250 COMMON BIRDS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



in the immediately surrounding country, although 

 the frequency with which birds in very immature 

 plumage make their appearance seems to show 

 that nesting must take place at no great distance. 



Owing to the constant opportunities that it 

 affords for obtaining specimens of many different 

 species, India is a very paradise for lovers of 

 raptorial birds. One of the most lovable of all 

 the birds that I kept whilst in Calcutta was a 

 beautiful female peregrine, who almost at once 

 became most alluringly tame, and whose gentle 

 loving ways made one readily forgive the agony 

 that attended the reflex grip of her talons on one's 

 wrist when she was suddenly excited or alarmed. 

 Shikras are rather uninteresting in captivity, and 

 have an unpleasantly remorseless, cruel expression, 

 owing to the light colour of their eyes. The taramti, 

 ^salon chicquera, is a charming little falcon. The 

 bright chestnut of the head is very decorative in 

 its contrast with the soft grey, black, and brown of 

 the rest of the plumage, and its daintily small 

 size and gentleness would render it a most satis- 

 factory pet were it not that it does not seem to 

 stand captivity as well as most other hawks. 



