Jungle Folk: Indian Natural History Sketches - free ebook by Douglas Dewar

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Jungle Folk: Indian Natural History Sketches

Douglas Dewar

46 chapters

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46 chapters

PREFACE

PREFACE

It is not of the bigger jungle folk that I write—of lions, tigers, leopards, bears, bison, or even deer and antelopes; for of these it is vouchsafed to no man—not even to the shikari , who spends years in the jungle—to obtain more than an occasional fleeting glimpse. The subjects of my theme are the lesser fry—vivacious mynas, noisy babblers, vociferous cuckoos, silent herons, beautiful pittas, graceful wagtails, elegant terns, melodious rock-chats, cheeky squirrels. A cheery crowd are these. Th

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I OF INDIAN BIRDS IN GENERAL

I OF INDIAN BIRDS IN GENERAL

Literary critics seem to be agreed that we who write about Indian birds form a definite school. “Phil Robinson,” they say, “furnished, thirty years ago, a charming model which all who have followed him in writing seem compelled to copy more or less closely.” Mr. W. H. Hudson remarks: “We grow used to look for funny books about animals from India, just as we look for sentimental natural history books from America.” In a sense this criticism is well founded. Popular books on Indian ornithology res

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II RESPECTABLE CUCKOOS

II RESPECTABLE CUCKOOS

The general public derives its ideas regarding the manners and customs of the cuckoos from those of Cuculus canorus , the only species that patronises the British Isles. “The Man in the Street,” that unfortunate individual who seems never by any chance to catch hold of the right end of the stick, is much surprised, or is expected to express great surprise, when he is informed that some cuckoos are not parasitic, that not a few of them refuse to commit their eggs and young ones to the tender merc

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III THE BROWN ROCK-CHAT

III THE BROWN ROCK-CHAT

The standard books on Indian ornithology give inaccurate accounts of the distribution of some species of birds. In certain cases the mistakes are due to imperfect knowledge, in others it is probable that the range of the species in question has undergone change since the text-books were published. There must of necessity be a tendency for a flourishing species to extend its boundaries. Growing species, like successful nations, expand. A correspondent informs me that the Brahminy myna ( Temenuchu

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IV THE SCAVENGER-IN-WAITING

IV THE SCAVENGER-IN-WAITING

The number of kites to be seen in any given place depends almost entirely upon the state of sanitation in that place. In England conservancy arrangements are so good that the kite is practically extinct. We have no use for the bird at home. “ Il faut vive ,” says the kite, “and if you do not provide me with offal I shall prey upon poultry,” “As to your living,” replies the farmer, “ Je n’en vois pas la necessité , and, if you attack my poultry, I shall attack you.” The kites in the United Kingdo

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V INDIAN WAGTAILS

V INDIAN WAGTAILS

“What art thou made of?—air or light or dew? —I have no time to tell you if I knew. My tail—ask that—perhaps may solve the matter; I’ve missed three flies already by this chatter.” I quite agree with Mr. Warde Fowler that wagtails are everything that birds should be. They are just the right size; their shape and form are perfect; they dress most tastefully; they display that sprightliness that one looks for in birds; their movements are elegant and engaging; their undulating flight is blithe and

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VI THE TEESA

VI THE TEESA

Butastur teesa used to be called the white-eyed buzzard, but one day a worthy ornithologist discovered that the bird was not the genuine article, that its legs and its eggs betrayed the fact that it is not a true buzzard. Therefore a new name had to be found for the bird. In their search for this, naturalists have not met with great success. Indeed, the last state of the bird is worse than the first, for it is now known as the white-eyed buzzard-eagle. To the adjectival part of the name no one c

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VII FALCONRY IN INDIA

VII FALCONRY IN INDIA

Lest the title of this chapter should lead the reader to indulge in expectations that will not be realised, let me hasten to say that, in my opinion, hawking is a much overrated pastime. This statement will, of course, rouse the ire of the keen falconer, who will tell me that hawking is the sport of kings, and that it has no equal. To such a defence of the sport the obvious reply is that it has almost entirely died out in England, and that in India, where there is every facility for it, very few

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VIII HAWKS IN MINIATURE

VIII HAWKS IN MINIATURE

Even as the earth is overrun by dacoits, robbers, and highwaymen in all places where the arm of the law is not far-reaching and hard-striking, so is the air infested with bandits. These feathered marauders fall into three classes, according to the magnitude of their quarry. There are, first, the eagles, falcons, and hawks, which attack creatures of considerable size. Then follow the shrikes or butcher-birds—pocket editions of the raptores—which prey upon the small fry among reptiles, mammals, an

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IX THE ROOSTING OF THE BEE-EATERS

