a songster if it could only learn a tune. It is always practising, but makes no progress. It is as large as a Blackbird and almost blacker, but its forehead and shoulders are brilliant cobalt blue, and its back and breast slightly spattered with the same. It loves mountain streams and water-falls and batters snails upon a smooth rock as the dhobie does shirts.