74 MY SOMALI BOOK 



and admiring his work — and keeps out of mischief ! 

 The moral is — well, it may not be the same for you as 

 for me, that depends upon whether you are wife or 

 husband or unattached. As a mere bachelor I draw 

 my own ; if there's one for you I am sure you'll 



find it. 



Another old friend was my millionaire myna, still 

 garbed in iridescent blue ; not a bit offended at my 

 criticisms, but very much at home at every camping- 

 ground. He is as sociably disposed towards the 

 human kind as though he habitually dwelt among the 

 haunts of men, as does his Indian cousin. 



One interesting Uttle incident, a propos of the 

 partridges I mentioned just now. It was the second 

 afternoon in the Reserve. A bird got up and I dropped 

 him close to another partridge on the ground. He was 

 not quite dead and lay on his back kicking. The other 

 bird, instead of vanishing at the shot, ran back to his 

 fallen companion to ask what was the matter, and then, 

 to my surprise, proceeded to peck at him viciously. 

 Strange, this almost universal instinct of the lower 

 animals to turn upon their own kind in distress. But 

 is the j)i'^ctice entirely confined to the " lower 



animals " ? 



One evening I was struck by a strange chirping all 

 around me, it was neither bird nor cricket, and I could 

 not make it out until I discovered that I had intruded 

 on a meeting of a bats' choral society. There were 

 any number of them all about me, flying low and all 

 making music. 



I wonder if this Game Reserve, which covers a 

 considerable area, is of any real use ? I saw Uttle 



