150 AUGUST 



at night ? You would be obliged to have them to 

 sleep with you, not to allow them to get cold ! " 



So that idea was discarded, and we had to put 

 up with the erratic hens, who either walked over 

 the eggs, and smashed them ; or fought with 

 another hen for her nest; or else left the eggs 

 to get cold. We succeeded, however, in raising a 

 good number of pretty yellow fluffy chicks, but the 

 vicissitudes they went through were so many, from 

 crows and kites, and snakes, and being stamped on 

 by their mothers, that really the Professor and I 

 were occupied nearly all day in attending to them. 

 I had over 100 at one time, and very promising 

 they looked, and most engaging to watch and feed, 

 but the Burra Sahib objected to seeing one before 

 him on a plate. He said he didn't like eating 

 pets ! One black hen, after being a great invalid for 

 some time with fever, and carried about in a basket 

 all day, became very tame. We would find her 

 every morning sitting under the breakfast table 

 waiting for us, and then she would meander about 

 begging from everybody, and reaching up on tiptoe, 

 with the dogs, to get little scraps from the master. 

 No amount of driving out would keep her away. 



