339 



to twelve inches above the surface of the water, and there may be six inches to two feet of nest 

 below water. On more than one occasion, when in sudden and heavy falls such as we get in 

 India, six and eight inches of rain falling within twelve hours, the jheels were rising very rapidly, 

 I have seen the birds very busy raising their nests. One nest that had thus been raised I 

 measured a couple of months later, when the ground on which it stood was dry, and found it to 

 be fully nine feet in diameter at base and three feet in height, and it must have lost at least a 

 foot by settling. When built on land surrounded by but not overflowed with water, the nest is 

 a much less pretentious affair, perhaps five feet in diameter at base and a foot only in height. 

 Occasionally, apparently where they could not get a large enough piece of water to secure as 

 they considered their safety, I have found them seeking this in concealment. As a rule, the 

 nest is out in the open, visible from all directions at a mile's distance. In the few cases to 

 which I refer I have found it in dense beds of bulrush and reed so lofty that, even when 

 standing on its nest, the bird was only to be seen by climbing a neighbouring tree. In these 

 cases the rushes and reeds, where they were thickest, had been bent down across and across, 

 so as to form a platform five or six feet in diameter, and on this a comparatively slight nest 

 had been constructed. Two is certainly the normal number of eggs, but I have twice (out of 

 more than one hundred nests) found three, and I have also occasionally seen three young birds 

 in company with an old pair. 



" I remember one day, as I was coming home from Rahun, I saw in a sheet of rain-water 

 some distance off the road a Sarus sitting on her nest and the male standing beside her. I rode 

 as near the place as I could, and then sent my syce to get the eggs. As he commenced wading 

 towards the nest the male began to dance about, flapping his wings and trumpeting bravely ; but 

 when the man got within a few yards and landed safely on the patch of dry ground on which the 

 nest rested, the male put his head down and ran off very crestfallen to a ridge in the water some 

 fifty yards distant, whence he began with loud cries to encourage his lady not to allow ' that 

 black rascal ' to take any liberties. She sat quite still, neither moved nor cried, only as the man 

 came close to her made such vigorous pokes and drives at him that he got frightened and was 

 picking up a great dry branch to strike her with, when I called out to him to flap her in the face 

 with his waist-cloth. This he did vigorously, and this being more than she could endure, she 

 reluctantly crept off the nest, now complaining loudly, and joined the male. There was only 

 one egg: this the man brought, but before he could reach me the female had regained the nest, 

 and after minutely examining it and making certain the egg was gone, she stood up on the top 

 and with bill, legs, and feet commenced throwing the straw about in the air in the most furious 

 manner as if beside herself with rage. Then the male came up trumpeting vigorously, but 

 directly he came near her she flew at him, and he scrambled off, half-running, half-flapping, 

 through the water, and making more noise than ever. By this time I had received the egg, and 

 found the point of the young one's bill protruding, so sent the man back with it- sharp. As he 

 approached, the female ran off, but she must have seen what he was at, for before (having 

 gently laid the egg in the disordered nest, which he smoothed a little) he could get off the 

 island, the female was down upon the egg, sitting as if nothing had happened, but uttering a 

 low chuckling sound such as I had never heard before. But the real joke was to see the male: 

 the moment he perceived that the coast was clear and that his mate was again sitting, he came 



