From the guava groves issue the rattle of tin pots and the shouts of the boys told off to protect the ripening fruit from the attacks of crows, parrots and other feathered marauders. Nor do these sounds terminate at night-fall; indeed they become louder after dark, for it is then that the flying-foxes come forth and work sad havoc among fruit of all descriptions. The fowls of the air are more vivacious than they were in January. The bulbuls tinkle more blithely, the purple sunbirds sing more lustily; the _kutur_, _kutur_, _kuturuk_ of the green barbets is uttered more vociferously; the nuthatches now put their whole soul into their loud, sharp _tee-tee-tee-tee_, the hoopoes call _uk-uk-uk_ more vigorously. The coppersmiths (_Xantholaema haematocephala_) begin to hammer on their anvils--_tonk-tonk-tonk-tonk_, softly and spasmodically in the early days of the month, but with greater frequency and intensity as the days pass. The brain-fever bird (_Hierococcyx varius_) announces his arrival in the United Provinces by uttering an occasional "brain-fever." As the month draws to its close his utterances become more frequent. But his time is not yet. He merely gives us in February a foretaste of what is to come. The _tew_ of the black-headed oriole (_Oriolus melanocephalus_), which is the only note uttered by the bird in the colder months, is occasionally replaced in February by the summer call of the species--a liquid, musical _peeho_. In the latter half of the month the Indian robin (_Thamnobia cambayensis_) begins to find his voice. Although not the peer of his English cousin, he is no mean singer. At this time of year, however, his notes are harsh. He is merely "getting into form." The feeble, but sweet, song of the crested lark or _Chandul_ is one of the features of February. The Indian skylark likewise may now be heard singing at Heaven's gate in places where there are large tracts of uncultivated land. As in January so in February the joyous "Think of me ... Never to be" of the grey-headed flycatcher emanates from every tope. By the middle of the month the pied wagtails and pied bush chats are in full song. Their melodies, though of small volume, are very sweet. The large grey shrikes add the clamour of their courtship to the avian chorus. Large numbers of doves, vultures, eagles, red-headed merlins, martins and munias--birds whose nests were described in January--are still busy feeding their young.