GREY PETCHARY. 171 



stirring swarms abound, they may be seen ranged 

 in dense lines on the bare branch of some advan- 

 tageous tree. By the end of September, the migrant 

 Petcharies quit us, leaving with us most of those 

 which bred with us." 



" The Petchary is among the earliest breeders of 

 the year. As early as the month of January the 

 mated pairs are already in possession of some 

 lofty and commanding tree, sounding at day-dawn 

 that ceaseless shriek, composed of a repetition of 

 some three or four shrill notes, very similar to the 

 words pecheery pecheery -pe-cheer-ry , from which 

 they receive their name. To this locality they 

 remain constant till the autumn. They then quit 

 these haunts, and congregate about the lowland 

 ponds. At some hour or two before sunset, they 

 assemble in considerable numbers to prey upon the 

 insects that hover about these watering-places. 

 They are then observed unceasingly winging upward 

 and downward, and athwart the waters, twittering 

 and shrieking, but never flying far. They dart oif 

 from some exposed twig, where they had sat eight 

 or ten in a row, and return to it again, devouring 

 there, the prey they have caught. Their evolu- 

 tions are rapid ; their positions of flight are con- 

 stantly and hurriedly changing ; they shew at one 

 while all the outer, and at another all the inner 

 plumage ; and they fly, checking their speed sud- 

 denly, and turning at the smallest imaginable 

 angle. There are times when the Petchary starts 

 off in a straight line from his perch, and glides 

 with motionless wings, as light and buoyant as a 



i 2 



