33
A plan to search for Bater
Bater was excellent in hiding in the
grassland, Kotwal’s father said. You could spend the entire season in the
grassland without seeing Bater or any of his relatives. You cannot search for
Bater, he said. You have to wait for Bater to show himself. The drongo family sat
together to plan the strategy to spot Bater in the grassland. First, all the
drongos, Kotwal’s family included, would fly out of the trees along the
river-banks, and perch on high tree branches that overlooked every path and
trail in the grassland. Second, Kotwal would have to go and ask Salonki for
help. Salonki would have to get all the mynas to disturb the grassland wherever
there were rocks and tall grass. They would have to move around the tall grass
areas among the rocks and chatter loudly to disturb Bater and his family.
Having agreed on this, the drongos
flew out of the tall arjuna trees along the river-banks to the grassland and
began to choose perches on the branches of all the tall trees. From up here,
they could spot movement on any path or trail in the grassland. The drongos
were good at spotting the tiniest of insects flitting about and would be able
to pinpoint any movement in the grassland. Kotwal flew over to the babool tree
to meet Salonki. He explained the strategy to Salonki who immediately called
out to her family to stop chattering. Once silence was achieved, and
instructions passed on, Salonki asked her family to break up into small flocks
and spread out among the rocks in the tall grass.
The mynas spread out as told by
Salonki. Eight to ten mynas in each flock sat on the rocks and began to chatter
loudly. Hundreds of mynas started walking around, jumping up and down the
rocks, running after insects and pecking at the wandering red crabs that seemed
to be lost away from the water. With all the mynas moving around, the grassland
suddenly seemed like a small place, after all. The drongos could immediately
see the effect on the grassland. There was a confused looking Dominga, an angry
Phoolchuki and a disgusted Darzi flying up from their nests, upset at the peace
of the grassland being disturbed in this manner. Kotwal’s father spotted Naag
rushing away to hide inside a hole next to some rocks, while Dhaman could be
seen hurrying away to another hole.
