THE KHANJAN 255 



a cruel parent. It is loving and consider- 

 ate as long as its children are helpless 

 and unable to hunt on their own account. 

 But as soon as the youngsters are able 

 to do so, they are mercilessly driven out 

 of their paternal territory. 



The Khanjan takes to its domestic 

 duties in March and its family cares last 

 generally till May and some- 

 Nests and times later. It raises several 



JiggS 



broods in a season. In Southern 

 India, these birds nest during the North- 

 eastern Monsoon, which gives rain to 

 the eastern portions of the Deccan Penin- 

 sula between the months of November 

 and January. 



The Khanjan is not at all fastidious 

 about its nesting site. The neighbour- 

 hood of water and something solid to 

 place its nest on, appear to be the two 

 sole reservations for which it cares, and 

 if these are available nothing else matters. 

 Its nests have been found in holes in 

 banks and walls, crevices in rocks, under 