IX THE ROOSTING OF THE BEE-EATERS

One evening in August I was “on the prowl” with a pair of field-glasses, when I came across a tree from which emanated the twittering of many green bee-eaters ( Merops viridis ). As the sun was about to set, it was evident that these alluring little birds were getting ready to go to sleep. Most birds seem to roost in company. They do so presumably for the sake of companionship, warmth, and, perhaps, protection. To my mind there is no sight more amusing than that of a number of little birds going

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X OWLS

X OWLS

It is the misfortune of owls that they are universally unpopular. They are heartily detested by their fellow-birds, who never miss an opportunity of mobbing them. They are looked upon with superstitious dread by the more ignorant classes all the world over. Jews and Gentiles, Christians and heathens, alike hate them. Owls are thought to be “death birds,” “foul precursors of the fiend,” “birds whose breath brings sickness, and whose note is death,” death’s dreadful messengers, Satan’s chapprassis

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XI A BUNDLE OF INIQUITY

XI A BUNDLE OF INIQUITY

The common squirrel of India is a fur-covered bundle of iniquity. He is a bigger rascal than either the crow or the sparrow. I am aware that these statements will not be believed by many residents of Northern India. I am sorry, but the truth must be told. Let those who will imagine Sciurus palmarum to be a pretty, fluffy little creature, as charming as he is abundant. I know better. I have sojourned in Madras. In Northern India the little striped squirrel is merely one of the many tribes that li

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XII THE INTERPRETATION OF THE ACTIONS OF ANIMALS

XII THE INTERPRETATION OF THE ACTIONS OF ANIMALS

The proper interpretation of the actions of animals is one of the greatest of the difficulties which confront the naturalist. We all know how liable a man’s actions are to be misinterpreted by his fellow-men, whose thoughts and feelings are similar to his. How much more must we be liable to put false constructions on the acts of those creatures whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose feelings are not our feelings? The natural tendency is, of course, to assign human attributes to animals, t

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XIII AT THE SIGN OF THE FARASH

XIII AT THE SIGN OF THE FARASH

The farash tree ( Tamarix articulata ), regarded from the point of view of a human being, is everything that a tree should not be. Its wood has little or no commercial value, being of not much use even as fuel. Its needle-like leaves afford no shade. It has a dusty, dried-up, funereal appearance. During the day it absorbs a large amount of the sun’s heat, which it emits, with interest, at night-time, so that if, on a hot-weather evening, you happen to pass near a farash tree you cannot fail to n

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XIV THE COOT

XIV THE COOT

The coot ( Fulica atra ) is a rail which has taken thoroughly to the water. It has, in consequence, assumed many of the characteristics of a duck. We may perhaps speak of it as a pseudo-duck. Certain it is that inexperienced sportsmen frequently shoot and eat coots under the impression that they are “black duck.” Nevertheless, there is no bird easier to identify than our friend, the bald coot. In the hand it is quite impossible to mistake it for a duck. Its toes are not joined together by webs,

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XV THE BEAUTIFUL PORPHYRIO

XV THE BEAUTIFUL PORPHYRIO

The bald coot is, as we have seen, a rail that has taken thoroughly to an aquatic life. The purple coot may be described as a rail, which, while displaying hankerings after a life on the liquid element, has not definitely committed itself to the water. The porphyrio, then, is a rail which, to use a political expression, is “sitting on the fence.” The indecision of Mr. Porphyrio has somewhat puzzled ornithologists. These seem to be unable to come to an agreement as to what to call him. Jerdon dub

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XVI THE COBRA

XVI THE COBRA

According to my dictionary, the cobra di capello ( Naia tripudians ) is a reptile of the most venomous nature. This, like many other things the dictionary says, is not strictly true. There exist snakes whose bite is far more poisonous than that of the cobra. The common krait, for example, is four times as venomous, and yet the bite of this little reptile is mild as compared with that of the sea snake, which should be carefully distinguished from the sea-serpent of the “silly season.” But let us

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XVII THE MUNGOOSE

XVII THE MUNGOOSE

From the cobra it is a natural step to his foe—the mungoose. This creature—the ichneumon of the ancients—occupies a most important place in the classical and mediæval bestiaries. Every old writer gives a graphic account, with variations according to taste, of the “mortall combat” between the aspis and the ichneumon. But the noble creature was not content with fighting a mere serpent, it used to pit itself against the leviathan. Pliny tells us that the crocodile, having gorged himself, falls asle

