Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/161

Rh noticeably longer bird, and its colours are different. In a mature bird the whole head and face are black and contrast with the bright yellow of the breast. The shoulders and upper back are rich chestnut. In the Deccan the Black-headed Bunting visits the bajree and jowaree fields in hordes and takes toll from the poor farmer. Many are trapped and brought to Bombay for sale. They are handsome but uninteresting pets.

The Red-headed, or Chestnut-headed, Bunting (Euspiza luteola) is another species which is not unlikely to be met with in Bombay.

The Larks constitute our last group of little seed-eating birds. After them we pass on to pigeons and game-birds. In a former paper I referred to the sort of man who holds the dogma that in India birds do not sing. Of course that man never saw a Lark in this country and does not believe it contains such a thing. He disputed the point with me once from dinner till bed-time, propping himself with pegs as he went along. As a matter of fact the Indian Skylark (Alauda gulgula), which is scarcely distinguishable from the English bird in colour and not distinguishable in habit or song, is found throughout this country wherever there is an acre of corn land or open grassy ground. I have pleasant recollections of standing on the Flats in Bombay and watching it "float and run in the golden lightning of the sunken sun," till it was out of sight, and then listening to the shower of melody which it continued to pour down. I suppose it is less common there now. Town sweepings and refuse are not conducive to Larks.