NATUKALIST IN INDIA. 39 



usual steady double file they were proceeding to aud from 

 their nest ; one party moving slowly on, heavily loaded, each 

 individual carrying a vetch-seed about twice the size of its 

 bearer ; while the returning party hurried back for a fresh 

 burden. I passed them again at dusk, and on the following 

 day found them as busy as ever. "What a vast granary they 

 must have collected even in twenty-four hours ! 



After rain, or heavy dew, they bring forth their store, and 

 spread the grain round the entrances of their nests to dry; and, 

 from some unknown cause, they often change their dwelling- 

 places, carrying their grain with them. 



Musquitoes are very abundant, and the common black fly, 

 which seems to be indigenous to every clime, is here, as in 

 aU tropical countries, a perfect pest. In every stall of the 

 bazaars it swarms in countless thousands, and, wonderful to 

 relate, even in the centre of the desert, it continues to annoy 

 and irritate the tr-aveUer. 



During very cold weather in December a living female of 

 the aUied swift {Cypselus affinis) was brought to me, in a 

 numbed state from cold, and the only one I saw during my 

 short stay at Kurrachee. Its body was plump, and weU covered 

 with fat, but not a trace of food was discernible throughout 

 the whole course of the intestinal canal. Perhaps this in- 

 dividual had been caught in the cold on its way to the more 

 genial winter climates of Central or Southern India. As- 

 sociating with minas and Indian jackdaws, are flocks of the 

 common starling (Sturnus vulgaris). It frequents dunghills 

 and fields. 



The Indian wheatear {Saodcola atrogularis) is generally 

 distributed over the sandy wastes in this neighbourhood. In 

 general appearance and habits it bears a resemblance to its 

 European allies. We see in this species the peculiar tinge of 



