om
time to time as the participants become too excited to sit still. The
king-crows so engaged appear to be selecting their mates; nevertheless
nest-construction does not begin before the end of April.

Some human beings may fail to notice the courtship of the king-crow,
but none can be so deaf and blind as to miss the love-making of the
gorgeous roller or blue jay. Has not everyone marvelled at the hoarse
cries and rasping screams which emanate from these birds as they fling
themselves into the air and ascend and descend as though they were
being tossed about by unseen hands?

Their wonderful aerial performances go on continually in the hours of
daylight throughout the months of March and April; at this season the
birds, beautiful although they be, are a veritable nuisance, and most
people gratefully welcome the comparative quiet that supervenes after
the eggs have been laid. The madness of the March hare is mild
compared with that of the March roller. It is difficult to realise
that the harsh and angry-sounding cries of these birds denote, not
rage, but joy.

The great exodus of the winter visitors from the plains of India
begins in March. It continues until mid-May, by which time the last of
the migratory birds will have reached its distant breeding ground.

This exodus is usually preceded by the gathering into flocks of the
rose-coloured starlings and the corn-buntings. Large noisy
congregations of these birds are a striking feature of February in
Bombay, of March in the United Provinces, and of April in the Punjab.

Rose-coloured starlings spend most of their lives in the plains of
India, going to Asia Minor for a few months each summer for nesting
purposes. In the autumn they spread themselves over the greater part
of Hindustan, most abundantly in the Deccan.

In the third or fourth week of February the rosy starlings of Bombay
begin to form flocks. These make merry among the flowers of the coral
tree, which appear first in South India, and last in the Punjab. The
noisy flocks journey northwards in a leisurely manner, timing their
arrival at each place simultaneously with the flowering of the coral
trees. They feed on the nectar provided by these flowers and those of
the silk-cotton tree. They also take toll of the ripening corn and of
the mulberries which are now in season. Thus the rosy starlings reach
Allahabad about the second week in March, and Lahore some fifteen days
later.

The head, neck, breast,