II 



COMMON BIRDS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN KITES 



" The kites sailed circles in the golden air." 



The Light of Asia. 



" We stryve, as doth the houndes for the boon, 

 They foughte al day, and yet here part was noon ; 

 Ther came a kyte, whil that they were wrothe, 

 And bar awey the boon bitwixe hem bothe." 



The Knightes Tale. 



AFTER a long course of years spent in India it is 

 not easy to recollect exactly what features in the 

 new environment were the most striking on first 

 arriving in the country, but among the mental 

 pictures left by them, some that are even now 

 very clearly defined are associated with two of the 

 commonest birds of the country. It seems only 

 yesterday that I first saw the kites wheeling over 

 the stream of the Hugli and sitting in long rows 

 on the rigging of the vessels in the harbour (Plate 

 I.), or heard their shrill, whistling calls on awak- 

 ing after the first night spent in Calcutta only 

 yesterday that 1 first saw the mynas, with bronzy 



