66 ANIMALS OF NO IMPORTANCE. 



or buffalo, except stolen ones. This procedure of being 

 locked up for the night must seem strange to the cattle, for 

 they are naturally nocturnal animals, as any one can verify 

 for himself by taking a moonlight walk through some pas- 

 ture lands in England. The cattle will almost invariably be 

 found to be feeding. But if Indian cattle are not allowed to 

 indulge in their nocturnal predilections, the rest of the fauna 

 makes ample amends. No sooner have the crows ceased 

 to caw and the flies desisted from their teasing, than the 

 jackals begin to howl, and the mosquitos to commence their 

 campaign. 



I do not feel competent to decide to which animal 

 should be given the title of champion-ma ker-of-the-n ight- 

 hideous. I have given much thought to the matter, but 

 so many animals are able to advance such weighty claims 

 that I consider that the matter should remain in abeyance 

 until a plebiscite of every Anglo-Indian be taken. The 

 jackals would be well in the running, for they, like the 

 poor, are always with us. Changes of temperature ap- 

 parently have no effect on them ; their yells are equally 

 energetic with the thermometer at zero or dancing about 

 in the nineties. In the day time the jackal is a quiet 

 animal. He spends most of it in sleep, and when he is 

 awake and moving he does so silently and alone or with 

 but one friend. At night, however, they act on the prin- 

 ciple that " union is strength," and collect together in great 

 packs of which every member is obliged to try to shout 

 down all the rest without an interval until morning light 

 appears. The only weak point in the jackal's claim to the 

 title is that he can be only in one place at a time. If each 

 jackal could contrive to be simultaneously in two hundred 

 places, I should have no hesitation in awarding him the 

 night-disturbing prize. As it is, the claims of other crea- 

 tures must be considered. 



The frogs on account of their raucous croakings are 

 powerful competitors. There are so many of them that 

 they do not need to be in several places at once. The flaw 



