304 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA 



ness to avoid danger from their known enemies is the 

 condition of their existence. That they do not regard 

 man in India as an enemy, which their extraordinary 

 tameness shows, is a silent testimony from nature to 

 the high* humanity of the Buddhist and Hindu rehgions, 

 which look on animal life as, alike with man's, divine. 



While noticing the birds of the forest, I must not forget 

 the chandul. This is the crested lark, a bird much 

 valued by natives as a singing bird. I purchased one in 

 the Hoshangabad bazaar for the mem-sahib, price Rs. 50, 

 or £5 in those days. They are valued according to the 

 number of animals they can mimic. They are taken in 

 a small cage, closely wrapped in a handkerchief, to all the 

 nautches, where tom-toms and fifes make music all night, 

 and are taught to imitate every sound. The repertoire 

 of our chandul included the cries of sparrows, swifts, 

 parrots screeching in flocks, also squirrels, a horse neigh- 

 ing, goats' and cats' calls, a dog barking, bulbuls' sweet 

 songs, doves cooing, hens cackling, and geese noises. He 

 was a dear little bird, just like a skylark, but with long 

 feathers on the crown of the head. The bearer had to 

 take him out every day to ' eat the air ' {hawa khana), 

 and attend to his feeding on various grains and cake made 

 with ghee, and to bring him every evening after dinner. 

 The cage was placed on the dinner-table, when Chandul 

 would go through his performance. A buzz of conversa- 

 tion always excited him to begin. It was the sweetest 



* In a large native city in Central India I noted the gable of a small 

 native house, which appeared like a honeycomb built of mud. It was 

 actually over 100 swallows' nests, so close together as to resemble an 

 empty comb. In and out of the holes were flying innumerable swallows, 

 so tame that one might almost lay one's hand on any bird. This was 

 in the most crowded portion of the bazaar ; the whole gable was about 

 9 feet high, so that most of the nests were on the level of the crowd of 

 people who frequented the bazaar. 



