SQUIRRELS, RATS, PORCUPINES, ETC. 313 



food, but led to the acquisition of much bakshish; 

 for, at the close of each day's work, its product, in 

 the form of earthen pots full of rats, was regularly 

 brought to me in order to let my dogs have the 

 pleasing excitement of a hunt on the flat terraced 

 roof of the superintendent's house, or in a bath-room 

 in event of excessive rain. The men certainly had a 

 very good time of it ; they earned regular pay for 

 light labour that provided them with desirable food, 

 frequent bakshish, and all the entertainment of wit- 

 nessing a rat hunt every evening. 



Bengal porcupines, Hystrix bengalensis, certainly 

 occur in the immediate neighbourhood of Calcutta, 

 as they are occasionally brought into the town for 

 sale by the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. 

 I have, however, neither seen them in any of 

 the suburban gardens, nor heard any complaints of 

 their doing any serious damage there, like that 

 which is so often caused by the great porcupine, 

 H. leucura, in the gardens of other parts of India. 

 I once tried one as a pet, but found it a hopelessly 

 stupid and unfriendly animal, although, owing to 

 voracious greed, it very soon became quite tame. 

 In dealing with it, it was always necessary to be 

 prepared for the chance of its making one of those 

 precipitate and blindfold assaults that porcupines are 

 apt to commit when suddenly startled, in the course 

 of which they abruptly erect their spines, make a 

 noise like that of an engine blowing off steam, and 



