168 COMMON BIRDS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



very conspicuous objects among the softly feathery 

 deep green masses of the surrounding foliage. 

 Their breeding places in the gardens of the town 

 are usually located in mango -trees, whose stout, 

 .stiff ramifications are well fitted to support the 

 huge masses of rubbish which they are pleased to 

 regard as nests ; but it is not easy to know 

 what it is that determines the selection of particular 

 trees or groups of trees. If the first nest or nests 

 established in a tree be left undisturbed, they are 

 very apt to form the nucleus of large colonies which 

 within a short time become very offensive from 

 their strong smell and from the unsightly accumula- 

 tions of guano, debris of fish and molluscs, and cast 

 feathers that disfigure the leaves of the trees and 

 litter the ground beneath. 



During the nesting season the birds waste much 

 time over awkward and laborious attempts to 

 detach dead twigs and small branches from neigh- 

 bouring trees, swaying about on their long, slender 

 legs and twisting their necks and beaks in a 

 pathetically patient way in struggles with coveted 

 fragments that refuse to be torn off. As they 

 find such difficulty in detaching dead twigs they 

 never think of attacking living ones, and so do not 

 do the damage to a garden that crows do when 

 building. The greater part of their time is passed 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of water, where 

 they wade in the weedy shallows fringing ponds 



