418 
BIRD-LIFE. 
more:—it is spring; but what a spring! Words are 
wanting to describe it in all its radiant beauty. The 
interior of the forest is an impenetrable secret, for it 
stands protected from intrusion by dense belts of thorns, 
and gigantic thistles interwoven with creeping-plants ; 
the narrow beaten tracks, however, by which the jungle is 
intersected, as well as the sounds one hears during the still 
hours of the night, vouch for the presence of the elephant 
and the lion, the panther and the hyaena, jackals and 
monkeys, who one and all are engaged in their different 
occupations. The notes in the daytime, produced 
by numberless species of birds, are less easily deter¬ 
mined, for it requires long and careful observation for 
a person, not a native, to distinguish them properly. 
In this season of universal life and plenty the northern 
wanderers make their appearance in thousands: they 
have no reason to trouble themselves about either food 
or shelter, and need only follow the example of their 
neighbours in everything. In the morning the Crane 
and the Stork both leave the forest for the plain, where 
the Quail has already taken up its abode, and where it 
seeks food for the day; Eagles, Falcons, all the murderous 
small fry of Shrikes and Flycatchers, the Warblers, also, 
find what they require in the forest, and to spare. The 
first, catch with ease such vertebrates as they stand in 
need of; and the latter find insects in plenty, which, we 
may also add, form the principal sustenance of the Kestrel 
and Lesser Kestrel. 
Booted Eagles may be seen hunting in pairs; and here 
and there one meets with a stray Peregrine Falcon, who, 
in its love of travel, has rather overshot the boundary of 
its circle of distribution. Our northern friend, the 
Kestrel, may be met with everywhere, but always in 
