The nest in question is a pile of rushes and water-weeds, rising a couple of feet from the water and large enough for a man to stand upon. It contains two whitish eggs faintly blotched with yellowish brown.
Viewed from the margin, the _jhil_ appears to be utterly devoid of waterfowl; but in this case things are not what they seem. Before we have waded far in the direction of the nest of the sarus, numbers of duck and teal which were hidden by the sedges and grasses get up and fly to another part of the _jhil_. The first birds to be disturbed are some cotton-teal (_Nettopus coromandelianus_). As these consist of a flock of eight or ten they are obviously not nesting. The cotton-teal drake is a bird easy to identify. Its small size, white head, and black necklace are unmistakable, and the white margins to the wings are very conspicuous during flight.
On another part of the _jhil_ a pair of spot-billed ducks (_Anas poecilorhyncha_) settle down. These are recognisable even at a considerable distance when in the water by the white patch on each flank. As there are two of these birds together it is probable that they have a nest hidden in one of the sedge-covered islets studded about the tank. The other ducks disturbed by our approach are whistling teal (_Dendrocycna javanica_), which occur in considerable flocks, and a few comb-duck (_Sarcidiornis melanotus_). All these species of duck and teal are permanent residents in India.
Not a single coot is to be seen upon the _jhil_. The explanation of this is that this particular tank dries up in the hot weather, and coots usually keep to those lakes that contain water all the year round.
Half a dozen terns form a conspicuous and beautiful feature of the _jhil_. As they sail overhead, with every now and then a descent to the water to secure a frog or small fish, their silvery wings stand out boldly from a dark cloud on the southern horizon. The terns at the _jhil_ are all of the black-bellied species (_Sterna melanogaster_). The other species haunt rivers in preference to shallow lakes.
Last, but not least, mention must be made of Pallas’s fishing eagle (_Haliaetus leucoryphus_). One or more pairs of this bird are to be seen in the vicinity of every _jhil_. In the earlier part of the day they are active, screaming creatures, but when once they have made a good meal off a teal or some fish they become very sluggish. Two of them are sitting about fifty yards apart on a _band_ alongside the _jhil_, looking like kites with whitish heads. They sit as motionless as statues. They are obviously feeling very lazy. Presently a king-crow (_Dicrurus ater_) comes up and, uttering that soft note which seems to be peculiar to the rainy season, makes repeated feints at the head of one of the fishing eagles. Save for a slight inclination of the head, the eagle pays no attention to the attack of its puny adversary. Eventually, the king-crow gives up in despair and flies off, probably to find something which will take more notice of his threatening demonstrations.