• NATURALIST IN INDIA. 57 



remained, -with outstretched arms, helplessly imploring assist- 

 ance, as kite after kite, in quick succession, carried away her 

 dinner !_ 



The govind-kite is a great enemy to poultry, and some- 

 times pursues tame pigeons, which it tortures to death, by 

 pursuing them until they fall to the ground breathless, and 

 are thus easUy despatched. The same predatory disposition 

 seems common to other allied species, inasmuch as I have 

 seen the black and Egyptian kites, in Nubia, capture pigeons 

 in the same way. 



The Indian peregrine falcon was seen several times during 

 our voyage, and I found a nest on an acacia-tree, near the 

 banks of the Sutluj. It was built of sticks and lined with 

 wool, and contained two young birds newly hatched. 



In dissecting an adult specimen, I found .numbers of a 

 species of round worm, from 8 to 12 inches in length, and the 

 thickness of a common pack-thread.* Coils of these parasites 

 infested the abdominal cavity, under its investing membrane, 

 and smaller sizes, of about half-an-inch in length, were 

 common in. the throat, gullet, and intestines. Still the bird 

 (a female) was plump and in good condition. 



The gotah-finch — white-bellied or singing babbler {Gh/ry- 

 somma sinense) — is plentiful in the jungles. Flocks of these 

 curious birds may be seen flitting from bush to bush with a 

 peculiar, feeble, fluttering flight. "When frightened, the parties 

 assemble in some dense bush, and commence chattering in 

 low, sweet, musical notes. 



The SardiniaB starling (Sturnus mhicolor) is likely to be 

 confoimded with the common starhng, to which it assimUates 

 in habits as weU as general appearance. Sometimes both 

 species are seen feeding together on dunghills and in fields ; 



* I noticed the same in one killed in Nubia. 



