VOICES OF THE NIGHT 251 



" sable- vested night " straight from Dante's Inferno, 

 which has been embellished by the sluggishness of the 

 punkawalla, a certain degree of coolness sets in to 

 give some chance of a little refreshing sleep. Then is it 

 that the jaded dweller in the plains, uttering strange 

 oaths, rushes for his gun and seeks out the disturber 

 of his slumber. In case there be any unable to identify 

 the koel, let it be said that the cock is black from head 

 to foot, that he possesses a wicked-looking red eye, 

 that he is about the size of a crow, but has a slighter 

 body and a longer tail. The hen is speckled black and 

 white. This bird spares not even Sind or the Punjab. 

 It visits every part of the plains of India, wintering 

 in the south and summering in the north. 



The third of the triumvirate, the common Indian 

 cuckoo (Cuculus micropterus), although in its way a 

 very fine bird, is not of the same calibre as its confreres, 

 It stands to them in much the same relation as Trinity 

 College, Dublin, does to the Universities of Oxford 

 and Cambridge. It has quite a pleasant note, which 

 Indians represent as Boutotaku, but which is perhaps 

 better rendered by the words " wherefore, therefore," 

 repeated with musical cadence. It does not call much 

 during the middle of the day. It usually uplifts its 

 voice about two hours before sunset, and continues 

 until the sun has been up for a couple of hours. This 

 cuckoo is very common in the Himalayas and in the 

 plains of India from Fyzabad to Calcutta. Fyzabad 

 ought really to be renamed Cuckooabad. It is the 

 habitation of untold numbers of cuckoos. There 

 during the merry month of May the cuckoos spend 



