WINTER VISITORS 159 



native of the Punjab. They are quite good to eat. 

 A charge of small shot fired into a tree full of them 

 brings down a dozen or more, so that a " crack " shot 

 is easily able to secure a large bag and brag about it 

 to his friends ! 



Several other species of starling visit the plains of 

 the Punjab during the winter, arriving in November. 

 These, like the familiar English starling, are all dressed 

 in black, glossed with blue, green, and purple, and 

 spotted with white. The species-making propensity of 

 the professional ornithologist has led to the division of 

 these into a number of species, although it requires 

 an expert with an ornithological imagination to dis- 

 tinguish them from one another. They go about in 

 flocks and, like the rosy starlings, all " talk at once.'* 



The winter visitors that appeal most to the sports- 

 man are the game birds the grey quail, the various 

 species of duck, teal, geese, and snipe. The quail 

 (Coturnix communis) are the first to appear. They 

 arrive in Lahore late in August or early in September. 

 It is the moon rather than the temperature that 

 determines the date of their arrival. They migrate 

 at night-time and naturally like to travel by moonlight. 

 A few grey quail remain with us all the year round. 

 These are probably birds that have been wounded 

 by shikaris and have not in consequence sufficient 

 strength for the long migratory flight across the 

 Himalayas. The fact that some quail remain in India 

 throughout the hot weather, and are able to breed 

 successfully, shows that their migration is a luxury 

 rather than a necessity. 



