NATURALIST IN INDIA, 27 



8 inches beyond the tip ; these, in the female, scarcely 

 extend beyond a quarter of an inch. The young birds are 

 chestnut. The Paradise flycatcher does not possess great 

 powers of flight, except when hunting for insects ; then its 

 movements are quick, it suddenly appears on a branch beside 

 you, and the next pioment is seen shooting like an arrow 

 through the grove, at times uttering a harsh chirp — now 

 perched on the upper bough of a tamarind, now on the lower 

 one of a neighbouring tree — spectre-like it suddenly appears 

 and is as quickly gone. Before I knew the difference between 

 the sexes and young birds, a friend remarked to me, in one of 

 our rambles, " Did you see that red flycatcher with the whip- 

 taD. ?" I insisted that he had mistaken the colour ; then im- 

 mediately afterwards two birds were shot, one white, and one 

 chestnut, both males. Towards the end of summer the species 

 leaves this district for the warmer climate below the Ghauts. 

 The sweet-lime produces abundance of delicious fruit, 

 and with the graceful tamarind, the tall peepul, the 

 palm, cocoa-nut, and acacia, forms a leading feature in the 

 landscape. The fig is reared extensively in gardens, where 

 the thick-peeled orange, guava, pomegranate, melon, and 

 pumpkin flourish, as well as an endless assortment of vege- 

 tables. Spreading over the land are fields of bageree and 

 jowaree, the staple grain of the country. The former attains 

 the height of a man on horseback. In India, as in most hot 

 climates, ants are plentiful, the Termitinse or white-ants 

 being the most destructive. Besides several smaller species, 

 there is a great black ant, of the family Attidse ; it has a 

 large knobby head, is usually seen in columns stretching 

 across the plain, occupied in carrying provender from one 

 nest to another, and in storing up supplies for future con- 

 sumption. These black moving trains of insect life are 