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XVIII THE SWAN

XVIII THE SWAN

“With that I saw two swannes of goodly hewe Come softly swimming downe the lee; Two fairer birds I yet did never see; The snow, which does the top of Pindus strew, Did never whiter shew.” When I speak of “the swan,” I mean the bird called by ornithologists the mute swan ( Cygnus olor ), the swan of the poets that warbles sublime and enchanting music when it is about to shuffle off its mortal coil, the tame swan of Europe, the swan that used to take Siegfried for cheap trips down the river, the s

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XIX KITES OF THE SEA

XIX KITES OF THE SEA

“Graceful seagulls, plumed in snowy white, Follow’d the creaming furrow of the prow, With easy pinion, pleasurably slow; Then on the waters floated like a fleet Of tiny vessels, argosies complete, Such as brave Gulliver, deep wading, drew Victorious from the forts of Blefuscu.” Of all the methods of obtaining food to which birds resort, none makes greater demands on their physical powers than that which we human beings term scavenging—the seeking-out and devouring of the multifarious edible obje

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XX RIVER TERNS

XX RIVER TERNS

A sojourn of a few years in Upper India usually teaches a European to make the most of the cold weather as it gives place to the heat of summer. There is a period of a week or two in March and early April when, although the days are very hot, the nights and early mornings are cool, when the mercury in the thermometer fluctuates between 104° and 68° F. If at this season a man is energetic enough to rise at 5.15, shortly after the birds awake, there are few more pleasant ways of spending the ensui

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XXI GREEN BULBULS

XXI GREEN BULBULS

Since green is a splendid protective colour for an arboreal creature, it is surprising that there are not more green animals in existence. The truth of the matter is that green seems to be a difficult colour to acquire. There does not exist a really green mammal; while green birds are relatively few and far between. In India we have, it is true, the green parrots, the barbets, the green pigeons, the green bulbuls, and the bee-eaters. Take away these and you can count the remaining green birds on

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XXII CORMORANTS

XXII CORMORANTS

Cormorants, like Englishmen, have spread themselves all over the earth. Save for a few out-of-the-way islands, there is no country in the world that cannot boast of at least one species of cormorant. Cormorants, then, are an exceedingly successful and flourishing family. It must be very annoying for those worthy professors and museum naturalists who are always lecturing to us about the all-importance of protective colouration that the most flourishing families of birds—the crows and the cormoran

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XXIII A MELODIOUS DRONGO

XXIII A MELODIOUS DRONGO

Our friend the king crow ( Dicrurus ater ) is so abundant throughout India, and possesses to so great a degree the faculty of arresting the attention, that we are apt to overlook his less numerous relatives. In Ceylon it is otherwise. Dicrurus ater occurs in that fair isle, but only in certain parts thereof, and is not so abundant as his cousin, the white-vented drongo ( Dicrurus leucopygialis ). The former has, therefore, to play second fiddle in Ceylon, where he is usually known to Europeans a

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XXIV THE INDIAN PITTA

XXIV THE INDIAN PITTA

Some Indian birds are adepts at self-advertisement. To use an expressive vulgarism, they continually “hit you in the eye”; they obtrude themselves upon you in season and out of season. Others are so retiring that you may live among them for years without observing them. To this class, to the class that hide their light under a bushel, the beautiful Indian pitta ( Pitta brachyura ) belongs. There is at least one favoured compound in Madras where a pitta, or possibly a pair of them, spends the coo

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XXV THE INDIAN WHITE-EYE

XXV THE INDIAN WHITE-EYE

The Indian white-eye ( Zosterops palpebrosa ) is a bird which should be familiar to everyone who has visited the Nilgiris. To wander far in a hillside wood without meeting a flock of these diminutive creatures is impossible. Sooner or later a number of monosyllabic notes will be heard, each a faint, plaintive cheep. On going to the tree from which these notes appear to emanate a rustle will be observed here and there in the foliage. Closer inspection will reveal a number of tiny birds flitting a

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XXVI GOOSEY, GOOSEY GANDER

XXVI GOOSEY, GOOSEY GANDER

The goose, like certain ladies who let lodgings, has seen better times. It is a bird that has come down in the world. For some reason which I have never been able to discover, it is nowadays the object of popular ridicule. It is commonly set forth as the emblem of foolishness. Invidious comparisons are proverbially drawn between it and its more handsome cousin, the swan. The modern bards vie with one another in blackening its character. As Phil Robinson says, “It does not matter who the poet is—

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XXVII GEESE IN INDIA

XXVII GEESE IN INDIA

Seven or eight species of goose have been recorded as winter visitors to India. With two exceptions they honour us with their presence only on rare occasions, and do not really form part and parcel of our Indian avifauna. The exceptions are the grey lag goose and the barred-headed goose, which visit India every winter in their millions. It is these that form the subject of this essay. It is difficult for the dweller in the south to realise how abundant geese are in Northern India throughout the

