on some Victims of Fashion.



181



perching on their backs searching for ticks. It is far less aquatic

in its habits than other Egrets. It breeds in colonies generally

in niungo topes. It would appear that this bird does not always

assume nuptial dress when breeding, as Mr. C. M. Iuglis writes:

“ In one colony which was breeding there were quite as many

birds in winter plumage as in the other dress.” The orange

dorsal plumes are most valuable, sometimes realising from Rs. io

to 16 a tola.


%


The Pond Heron (.Ardeola grayi ).


In breeding plumage the head and neck are yellowish

brown, darker on the crown; throat, white; feathers on the

breast long and brownish with narrow white streaks; back

feathers long and deep maroon gradually darkening towards the

tips; rest of body, tail, and wings, white; a crest of long white

lanceolate feathers.


In non-breeding plumage the head and neck is brown

streaked with buff; no dorsal or breast plumes. Bill, blue at the

base, yellow in the middle, tip black. Legs and feet pea green.

Total length : 18 inches.


The Pond Heron or “paddy bird” is not only the com¬

monest Indian Heron but one of the commonest of Indian birds

found throughout the country, Ceylon and Burma, where in the

last named country it meets with a closely allied form A. bacchus.

Its range extends to the Persian Gulf and the Malay Peninsula.

It is also found in the Andaman, Nicobar, and Laccadive Islands.


Being an ardent disciple of Isaac Walton’s the paddy bird

will spend hours at a time staring in the murky depths of a pool

or pond waiting for its finny prey to come within reach of its

sharp and deadly bill. It also devours numbers of frogs. Any¬

one accustomed to see the paddy bird in winter would hardly

recognise the same bird in all the glories of its nuptial dress, and

arrayed in this it is truly a splendid creature, rivalling its near

ally the Squacco Heron (N. ralloides') of S. Europe. When

flying, the Pond Heron gives utterance to a harsh croak. Most

of the Heron family with, perhaps, the exception of the Cattle

Egret, are sedentary birds, but the Pond Heron is the laziest of

the whole tribe. The plumes of this bird are not so valuable as



