28 COMMON BIRDS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



and round, running out to tweak the myna's tail 

 when his back is turned, and then fleeing from 

 his wrath to the other side of the tree. A party 

 of mynas, consisting of several males and females, 

 once selected the top of a low terraced roof, just 

 below my verandah, as a site for courting and 

 quarrelling. The ladies formed a sedate and 

 attentive gallery of spectators on the top of the 

 parapet, whilst the gentlemen held a tournament 

 below, pacing around, singing at one another, and 

 every now and then engaging in furious scuffles, 

 in which they grappled with beak and claw and 

 fell over, so that the roof was often strewn with 

 struggling couples of fluttering and scolding com- 

 batants. Crows are always on the spot in the event 

 of a shindy of any kind, and, in this case, quite 

 a mob of them very soon gathered to criticise the 

 conduct of the fray. For a time they were content 

 to play the part of mere onlookers and form excited 

 and conversational rings around the duellists, but 

 presently their irrepressible desire to interfere in 

 other people's affairs led them on, first to crowd 

 in more and more closely, and then to pluck at the 

 skirts of the fighters. The latter were so com- 

 pletely absorbed in mutual attack and defence 

 that, for a time, they paid no attention to the 

 impudent interference, but, when they did con- 

 descend to notice it and separated, it was pretty to 

 see the precipitate flight of the crows, 



