AN APOLOGY 5 



visitors are not wanting, especially in outlying areas. 

 Thirty years ago troops of jackals coursed and 

 yelled about the streets of Calcutta from dusk to 

 dawn every night, and, even now, although sanitary 

 improvements have made the streets less favourable 

 hunting-grounds than they were of old, they are 

 still frequently to be met with. During the rainy 

 season especially, when many of their rural and 

 suburban haunts are flooded, one may even yet 

 occasionally be suddenly awakened by their fiendish 

 cries as they quest round the house in search of 

 food, or may hear the calling of a pack far off, 

 and softened down in transit to such a degree as 

 to be not unpleasant, or even almost melodious, in 

 the stillness of an airless night, when the silence 

 is otherwise unbroken save by the ceaseless whir 

 of insect life and the explosive concerts of the 

 frogs in the pools. Palm-cats and small civets now 

 and then visit the gardens, or may even establish 

 themselves and rear young families in them. They 

 would, doubtless, do so more frequently were it not 

 for the crows, who highly resent their presence, and 

 usually manage to put them to flight by dint of 

 persistent mobbing. Palm-squirrels abound in all 

 the outlying gardens, quarrelling with the parrots 

 over the monopoly of the ripening heads of sun- 

 flowers, and participating in the riotous drinking 

 parties that are held by many kinds of birds every 

 morning whilst the silk- cotton-trees are in bloom. 



