40 COMMON BIRDS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



once they have betaken themselves to their roosts 

 they very rapidly settle down and never make a 

 din like that which issues nightly from a tree 

 tenanted by mynas ; they have, of course, had a 

 good talk beforehand, and, as they do not roost so 

 closely packed together as the mynas, there is less 

 occasion for disputes for the possession of particular 

 perches than there is among the latter birds. They 

 seem to sleep more soundly than mynas do, but 

 on moonlit nights occasional drowsy utterances 

 may be heard ; and, in event of a thunder-storm 

 with vivid lightning or violent gusts of wind, 

 sudden outbursts of expostulation occur at intervals. 

 At dawn they fully make up for any reticence 

 that they may have shown overnight; the clamour 

 is then truly astonishing and quite preventive of 

 sleep until use has inured one to it. I cannot 

 forget the feeling of almost desperate nervous 

 irritation that beset me for many weeks after I 

 had come into town from living in the Botanic 

 Garden, which in those days was practically free 

 from crows, to a house in a garden where dawn 

 was made hideous by crows. To any one in full 

 health the uproar may soon cease to be annoying, 

 but it remains a persistent source of trouble to 

 invalids by rousing them up at the very time at 

 which they have the best chance of a little 

 refreshing sleep. It is odd that so serious a 

 nuisance should be so passively endured as it is. 



