134 Contrihtiions to the Ornithology of India, 8fc. 



bird than any of the plains, picata, with a decidedly stronger bill, 

 and I propose to name it S. alhoniger. Fterocles senegallus is a 

 much commoner bird here than I have elsewhere seen it, A chnpr 

 rassee^ by no means a good shot;, brought in twenty. Three Acci- 

 piter nisiis caught in the neighbourhood were brought me^ and 

 Mr. James tells me he has killed both Ascalaphia hengalensiswA 

 Hypotri orchis asalon in this immediate neighbourhood. 



29(^/^.^-All day on the Munchur lake. First we went to see 

 a thing quite new to me^ viz., fish driving. In mid water^ where 

 it is perhaps from seven to eight feet deep, a circular net enclosure, 

 some thirty to fifty feet in diameter, is staked out, leaving one 

 moderately broad entrance, into which the fish are guided by 

 two walls of net some ten to fifty feet long, which widen out 

 rapidly. A dozen or twenty boats then ^o out into the lake, 

 and at a distance of from four to eight hundred yards from the 

 enclosure, and opposite its funnel shaped opening, form a pretty 

 close semi-circle. Then at a given signal commences the most 

 diabolical din ever heard ; men, women, and children sitting on 

 the flat bottoms of the boats, beat on these ceaselessly with 

 iron and brass pots, and as they do so, the boats push slowly on, 

 towards the enclosure, closing up as they approach it. Never for 

 one moment is the din intermitted, every individual, big and 

 little, works at its creation as if their lives depended on it, and 

 strange to say, owing to the vibration imparted to the water, 

 hundreds, thousands, and often tens of thousands of fish are driven 

 before the boats into the enclosure, one or two boats pushing 

 right in, and a net being dropped behind them so as to close the 

 circle entirely. Then commences the fun. All round outside the 

 net, the boats cluster thickly, two men with long thin reed spears 

 in hand on the prow of each punt, these being run right up to 

 the net. Two or three men from the boat inside jump over 

 board and dive after the fish, the great feat being to bring up 

 two large fish, one in each hand (fore-finger and thumb firmly 

 planted in eyes or gills,) at each plunge. The men inside stiri'ing 

 up the seething mass (the whole water seems alive with fish) 

 many jump and fall into the fold of net arranged just above the 

 water, many more show themselves near the surface (the water 

 has become far too muddy for deej^ spearing) towards the mar- 

 gins of the enclosures, and are speared with incredible rapidity 

 and precision. In a good drive for some minutes, upwards of 100 

 fishes of from 5 to 30 lbs. in weight each are caught and speared, 

 or jump out per minu.te. A ton of fish is often taken in a haul, 

 we saw fully that quantity captured in one drive, though in 

 several others, not nearly so much came to hand. Finally, the en- 

 closure is roughly netted, and it may be safely predicted that of 



