276 COMMON BEASTS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



now and then moving as though they were grasping 

 something in their claws and transferring it to 

 their beaks as they wheel and sail about in a 

 bewildering entanglement of flight. On nearer 

 approach it was possible to see the individual 

 insects, in the form of minute, dark points, ascending 

 against the background of pale blue sky, and, on 

 halting, to hear the rustling and pattering sounds 

 that always attend the emergence of so many 

 stiffly-winged creatures from the soil. They were 

 thronging out of the sloping surface on the bank 

 of a pond, swarming over the ground, and striking 

 against the leaves of the neighbouring trees and 

 shrubs as they streamed up continuously into the 

 air in wavering, laborious flight. As usual, they 

 were furnishing an attractive feast to animals of 

 various sorts ; kites took them on the wing ; an 

 enormous black and yellow spider disposed of 

 those who became entangled in the meshes of his 

 monstrous web extended between the branches 

 over the place where they were coming out ; an 

 army of great, fat toads hunted them greedily 

 over the ground ; and a large civet stepped lightly 

 about over the grass at the side of a great clump 

 of canes and picked up those who were still 

 struggling among the blades. It was fascinating 

 to watch the great, lithe creature, so close at hand 

 and so wholly unconscious of any human presence, 

 its long, softly-banded body and great plumy 



