THE DID-HE-DO-IT 57 



bird to identify. Even if you cannot see him, you 

 know he is there the moment you hear his loud, 

 shrill "Did he do it, pity to do it." The only bird 

 with which he can possibly be confounded is his cousin, 

 the yellow-wattled lapwing {Sarciophonis malabaricus). 

 This latter, however, has a yellow wattle and one 

 syllable less in its cry. 



The Did-he-do-it is a bird which frequents open 

 plains in the neighbourhood of water. I have never 

 seen it perched on a tree, and as it does not possess 

 the luxury of a hind toe, I imagine that, like the old 

 lady after a rough Channel crossing, it likes to feel 

 itself on ^^ terra cottar 



This bird is not likely to be seen within municipal 

 limits, but it is fairly abundant outside Madras. It 

 feeds chiefly upon insects and small Crustacea. It is 

 not a gluttonous fowl. " Eha " declares that you never 

 find it where there is food and that it does without 

 sleep, since you never catch it napping. Jerdon, how- 

 ever, informs us that in the South of India it is said 

 to sleep on its back with its legs in the air — a distinctly 

 undignified position for a dandy. It sleeps thus so as 

 to be able to catch on its toes the sky in case this 

 should happen to fall down. As " Eha " says, the chief 

 point about this truly native yarn is that it is impossible 

 to contradict it, for who has seen a lapwing asleep ? 



The nesting habits of the Did-he-do-it are most 

 interesting. Strictly speaking, it does not build a nest. 

 It scrapes a cavity, about a quarter of an inch deep, 

 in some stony place. This is the nest. Round 

 it there are a few pieces of kankar or some twigs; 



