vi PREFACE 



find favour with the critics may perhaps be inferred 

 by the exception many of them took to the title of my 

 last book Bombay Ducks. 



While commending my view to their consideration, 

 I have on this occasion endeavoured to meet them by 

 resorting to a more orthodox designation. I am, doubt- 

 less, pursuing a risky policy. Most of the reviewers 

 were kind enough to say that Bombay Ducks was a 

 good book with a bad title. When criticising the 

 present work they may reverse the adjectives. Who 

 knows? - - 



