Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/115

Rh Everybody knows the Indian Robin. In March or April it makes its nest in a niche in a wall, or in some recess in a pile of stones, never very far above the ground; and there it lays three dingy looking eggs, of a greenish white colour, speckled with brown. You will not find the nest very easily, for the Robin is cunning, like all birds that build near the ground, and will not come or go in sight of an enemy. And in that connection man is an enemy.

A larger and more imposing bird is the Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis), which is also black, glossy blue-black, on the upper parts, but from the breast downwards pure white. There is a broad white band across the wing and two-thirds of the tail is white. In short, it is coloured very like a magpie. The female is like the male, except that the shade of black is duller and runs to a smokey gray on the throat and breast. Thfs bird is like the common Indian Robin in all its ways, except that, though it feeds on the ground, it perches on trees and is particularly fond of cool shady gardens. For this reason it is a better known bird in Bombay than the common Robin, though not nearly so familiar in the Deccan. With the exception of one bird, which haunts the deep forests of the ghauts, the Magpie Robin is the finest songster that we have in Western India. In March and April, when the Thrush and Blackbird are singing to our friends as they lie in their beds, the Magpie Robin at the same hour is pouring forth a continuous torrent of far-reaching song from the top of some palm or old mango tree. And we scarcely say, "Thank you." Whether it is that we leave our ears at home when we come out