BraDS'SEEN AT THE PEARL FISHERY CAMP. 149 



Close by was a sandy bank, in the side of which a pariah belong- 

 ing to Mr. Dixon had excavated some burrows wherein she 

 brought up a litter of puppies. I noticed that another pariah had 

 dug a similar burrow in the bluff above the Government kottu. 

 They were doubtless made for the sake of coolness and shade, 

 which could not be obtained otherwise. I wonder whether the 

 jackal, or any species of wild dog, is ever in the habit of making 

 such lairs : wliether in fact this was a reversion to the instincts 

 of the fox or an adaptation to environment. No one that I asked 

 had noticed pariahs elsewhere make burrows like these. 



The neighbourhood of the tank set apart for drinking water 

 was a favourite roosting-place for a large flock of the Lesser White 

 Egret. A few Whistling Teal occasionally came there, while the 

 strip of jungle on the north sheltered several pairs of the Gray 

 Indian Dove {Tm'iiir risorms). A solitary Grey Heron {A. 

 cinerea) used often to fish in the shallows at the head of the tank. 

 To the south of this tank on the opposite side of the cart track 

 leading to the Manaar road lay several insignificant little tanks 

 irrigating a small tract of fields which during the fishery lay 

 fallow. In the small trees and bushes which fringed the water 

 the Black Drongos (Z). atra) had their headquarters, while on 

 two occasions I saw a pair of the pretty little Yellow-fronted 

 Woodpecker (Piciis mahrattensis) round some Euphorbias which 

 grew near one of the tiny bunds. 



South of the camp, the bare tidal flats of the lagoon at the 

 river mouth were the happy hunting grounds of innumerable 

 waders, from the Large Stone Plover to the Little Stint. Several 

 species of tern flocked here, sometimes accompanied by a colony 

 of the beautiful Brown-headed Gull, which usually kept to the 

 sand-spit on the south side of the bar. On the northern bank, in 

 the face of the sand cliff just under the Governor's bungalow, a 

 large Fish Owl {Ketupa ceylonensis) had his burrow, at the 

 entrance of which he used to sit of an evening blinking and 

 ruffing his plumage until it was time for him to fly off on his 

 rounds. A little further up the river I occasionally met with 

 the Pied Kingfisher (Ceiv/le rudis) skimming along under the 

 bank. 



Of other noticeable birds, a species of Sky -lark could be heard 

 twittering in the air any morning, and a Gray Partridge {Ortyg- 

 ornis pondicerianri) might be found on the outskirts of the camp. 

 A large Fish-eagle came several times to the lagoon ; whether it 

 was H. leucogaste7\ or P. ichthycetus I never got close enough 

 to ascertain. I also heard of the occurrence of a Pariah Kite 

 {Miluiia (joutnda), but did not see it myself. 



