BIRDS IN WHITE 45 



The open-bill {Anastomus oscitans) looks like a shabby 

 specimen of the common white stork. It is character- 

 ised by a peculiar beak, of which the mandibles do not 

 meet in the middle and look as though they had been 

 bent in an attempt to crack a hard nut. The egrets, 

 of which there are several species in India, are snow- 

 white> heron-like birds. The most familiar is the 

 cattle egret {Bubulcus coromandus) , which Finn charac- 

 terises as one of the most picturesque birds in the 

 East. This is the bird that struts along beside a cow 

 or buffalo and seizes the grasshoppers disturbed by 

 the motion of the quadruped. It is the least aquatic 

 of all the egrets, most of which are true waders. 



Terns may be described as very graceful and slenderly 

 built gulls. Their feet are webbed, so that they can 

 swim after the manner of ducks and sea gulls, but 

 they spend most of their time on their powerful 

 pinions and so elegant is their flight that they have 

 been called sea-swallows. The adult cock paradise 

 flycatcher {Terpsiphone paradisi) is one of the most 

 beautiful birds in the world. As he is described in 

 another essay it is only necessary for me to state in 

 this place that he is a white bird with a black -crested 

 head. He is not much larger than a sparrow, but his 

 two median tail feathers are twenty inches in length 

 and float behind him like streamers of white satin as 

 he flits irom tree to tree. 



It will be observed that of the above list of Indian 

 birds that are mainly white, only the paradise fly- 

 catcher belongs to the great Order of Passeres ; 

 moreover, with this exception, all are wading or 



