52 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA. 



grey goose,* and the black-backed goose, f The latter species 

 is extremely common ; the others, which are much superior 

 for the table, are comparatively infrequent. Numerous wad- 

 ing birds, storks, herons, and cranes, haunt every pool and 

 marsh. Few of these offer much temptation to the sports- 

 man, except the Demoiselle crane, J generally known as the 

 Coolen, which is much sought after, and is therefore difficult 

 to approach. Few extensive wheat or gram fields in the 

 Narbada valley will be found at this season without a flock 

 of these delicious birds stalking across it in the morning and 

 evening grazing on the young shoots. 



If encamped in the neighbourhood of a river or swamp, the 

 traveller will probably be aroused at daybreak by the quaver- 

 ing and sonorous call of the giant Sarus crane, a bird revered 

 by the Hindus as a type of conjugal affection. They are 

 nearly always seen in pairs, and, should one of them be shot 

 by the ruthless gunner, the companion bird will return again 

 and again to the spot, to hover and lament over its slain friend 

 in a manner that generally prevails on the hardest hearted to 

 grant immunity to the race for ever after. A contrast to this 

 happy union of lovers is found by the Hindu in the Braminy 

 ducks, || which also associate in pairs, but, by a cruel fate, are 

 compelled to pass their nights on the opposite banks of a 

 stream, wailing forth their unavailing love in the melancholy 

 " Chukwa, chukwi," which few travellers by the rivers of India 

 have failed to hear in the dusk of the evening. Their unfit- 

 ness for the table, probably more than the Hindu adage against 

 their slaughter, protects them from the gun. 



Of other winged game, the grey quail best of Indian 



* Anser cinereus. Grus antigone. 



t A. melanonotus. || Casarca rubila. 



X AntJtropoides virgo. 