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XXVIII A SWADESHI BIRD

XXVIII A SWADESHI BIRD

I commend the common peafowl ( Pavo cristatus ) to the Indian patriot, for it is a true Swadeshi bird. It is made in India and nowhere else. The beastly foreigner does, indeed, produce a cheap imitation in the shape of Pavo muticus —the Javan peafowl; but with this the patriotic Indian bird will have nothing to do. The two species are very like in appearance, the most noticeable difference being in the shape of the crest; that of the Indian species is like an expanded fan, while the cranial orna

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XXIX THE INDIAN REDSTART

XXIX THE INDIAN REDSTART

Poets, naturalists, essayists, and novelists have with one accord and from time immemorial extolled the English spring. In this particular instance their eulogies are justified, for spring in England is like a wayward maiden: when she does choose to be amiable, she is so amiable that her past perverseness is at once forgiven. But why do not Anglo-Indian writers sing to the glories of the Indian autumn? Is it not worthy of all praise? It is the season which corresponds most nearly to spring in En

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XXX THE NIGHT HERON

XXX THE NIGHT HERON

Some American millionaires are said to sleep for only three hours out of the twenty-four. I do not believe this; I regard the story as a fabrication of the halfpenny paper. But, even if it be true, the night heron ( Nycticorax griseus ) is able to eclipse the performance. That bird only sleeps when it has nothing better to do. It looks upon sleep as a luxury, not a necessity. As its name implies, it is a creature of the night; but it is equally a day bird. You will never catch it napping. Just b

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XXI THE CEMENT OF BIRD MASONS

XXI THE CEMENT OF BIRD MASONS

Birds may be divided into two classes—those which build nests and those which do not. To the latter belong the parasitic starlings and cuckoos, which drop their eggs in the nests of other birds; those, such as plovers, which lay their eggs on the bare ground; and those which deposit them in holes, in the earth, in trees, in banks, or in buildings, as, for example, the Indian roller or blue jay ( Coracias indica ). Intermediate between the birds that build nests and those which do not—for there a

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XXXII INDIAN FLY-CATCHERS

XXXII INDIAN FLY-CATCHERS

There exist in the Indian Empire no fewer than fifty-one species of fly-catcher. This fact speaks volumes for the wealth of both the bird and the insect population of India. Fly-catchers are little birds that feed exclusively on insects, which they secure on the wing. Their habit is to take up a strategic position on some perch, usually the bare branch of a tree, whence they make sallies into the air after their quarry. Having secured the object of their sortie—and this they never fail to do—the

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XXXIII INSECT HUNTERS

XXXIII INSECT HUNTERS

Fly-Catchers, although they subsist almost entirely on insects, are by no means the only insectivorous creatures in existence. They merely form a considerable branch of the Noble Society of Insect Hunters. If there exist any philosophers in the insect world they must find the uncertainty of life a fitting theme on which to lavish their philosophical rhetoric. Consider for a moment the precariousness of the life of an insect! There exist in India probably over three hundred species of birds which

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XXXIV THE ROSY STARLING

XXXIV THE ROSY STARLING

Every Anglo-Indian is acquainted with the rose-coloured starling ( Pastor roseus ), although some may not know what to call it. Nevertheless, it is a bird of many aliases; to wit, the rosy pastor, the tillyer , the cholum bird, the jowaree bird, the mulberry bird, the locust-eater, the golabi maina . The head, neck, breast, wings, and tail are glossy black, while the remainder of the plumage is a pale salmon or faint rose-colour. The older the bird the more rosy it becomes, but the great majorit

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XXXV THE PIED STARLING

XXXV THE PIED STARLING

Writing of pied starlings ( Sturnopastor contra ) Colonel Cunningham thus delivers himself: “They are not nearly such attractive birds as the common mynas, for their colouring is coarsely laid on in a way that recalls that of certain of the ornithological inmates of a Noah’s Ark; their heads have a debased look, and they have neither the pleasant notes nor the alluringly familiar ways of their relatives.” The above statement is, in my opinion, nothing short of libel. There are few living things

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XXXVI A BIRD OF THE OPEN PLAIN

XXXVI A BIRD OF THE OPEN PLAIN

It is the fashion for modern writers of books on ornithology to divide birds according to the localities they frequent, into birds of the garden, birds of the wood, birds of the meadow, birds of the waterside, etc. The chief drawback to such a system of classification, which is intended to simplify identification, is that most birds decline to limit themselves to any particular locality. There are, however, some species which are so constant in their habits as to render it possible to lay down t

