XIX 



PADDY BIRDS AT BEDTIME 



THE paddy bird [Ardeola grayii) is at all 

 times and all seasons as solemn as the pro- 

 verbial judge ; hence at bedtime, when all 

 other birds are hilarious and excited, he is 

 comparatively sedate. 



Paddy birds, in common with the great majority of 

 the feathered kind, roost in company. At sunrise, 

 the company separates. Each goes his own way to 

 his favourite river, paddy-field, tank, pond or puddle, 

 as the case may be, and spends the day in morose 

 solitude. At sunset he rejoins his fellow pond herons. 

 Growing out of the water in a small tank near the 

 railway station at Fyzabad are three trees, one of 

 which is quite small, while the other two are about 

 the size of well-grown apple trees. This description 

 is perhaps as vague as saying of an object that it is as 

 big as a piece of chalk. I am sorry. I cannot help it. 

 I know of no accurate method of judging the size 

 of a tree that is surrounded by dirty, slimy water. On 

 one of these trees, like unto an apple tree, over fifty 

 paddy birds spend the night. 



One might have thought that this was a very fair 

 load for an average tree. This, however, is not the 



