62 



many fights between kites and crows, but I have 

 never seen any damage inflicted. I suspect that 

 each bird is frightened of the other, so their fighting 

 is very stagey. 



The king-crow, however, must without doubt be 

 classed among the enemies of the crow. The little 

 black drongo is the self-constituted policeman of the 

 birds, he is constantly on the look out for offenders 

 which he punishes summarily, therefore, just as the 

 village hadmasli delights in giving trouble to the 

 policeman and the magistrate, so do the naughty 

 crows do their utmost to annoy the king-crow, who 

 is judiciary and executive rolled into one. 



The drongo looks upon the tree in which his 

 nest is situated as his castle and attacks most 

 viciously every man, bird, or beast who dares to 

 approach that tree. I recently saw a couple of king- 

 crows mob a monkey which had chanced to cUmb 

 the neem tree in which their nest was placed. The 

 monkey did not stay long in that tree. The king- 

 crows were on him like a whirlwind, and it was not 

 until the monkey had fled fully a hundred yards that 

 the plucky birds left him in peace. 



