NATURE ON JUNE

May drags into june bringing in its trail more heat,more dust,occasinal squalls of rain and a harvest of knocked-down trees.The temperature still averages 40 s.g. and above.Pink cassias blush away unconcerned with the rierce sun.Laburnums,which have a delayed reaction to changing times,look as if they have just risen from their slumbers and are a mass of golden chandeliers.But by now most of them have more leaves than f;owers on their branches.Papris still shed their hailstone-like flowers; maulsaris and frangipanis make their floral obeisance to mother earth.At this time of the year,indian myrtels,a sub-species of farul came into flower in mauves and pinks and keep their colourful show going for a couple of months.

When the summers heat is here,can the rains be far behind? Thorny bushes of karwand and beever break out into tiny leaf,and farmers see these as portents of the monsoon.I have reraly seen the papeeha before the rains have heard its calls getting more and more strident.The english,maddened by the mid-day sun,render its call as 'brain-fever,brain-fever'and have named it the 'brain-fever'bird.The more optimistic maharashtrians consture the same call as paos ala,paos ala-"the rains are coming".

The pool attaract a variety of birds.Crows are ubiquitous.They come for left-overs of potato chips or sandwiches before bearers take away their plates.Trays of water for bathere to wash their feet in,before they enter the pool,are treated as bird-baths to cleanse feathers and slake thirst.More intresting are green bee-eaters which prefer to flit about the neem tree and,being the same colour,are hardly noticeable.When thirsty they fly down,hover over the pool till they spot an area free of bathers,then dive down,fill their beaks and happily fly back to the neem tree.Their green and russet hues as they skim across the pool surface make a very pleasant combinationof colours.

For me the chief importance of june is the arrival of the monsoon bird.It is natures messenger,appropriately named the megha papeeha or 'the song-bird od the clouds'.I record its advent in my diary as soon as i hear its distinct wailing cry.This has varied from the 1st to the 15th of june,almost a month after they are sighted on the malabar coast.The clamator jacobinus comes from the shores of east africa in one continuous flight over the indian ocean heloed by strong monsoon winds.After it reaches india some time in may,its flight inland is lesiureky but well ahead of the monsoon.I have seen pairs flying around in pre-monsoon showers in june and occasionally spotted one perched on a tree.By july when the monsoon breaks in delhi,flocks can be seen in all the parks and gardens.Being a parasite of the cuckoo family,the monsoon bird does not bother to make its own nest,incubate its eggs or take care of its young.The koel hoodwinks the crow and the monsoon bird does the same to babbler.While babblers are busy looking after the step eggs and chicks,monsoon birds enjoy the rainy season flying around and calling to each other.No sooner have their offspring been reared by their foolish foster-parents than they join their own fraternity and fly overland back to their homes in africa.