42 PET BIRDS OF BENGAL 



after the day's labour it is about to retire 

 to rest, its chatterings increase which are 

 always accompanied by its Dhayal-like tail- 

 play. But occasionally it rises above this 

 vulo;ar demonstration of its feelino^s and, in 

 the mornings specially, no early riser will 

 miss its joyous melodies poured forth with 

 great ardour usually from a bush. 



The Piddah builds its nest in the most 

 unlikely places and never minds the proxi- 

 mity of man. It builds in a hole in the 

 ground, *'the foot-print of a bullock serving 

 the purpose very frequently," 



^ as Gates says. Sometimes the 



Eggs . "^ 



nest is placed on the ground 



under the shelter of a tuft of grass. Holes 

 in banks close to frequented roads, or even 

 in a well, are not rejected by it as un- 

 suitable. It is not at all punctilious in the 

 choice of materials for its nest which is a 

 shabby pad of soft grass lined with fine 

 roots, vegetable fibres, horse or even human 

 hair, cotton, wool — in fact anything that 

 it lights upon. Its breeding season is from 



