60 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



nity for the time being and the fun begins. Some stand still and 

 flap their wings, others jump straight up and down — one jump 

 after another — as high as they can go, often springing three feet 

 from the ground ; others run about, bowing and bobbing to each 

 other, courtesying with half-opened wings, their breasts low down 

 and taUs high in the air, cutting the most ridiculous figures imagin- 

 able. 



The saras, like most of the large cranes and herons, fights des- 

 perately when wounded, and is not to be approached with impu- 

 nity. I once winged a large male bird, and when my boatmen ran 

 forward to seize him he struck out so dangerously wdth his long, 

 sharp bill and unwounded wing that he actually kept the men at 

 bay, until I ran up from behind, seized him by the head, and quickly 

 thrust a slender knife-blade through the occiput into the brain, 

 which instantly ended the life of the noble bird. Usually I was 

 obliged to shoot the saras at one hundred yards, with my rifle, but 

 upon finding that they suffered the natives to approach them much 

 nearer than me, I killed several with my shot-gun by getting be- 

 hind the boatmen as they went slowly forward along the bank in 

 towing the boat. Once or twice we found the saras and the small 

 common crane ( Grus cinerea) flocking sociably together. 



We saw two paii-s of jabiru {Mycteria Audralis), but they were 

 exceedingly wary at this season, never alighting near the slightest 

 cover of any kind, and never allowing me to approach within less 

 than two hundred yards. One of these birds surprised us one day 

 by deliberately sitting down upon his tarsi to take a rest. I tried 

 to bring one down with the rifle, but failed. We found the black 

 ibis {Gero7iticus papillosus), probing in the sand along the water's 

 edge, also an occasional stork ( Ciconia alba), and large egret {Hero- 

 dias alba). 



Birds of prey were abundant, among which was the white scav- 

 enger vulture {Neophron percnopteruH). This bu'd happened to 

 be nesting at that time (April 10th), and although Jerdon informs 

 us it usually builds in trees, we here found its nests in the most 

 inaccessible places it could possibly select. Invariably, indeed, 

 we found its nest placed upon a narrow ledge against the side of a 

 perpendicular bluff, usually just about midway from top to bottom, 

 and not to be reached at all without the aid of a rope. As was the 

 case with seizing the wounded gavial by the tail, my boatmen 

 needed first to be shown how to reach a nest by means of a 

 rope. 



