observed in Oudh and Kumaon. 
239 
numerous during the cold season, but is occasionally seen during 
every month throughout the year. 
135. Totanus stagnatilis. (Yellow-legged Sandpiper.) 
Very common in the cold season. In habits resembles Actitis 
glareola, being more of a Marsh Sandpiper than A . ochropus or 
A. hypoleucos , both of which are found on the banks of rivers ; 
the Common Sandpiper being seldom seen on muddy marshes. 
136. Totanus fuscus. (Dusky Redshank.) 
Frequently seen in small flocks during the cold season: not 
noticed in the summer plumage. 
137. Totanus calidris. (Redshank.) 
Exceedingly numerous during the cold season. This bird has 
a curious way of feeding, which I often noticed: a flock of 
perhaps thirty or forty will form a sort of oblique line, each one 
a little in rear of the other, and advance across a shallow jheel, 
all with their heads down half under the water, moving them 
from right to left with great rapidity. The noise they make in 
the water is plainly audible. Probably they feed in this way in 
other countries, but in India they are so tame as to allow a very 
near approach without alarm. 
The j heels in Oudh, except in the Terai, are always very 
shallow, seldom more than two feet deep, and not often of that 
depth. In the Terai, however, they are very deep, and are there 
greatly inhabited by crocodiles ( Crocodilus palustris). When 
there in November and December, scarcely any waders were to 
be seen, except on the rivers, and very few Ducks. Whether the 
crocodiles have anything to do with this, I do not know; but if 
ever one shot a duck or any bird that fell into the water, the 
natives disliked going in to retrieve them, and needed rather 
forcible persuasion to make them do so, though I do not think 
that the crocodiles would hurt them; certainly the “ sharp-nosed 33 
Gavial would not. The shallow jheels are filled by the rains, and 
become perfectly dry by February or March, partly from evapo¬ 
ration, but more from irrigation. When a jheel is very nearly 
dry, there are more waders than when it is full: as a rule, the 
shallower the water is the better, as long as there is some. 
The fishes in these places must bury themselves in the mud, as 
