338 Dr George Buist on the 



where birds of prey at all times find an abundant repast. 

 Their family cares and anxieties over for the season, the 

 carrion birds, which had left in May for the Deccan, return 

 in October to Bombay, and make at once for the usual scene 

 of their festivities, now stored with a three months' supply 

 of untasted food. As they appear in clouds approaching 

 from the mainland, the crows, unwilling that their dominions 

 should be invaded, hasten in flocks to meet them, and a battle 

 ensues in the air, loud, fierce, and noisy ; the flapping of the 

 wings, the screaming and cawing of the combatants resound- 

 ing over the island, till the larger birds succeed, and having 

 gained the victory, are suffered thenceforth to live in peace. 



It is just after the rains have well set in, that those 

 beautiful exhibitions of thousands of fire-flies flashing out 

 in concert become visible. These brilliant little insects are 

 generally seen dancing alone amongst shrubs and underwood, 

 occasionally congregating in vast multitudes around iso- 

 lated trees, which they at times render wholly luminous. At 

 times the whole countless host flash out for a few seconds, 

 and simultaneously, at intervals of similar amount, becoming 

 dark again, and so they flash and flash for hours on end. 

 Sometimes they shoot in long columns into the air, like the 

 coruscations of fire-works, becoming bright and dark by 

 turns, or having reached a considerable altitude, they seem 

 to pour down in a shower of sparks. 



Principal Falls of Rain in India — Eastern India and 

 Bay of Bengal. 





Height. 



Lat. 



Long. 



Fall of Rain 



Cheerapoonj, . 



4500 



25° 16' 



91° 43' 



610 in. 



Sylhet, . 



5000 



24° 40' 



92° 40' 



209 „ 



Tavoy, . 



sea level. 



14° 5' 



98° 10' 



208 „ 



Moulmein, 



sea level. 



16° 30' 



97° 37' 



175 „ 



Sandowy, 





18° 26' 



94° 18' 



178 „ 



Akyab, 



sea level. 



20° 8' 



92° 54' 



155 „ 



Darjeeling, . 



7000 



27° 3' 



88° 18' 



125 „ 





Shores of Western India 









Height. 



Lat. 



Long. 



Fall of Rain 



Mahabaleshwar, 



4500 



17° 43' 



74° 35' 



248 in. 



Attagherry, . 



2200 



11° 25' 





170 „ 



Kandalla, 



1740 



18° 30' 



74°' 30' 

 76° 20' 



168 „ 



Untraymallay, 



6000 



11° 30' 



164 „ 



Dapoolec, 



900 



18° 33' 



74° 2' 



138 „ 



Angara Kandy, 



Malabar Coast. 



9° 



76° 30' 



124 „ 



Cannanorc, . 



Ditto 



12 



75° 20' 



121 „ 



