Note 70 — Chapter XXVIII · A PHILANTHROPIST.

There is a popular tradition about a small bird, called in Bengal the Chátak, which sings in the hot weather months: the tradition is that it drinks only rain-water, and that its song is a cry to Heaven for rain: this is only one of the many traditions pointing to the eagerness with which in India the annual rains are expected. The bird is a small black-plumaged bird, and its cry exactly resembles Phatik Jal, which the people interpret as Sphatik Jal,: Water clear as crystal. It is supposed to drink with its beak raised in the air; a synonym for an anxious man is— He is like a Chátak.