8 Egging on the Sandbanks of the Ganges. 



I thinkj though I did not slioot any. On one ishand I came 

 across a pair of the Great Stone-Plover {Esacus recurvirostris), 

 the eggs of which I was very anxious to get, hut unfortu- 

 nately they were not yet laid. Further on I found a number 

 of nests of the Skimmer, but they were empty. However, 

 as I got a fine clutch, though very hard-set, of the large 

 River-Tern {Sterna seena), I was quite compensated. We 

 also picked up one or two more clutches of the Spur-wing, 

 and then I came upon a large colony of Swallow-Plovers, 

 ai)d we had a busy time collecting and marking the eggs. 

 These little birds were most anxious about their treasures, 

 and would come tumbling down, literally almost at one's 

 feet, pretending a broken wing, and would go shuffling along, 

 apparently hardly able to move, every now and then lying 

 quite still, as if thoroughly exhausted, only to fly off imme- 

 diately that any attempt was made to catch them. The 

 birds usually lay their eggs on the damp soil, not far from 

 the water's edge, but in this colony many had been laid in 

 the shifting sand and were half buried in consequence. The 

 nests were merely little circular hollows, about three inches 

 across ; often there was no hollow at all. The eggs lay, of 

 course, on the bare sand, as often as not in the open, but 

 sometimes partly concealed by a tuft of jhao or a piece of 

 driftwood. Mr. Hume puts the number down as usually 

 four, yet, strangely enough, all my eggs were in pairs or 

 single, and numbers of them were very hard-set. Among 

 this colony I found a clutch of the Black-bellied Tern. 

 During the day the birds trust to the heat of the sun's rays, 

 and merely stand by or wiicel round over their eggs. Oae 

 can foj'm a pretty good estimate of the heat of the sands at 

 this time of the year from the fact that Mr. Cockburn 

 assured me that he once found a Skimmer's e^^ hard- 

 baked. 



After leaving this island I found a few more eggs of the 

 Spur-wing and of the Black-bellied Tern, and then I had to 

 stop. By this time tiie sun was sinking, and I had at least 

 six miles to walk, so I set to work to blow my eggs. This 

 Avas a somewhat tiring and lengthy job, as, altogether, I had 



