IC WANDERINGS OF A 



in a mango-tope close to my bungalow ; several hundreds fre- 

 quently congregated in the same tree, screaming and vocifer- 

 ating as loud as they could. If a shot was fired among them, 

 the parrakeets, with a shrUl scream, dived downwards in a 

 dense mass, and swept circling round the grove. The minas 

 rapidly returned to their roost, when the noise and clamour 

 became louder and louder as fresh arrivals poured in, until 

 night began to lower. Then the' cries died gradually away, 

 and except an occasional scream, no signs were heard of the 

 vast assemblage crowding every branch and twig. 



The streams about Poonah are subject to sudden inunda- 

 tions, owing to the proximity of the mountains. During the 

 hot summer months, when there is no rain, they become dried 

 pu, and, excepting small pools here and there, nothing is to be 

 seen but the debris of the last storm. Frogs spawn in these 

 situations. One species, a few inches in length, with the beUy 

 and throat pure white, is very plentiful ; it basks on ,the 

 sides of the pools, and takes to the water when one approaches, 

 skipping over the pool something in the way a boy shims a 

 flat stone. My attention was directed to the surface of the 

 water, which appeared as though large drops of rain were 

 falling on it. Having satisfied myself that this could not be 

 the case, my next supposition was "that bubbles of gas were 

 ascending from decomposing matter at the bottom of the pool, 

 which opinion was apparently confirmed by the bubble rising 

 at the time the drop appeared on the surface. I discovered, 

 however, that the water was alive with minute tadpoles. 

 Vast numbers of these little creatures were darting to and 

 from its surface with great rapidity. The frogs I had alarmed 

 were poised upon the water, staring at me intently, and at 

 the margin of the pool were hundreds of tadpoles with the 

 caudal extremity still perfect ; others, again, at a distance of 



