SKYLARKS AND ROSES.

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suited them; it was not too hard, and it gave them an appetite for their dinner, besides affording them an opportunity for ventilating their knowledge of botany, and the wonderful cures which the plants effected, when administered by cunning hands, upon themselves or their relations. My native visitors, who always, when I was in camp, came thick upon me, could never exactly make out what my motives for collecting were, but they delighted in looking through my microscope at the pollen of various plants, the spicula of my freshwater sponges, or the emerald beauties of the copper beetle's wing. "Wonderful!" they would exclaim, "Subhana-llah kya sani' hai," "The pure God, what an excellent artificer he is!"

Any account of the natural history of Monghyr would be incomplete without mention of the skylarks and wild roses (Rosa involucrata) which abound in the north-eastern portion of the district, and remind us, as we ride through the fields from one camp to another, of a summer's morning in England. The Skylark (Alanda gulgula) comes very near the English bird; and except, perhaps, to very accurate ears, the song of both birds appears identical.

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VERMIN IN MONGHYR.

It is one of the few species, which build their nests upon the ground, common in Monghyr. Its immunity from the attacks of vermin, which decimate other ground-builders, is probably caused by the yearly overflow of the Ganges, which floods the wheat fields during the rainy season, and keeps the snakes, mongooses, cats, and foxes, in check. When the water retires the larks pair, and by the time the wheat is in ear in March their nests abound. I have often found their eggs, which are similar, though smaller, than those of the English skylark.

But, although the birds which build their nests upon the ground in Monghyr are not generally abundant, it is worthy of remark that the cold weather visitants which retire beyond the Himalayas and make their nests upon the ground in Central Asia are unusually numerous; for instance, snipe, quails, and the short-toed larks (Calandrella brachydactyla), which come in clouds to Monghyr to feed upon the cheena crops (Panicum miliaceum) in March. The wild rose is then in bloom, and grows in great profusion on the margins of the deep jheels, or water hollows, which intersect the north-east portion of Monghyr. They

THE WILD SAGE.

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scent the air around; and this part of the country is well worth a visit in March in order to see the roses and hear the skylarks sing. Associated with the wild rose is the wild Sage (Lantana indica), and these two plants nearly monopolize the banks of many of the water-holes.

CHAPTER IX.

Pariah Dogs in Monghyr.-Vast number killed annually. -Fishing in the Ganges. Crocodiles. Inundations during the Rainy Season.-One hundred Miles in the Ganges on a bundle of Castor-Oil Sticks.-The Death of the late Bishop Cotton.-The Government Gardens at Monghyr.-Large Vegetables.-Bright Flowers.The Calabash Tree. - Chameleons.-The Chameleon Fish.-Mahogany Trees.-Winged Seeds.-Baptists in Monghyr.

AMONG the things noticeable by travellers in all Eastern countries are the numerous ownerless dogs, which prowl about every town and village, revenging themselves for the kicks and curses which they receive during the day, by rendering the night hideous with their howlings, and driving away sleep from nervous eyelids. In India, however, the natives, being blessed with nerves similar to those possessed

SLAUGHTER OF DOGS.

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by the ox and ass, trouble themselves very little about the dogs, or their midnight orgies; and it is not unusual to see the native stretched on his humble cot, sleeping the sleep of the innocent, whilst his faithful hound, tied up at the foot of his bed, is either baying at the moon, or, if of a pugnacious disposition, is challenging the country far and near to fight. But to Europeans in India, whose nerves are more tightly strung, pariah dogs are a nuisance; and in every station the Government, or the municipality, pays a reward at certain seasons of the year for their destruction.

These seasons are fine times for the Hindoo Domes, a pariah race themselves. Armed with clubs, they visit all parts of the station, and knock every ownerless dog on the head. At Monghyr, and the neighbouring railway depôt at Jamalpur, nearly one thousand dogs are annually killed in this way; and they cost the municipality twelve pounds ten shillings, at three-pence per head. Their places are soon filled up by their country cousins, who, after the Domes' visitation, find the coast clear, and live in considerable luxury until their turn also comes to be killed. They are fine powerful