122 WANDEKINGS OF A 



handsome bird, and easily distinguished by its large size and 

 snow-white plumage. The lesser cormorant or dwarf shag 

 (Qraculus sinensis) frequents the rivers and marshes of the 

 Punjaub, and is easily distinguished from the other cormorants 

 by its smaller size. I found abundance of mallard, teal, pin- 

 tailed ducks, egrets, the Indian raU, greater bittern, and the 

 handsome little black-bellied tern, so common on the Indus. 



Proceeding northwards from Wezeerabad, we entered a 

 district more or less uncultivated, and often covered for miles 

 with tall scrubby jungle, where the sportsman might pick up 

 a few quail at almost any season of the year, and by beating 

 the bushes make a fair bag of gray and black partridges and 

 hares. From the great numbers of quaU met with in the fields 

 during the ripening of the grain, and their sudden disappear- 

 ance afterwards, it is generally supposed they migrate, and 

 in certain situations this may doubtless be the case ; but I am 

 inclined to believe that in general they disperse themselves 

 over the jungles of the north-west, and congregate wh'en the 

 wheat and barley are beginning to ripen. A few snipes 

 are found at all seasons on the marshes of upper Bengal, but 

 the majority come and go with considerable regularity. In 

 the Punjaub they are plentiful from December to February, 

 and at the same season are said to visit the lakes of Cash- 

 mere. September and October are their nionths in the 

 Deccan, and I believe in Southern India they come earlier ; 

 their migrations, however, are not well-defined. The black- 

 winged falcon {Manus melanopterus) is generally dispersed 

 over the country ; few rapacious birds have such a wide 

 geographical distribution as this pretty little' hawk, which is 

 found in Asia, Africa, and south-eastern Europe. 



Proceeding towards the city of Jhelum, the country has 

 very much the same appearance as has just been detailed. 



