A Bird Calendar for Northern India | Page 5

these birds is nesting
is the scene of much animation. The bank is riddled with holes, each of
which, being the entrance to a martin's nest, is visited a score of times
an hour by the parent birds, bringing insects captured while flying over
the water.
Some species of munia breed at this time of the year. The red munia, or
amadavat, or lal (Estrelda amandava) is, next to the paroquet, the bird
most commonly caged in India. This little exquisite is considerably
smaller than a sparrow. Its bill is bright crimson, and there is some red
or crimson in the plumage--more in the cock than in the hen, and most
in both sexes at the breeding season. The remainder of the plumage is
brown, but is everywhere heavily spotted with white. In a state of
nature these birds affect long grass, for they feed largely, if not entirely,
on grass seed. The cock has a sweet voice, which, although feeble, is
sufficiently loud to be heard at some distance and is frequently uttered.
The nest of the amadavat is large for the size of the bird, being a

loosely-woven cup, which is egg-shaped and has a hole at or near the
narrow end. It is composed of fine grass stems and is often lined with
soft material. It is usually placed in the middle of a bush, sometimes in
a tussock of grass. From six to fourteen eggs are laid. These are white
in colour. This species appears to breed twice in the year--from October
to February and again from June to August.
The white-throated munia (Uroloncha malabarica) is a dull brown bird,
with a white patch above the tail. Its throat is yellowish white. The old
name for the bird--the plain brown munia--seems more appropriate than
that with which the species has since been saddled by Blanford. The
nest of this little bird is more loosely put together and more globular
than that of the amadavat. It is usually placed low down in a thorny
bush. The number of eggs laid varies from six to fifteen. These, like
those of the red munia, are white. June seems to be the only month in
the year in which the eggs of this species have not been found. In the
United Provinces more nests containing eggs are discovered in January
than in any other month.
Occasionally in January a pair of hoopoes (Upupa indica) steals a
march on its brethren by selecting a nesting site and laying eggs.
Hoopoes nest in holes in trees or buildings. The aperture to the nest
cavity is invariably small. The hen hoopoe alone incubates, and as,
when once she has begun to sit, she rarely, if ever, leaves the nest till
the eggs are hatched, the cock has to bring food to her. But, to describe
the nesting operations of the hoopoe in January is like talking of cricket
in April. It is in February and March that the hoopoes nest in their
millions, and call softly, from morn till eve, uk-uk-uk.
Of the other birds which nest later in the season mention must be made
in the calendar for the present month of the Indian cliff-swallow
(Hirundo fluvicola) and the blue rock-pigeon (Columba intermedia),
because their nests are sometimes seen in January.

FEBRUARY

There's perfume upon every wind, Music in every tree, Dews for the
moisture-loving flowers, Sweets for the sucking-bee. N. P. WILLIS.
Even as January in northern India may be compared to a month made
up of English May days and March nights, so may the Indian February
be likened to a halcyon month composed of sparkling, sun-steeped June
days and cool starlit April nights.
February is the most pleasant month of the whole year in both the
Punjab and the United Provinces; even November must yield the palm
to it. The climate is perfect. The nights and early mornings are cool and
invigorating; the remainder of each day is pleasantly warm; the sun's
rays, although gaining strength day by day, do not become
uncomfortably hot save in the extreme south of the United Provinces.
The night mists, so characteristic of December and January, are almost
unknown in February, and the light dews that form during the hours of
darkness disappear shortly after sunrise.
The Indian countryside is now good to look upon; it possesses all the
beauties of the landscape of July; save the sunsets. The soft emerald
hue of the young wheat and barley is rendered more vivid by contrast
with the deep rich green of the mango trees. Into the earth's verdant
carpet is worked a gay pattern of white poppies, purple linseed blooms,
blue and pink gram flowers, and yellow blossoms of mimosa, mustard
and arhar. Towards the end of the month the silk-cotton trees (Bombax
malabarica) begin