is fond of the society of its fellows. The range of this fine bird in
the plains of India is confined to the North-West Frontier Province
Sind, and the Punjab.

An occasional pair of kites may be seen at work nest-building during
the present month.

Some of the sand-martins (_Cotyle sinensis_), likewise, are engaged in
family duties. The river bank in which a colony of 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