SPARROWS, WAGTAILS, AND PIPITS 193 



Nothing short of personal experience can enable 

 any one to realise the difficulty there is in convincing 

 a pair of sparrows that they are not to be allowed 

 to do so. Again and again one may spend a weary 

 half-hour chasing a scolding, chattering bird round 

 and round the room, driving it from the cornice to 

 the punkha-frame and back, until at last it is driven 

 to take refuge in some almost inaccessible fast- 

 ness in the former. Nothing short of a flaming 

 torch of paper attached to the end of a long billiard- 

 cue or a fishing-rod will then suffice to expel it, 

 and, if at length success crown your efforts and the 

 bird flies cursing from the room, the respite is but 

 brief, as either it or its mate is sure to be back again 

 almost at once, scolding away as madly as ever. 

 Should the birds be allowed to gain the day, a 

 period of relative peace ensues while building, 

 hatching, and rearing are going on, so that it would 

 almost seem to be a waste of eflbrt to interfere with 

 the establishment of a nest. Any such dream is, 

 however, rudely dissipated when the young birds are 

 ready to leave their nursery, and the old ones, in a 

 frenzy of parental anxiety, furiously resent the pre- 

 sence of any one in the room, and fill the air with an 

 insistent and ear-splitting torrent of bad language. 

 In these circumstances hatred to sparrows rises to 

 a pitch that almost equals that of one's wonted 

 animosity to crows, and even a tender-hearted man 

 is driven to murderous measures. A long driving- 



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