XLIV 

 BIRDS AT SUNSET 



IT is refreshing to watch the birds at the sunset 

 hour. The fowls of the air are then full to 

 overflowing of healthy activity. 



In the garden the magpie-robin (Copsychus 

 saularis), daintily clothed in black and white, vigor- 

 ously pours forth his joyous song from some leafy 

 bough. From the thicket issue the sharp notes of the 

 tailor-bird {Orthotomtis sutorius), the noisy chatter of 

 the seven sisters {Crater opus), and the tinkling melody 

 of the bulbul. 



The king crows (Dicrurus ater) are alternately 

 catching insects on the wing and giving vent to their 

 superfluous energy in the form of cheerful notes. Upon 

 the lawn the perky, neatly-built mynas are chasing 

 grasshoppers with relentless activity ; nimble wagtails 

 are accounting for numbers of the smaller insects, while 

 the showy-crested hoopoes are eagerly extracting 

 grubs and other good things from the earth by means 

 of their long forceps-like bill. All, especially the 

 hoopoes, have the air of birds racing against time. 

 On that part of the lawn which the malli is flooding 



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