sar fuscus_--the jungle myna. The casual observer usually
fails to notice any difference between the two species, so closely
do they resemble one another. Careful inspection, however, shows that
the jungle myna has a little patch of feathers in front of the head
over the beak. _AEthiopsar fuscus_ has all the habits of the common
myna. Like the latter, it struts about sedately in company with cattle
in order to snatch up the grasshoppers disturbed by the moving
quadrupeds. It feeds largely on the insects that infest the capsules
of _Lobelia excelsa_, and is often to be seen clinging, like a tit,
to the stem in order to secure the insects. Davidson gives these mynas
a very bad character, he declares that they do immense damage to the
fruit gardens on the Nilgiris, so that without the aid of nets, it
is next to impossible to preserve pears from their depredations.

No other species of myna is common on the Nilgiris.

THE MUSCICAPIDAE OR FLYCATCHER FAMILY

As in the Himalayas so on the Nilgiris the family of flycatchers is
well represented. In one small Nilgiri wood I have come across no
fewer than six species of flycatcher.

The beautiful little black-and-orange flycatcher (_Ochromela
nigrirufa_) is a bird peculiar to the hills of Southern India.

The head and wings of the cock are black, the rest of the body is
orange, of deeper hue on the back and breast than on the other parts.
The portions of the plumage that are black in the cock are slaty brown
in the hen. This flycatcher feeds on insects. But unlike most of its
kind, it picks them off the ground more often than it secures them
in the air.

It never takes a long flight, and almost invariably perches on a branch
not more than two feet above the ground. It emits a low cheeping
note--a _chur-r-r_, which is not unlike the sound made by some
insects.

The Nilgiri blue-flycatcher (_Stoparola albicaudata_) is
stoutly-built and a little larger than a sparrow. The male is clothed
from head to tail in dark blue; his wife is more dingy, having a
plentiful admixture of brownish grey in her plumage. Blue-flycatchers
often occur in little flocks. They have the usual habits of their
family, except that they seem sometimes to eat fruit.

A pretty little bird, of which the head, back, tail, and wings are
deep blue, and the breast is orange fading into pale yellow towards
the abdomen, is Tickell's blue-flycatcher (_Cyornis tickelli_). It
has the characteristic habits of it