SUSU— WARBLERS— LARKS 



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The Indian pangolin walks very slowly with an arched back, and frequently 

 stands up on its hind -legs with its body horizontal. Although little is known of 

 its reproduction, it apparently has seldom more than one young, or at most two, at 

 a birth. Pangolins are easily tamed, but it is difficult to keep them long in confine- 

 ment owing to the nature of their food. 

 Susu, or Gan- The great rivers of India are the home of a peculiar kind of 



getic Dolphin, fresh- water dolphin, which has no very near kindred in any part of 

 the world, the South American fresh-water dolphins representing a distinct family 

 The susu, as this species is called in India, is known scientifically as Platanista 

 gangetica, and lives in the Ganges, Indus, Bramaputra, and all the larger 

 tributaries of these rivers, principally in the tidal portions, although it is found up 

 to the foot of the mountains. The head terminates in a long compressed snout, a 

 little expanded at the tip, and much shorter in males than in females. The body 

 has a rudimentary back-fin and triangular, fan-shaped flippers. This dolphin is 

 quite blind. The upper jaw carries thirty pairs of cylindrical teeth, the number 

 in the lower jaw being usually somewhat greater. The entire length varies 

 between 7 and 8 feet, the females being larger than the males ; and the colour 

 is blackish. 



Although sometimes found in pairs, the Gangetic dolphin is generally solitary ; 

 it seems to migrate towards the sources of the rivers in the hot season. Sight 

 would be of little use in this case, since the water of the Indus, like that of the 

 Ganges and Bramaputra, is anything but clear at all seasons, and the creature 

 obtains its food, consisting of fish and prawns, by probing in the mud with its 

 long snout. 



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Like the mammals, the birds of India present a mixture of 

 Warblers, etc. . . 



Oriental and other types, many of them belonging to European genera 

 and even species. Among the perching-birds, we find one of the furze-chats and 

 many of the thrushes breeding within the area. The moustached sedge- warbler, 

 which is spread over southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor, inhabits 

 India as far east as Lucknow. The fan-tailed warbler also occurs, and the wrens 

 are well represented. Tits, nuthatches, and tree-creepers are likewise all present 

 in the Indian area. 



Larks and Wag- The larks are represented by the Indian skylark (Alauda 



tails. gulgula), which is spread all over the country and Ceylon ; and the 

 European crested lark breeds in the north-west of India, where the genus is also 

 represented by two other species. The finch-larks, small short-legged and short- 

 toed birds, with short thick beaks, extend from India into Africa, the ashy-crowned 

 finch-lark (Pyrrhulauda grisea) ranging from Sind to Calcutta, and from the foot 

 of the Himalaya to Ceylon, and being everywhere resident throughout this large 

 area. The rufous finch-larks (Ammomanes), again, are represented in India by the' 

 red-tailed species (A. phoenicura), distinguished from other members of the group 

 by its black-tipped tail. More than a dozen different kinds of wagtail occur 

 within the area, the most notable being the large pied species (Motacilla maderas- 

 patensis), whose breeding-range extends from Sind to Sikhim and western Bengal, 

 and from the foot of the Himalaya to Ceylon. 



