68 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



of the chaprassis who sat in the verandah awaiting 

 orders. These men are not usually very observant, 

 but even they noticed and grew annoyed at the robin's 

 noise, and on several occasions I heard them flicking 

 at the robin with a duster. During the early part of 

 the fourth day there was comparative quiet in the 

 verandah, and I thought that the robins and mynas 

 had settled their differences. I was mistaken. The 

 quiet proved to be the lull before the storm. This 

 burst about 4 p.m. The uproar brought me to the 

 window ; from there I saw that the robin was hissing 

 with rage at a myna who was peeping into the robin's 

 nest. Then the cock robin flew at the myna and 

 pecked at him. The myna, although three times 

 the size of the robin, fled and flew from the verandah, 

 followed by the swearing robin. A couple of minutes 

 later cock robin returned alone. He then perched 

 on the floor of the verandah, drew himself up to his 

 full height, like the heroine in a penny novelette 

 (who, by the way, appears always to slouch except 

 when she is very angry), and stood there hissing with 

 rage. This continued until a chaprassi, who was 

 squatting in the verandah, drove the angry bird away. 

 The next morning I found lying on the floor of the 

 verandah the wreck of the robins' nest, and noticed 

 that a myna was constructing a nest on the site re- 

 cently occupied by that of the robin. 



