CATCHING BIRDS. 33 



grain, he gives it a sudden pull, and catches 

 several at a time by the legs. 



They sell their birds in the markets and vil- 

 lages to rnahometans, and a few to the low 

 casts of hindoos, for the value of a halfpenny 

 or a penny each. These people buy them for 

 food, and the higher casts of hindoos frequent- 

 ly buy paroquets, solely for the pleasure of let- 

 ting them loose, which I believe is considered 

 by them to be pleasing to the Almighty. 



It is extremely wonderful to see to what 

 perfection the natives train their tame pi- 

 geons, of which there is a great variety in 

 India, scarcely a village being without them. 

 In the middle of their market places, may be 

 often seen families living in huts, riot much 

 larger than pigs houses, yet each family keep- 

 ing forty or fifty pigeons in boxes, or cages. 

 They take them out to fly, regularly two or 

 three times every day ; as soon as the box or 

 cage is opened the pigeons ascend into the 

 air, and when their owner thinks they have 



D 



