Alfred Ezra—Birds and Animals Observed during a Visit to India 157


Spoonbills, Sarus Cranes, White Ibis (black-headed), Red-wattled

Plover. Doves : Palm, Tigrine, and large Ring-necked (Streptopelia

decaocto), quite numerous, and very tame. Rollers, Bee-eaters,

Bulbuls, Seven Sisters; different Egrets and Herons; Shrikes,

many Peafowl. Vultures : Egyptian, White-backed, Griffons, Black¬

shouldered Kites, Kestrels, Eagles, Buzzards. Ring-necked and

Alexandrine Parrakeets; lots of common and Bank Mynahs. At

Fatepur Sikri : A good many Brown Rockchats (Cercomela jusca ).

At Agra and Delhi: Lots of Egyptian Vultures and Kites; Pagoda

Mynahs and Purple Sunbirds in the gardens; also White-eared

Bulbuls; any number of rhesus monkeys and langurs, all very

tame. At Bikaner : In the gardens we saw Rollers, Crows, Owls,

Mynahs, Red-throated Flycatchers, Red-wattled Plovers, Blue Rock

Pigeons, Stilts, and Kites.


In the sanctuary at Bikaner we saw any number of wild boars,

chinkaras, foxes, Grey Francolins (Partridges).


On the 27th November we saw about six hundred Demoiselle

Cranes, one Grey Heron, some Stilts, Cormorants, Ducks, Dab-

chicks, Peafowl, and Spotted Sandgrouse. All these were seen at

Bikaner.


At Gagner, about twenty miles from the Palace at Bikaner there

were some duck including a few Marble Teal, one Heron, White-

backed Vultures, nesting close to my room, one small Grey

Hornbill, Silverbills, and Grey Babblers (Argya malcolmi),

Imperial Sandgrouse, two Houbara Bustards (Chlamydotis

macquenni).


On the 3rd December at Talwara Jheel, a night’s journey

by train, 650 duck were shot, including a hybrid Mallard

x Pintail and two Marble Teal. We saw thousands and thousands

of birds, and at times the sky was overcast with them—mostly

Pintail, and Teal, also Mallard, Shovellers, few Red-crested

Pochards, Common Pochards, Whiteyes, Garganey, Comb Duck,

Spotbill, Tufted Duck, one Widgeon, one Grey Lag, many Common

Cranes, Demoiselles, and Sarus ; lots of Grey and Purple

Herons, Spoonbills, Snake Birds, Cormorants, Coot, Openbills,

one Jabiru, Black and Black-necked Ibis, Stilts, and different



