ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 53 



numbers that we often had narrow-necked bottles placed 

 about the table into which to drop them ; the bottles when 

 full — which they became speedily — were carried to a dis- 

 tance, shaken empty, and brought back to be refilled 

 at least twice during dinner, especially towards the rainy 

 season. At Coimbatore sometimes we could hardly eat our 

 dinner at all, for they flew in our faces and settled on our 

 plates, which could not well be kept covered. They are 

 pretty, pale green things, about one-third of an inch in 

 length and oblong in shape ; quite harmless, too, though 

 troublesome from their numbers and persistency. It 

 would seem that they are not good for birds to eat. A 

 shrike we had as a pet once tackled a green-bug, and the 

 next instant he was lying on his back kicking as if in a fit ; 

 but he soon recovered, happily for us as well as himself, 

 we being bound up in that shrike because of his perfect 

 tameness. It didn't matter to him whether he were picked 

 up by one foot or one wing, for he would soon right himself, 

 exactly as a kitten does ; he had no fear whatever at being 

 thus handled, and was full of play ; taking great liberties 

 himself, too, with one's ears or hands, sometimes nipping 

 a minute bit of the skin and twitching it clean out ! Yet 

 a coward to boot, for at the first sign of what he considered 

 danger he would be hiding in one's lap or close against 

 one somehow. So perfectly at home with us was he, and 

 also with the servants, that he travelled into camp with 

 us, being as free there as at headquarters, as he could 

 always be whistled back if he strayed farther than usual. 

 Constantly foraging for insects in the earth or the air, he 

 also liked to sample our plates, pecking at anything there 

 that he fancied ; if disapproving of what he tasted he 

 would drop it, and shake his head. He acquired odd 

 tastes, too, even to a liking for curry ; the rice he came 

 for regularly. Among insects white ants were quite his 

 favourites ; they are winged at a certain stage of their 



