rds the end of the month the garganey or blue-winged
teal (_Querquedula circia_), which are the earliest of the migratory
ducks to visit India, appear on the tanks. Along with them comes the
advance-guard of the snipe. The pintail snipe (_Gallinago stenura_)
are invariably the first to appear, but they visit only the eastern
parts of Northern India. Large numbers of them sojourn in Bengal and
Assam. Stragglers appear in the eastern portion of the United
Provinces; in the western districts and in the Punjab this snipe is a
_rara avis_. By the third week in August good bags of pintail snipe
are sometimes obtained in Bengal. The fantail or full-snipe (_G.
coelestis_) is at least one week later in arriving. This species has
been shot as early as the 24th August, but there is no general
immigration of even the advance-guard until quite the end of the
month.

The jack-snipe (_G. gallinula_) seems never to appear before
September.

Most of the monsoon broods of the Indian cliff-swallow emerge from the
eggs in August. The "rains" breeding season of the amadavats or red
munias is now over, and the bird-catcher issues forth to snare them.

His stock-in-trade consists of some seed and two or three amadavats in
one of the pyramid-shaped wicker cages that can be purchased for a few
annas in any bazaar. To the base of one of the sides of the cage a
flap is attached by a hinge. The flap, which is of the same shape and
size as the side of the cage, is composed of a frame over which a
small-meshed string net is stretched. A long string is fastened to the
apex of the flap and passed through a loop at the top of the cage.
Selecting an open space near some tall grass in which amadavats are
feeding, the bird-catcher sets down the cage and loosens the string so
that the flap rests on the earth. Some seed is sprinkled on the flap.
Then the trapper squats behind a bush, holding the end of the string
in his hand. The cheerful little _lals_ inside the cage soon begin to
twitter and sing, and their calls attract the wild amadavats in the
vicinity. These come to the cage, alight on the flap, and begin to eat
the seed. The bird-catcher gives the string a sharp pull and thus
traps his victims between the flap and the side of the cage. He then
disentangles them, places them in the cage, and again sets the trap.

Almost all the birds that rear up their young in the spring have
finished nesting duties for the year by August. Here and there a pair