THE AMADAVAT 49 



side. No bird, therefore, likes to be an outside one 

 of a row. If two or three, sitting close together, are 

 joined by another, this last does not take up a position 

 at the end of the line. He knows a trick worth two of 

 that. He perches on the backs of two in the middle 

 and tries to wedge himself in between them. Some- 

 times he succeeds. Sometimes he does not. When he 

 does succeed he frequently upsets the equilibrium of 

 the whole row. 



Needless to say, the birds roost huddled together, and 

 at bed-time there is great manoeuvring to avoid an 

 outside position. Each tries to get somewhere in the 

 middle, and, in order to do so, adopts one of two 

 methods. He either flops on top of birds already in 

 position, and, if he cannot wedge himself in, sleeps 

 with one foot on the back of one bird and the other 

 on its neighbour's back. The birds do not seem to 

 mind being sat upon in this way. The other method 

 is for the two outer birds to press inwards until one of 

 those in the middle of the row is squeezed so hard 

 as to lose its foothold and be violently ejected upwards. 

 The bird thus jockeyed out of its position then hops to 

 one end and in its turn begins to push inwards, and so 

 the process continues until the birds grow too sleepy to 

 struggle any more. All this contest is conducted with- 

 out a sound. There is no bickering or squabbling. 

 The only thing I know like it is the contest in the 

 dining-room of an Indian hotel, when two "boys," 

 each belonging to a different master, seize a dish 

 simultaneously. Each is determined to secure that 

 dish, and neither dares utter a sound for fear of 



