At night-time many of the trees are illumined by hundreds of fireflies.  These do not burn their lamps continuously.  Each insect lets its light shine for a few seconds and then suddenly puts it out.  It sometimes happens that all the fireflies in a tree show their lights and extinguish them simultaneously and thereby produce a luminous display which is strikingly beautiful.  Fireflies are to be seen during the greater part of the year, but they are far more abundant in the “rains” than at any other season.

As in July so in August the voices of the birds are rarely heard after dark.  The nocturnal music is now the product of the batrachian band, ably seconded by the crickets.

During a prolonged break in the rains the frogs and toads are hushed, except in jhils and low-lying paddy fields.  Cessation of the rain, however, does not silence the crickets.

The first streak of dawn is the signal for the striking up of the jungle and the spotted owlets.  Hard upon them follow the koels and the brain-fever birds.  These call only for a short time, remaining silent during the greater part of the day.  Other birds that lift up their voices at early dawn are the crow-pheasant, the black partridge and the peacock.  These also call towards dusk.  As soon as the sun has risen the green barbets, coppersmiths, white-breasted kingfishers and king-crows utter their familiar notes; even these birds are heard but rarely in the middle of the day, nor have their voices the vigour that characterised them in the hot weather.  Occasionally the brown rock-chat emits a few notes, but he does so in a half-hearted manner.  In the early days of August the magpie-robins sing at times; their song, however, is no longer the brilliant performance it was.  By the end of the month it has completely died away.

The Indian cuckoo no more raises its voice in the plains, but the pied crested-cuckoo continues to call lustily and the pied starlings make a joyful noise.  The oriole’s liquid pee-ho is gradually replaced by the loud tew, which is its usual cry at times when it is not nesting.

The water-birds, being busy at their nests, are of course noisy, but, with the exception of the loud trumpeting of the sarus cranes, their vocal efforts are heard only at the jhil.

The did-he-do-its, the rollers, the bee-eaters, two or three species of warblers and the perennial singers complete the avian chorus.

Numbers of rosy starlings are returning from Asia Minor, where they have reared up their broods.  The inrush of these birds begins in July and continues till October.  They are the forerunners of the autumn immigrants.  Towards the end of the month the garganey or blue-winged teal (Querquedula circia), which are the earliest of the migratory ducks to visit India, appear on the tanks.  Along with them comes the advance-guard of the snipe.  The pintail snipe (Gallinago stenura) are invariably the first