286 BOMBAY DUCKS 



account of such birds as peewits and curlews, for these, 

 although blessed with loud, penetrating voices, shun 

 human habitations ; they are denizens of lonely moors 

 and fens, where any bird or man is at liberty to raise 

 his voice to the uttermost without being dubbed "noisy." 

 If the English team is sadly weakened by the absence 

 of the corn-crake, the brain-fever bird is scarcely missed 

 from the Indian eleven. His cousin, the koel {Eudy- 

 namis honorata), who is very partial to Madras, is an 

 efficient substitute. Indeed, he is often called the brain- 

 fever bird in this part of the world, but never by those 

 who have listened to the real article. His crescendo 

 "Kuil, kuil, kuil," heard both by day and by night, is a 

 noise of which any fowl might be proud. 



The white-breasted kingfisher is another noisy bird 

 very common in Madras. His harsh scream is only 

 too familiar to us. But we tolerate it for its beauty's 

 sake. As he dashes through the air, with the sun 

 shining on him, he is a truly magnificent object — a 

 dazzling flash of blue, of which the brilliance is en- 

 hanced by a setting of chocolate and white. 



In spite of his small size, the spotted owlet can hold 

 his own, as regards vociferousness, against all comers. 

 It is true that his caterwaulings cannot be heard 

 three miles away. If they carried that distance the 

 inhabitants of India would all be deaf mutes. In the 

 vicinity of Madras there must be between six and 

 seven hundred spotted owlets to the square mile, so 

 that, if their voices were audible three miles away, and 

 all spoke at once, we should spend our nights listening 

 to a chorus of about two thousand spotted owlets. 



