218 PLATALEIDJE. 



fringe the margin of the large jheel on the banks of which the 

 village stands. But the grandest breeding-place 1 ever saw was 

 about a dozen miles north of this in the south of the Mynpooree 

 District, where the zeminders allowed no prowling sportsmen, 

 and indeed soundly thrashed some egg-collectors of mine ; and 

 when a few days later I went myself only allowed me to take such 

 eggs as I wanted, because they remembered me as a former Joint 

 Magistrate of the district who had done them a good turn in more 

 than one instance. When I visited this place in August there 

 was a large oval sheet of water 1 1 mile in length, and half this 

 in width, clear, bright, and cairn, but dotted over here and there 

 with rushes and lotus-leaves. The village stands on a pretty high 

 mound immediately overlooking the lake and towards one end. In 

 front of it, at the water's edge, and on both sides of it, are numerous 

 large peepul and tamarind trees ; a little further on a group of 

 neem ; then a huge grove of ancient mango-trees runs down to the 

 water's edge ; beyond again are groups of date-palms, then more 

 groves, &c., so that in fact the whole lake is almost entirely shut 

 in by trees all round. This lake, when I had last visited it in 

 March many years previously, to measure up and estimate loss of 

 crops consequent on a terrible hail-storm, was, I should note, one 

 huge wheat-Held, except towards one end, just under the village, 

 where a small pond remains in most years all through the hot 

 weather. 



All the trees on the right of the village were occupied by Spoon- 

 bills, certainly at least two hundred pairs were breeding there, but 

 a still larger number of Shell-Ibises had nests in the trees to the 

 left of the village. The neem-trees and the mangos were occupied 

 by myriads of Paddy-birds, Egrets, and White Herons, and a 

 clump of acacias was tenanted by the Little Cormorants and 

 Darters. In a kudum tree were several nests of the Whistling 

 Teal. In a huge hollow of an old mango-tree we got a Nukhtah 

 on eight eggs, and the entire lake was alive with these various 

 species. 



The zeminders sent boys up to report upon the nests. At 

 least a hundred of those of the Spoonbills were looked at, and 

 only three or four contained live eggs, or young ones and eggs ; 

 in the great majority there were four. The nests were all of the 

 normal type, large platforms of sticks, from 2 to 3 feet in diameter 

 and from 3 inches to nearly a foot in depth. 



These birds had bred here from a time anterior to the traditions 

 of the village. Once or twice during the previous fifty years there 

 had been droughts, and the lake had remained dry and no birds 

 had bred there, but next year they had reappeared and bred as 

 usual. One thing was notable though the birds were strictly pre- 

 served, if I may use the phrase, it was unanimously declared by all 

 the people that during their lifetimes no perceptible increase in 

 the numbers of any of the species had taken place, nor had they 

 ever altered their respective quarters. 



