Ornithological and Other Oddities 



would be a perfect roar of terror caused by the 

 united cries of so many anxious parents. It was 

 a great pity, in view of the tendency of the birds 

 to increase unduly, that one of the eagles was 

 shot for these depredations, as their influence 

 would no doubt have been very salutary had they 

 been allowed to work their will on the young 

 birds. In the winter the old herons were often 

 much worried, when resting during the day, by a 

 pair of marsh-harriers, and the scene was a very 

 beautiful and interesting one, the black crests and 

 grey plumage of the herons, as they flapped 

 squawking from bough to bough, contrasting 

 beautifully with the chocolate bodies and yellow 

 caps of their graceful tormentors, and the whole 

 set off by the background of clear blue Bengal sky. 

 As might be expected, the harriers never 

 seemed to strike any of them, but their move- 

 ments were evidently regarded with suspicion. 

 As the breeding season came on, it was interest- 

 ing to note the change of the herons' legs from 

 waxy-yellow to bright salmon-colour, and later to 

 observe the brown, white-spotted plumage of the 

 young, so different from that of the parents. 

 The cormorants also showed many points of 

 interest. They liked taking a drink before 

 going up to roost on their return home, and 

 used to fly down to the water and take a gulp 

 without alighting, a most extraordinary feat for 



a bird of the kind. It was evidently an anxious 



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