Most birds are cosmopolitans and belong to no nationality. Strictly
speaking, there is only one British bird, only one bird found in the
British Isles and nowhere else, and that is the red grouse (_Tetrao
scoticus_).
For this reason some apology seems necessary for the heading of this
article. “Birds common to the Plains of India and the British Isles”
would doubtless be a more correct title. However, I write as an
Englishman. When I meet in a foreign land a bird I knew in England I like
to set that bird down as a fellow-countryman.
In India most of the familiar birds: the thrush, the blackbird, the robin
redbreast, the wren, the chaffinch, and the blue tit are conspicuous by
their absence; their places being taken by such strange forms as _mynas_,
_bulbuls_, seven sisters, parakeets, etc. The Englishman is therefore
prone to exaggerate the differences between the avifauna of his own
country and that of India. The dissimilarity is indeed great, but not so
great as is generally supposed.
A complete list of British birds comprises some four hundred species; of
these nearly one-half occur in India. But a list of British species is
apt to be a misleading document. You may keep a sharp look-out in England
for a lifetime without ever setting eyes on many of the so-called British
birds. Every feathered thing that has been blown by contrary winds, or
whose dead body has been washed by the waves, on to the shores of Albion
has been appropriated as a British species. This sounds very hospitable.
Unfortunately the hospitality is of a dubious nature, seeing that every
casual bird visitor promptly falls a victim to the gun of some
self-styled naturalist. Having slaughtered his “feathered friend” the
aforesaid naturalist proceeds to boast in the press of his exploit.
I do not deem it correct to speak of these occasional visitors as British
birds. On the other hand, I think we may legitimately call the birds we
see constantly in England, at certain or all seasons of the year, English
birds. Of these many are also found in India. More of them occur in the
Punjab than in any other part of the country because of our long cold
weather, and because, as the crow flies, if not as the _sahib_ travels,
the Punjab is nearer England than is any other province.
The ubiquitous sparrow first demands our attention. This much-abused
little bird is, thanks to his “push,” quite as much at home in the
“Gorgeous East” as he is in England. He is certainly not quite so
abundant out here; the crows and spotted owlets take care of that. They
are very fond of sparrow for breakfast. Nevertheless, _Passer domesticus_
is quite plentiful enough and is ever ready to nest inside one’s
bungalow.
The Indian cock sparrow differs slightly in appearance from the English
bird, having more white on the sides of his neck. This is not, as might
be supposed, due to the fact that he is not coated with soot to such an
extent as the cockney bird. Every widely distributed species, including
man, has its local peculiarities, due to climatic influences, isolation,
and other causes. If the isolation be maintained long enough the process
of divergence continues until the various races differ from one another
to such an extent as to be called species. Local races are incipient
species, species in the making. The barn owl (_Strix flammea_) is another
case in point. This is a familiar owl in England, and is common out here,
but not nearly so abundant as the little spotted owlet that makes night
hideous by its caterwaulings. The Indian barn owl, which, in default of
barns, haunts mosques, temples, deserted buildings, and even secluded
verandahs, differs from our English friend in having stronger claws and
feet, and the breast spotted instead of plain white. These trivial
differences are not usually considered sufficient to justify the division
of the barn owl into two species.
Some of our English birds assume diminutive proportions in India, as, for
example, the kingfisher and the raven. This may perhaps be attributed to
the enervating Indian climate. The common kingfisher (_Alcedo ispida_) is
exceedingly common in all parts of India except the Punjab. It does,
indeed, occur in that province, but not abundantly. The commonest
kingfisher in the Land of the Five Rivers is the much more splendid
white-breasted species (_Halcyon smyrnensis_), which may be recognised by
its beautiful blue wings with a white bar, and by its anything but
melodious “rattling scream.”
This winter the ravens are invading Lahore in very large numbers. It is
impossible not to notice the great black creatures as they fly overhead
in couples or in companies of six or eight, uttering solemn croaks.
But the Indian raven, large as it is, is a diminutive form; its length is
but twenty-four inches as compared with the twenty-eight of its English
cousin. Moreover, there are slight anatomical differences between the two
races; hence the Indian bird was at one time considered to be a separate
species and was called _Corvus lawrencii_. There certainly does seem to
be some justification for this procedure, since the Indian raven has not
the solitary, shy, and retiring disposition of the bird at Home. It
consorts with those feathered villains the Indian crows, and, like them,
thieves from man and delights to tease and annoy birds bigger than itself
by pulling their tail! But there exist ravens of all sizes intermediate
between the large European form and the small Indian one, so that it is
not possible to find a point at which a line may be drawn between them.
For this reason the Indian raven is now held to be one and the same
species as the English bird—_Corvus corax_.
[Illustration: THE WHITE-BREASTED KINGFISHER. (HALCYON SMYRNENSIS)]
Two cousins of the raven, namely, the rook and the jackdaw, also occur in
the Punjab. They both visit us in the cold weather and fraternise with
the common crows. The rook may be readily distinguished from these by the
bare whitish patch of skin in front of its face. Last year hundreds of
rooks were to be seen in the fields between the big and the little Ravi.
They are not so abundant this winter owing to the comparative mildness of
the weather.
The jackdaw is very like _Corvus splendens_ in appearance. It may,
however, be easily distinguished by its white eye. There is at present a
jackdaw in confinement in the Lahore “Zoo.”
