BUTTERFLIES, MOTHS AND CICADAS 209 



hurry away for shelter at the sound of the angry caw 

 of a crow. Doves will most savagely attack crows ; 

 drongos will throw themselves ferociously on kites 

 when they approach unpleasantly close to the nests. 

 I will mention some less general instances. On a 

 large shallow lake I watched flocks of coots dash 

 hurriedly from the shore into the water whenever a 

 marsh harrier came sailing overhead. The appearance 

 of the harrier filled them with intense alarm ; they all 

 broke into wild commotion, made headlong for the 

 water, which resounded with the splashing and the 

 flapping of their wings. They fully understood that 

 the harrier could swoop on them while on the land, but 

 that they were in safety on the water. I have seen 

 fishes in a river dash from the shallows into the deeper 

 parts whenever a pied kingfisher happened to hover 

 above them. In the rainy season the frogs of this 

 valley were in the habit of congregating along the 

 banks of the streams close to the brink of the water. 

 Whenever a kingfisher or a heron would fly gently 

 down the stream, then all the frogs used to spring 

 headlong into the water and dive down into the mud. 

 Nothing filled these frogs with such alarm as the sight 

 of an approaching heron. 



Thus many creatures recognize their enemies and 

 understand the dangers that they run ; but to others 

 the end is swift and sudden and they know not how it 

 comes. 



In the months of July and August the shrill noise 

 of the Cicada rings loudly through the forest. The 

 rainy season has then set in and vegetable life on 

 every side springs into luxuriant growth. Fresh green 

 grass covers every wooded slope ; on the alpine 

 p 



