ey flit hither and thither,
hunting insects on the leaves of trees. Amid the foliage warblers,
wood-shrikes, bulbuls, tree-pies, orioles and white-eyes busily seek
for food. Pied and golden-backed woodpeckers, companies of nuthatches,
and, here and there, a wryneck move about on the trunks and branches,
looking into every cranny for insects. King-crows, bee-eaters, fantail
and grey-headed flycatchers seek their quarry on the wing, making
frequent sallies into the open from their leafy bowers. Butcher-birds,
rollers and white-breasted kingfishers secure their victims on the
ground, dropping on to them silently from their watchtowers.
Magpie-robins, Indian robins, redstarts and tailor-birds likewise
capture their prey on the ground, but, instead of waiting patiently
for it to come to them, they hop about fussily in quest of it. Bright
sunbirds flit from bloom to bloom, now hovering in the air on
rapidly-vibrating wings, now dipping their slender curved bills into
the calyces.

On the lawn wagtails run nimbly in search of tiny insects, hoopoes
probe the earth for grubs, mynas strut about, in company with
king-crows and starlings, seeking for grasshoppers.

Overhead, swifts and swallows dash joyously to and fro, feasting on
the minute flying things that are found in the air even on the coolest
days. Above them, kites wheel and utter plaintive cries. Higher still,
vultures soar in grim silence. Flocks of emerald paroquets fly
past--as swift as arrows shot from bows--seeking grain or fruit.

In the shady parts of the garden crow-pheasants look for snakes and
other crawling things, seven sisters rummage among the fallen leaves
for insects, and rose-finches pick from off the ground the tiny seeds
on which they feed.

The fields and open plains swarm with larks, pipits, finch-larks,
lapwings, plovers, quail, buntings, mynas, crows, harriers, buzzards,
kestrels, and a score of other birds.

But it is at the _jhils_ that bird life seems most abundant. On some
tanks as many as sixty different kinds of winged things may be
counted. There are the birds that swim in the deep water--the ducks,
teal, dabchicks, cormorants and snake-birds; the birds that run about
on the floating leaves of water-lilies and other aquatic plants--the
jacanas, water-pheasants and wagtails; the birds that wade in the
shallow water and feed on frogs or creatures that lurk hidden in the
mud--the herons, paddy-birds, storks, cranes, pelicans, whimbrels,