ks in March. Whether it be true or not,
there is certainly no need for the adult birds to keep the eggs warm
in the daytime, and they spend much of their time in wheeling
gracefully overhead or in sleeping on the sand. By nightfall all the
eggs are covered by parent birds, which are said to sit so closely
that it is possible to catch them by means of a butterfly net. The
terns, although they do not sit much on their eggs during the day,
ever keep a close watch on them, so that, when a human being lands on
a nest-laden sandbank, the parent birds fly round his head, uttering
loud screams.

The swallow-plovers go farther. They become so excited that they
flutter about on the sand, with dragging wings and limping legs, as if
badly wounded. Sometimes they perform somersaults in their intense
excitement. The nearer the intruder approaches their eggs the more
vigorous do their antics become.

Every lover of the winged folk should make a point of visiting, late
in March or early in April, an islet on which these birds nest. He
will find much to interest him there. In April many of the young birds
will be hatched out. A baby tern is an amusing object. It is covered
with soft sand-coloured down. When a human being approaches it
crouches on the sand, half burying its head in its shoulders, and
remains thus perfectly motionless. If picked up it usually remains
limply in the hand, so that, but for its warmth, it might be deemed
lifeless. After it has been set down again on the sand, it will remain
motionless until the intruder's back is turned, when it will run to
the water as fast as its little legs can carry it. It swims as easily
as a duck. Needless to state, the parent birds make a great noise
while their young are being handled.

Birds decline to be fettered by the calendar. Many of the species
which do not ordinarily nest until April or May occasionally begin
operations in March, hence nests of the following species, which are
dealt with next month, may occur in the present one:--the tree-pie,
tailor-bird, common myna, bank-myna, brown rock-chat, brown-backed
robin, pied wagtail, red-winged bush-lark, shikra, red-wattled
lapwing, yellow-throated sparrow, bee-eater, blue rock-pigeon, green
pigeon and grey partridge.

March the 15th marks the beginning of the close season for game birds
in all the reserved forests of Northern India. This is none too soon,
as some individuals begin breeding at the end of the month.