A BIRD OF MANY ALIASES 109 



10.30 — Caught a frog. 

 ia32 — 12 — Had a nap. 

 12.15 — Caught another frog. 

 12.17 — 2 — Had a nap. 

 2.20 — Caught a third frog. 

 2.22 — Walked three yards. 

 2.24 — 4 — Had a nap. 

 4.40 — Caught a fourth frog. 

 5 — 6 — ^Had a nap. 



6.15 — 6.30 — Caught and ate my supper. 

 6.30 — Flew to roost. 



6.35 — ^40 — Had a row with a neighbour who had 

 taken my private roosting site. 

 7 p.m. onwards— Slept the sleep of the just. 



The above is not a statement of actual fact. Like 

 many scientific productions it is based on imagination 

 and not observation. I have not yet devoted a whole 

 day to the paddy bird. I have, however, spent an 

 hour at a pond heron's dormitory and record in the 

 next chapter what I saw there. 



At the nesting season the paddy birds awake from 

 their habitual lethargy. Towards the end of June 

 they begin to make a collection of sticks and pile these 

 together on a forked branch high up in some tree. 

 When the pile has reached a magnitude sufficient 

 to support four or five eggs the paddy bird flatters 

 itself that it has buUt a fine nest and forthwith proceeds 

 to stock it with eggs. This species usually nests in 

 colonies, sometimes in company with night herons 

 [Nycticorax griseus), and occasionally with crows. 