The coot (_Fulica atra_) is another bird common at Home which is also
abundant in India. He needs no description, being familiar—too
familiar—to every sportsman in India. He is the “black duck” of Thomas
Atkins that remains on the _jhil_ after all the duck have disappeared. It
is unnecessary to say that the bird is not a duck, but a water-hen that
apes the manners of one. His black plumage, white face, and the
difficulty he experiences in rising from the water prevent him being
confounded with a duck.
Ornithological text-books tell us that the skylark (_Alauda arvensis_)
visits India during the winter. This may be so, but I do not think I have
ever seen one in the Punjab. I have seen thousands of the Indian skylark
(_Alauda gulgula_)—a very similar bird, which is said to soar and sing
“just as the lark in England does.”
As a rule it soars only at daybreak. There are in India so many birds of
prey, ever on the look out for quarry, that our larks are not able to
sing with impunity at heaven’s gate. They usually put forth their vocal
efforts from a less exalted platform.
“The eel’s foe, the heron” (_Ardea cinerea_), need not detain us long,
although he is a common bird in both England and India, for the Punjab is
too dry to be a favourite resort of waders. There is, however, a heron in
the “Zoo” at Lahore who lives happily enough among the ducks and storks
in spite of the way in which the kites worry him when he is at supper.
The blue-rock pigeon (_Columba livia_) is another English bird found in
the Punjab. This must not be confounded with its cousin (_Columba
intermedia_) the very common Indian blue pigeon, of which so many have
taken up their quarters in the Montgomery Hall. The European form is not
nearly so abundant, and is distinguished by its paler colour and by the
fact that its lower back is white instead of bluish grey.
The family of birds of prey affords us a large number of species common
to England and India. Almost all the well-known English raptores are
found in India—the peregrine falcon, the marsh harrier, the hen-harrier,
the merlin, the kestrel, the sparrow-hawk, and the buzzard. All these are
considerably more abundant in India than in the British Isles.
Thus far we have spoken chiefly of birds that are found in the plains of
India all the year round. We have now to deal with migrants. As was to be
expected, many of these are common to Hindustan and to England.
Surprising as it may seem, stationary birds are the exception rather than
the rule. The majority of species, like viceroys and
lieutenant-governors, divide their time more or less equally between two
different places. It is by no means always easy to determine whether any
particular species is a migrant one or not. The mere fact that specimens
of it are seen in any given place at all seasons of the year is not
sufficient to prove that it is non-migratory. For the birds of a species
we saw six months ago are not necessarily the same ones that we have with
us to-day. To take a concrete example, the crested lark (_Galerita
cristata_) is found in Lahore all the year round, but is far more
plentiful in summer than in winter, which is the only time when it is
seen in England. The species is therefore a migratory one.
The general rule as regards migratory birds is that they breed in the
north and then go south for a season to enjoy themselves. Great Britain
is further north than India and has a much colder climate, hence we
should expect birds to crowd to India for the pleasant cold weather and
go to England for the genial summer. This does happen to a large extent.
Yet there are surprisingly few birds which winter in India and summer in
England. The only common ones that I can call to mind are the wagtails,
the pipits, and the quail (_Coturnix communis_). There are two reasons
for this. The first is that migration takes place in a more or less
northerly and southerly direction, and the British Isles are not due
north of India. The second reason is that England is a long way south of
the Arctic Circle. Its winter is therefore not cold enough for the taste
of many birds. Geese, ducks, and snipe are cold-loving creatures. Their
idea of nice mild weather is the English winter! In order to avoid
anything in the shape of heat they migrate very far north in summer, and
in winter, being driven southwards by the intense Arctic cold, spread
themselves all over the temperate zone. Thus it comes to pass that the
full and the jack snipe, the grey lag-goose, the mallard, the gadwall,
the pintail and the shoveller ducks, the widgeon and the teal, are winter
visitors both to India and the British Isles. But whereas snipe, geese,
and most ducks leave India for the hot weather, many of them remain in
Great Britain for the summer and nest there. It is probable that the
birds which spend the winter in Great Britain go further north to breed,
their place in the British Isles being taken by species that have
wintered in Africa. The north of Scotland, even, is too far south to
serve as a breeding place for some species. The little jack snipe
(_Gallinago gallinula_) is one of these; he never breeds in England,
whereas the common or full snipe (_Gallinago cœlestis_) does. Hence the
former is set down as a migrant in England, while the latter is thought
to be a permanent resident. In point of fact both are migrants, as we see
in India, but while some full snipe find a Scotch summer cool enough for
them to breed in, all jack snipe find it insufferably hot.
[Illustration: THE REDSHANK. (TOTANUS CALIDRIS)]
A curious fact regarding snipe in India is that these birds appear in the
south earlier than they do in the north. I do not know the earliest date
after the end of the hot weather on which a snipe has been shot in the
Punjab, but believe it to be considerably later than the last week in
August, at which time snipe are regularly shot in the Madras Presidency.
This is not what we should have expected. It is but reasonable to suppose
that the earliest birds to arrive in India would take up their winter
quarters in the north, and that the later arrivals, finding all eligible
residences in the north already occupied, would go farther afield. The
only explanation of the phenomenon which occurs to me is that the most
northerly birds are the first to feel the approaching Arctic winter and
so are the first to migrate. These, when they arrive in India, find the
northern portion of the peninsula too hot for them, so pass on southwards
until they come to the places where the temperature is at that season
lower.
This article has already reached an undue length, yet quite a number of
birds, more or less common in England and in India, have not been
mentioned. On this account I owe apologies to the cuckoo, the stint, the
sandpiper, the redshank, the ringed and the Kentish plovers. But the
names of these and of eight score others, are they not written in the
appendix?