12 COMMON BIRDS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



one has the fullest chance of studying all the details 

 of their flight ; the slight variations in inclination of 

 the great wings, the constant fluctuations in the 

 degree of divergence of the feathers of the tail, 

 and the sudden exchanges of gentle gliding and 

 sailing for furious flapping on the incidence of any 

 disturbance or alarm. When hungry, and especially 

 at times when they have to meet the demands of 

 a growing family, their boldness often merges into 

 active aggressiveness, so that every one is familiar 

 with tales of hostile encounters with them. I well 

 remember expending some of my choicest store of 

 bad language under the impression that my chum 

 had treated me to a violent buffet whilst I was 

 conveying a plateful of scraps to my dogs, when 

 the real offender was a kite, who had a nest in the 

 garden, and had swooped suddenly down to clear 

 the plate, and how, for the rest of the season, I 

 was fain to carry all doles to the kennel enclosed 

 between two plates in order to escape further high- 

 way robbery. An adventure of this kind is very 

 startling, and may even be attended by serious 

 results, as there is always a chance that the talons 

 aimed at the desired plunder may take effect on 

 the hands of its bearer, and scratches from a kite's 

 claws are uncanny things, owing to the septic nature 

 of so many of the articles entering into the bird's 

 bill of fare. Even worse things may happen. A 

 friend, who was due to make up a tennis party one 



