NOTHS ON A COLLECTING TRIF IN THE BALAGRAT. 1159 



for the night and that very evening collected our first specimen, a Blac':- 

 headed Oriole (Oriolus melanocephalus) . This bird and the Indian Criole 

 (O. kundoo) are the common orioles of the Central Provinces. At Nagpur 

 O. kundoo is common while O. onelanocepJialus is rare, but in this district the 

 reverse seems to be the case. O. m,3lano:ephalas is common everywhere 

 while O. kundoo was only met with at Baihar. 



The next day a move was made to the Tikari Inspection Hut, a distance 

 of seven miles from Balaghat. Here we were near the hills and close to 

 heavy forest. The Bungalow is between the villages of Pipartola and 

 Tikari ; a nulla runs along the side of the Bungalow and close to the 

 Tikari village is a large jheel which we visited the next morning. As we 

 approached it a large flock of Painted Storks were visible on a tree on the 

 other side oi the jheel, Egrets of two or three species studded the edges, 

 their white plumage showing distinctly among the green surroundings, a 

 Darter or two were seated on adjoining trees and the usual set of waders 

 (Herons, Sandpipers, etc.) were to be seen here and there in all directions 

 but no ducks were visible. 



We decided to begin with the Painted Storks, but they flew off' in a 

 body on my approach to a tree on the other s.de of the jheel. I attempted 

 to follow but in a bend of the jheel came across an Adjutant Stork feeding 

 all by himself. He was more of a prize to me, being the first one I had 

 set eyes on ia the Central Province?, but before I could put in a cartridge 

 suitable to his size, he was off" and perched himself on a distant tree. He 

 was followed up but would not allow me to get within range. In the 

 meantime his painted brethren had also made themselves scarce but we 

 consoled ourselves with the hope of shooting them later on. We returned 

 to the buugalovv working our way along the nullah; here we seemed 

 specimens of Tickell's Flowerpecker {Dicaum erythrorhynchui.,) and a Jungle 

 Owlet Glaucidiiim radiatum). The latter seemed quite awake although it was 

 midday. Near the nullah we saw a troop of about fifty monkeys (Presbi/tis 

 entellus), most of them were s juatting on the ground and gave one the im- 

 pression of labourers working in a field. They showed no fear of us and 

 when a gun was levelled at them they did not seem to know the meaning of 

 it. None were shot as we did not want them. We visited the same spot 

 the next day and we found the monkeys still on the same ground. I made 

 it a point to visit the spot every day and to my surprise I found them on 

 the same spot for six days. In the afternoon shots were f.red at some White- 

 necked Storks but none were bagged. The next morning we visited the 

 jheel again and the Painted Storks were on the same tree they had 

 occupied the day before. This time I sent my fieldman for them with 

 instructions to fire if he got well within range, while 1 hid against the tree 

 they made for yesterday. To my delight they went through the same 

 tactics they did before, but instead of settling straight aw^ay, they took it 



