-By Dahey Sangno
Solitarily forlorn in an arborous ravine,
A black racket-tailed drongo,
At last, meets another of his kind,
A female, some three sunless days ago.
Together they whistle or stay reticently muted,
When not playing, their lovelorn eyes coyly meet.
As a pair, they look perfectly suited;
Merrily they fly from thicket to thicket.
Their whistles draw a myriad of birds,
Mobbed, they mimic them to latter’s joy.
They feed on nectar, insects and lizards;
A fable bears with courtship they enjoy.
His wire-like tail feathers shaped as rackets,
Are long and gloriously beautiful;
Even grander than those of parakeets.
While a covetous thrush glares on awful.
Hers is glistening blue-black plumage,
Ruffles when frisky wind fondles it.
She’s just about to sing the best one of her age
When her heart’s pierced by a couple of pellets. .
Alas! She’s fallen, like ill-fated others, for tails
To make elegant a tribal man’s hat.
Helplessly witnessing from afar, he wails.
He’s rendered yet again lonely and sad.
An another shot is fired; he’s hit between his legs,
Flat on dewy grasses, dying, his beak snaps the tails
Before the gunman could reach it was too late.
This time, it was the hunter’s turn to wail.
[Epilogue: the Greater Racket-Tailed Drongos (dicrurus paradiseus), about aize of myna, are found in lesser-Himalaya, including in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. They are a rare sight; but if found they are killed for their coveted crested and longish feathers, curving backward, called ‘nini’, to adorn a Nyishi man’s headgear (hat) called ’bopia’. It is widely believed that a drongo must be killed in one shot lest it should turn its beak and snap the wire-like tail. I wish we find alternative to this feather]
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