A NATURALISTS NOCTUARY. 65 



flowers, even, have had to become nocturnal, since they 

 depend upon moths for cross-fertilisation. Such flowers 

 are invariably white, so as to be as conspicuous as possible, 

 and they, at the same time, emit a powerful, but sweetly- 

 fragrant, scent to allure their insect visitors. One cannot 

 help feeling sorry for such plants and animals, for in 

 England the majority of nights are cold and raw. How 

 much better would it be for all parties prey and devourer 

 if they would call a Geneva Convention or Hague Con- 

 ference, and at it mutually bind themselves to give up their 

 dissolute nocturnal habits. In India the matter is different. 

 In most parts of the country, and during the greater por- 

 tion of the year, the nights are the only time when existence 

 is tolerable ; and even this is not true of some nights, for 

 which one cannot say more than that they are less evil than 

 the day. Small wonder then that many Indian animals are 

 nocturnal from choice. The majority of those whose habits 

 are diurnal take a siesta during the middle of the day, when 

 the sun attains its maximum power. Such creatures are 

 nocturnal in the sense that babies are. Having spent the 

 major portion of the day in slumber, they cannot be expected 

 to sleep throughout the night, and so they busy themselves 

 in disturbing the repose of the human being who does wish 

 to pass the night in sleep. 



It is not an easy matter to draw a hard-and-fast line 

 between nocturnal animals and those who seek their food 

 during the day. Many creatures, such as the tiger, the 

 elephant, and the bear, may be said to be semi-nocturnal, 

 since they sleep during the middle of the day, and make up 

 for this by being active during part of the night. Still 

 more nocturnal in their habits are the leopards and jungle- 

 cats, which are but rarely seen abroad during the day. It 

 is on account of this night-roving propensity of so many 

 beasts of prey, to which must be added the existence of two- 

 legged cattle-lifters, that natives so regularly drive their 

 cattle into the byre at sunset. One might pass through 

 half India by night without coming across a single cow 



