BIRDS' NESTING IN INDIA. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY; BREEDING SEASONS AND HINTS ON 

 BIRDS' NESTING. 



BIRDS' nesting has gained in civilised countries a very evil reputation, 

 in many cases unfortunately only too well deserved, by the wanton 

 cruelty with which it is attended ; and it must be stated clearly to 

 begin with, that the publication of this book is not intended in any way 

 to encourage the idle and foolish destruction of birds, nor to countenance 

 the wholesale robbing of young and eggs from nests, which has brought 

 the very name of birds ' nester into discredit, and has changed what 

 should be, and is, if properly carried on, a healthy and instructive pursuit 

 into a deserved reproach. 



That the collecting of birds' eggs may be done without cruelty is 

 not to be doubted by any one who has devoted time and thought to the 

 question. Few birds attach any importance to fresh eggs, it is only as the 

 process of incubation progresses, and the maternal instincts are developed, 

 that any grave anxiety is shown by the parent birds when the eggs are 

 approached ; even at this stage many birds will forsake the nest at once 

 if the eggs are touched ; and when the eggs are quite fresh, the simple 

 fact of the nest being touched, or even the detection by the parent bird 

 that the nest has been discovered, is sometimes enough to lead to its 

 desertion : in such cases the taking of the eggs is clearly not followed 

 by any distress to the parent birds. Not many years ago I used to feel 

 very much more strongly on this point than I do now; the pain at robbing 

 a nest used quite to embitter the joy of discovering a prize ; but it happened 

 on one occasion, during a march through the Bolandshahr district, that 



