ioo A BIRD CALENDAR 



large feather trade being carried on, since it is 

 not difficult to smuggle " ospreys " out of the 

 country. 



Doubtless the existing Notification of the 

 Government of India, prohibiting the export 

 of plumage, has the effect of checking, to some 

 extent, the destruction of egrets, but there 

 is no denying the fact that many of the larger 

 species are still shot for their plumes while 

 breeding. 



. In the case of cattle-egrets (Bubulcus coro- 

 mandus) the custom of shooting them when 

 on the nest has given place to a more humane 

 and more sensible method of obtaining their 

 nuchal plumes. These, as we have seen, arise 

 early in May, but the birds do not begin to 

 nest until the end of June. The cattle-egret 

 is gregarious ; it is the large white bird that 

 accompanies cattle in order to secure the 

 insects put up by the grazing quadrupeds. 

 Taking advantage of the social habits of these 

 egrets the plume-hunters issue forth early in 

 May and betake themselves, in parties of five 

 or six, to the villages where the birds roost. 

 Their apparatus consists of two nets, each 

 some eight feet long and three broad. These 

 are laid flat on the ground in shallow water, 



