WATERS OF WESTEEN INDIA. 163 



the mud a few inches from the water. Both " dibbled " in 

 the mud for a perceptible time, making repeated strokes without 

 quite withdrawing the bill. * The sand-pipers, on the other hand, 

 feed equally in the water and in the mud, but they peck once only, 

 withdrawing the bill immediately with a very rapid motion and 

 elevating it to swallow almost as quickly, something like a hen 

 drinking. 



I focussed lately a group of two spotted sand-pipers and a bronze 

 winged jacana, which was lovely to see, the brilliaut metallic colours 

 of the latter fairly blazing in the tropic morning and his somewhat 

 clumsy figure contrasting strongly with the graceful forms and quiet 

 colouration of the sand-pipers. The one looked like some Japanese 

 work in two or three metals ; the other two like a sketch by some quiet 

 European artist. 



Besides the tanks we have (here alone in Western India) numer- 

 ous natural lakes, not widely distributed, but gathered in groups 

 here and there in the north. 



The largest, the "Nal" of Viramgaum, has nine miles by nearly 

 six of open water in December, and an equal area of marsh. It i 

 brackish, but not too much so for freshwater fish, and it is a very 

 paradise of water-fowl. The water is nowhere mucb more than six 

 feet deep, generally much less, which is all in their favour, but 

 causes a nasty little sea to get up quickly, the more so as the low 

 desert shores afford no shelter. 



The islands are mostly wooded with acacias 15 or 18 feet high, 

 enough to cut a figure in such a country. About 35 miles north of 

 this are some salt lakes or marshes, much smaller and chiefly 

 remarkable as great roosting places for wild-fowl. 



Again, 100 miles away in the north-east are the lakes of 

 Parantej, beginning with the " Bokh," an ancient river-bed 

 now appearing as a huge trough in the plain, with a string 

 of pools down its centre. » The largest of these, the "Great 

 Bokh," is of about 140 acres, if I recollect right, and the next, the 

 " Little Bokh, " of 80 ; but I have no details here. There are several 

 smaller pools, and they swarm with fish and fowl. 



A group of smaller pools lies within a few miles of Parantej, east 

 of the Hathmati canal, and another, near Dehgaum, in the Gaek war's 

 country, north of the direct road from Ahmadabad to Harsol. The 



* Note. — "Full" snipe, when quietly put up under these circumstances, often rise 

 Bilently, without the usual alarm-uoke, and with little or no " twist " in their flight. 



