Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/77

Rh dark but rich and shiny green, while the under-parts are whitish, coarsely streaked with green. Its forehead and a sort of collar under the throat are bright, crimson, but the throat itself and a patch on each side of the face, round the eye, are pale yellow. The bird is gaudy rather than neat, and its figure and gait are clumsy. It flies very straight and rather swiftly, but may generally be recognised by its figure. Its favourite food is the fig of the banian tree. When a banian tree is in full fruit, crowded with crows and mynas, you will not look in vain for the Coppersmith, less conspicuous and obtrusive than the others, but holding its own and repelling interference with open beak and curious, snarling noises. It lays its three white eggs about the beginning of the hot season, in a hole in a tree, as I have already said.

Every one who has visited Matheran, or Khandalla, during April or May, must know the "Kootroo," which "tires the echoes" of every valley with its ringing repetition of its own name, Koor-r-r, kootroo, kootroo, kootroo. It is also a species of Barbet, much larger than the Coppersmith, and of a bright, grass-green colour. It abounds on the ghauts everywhere, and further down the coast it may be met with even at the level of the sea, but only where there are well-wooded valleys. It will not live in Bombay.