FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS 211 



of bulbuls, so it is hard to know the habits or song of many 

 of them. The little weaver bird* is a charmingly con- 

 fiding bird, like a sparrow. They come every year to 

 the same bush, a colony of five or six pairs, and build 

 their beautifully-shaped hanging nests, like bottle gourds 

 with a narrow neck, all neatly woven out of dry 

 grass, and all quite low down near the ground ; and bring 

 out their young unmolested by man. The boys in India, 

 though possessing some habits not very commendable, 

 do not appear to rob birds' nests. When crossing the 

 open, uncultivated flats, the very loud and plaintive cry 

 of the spur- winged ploverf never fails to attract attention. 

 ' Pity to do it ! pity to do it !' he shrieks, flying and 

 curling in hurried alarm round and round. He carries 

 a strong, sharp spur bent sideways at the shoulder of his 

 wing. One day, when riding on an elephant, I discovered 

 how useful the spur was. I saw one of these birds en- 

 gaged in mortal combat with a snake which was trying 

 to rob her nest, a perfectly bare spot on the bare ground. 

 The bird got the best of the battle, inflicting some sharp 

 spur blows on the serpent, which retired discomfited. 



Talking of snakes, there are great pythons in the 

 Bhabar, which are said to swallow anything they can get 

 their jaws open wide enough to pass down, up to a young 

 deer, which is first squeezed to death, then flattened and 

 bolted whole. The longest I have seen was 15 feet long 

 and not very thick. Poisonous snakes, on the whole, do 

 not come in evidence before one, and in the course of 

 years going through the forest I have scarcely seen two 

 dozen. I always wore long boots, and at night one did 

 not walk about much without a lanthorn. The munshi^s 

 wife died of a cobra bite got at night by walking about in 



■* Ploceus manyar. 



t Hoplopterus -ventralis. 



14 — 2 



