The GOMARITA, or GARDEN WAGTAIL (_Nemoricola Indica_), has been separated
from the bird above described on account of the shortness of the claw on
the hinder toe, and the peculiar coloration of its plumage. The upper
part of the body is greenish brown, the under side yellowish white; a
double band of black passes over the breast, and a white stripe above
the eye; the blackish wings are decorated with two white lines, and a
third stripe passes across the base of the primary quills; the centre
tail-feather is brown, the next in succession are blackish, and those at
the exterior white, but blackish at the root, and edged with brown on the
outer web. The eye is brown, the upper mandible pale black, the lower
mandible whitish; the foot is light yellow, shaded with purplish brown.
This bird is six inches and a half long, and ten broad; the wing measures
three inches and one-eighth, and the tail two inches and five-eighths.
The Garden Wagtails are found throughout India, Ceylon, China, and Japan;
according to Jerdon they are comparatively rarely seen in Southern and
Central India, but are very numerous on some of the surrounding islands.
Everywhere they frequent woods, forests, shady gardens, and plantations,
living in solitude except during the breeding season, after which they
remain for some time assembled in small parties or families. These birds
do not migrate, and they moult their feathers but once in the year.
Layard tells us that the Gomarita, or "Dung Spreader," as this species is
called in Ceylon, receives its name from its habit of seeking for insects
in the droppings from the cattle.
"The Black-breasted Wagtail," writes Jerdon, "is found throughout the
whole peninsula of India and Ceylon, but is common nowhere; it is indeed
rare in the southern provinces and in the bare table-land of Central
India, and is not recorded from the North-western Provinces nor the
Himalayas. It extends to Arracan, Burmah, Malacca, and some of the
Malayan islands, where it is much more common than in continental India.
I have only procured it myself in my own garden and on the Malabar coast.
It appears not uncommonly about Calcutta, and, according to Blyth, at
all seasons. It is quite a wood-loving species, never being found in the
open plains, nor, that I have seen, about rivers, being chiefly found in
shady gardens and orchards, and in roads in the forests. It is usually
solitary, and feeds on various insects. It has no seasonal change of
colouring, and appears to be found, at all events in the more northern
parts of India, all the year round."
* * * * *
The SWALLOW WAGTAILS (_Enicurus_) are large and powerfully-built birds,
inhabiting India and the Malay Islands; they are easily distinguished
from their European congeners, by their comparatively strong beak, more
rounded wing, in which the secondary quills are not prolonged, and their
robust feet. The beak is of moderate size, strong, straight, broad at
its base, furnished with a keel at its culmen, and gently curved at
its extremity, which is slightly incised; the toes are armed with very
hooked claws, the fourth and fifth, sometimes the fifth and sixth, exceed
the rest in length. The extremity of the tail is so deeply forked that
the centre feather is not more than one-third as long as those at the
exterior.
All the species of Swallow Wagtails with which we are acquainted inhabit
mountain regions, and are numerously met with in their favourite resorts
among the rocks. They are always found in the vicinity of streamlets
or waterfalls, into which they frequently wade. In their habits they
resemble other members of their family, and, except after the breeding
season, live alone or in pairs.