Sandbanks of the Ganges. 5 



" sine qud noti," Hume^s 'Nests and Eggs/ aud a copy of 

 the ' Pioneer ' to serve as my mental pabulum during tlie 

 journey. 



Ye Gods ! ! ! what a journey ! Travelling by train in Upper 

 India in the month of April is not a thing to be undertaken 

 lightly, and on this particular day the heat, dust, and glare 

 were, if anything, worse than usual. Owing to a mistake 

 in the Company's own time-tables I started three hours 

 too early, and had to wait, therefore, in the Cawnpore 

 Railway Station. Most fortunately, when I got into the 

 Fatehgarh train, I found in the same carriage Mr. John 

 Cockburn, of the Opium Department, who at one time used 

 to collect for Mr. Hume, and had been a personal friend of 

 the late Major Cock and others of that brilliant band of 

 ornithologists who did so much in India in the seventies and 

 early eighties, and who have now nearly all left the ** land of 

 regrets '"' for ever, causing a void which it will be hard to 

 fill up. One of Mr. Cockburn's hobbies is the study of the 

 Serpent-Eagles, and we passed away the time very pleasantly, 

 and, in my case, most profitably, as w^e discussed various 

 things connected with Indian bird-life. 



According to Mr. Hume's works I was afraid that I should 

 be ratber late for many of the species, he seeming to have 

 got most of his eggs (in the N.W.P.) in the third week in 

 March and (in the Punjab) in April. However, a talk with 

 Cockburn soon restored my confidence, and from him I got 

 several hints as to commencing a search. 



At length, after a journey the heat, dust, and general 

 discomfort of which can be better imagined than described, 

 I was more than thankful to find the train crawling into 

 Fatehgarh Station, and to be able to exchange the stuffy 

 railway-carriage for a seat in Wildeblood's tum-tum. 

 Fatehgarh is a cliarming little Indian station, situated on 

 the west bank of the Ganges, most of the bungalows, in 

 Civil lines, being built along the cliffs overlooking the river- 

 bed. Except during the rains, this bed is more or less 

 dry sandy ground, covered with "jhao'' jungle, a sort of 

 tamarisk, and a great resort of wild swine. Fatehgarh, in 



