Contributions to the Ornithology of India, 8fc. Ill 



they let the otter into the water. The otter hunts about 

 like a dog", driving all the small fish in the neighbourhood to- 

 wards the bank where the men are waiting, and which has been 

 so selected as to have a depth of at least three feet close to the 

 shore : the porpoise seeing the shoal of fish makes a dash at it, 

 and is then secured by a net of the nature already described, 

 but the use of the spears is imaginary. A couple of men or 

 even a single man, easily lands the porpoise when he is once in 

 the net. I think I have now got the correct account, as I had 

 it direct from a most intelligent Mhor, who being a pilot be- 

 longing to one of the river steamers, talks intelligible Oordoo 

 (with whom I could therefore converse direct) and who had 

 got a full-grown trained otter with him, and was actually cook- 

 ing a porpoise which he had caught yesterday and the head 

 of which he produced. He utterly ridiculed the idea of a 

 porpoise meddling with an otter, and said that for all their 

 sharp teeth and pugnacious appearance, the porpoises were 

 completely harmless and never even when captured attempted to 

 bite.. The otter is called by these people "Ludra," reminding 

 one strangely of " Lntra." The species here met with is 

 much smaller than that common in the Jumna and Chumbal 



It was very pretty to see this thing (I mean the tame otter) 

 playing with a pariah dog belonging to its owner, and to notice 

 the extreme gentleness of the dog in dealing with it. The 

 otter remains tied out in the sand all night, and if any strange 

 dog or jackal threatens to approach it, tlie dog, so the master 

 told us, rushes down on the instant and is ready to fight all 

 comers. 



The pelicans consume an enormous quantity of fish; the 

 one I shot disgorged 9 or 10 fish, weighing from | lb. to 

 1 lb. each, and the Mhors look upon them with as much 

 aversion as a Norfolk squire does a party of scientific town 

 poachers. My informant was very anxious that I should fire a 

 rifle at the large flock to which I hate already referred, but I 

 had already one on hand, besides many other birds, which will 

 sufl[iciently tax my taxidermist's power to-morrow, and I there- 

 fore let the proposed rifle practice stand over. 



A grey lag goose I bagged to-day. Was one of the largest I 

 ever saw, fully 33 inches long and 67 inches in expanse; but it 

 weighed less than 8 4 lbs. 



itth. — On the banks I shot a fine Picus scindeanus, a female, 

 the third I have seen during this trip. It was busy with the 

 stems of some large tamarisk shrubs, here some 15 feet high, and 

 here also I shot a Caprimulgus mahrattensis ; Chattarrhaa caudata, 

 Burnesia gracilis, Brynfioipus longicaudatus, and Otocompsa leu- 



