groves swarm with flycatchers, chats, starlings, warblers, finches,
birds of prey and the other migrants which in winter visit the plains
from the Himalayas and the country beyond.

The bracing climate of the Punjab attracts some cold-loving species
for which the milder United Provinces have no charms. Conspicuous
among these are rooks, ravens and jackdaws. On the other hand, frosts
drive away from the Land of the Five Rivers certain of the feathered
folk which do not leave the United Provinces or Bengal: to wit, the
purple sunbird, the bee-eater and, to a large extent, the king-crow.

The activity of the feathered folk is not at its height in January.
Birds are warm-blooded creatures and they love not the cold.
Comparatively few of them are in song, and still fewer nest, at this
season.

Song and sound are expressions of energy. Birds have more vitality,
more life in them than has any other class of organism. They are,
therefore, the most noisy of beings.

Many of the calls of birds are purposeful, being used to express
pleasure or anger, or to apprise members of a flock of one another's
presence. Others appear to serve no useful end. These are simply the
outpourings of superfluous energy, the expressions of the supreme
happiness that perfect health engenders. Since the vigour of birds is
greatest at the nesting season, it follows that that is the time when
they are most vociferous. Some birds sing only at the breeding season,
while others emit their cries at all times. Hence the avian choir in
India, as in all other countries, is composed of two sets of
vocalists--those who perform throughout the year, "the musicians of