210 JUNGLE FOLK 



Approach the tree and look carefully into it ; you 

 will see it thronged with birds, mainly rosy starlings. 

 Conspicuously arrayed though these birds are, it is 

 not easy, unless they move, to distinguish them 

 among the red petals and dark calyces. Pastors that 

 are not dipping their heads into the red shuttlecock-like 

 flowers are all either scolding one another or making 

 a joyful noise. They move about so excitedly and 

 jostle one another so rudely as to give you the im- 

 pression that they are somewhat the worse for liquor. 

 This may not be so. It may be the natural behaviour 

 of the rosy starlings, for they are always noisy and pug- 

 nacious. But they seem to be exceptionally so when in 

 the silk-cotton tree. So eagerly do they plunge their 

 beaks into the cup-like flowers, that these latter are 

 frequently knocked off the stalk in the process. This is 

 especially the case with those flowers that have begun 

 to fade. The floral envelopes and the stamens of such 

 are easily detached from the ovary. 



The rose-coloured starlings are by no means the only 

 members of the clan which drink deeply of the nectar 

 provided by this hospitable tree. Among the mob of 

 brawlers are to be seen the common, the bank, and the 

 Brahminy mynas, but there is this difference between 

 these latter and their rose-coloured brethren ; the 

 former are only occasional visitors to the tree. They 

 are moderate drinkers ; they visit the public-house 

 perhaps but once in the day, stay there a short time, 

 and then go about their business. The rosy starlings 

 carouse throughout the hours of daylight. 



Another habitue of the silk-cotton tree is the Indian 



