not
alike. In the eyes of the Indian this fruit is a dish fit to be set
before the gods. The _pipal_ trees, which are covered with tender
young leaves, now offer to the birds a feast in the form of numbers of
figs, no larger than cranberries. This generous offer is greedily
accepted by green pigeons, mynas and many other birds which partake
with right goodwill and make much noise between the courses. No matter
how intense the heat be, the patient cultivator issues forth with his
cattle before sunrise and works at his threshing floor until ten
o'clock, then he seeks the comparative coolness of the mango tope and
sleeps until the sun is well on its way to the western horizon, when
he resumes the threshing of the corn, not ceasing until the shades of
night begin to steal over the land.

The birds do not object to the heat. They revel in it. It is true that
in the middle of the day even they seek some shady tree in which to
enjoy a siesta and await the abatement of the heat of the blast
furnace in which they live, move and have their being. The long day,
which begins for them before 4 a.m., rather than the intense heat,
appears to be the cause of this midday sleep. Except during this
period of rest at noon the birds are more lively than they were in
April.

The breeding season is now at its height. In May over five hundred
species of birds nest in India. No individual is likely to come across
all these different kinds of nests, because, in order to do so, that
person would have to traverse India from Peshawar to Tinnevelly and
from Quetta to Tenasserim. Nevertheless, the man who remains in one
station, if he choose to put forth a little energy and defy the sun,
may reasonably expect to find the nests of more than fifty kinds of
birds. Whether he be energetic or the reverse he cannot fail to hear a
great many avian sounds both by day and by night. In May the birds are
more vociferous than at any other time of year. The fluty cries of the
koel and the vigorous screams of the brain-fever bird penetrate the
closed doors of the bungalow, as do, to a less extent, the chatter of
the seven sisters, the calls of the mynas, the _towee_, _towee_,
_towee_ of the tailor-bird, the _whoot_, _whoot_, _whoot_ of the
crow-pheasant, the monotonous notes of the coppersmith and the green
barbet, the _uk_, _uk_, _uk_ of the hoopoe, the cheerful music of the
fantail flycatcher, the three sweet syllables of the iora--_so be ye_,
the _tee_, _te