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XXXVII BIRDS IN THE COTTON TREE

XXXVII BIRDS IN THE COTTON TREE

Lack of green grass and the paucity of wild flowers are the chief of the causes which render the scenery of the plains of India so unlike that of the British Isles. India, not being blessed with frequent showers, the sine qua non of flower-decked, verdant meadows, has to be content with a xerophilous flora. But there is in this country some compensation for the lack of flowers of the field in the shape of flowering shrubs and trees. Among the most conspicuous of these is the cotton tree ( Bombax

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XXXVIII UGLY DUCKLINGS

XXXVIII UGLY DUCKLINGS

Some people invariably look untidy. They seem to be nature’s misfits. All the skill of the tailor, all the art of the milliner, can make them nothing else. No matter how well-cut their garments be, these always hang about them in a ridiculous, uncouth manner. If the individual be a man, the upper part of his collar seems to exercise an irresistible attraction for his tie; if a woman, she presents an unfinished appearance about the waist, as often as not displaying an ugly hiatus in that region.

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XXXIX BABBLER BROTHERHOODS

XXXIX BABBLER BROTHERHOODS

The Crateropus babblers, known variously as the Sath Bhai , seven sisters, or dirt birds, furnish perfect examples of communal life. So highly developed are their social instincts that a solitary babbler, or even a pair, is a very unusual sight. They do not congregate in large flocks; from six to fourteen usually constitute a brotherhood, eight, nine, or ten being, perhaps, the commonest numbers. There is no truth in the popular idea that they always go about in flocks of seven. Sir Edwin Arnold

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XL THE MAD BABBLER

XL THE MAD BABBLER

The seven sisters ( Crateropus canorus ), which occur in every garden in India, are veritable punchinellos, so much so that schoolboys in the Punjab always call them “mad birds.” But nature is not content with having produced these. So readily does the babbler clan lend itself to the humoresque, that from it has been evolved the large grey babbler ( Argya malcomi ), a species even more comic than the noisy sisterhood. This is the Verri chinda , the mad babbler of the Telugu-speaking people. Pull

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XLI THE YELLOW-EYED BABBLER

XLI THE YELLOW-EYED BABBLER

The babbler community embraces a most heterogeneous collection of birds. Every Asiatic fowl which does not seem to belong to any other family is promptly relegated to the Crateropodidæ. Thus it comes to pass that such dissimilar creatures as the laughing thrushes and the seven sisters find themselves classed together. Now, taken as a whole, the babbler class is characterised neither by beauty nor melodiousness. The best-known members are the widely distributed seven sisters, which in many respec

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XLII THE INDIAN SAND-MARTIN

XLII THE INDIAN SAND-MARTIN

The Indian sand-martin ( Cotile sinensis ) is, I believe, the smallest of the swallow tribe. So diminutive is he that you could put him in your watch-pocket, were you so minded, without fear of damaging his plumage. His charm lies in his littleness and activity rather than in his colouring, for he belongs not to the dandies. Neat and quiet are the adjectives that describe his attire. The head, shoulders, and back are pale brown tinged with grey. The wing-feathers are dark brown. The under parts

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XLIII THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG BIRDS

XLIII THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG BIRDS

A certain school of naturalists, in which Americans figure largely, lays great stress on the way in which parent birds and beasts educate their offspring. According to this school, a young bird is, like a human babe, born with its mind a blank, and has to be taught by its parents everything that it is necessary for a bird to know. Just as children study at various educational establishments, so do young animals attend what Mr. W. J. Long calls “the school of the woods.” “After many years of watc

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XLIV BIRDS AT SUNSET

XLIV BIRDS AT SUNSET

It is refreshing to watch the birds at the sunset hour. The fowls of the air are then full to overflowing of healthy activity. In the garden the magpie-robin ( Copsychus saularis ), daintily clothed in black and white, vigorously pours forth his joyous song from some leafy bough. From the thicket issue the sharp notes of the tailor-bird ( Orthotomus sutorius ), the noisy chatter of the seven sisters ( Crateropus ), and the tinkling melody of the bulbul. The king crows ( Dicrurus ater ) are alter

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GLOSSARY

GLOSSARY

Bandobast. Arrangement. Bhimraj. The racket-tailed drongo ( Dissemurus paradiseus ). Chabutra. A masonry platform, erected outside the bungalow in the compound on which people sit in the evenings during the hot weather. Chamar. The name of a low caste of Indians who skin animals and tan their skin. Chaprassi. Lit., a badge-wearer. A servant who runs messages. Chik. A number of thin pieces of bamboo strung together to form a curtain. Chiks are usually hung in front of doors and windows in India w

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