192 BOMBAY DUCKS 
The bird, however, does sometimes (very rarely I 
think) snatch with its claws a small fish or a prawn 
that is swimming near the surface of the water. Colonel 
Cunningham thus describes some fishing operations 
which he witnessed on a pond that had, owing to the 
drought, become very shallow :—* For several days the 
numbers of arrivals steadily increased, so that for a 
time the neighbourhood of the pond was thronged by 
hundreds of birds in various stages of plumage, and 
filling the air with clamorous cries as they flew in 
bewildering mazes over the water, or sat among the 
branches of all the surrounding trees, Every now and 
then one of the moving crowd would suddenly stop to 
sweep along over the surface of the pond, and rise 
again, grasping a little glittering fish, which he either 
carried off to be devoured at leisure on a tree, or disposed 
of while on the wing, just as common kites do when 
hawking in a swarm of white ants.” Such sights are 
not seen every day. 
Another observer witnessed “a Brahminy kite kill 
and eat a kingfisher that had carried off a small fish on 
which the kite was in the act of swooping.” Truly 
there were giants in those days! 
Brahminy kites sometimes come into collision with 
the crows; but then, what bird or beast does not do 
this? In Madras the crows treat their larger neigh- 
bours with great respect, having no liking for the feel of 
their powerful claws. But in places where Brahminy 
kites are uncommon birds, the crows mob them, as they 
do all strange birds, 
Crows are very conservative. They hate any new 
