84 BOMBAY DUCKS 



The train passes through most kinds of country. It 

 jogs along over barren usar lands, across fertile fields 

 coloured emerald-green by the young shoots of the 

 luxuriant crops, over broad rivers, "pzsX jhils great and 

 small, through bushy jungle, amid long feathery grass, 

 through forests, among bare rocky hills and green undu- 

 lating down-like country. Each of these tracts has its 

 characteristic species. Now a flock of mynas {Acrido- 

 theres tristis) comes into sight, chattering with delight 

 over some newly-discovered field rich in food. These 

 disappear and a pair of sarus cranes {Grus antigone) 

 absorb one's attention. The sarus is a strange bird, 

 which, like an Englishman, seems to take its pleasures 

 sadly ; it invariably looks depressed, although in reality 

 it is perfectly happy in the company of its spouse. The 

 crane and his wife form an inseparable and devoted 

 couple. When one is taken and the other left, the sur- 

 vivor is said soon to die of grief at the loss of its mate. 



Scarcely have these tall creatures vanished from sight 

 than a flight of birds of a very different feather comes 

 into view — a screeching crowd of "green parrots" 

 {PalcEornis torquatus) on their way to commit dacoity 

 in an orchard of ripening fruit. The train now wends 

 its weary way through a tract of marshy country, where, 

 here and there, a paddy bird {^Ardcola grayii) may be 

 seen, lazily gazing into the water of some murky jhil. 

 Near by are some duck and coots swimming on the 

 surface of another sheet of water. Not far removed 

 from them is a stork, and overhead are flying a number 

 of white egrets {Btibulcus corontmidus) and other kuchnes, 

 disturbed by the noisy train. 



