^"'I'^is'^^'l Hall, The Jungle and the Snows. Ill 



flock of a dozen, and squats tight when danger lurks. The 

 Indian Pie [Urocissa] is a well-distributed species. On a sacred 

 tank, with its crocodiles, we saw the Cotton Goose Teal {Nettapus) 

 and the Crested Pochard (Fiiligiila) : this latter bird goes annually 

 to Siberia, where, in 1903, I also saw the English Wild Duck 

 {Anas boscas). In the Punjab I saw a well-developed male. Near 

 my residence in Tasmania there are a number in captivity, and 

 from that I know it is at night one of the most noisy of Ducks. 



The White-headed Duck of the Punjab belongs to the same 

 spiny-tailed genus as our Blue-billed Duck {Erismatiira). India 

 is its winter quarters, finding its way through Tibet and down 

 one or other of the passes through North- West India. I realize 

 now it is the Duck I met on Lake Baikal. I saw a stuffed speci- 

 men of a White-eyed Duck {Nyroca africana) from Kashmir that 

 is much like our White-eyed {Nyroca australis). It comes down 

 the Obi valley across the vale of Kashmir, amongst the snows. 

 In passing over the Obi in 1903 I noticed the name of the railway 

 station was printed Ob. 



Another interesting Duck to me was the Pin-tail {Dafila), which 

 winters in India. Because of its beauty and love of salt water, 

 it is in some places called the Sea Pheasant. Another member 

 of the genus {D. eatoni) I met years ago on Kerguelen Island, a 

 solitary snow-clad island south of the Indian Ocean. I saw a 

 Nettion which looked much like the Australian Teal. 



The pariah Kite {Milviis) is generally about. Previously I saw 

 the " Brahminy Kite " {Haliastur), a true Eagle. The Brahminy 

 Kite {Haliastur indus), with its buoyant and easy flight, reaches 

 the waters of Northern Australia. It seems as much an Eagle 

 as our Whistling-Eagle {H. sphenurus), though A. H. Evans 

 wTites of it as the Whistling-Kite. By securing an order one may 

 visit the Tower of Silence, in Bombay, and there see the Eagles 

 at their work. The Parsees know the bird cannot tear the spirit 

 or consume it, so it is called in as a purifier ; the fire- worshipper 

 then reduces the bone to ashes. 



Another useful bird — this time among the Punjab grasshoppers — 

 is the Kestrel, or Windhover {Tinnunculus of India and Cerchneis 

 of Australia). The latter, we know, is most useful amongst the 

 grasshoppers of the Murra\- River system. A desert Falcon found 

 about the fringes of the jungle is the Lugger {GenncBa), for all 

 practical purposes the Falcon of Australia. This and our Grey 

 Falcon, while on the wing, might well be taken as one and the 

 same bird I saw in Siberia in summer plumage. In winter it 

 moves southward as far as Northern India. Baza, the Crested 

 Hawk or Cuckoo-Falcon, of which the Great Australian Desert 

 has one species and the Himalaya another, has an interesting dis- 

 tribution. Baza is an aberrant form of the true Falcon, having 

 a doubly-notched maxilla instead of a single one. Map G given 

 here shows approximately its range. 



In the thicker foliage of the " flame of the forest " I saw a 

 Barbet {Megalcema) other than the " Coppersmith," and quite 



