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It is never found far from water, but occurs at all altitudes up to the snow-line, so that, as Jerdon says, it is one of the characteristic adjuncts of Himalayan scenery.
On the American finches, see Audubon, 'Ornithological Biography, vol. i. pp. 174, 221, and Jerdon, 'Birds of India, vol. ii. p. 383. On the Fringilla cannabina of Madeira, Mr. Ornaments of all kinds, whether permanently or temporarily gained, are sedulously displayed by the males, and apparently serve to excite, attract, or fascinate the females.
Jerdon, 'Birds of India, vol. i. p. 108; and Mr. The following case is in some respects more interesting. A pied variety of the raven, with the head, breast, abdomen, and parts of the wings and tail- feathers white, is confined to the Feroe Islands. It is not very rare there, for Graba saw during his visit from eight to ten living specimens.
A small dark sooty brown bird with a broad white bar across the back, a living monoplane that dashes through the air at the rate of 100 miles an hour, continually giving vent to what Jerdon has so well described as a "shivering scream," can be none other than this species. It nests under the eaves of houses or in verandahs.
Jerdon, 'Birds of India, vol. i. 1862, p. xxi. There must be something special, which causes dogs to howl in the night, and especially during moonlight, in that remarkable and melancholy manner called baying.
But to seize pigeons is not so easy a matter. Generally, according to Jerdon, two birds unite to attack a band. One of the aggressors pretends to wish to seize them from below. This is a very unusual method, for birds of prey always rise above the game in order to throw themselves down on it. This puts out the pigeons, and they fear the manoeuvre all the more because they are unaccustomed to it.
It is a black bird, with a white eyebrow, a whitish throat, and white tips to the outer tail feathers. It is easily recognised by its cheerful song and the way in which it pirouettes among the foliage and spreads its tail into a fan. Hemichelidon sibirica. The sooty flycatcher. This is a tiny bird of dull brown hue which, as Jerdon says, has very much the aspect of a swallow.
For the foregoing statements in regard to partial moults, and on old males retaining their nuptial plumage, see Jerdon, on bustards and plovers, in 'Birds of India, vol. iii. pp. 617, 637, 709, 711. Also Blyth in 'Land and Water, 1867, p. 84. On the moulting of Paradisea, see an interesting article by Dr. W. Marshall, 'Archives Neerlandaises, tom. vi. 1871.
As in England, this bird constructs under the eaves of roofs its nest of mud lined with feathers. Not unlike the common swallow, but readily distinguishable from it in that the lower back is chestnut red, is Hirundo nepalensis Hodgson's striated swallow, or the red-rumped swallow, as Jerdon well called it. This bird also breeds under eaves.
For the goldfinch of N. America, Fringilla tristis, Linn., see Audubon, 'Ornithological Biography, vol. i. p. 172. I am indebted to Mr. Blyth for information as to the Buphus; see also Jerdon, 'Birds of India, vol. iii. p. 749. On the Alca, see Macgillivray, 'Hist. Brit. Birds, vol. v. p. 347. On the Fringilla leucophrys, Audubon, ibid. vol. ii. p. 89.
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