252 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



the night chanting anthems of which the refrain 

 runs kui-il, ku-il, ku-il, wherefore, therefore, brain- 

 fever, brain-fever, brain-fever. The Indian cuckoo 

 is very like the Enghsh cuckoo in appearance, and it 

 victimises the seven sisters {Crateropus canorus) and 

 other babblers, as does the brain-fever bird. 



The night-loving cuckoos have demanded so much 

 space that the other vocalists of the hours of darkness 

 will have to be content with very brief notice. 



The night heron (Nycticoran griseus) makes the 

 welkin ring with his guttural cries of " waak, waak," 

 uttered as he flies after nightfall from his roost to the 

 pond where he will fish till morning. As he fishes 

 in silence the addition he makes to the noises of the 

 night is not great. The large family of plovers must 

 be dismissed in a single sentence. They, like many 

 cuckoos, regard sleep as a luxury ; hence their plaintive 

 cries are heard both by day and by night. The most 

 familiar of their calls is the " did-he-do-it, pity-to-do-it," 

 of the red- wattled lapwing (Sarcogrammus indicus). 

 The notes the rest of his family consist of variations 

 of the words titeri, titeri. 



In conclusion, mention must be made of the night- 

 jars or goatsuckers, as they are sometimes called after 

 the fashion of the Romans, who believed that these 

 birds used to sally forth at night and milk goats. This 

 belief was based on two facts. First, the udders of 

 goats were often found to be empty in the morning ; 

 secondly, the broad gape possessed by the nightjar. 

 However, the character of these birds has now been 

 cleared. We know that their bills are wide in order 



