A SI5TD LAKE. Oij 



I always used to look forward to evening flighting, not only from a 

 sporting point of view, but on account of the bird life which is alwa}-s 

 to be seen on these occasions ; this shooting was always done from 

 a boat concealed more or less amongst the reeds. I will take from my 

 notes an account of an evening's flighting at the end of February last 

 year. " About 4-30, 1 took up my position amongst the high reeds. The 

 first to come over are one or two stragglers (duck), and then the usual 

 enormous flocks of duck pass by, flying high over head from the direc- 

 tion of the Indus, the first intimation of their approach being the rushing 

 noise caused by their wings ; after this, or perhaps a little before, some 

 large flocks of glossy ibis flying slowly in a single undulating line 

 pass close by ; one slowly unfolds one of its long legs and leisurely 

 scratches its head, the whcle operation appearing very ludicrous; 

 all the time one or two harriers hunt leisurely over the reeds 

 ready to pick up any wounded victim to my gun ; a gull or two pass 

 over, especially noticeable is the large black-headed Larus ichthycetus, 

 then comes a flock of graceful small white egrets ; on one occasion I 

 shot one for identification, which turned out to be Ilerodias inter- 

 media ; I also watch with interest the fishing of the blue kingfisher 

 A. ispida } and perhaps A. hengalensis, and the pied kingfisher Ceryle 

 radis. (I might also have seen the lovely Halcyon smyrnensis^ but as 

 I am transcribing from my notes on this particular occasion, I did 

 not.) Many wagtails of two or three species flit about the reed-covered 

 surface of the water; the hoarse loud note ofthe Reed warblers, Acro- 

 cephalus stentorhts, is constantly heard, but although close to me, I 

 can only occasionally catch a glimpse of one amongst the reeds ; the 

 little warblers (Phylloscopus tristis) flit rapidly in and out amongst the 

 rushes, and if I do not move, they allow me to admire their ceaseless 

 activity almost within an arm's length ; as the evening gets on, the 

 croaking of the frogs and chirping of the grasshoppers (?) keep up a 

 perpetual monotonous concert with the splashing and cackling of the 

 noisy purple gallinules; cormorants, both great and small, fly past ; (in 

 the case of one I shot, the small cormorant was Graculus javanica, but iu 

 Mr. Murray's Vertebrates of Sind I see that both Graculus sinensis and 

 G. javanica are common Sind species, the former being distinguished 

 from the latter by having no white thigh or cheek patch ; I did not 

 know of this distinction at the time, so was not on the alert to 

 discriminate between the two species) ; then I see a few curlews, 

 a flock of crows, and flying close to the surface of the water a 

 flock of Hinmdiniuce; they are gone too quick for identification. 



