t
the month.

With the first full moon of September come the grey quail (_Coturnix
communis_). These, like the rain-quail, afford good sport with the gun
if attracted by call birds set down overnight. When the stream of
immigrating quail has ceased to flow, these birds spread themselves
over the well-cropped country. It then becomes difficult to obtain a
good bag of quail until the time of the spring harvest, when they
collect in the crops that are still standing.

Thousands of blue-winged teal invade India in September, but most of
the other species of non-resident duck do not arrive until October or
even November.

Not the least important of the September arrivals are the migratory
birds of prey. None of the owls seem to migrate. Nor do the vultures,
but a large proportion of the diurnal raptores leaves the plains of
India in the spring.

To every migratory species of raptorial bird, that captures living
quarry, there is a non-migratory counterpart or near relative. It
would almost seem as if each species were broken up into two clans--a
migratory and a stationary one. Thus, of each of the following pairs
of birds the first-named is migratory and the other non-migratory: the
steppe-eagle and the tawny eagle, the large Indian and the common
kite, the long-legged and the white-eyed buzzard, the sparrow-hawk and
the shikra, the peregrine and the lugger falcon, the common and the
red-headed merlin, the kestrel and the black-winged kite.

It is tempting to formulate the theory that the raptores are migratory
or the reverse according or not as they prey on birds of passage, and
that the former migrate merely in order to follow their quarry.
Certain facts seem to bear out this theory. The peregrine falcon,
which feeds largely on ducks, is migratory, while the lugger falcon--a
bird not particularly addicted to waterfowl--remains in India
throughout the year.

The necessity of following their favourite quarry may account for the
migratory habits of some birds of prey, but it does not apply to all.
Thus, the osprey, which feeds almost exclusively on fish, is merely a
winter visitor to India. Again, there is the kestrel. This preys on
non-migratory rats and mice, nevertheless it leaves the plains in the
hot weather and goes to the Himalayas to breed. All the species of
birds of prey cited above as migratory begin to arrive in the plains
of India in September. The merlins come only into the Punjab, but most
of the other