76 JUNGLE FOLK 



the bird scorns such luxuries, and is content with the 

 hard bare wood. 



When a pair of blue jays first takes up its quarters in 

 the hotel a great secret is made of the fact. Anyone 

 who did not know the birds might think they were 

 trying to avoid their creditors. This is not the case. 

 The fact is that the nest contains some eggs which the 

 owners imagine every other creature wants to steal. 

 When, however, the young ones hatch out, the parents 

 forget all about the necessity for concealing the 

 whereabouts of the nest, so taken up are they with the 

 feeding of their young ones. 



The hoopoe [Ufupa indica) is another bird that 

 must be numbered among the clientele of the hotel. 

 It is just the kind of visitor that a hotel proprietor 

 likes. It is not in the least particular as to its quarters. 

 Any tumble-down room will do, the filthier the better ! 

 All that it demands is that the front-door shall be a 

 mere chink, only just large enough to admit of its 

 slender body. It then feels that its house is its castle ; 

 no enemy can possibly enter it. 



The common myna {Acridotheres tvistis) is another 

 bird which habitually patronises the Farash Hotel. 

 It is even less particular than the hoopoe as to the 

 nature of its quarters — anything in the shape of a hole 

 does quite well. Having secured accommodation, it 

 proceeds to throw into it, pell-mell, a medley of straws, 

 sticks, rags, bits of paper. That is its idea of house- 

 furnishing. So untidy is the myna that you can 

 sometimes discover the room it occupies by the pieces 

 of furniture that stick out of the window ! The mynas 



