228 A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA 



I know of no other living creature that has such 

 an array of enemies or that loses such thousands that 

 one may live. At this one nest I counted sixteen 

 different species of birds all joining in the common 

 feast. On the shrubs around were sparrows, shrikes, 

 buntings, mynas, drongos, bush-chats and three 

 species of bulbuls. Higher in the sky were swallows 

 and swifts, and the larger birds were represented by 

 house-crows, jungle-crows, kites, kestrels and vultures. 

 I would never have thought that buntings would have 

 forsaken the seeds of the fields or scavenger-vultures 

 their foul refuse to feed on insects, and on another 

 occasion I have seen both owls and seagulls captur- 

 ing them in the air. When the termites emerge all 

 flock to the feast ; the old accustomed food is 

 forgotten ; all aid in the work of destruction. 



I do not believe that in the broad daylight 

 a single inhabitant of this nest would ever have 

 escaped its enemies. It was the darkness of night 

 that saved them. They then face bats, reptiles and 

 other insectivorous foes, but the shrieking multitude 

 of the day, gorged to repletion, has slunk away to 

 roost. The termites have now a chance of life. In 

 the fading light of the evening I saw numbers of 

 them hovering over the grass in my garden after their 

 enemies had retired for the night. They had escaped 

 in safety from the nest, were descending to the earth 

 after their precarious flight, and alighting, were casting 

 off their now useless wings. 



There are a few points worth notice in this sexual 

 flight of the termites. It is interesting to observe in 

 connection with the preservation of the species that 

 the flight from the nest usually occurs a few hours 



