450 



(ircajiional guks |rom ^thMm— |lo. II.' 



By J. A. GrAMMIE. 



Birds' nesting is hard work in most parts of the world, but 

 is particularly so in Sikkim, where the exclusively mountainous 

 nature of the country, and the dense, often almost impenetra- 

 ble, vegetation with its ticks, leeches and other troublesome 

 creatures make this pastime possible only to those able to 

 undergo considerable fatigue, and entertaining no great objec- 

 tion to ticks and leeches on their legs and bodies. To a fresh 

 arrival these appear insufferable, but after a time he gets used 

 to them, and can look on them as endurable, though disagree- 

 able pests. The amount of annoyance that the man who rides 

 any particular hobby hard can serenely endure from such like 

 pests whilst assiduously following his pet amusement, is some- 

 thing marvellous when compared with the small matter that 

 will put him in a towering rage at any other time. Though, 

 no doubt, naturally clever, his pest remedy is generally simpli- 

 city itself, and admirably calculated to raise the pitying smile 

 of the man without the hobby, who is consequently presuma- 

 bly sane, and not wholly beyond the reach of common sense. 

 One, I knew, whose hobby was botany, discovered what he 

 considered to be the very perfection of a cure for leeches. On 

 his return one evening from a very leechy jungle with a 

 bundle of rare plants, he, with a more than usually wise look, 

 and with the air of a man who has made a most useful dis- 

 covery, said, " Ah ! I have found out the way to puzzle the 

 leeches now." I at once was all attention, for although an old 

 acquaintance of the leeches, 1 have never taken kindly to them, 

 and could thoroughly appreciate a sovereign remedy for them. 

 After chuckling with glee and pride over his important dis- 

 covery, he delivered himself of his cure. '' You," he said, 

 " start in the morning with a pair of sharp pointed scissors ia 

 your pocket, and with your trousers doubled over the knees, 

 leaving the legs bare ; then, when a lot of leeches get fastened 

 to your legs, cut the creatures in two and they drop off without 

 leaving the bigger wound that pulling them off would cause ; 

 but mind, don't be in too great a hurry in removing the 

 coagulated blood as that would open the wounds afresh." On 

 seeing that I did not look on his discovery in so important 

 a light as he himself did, his countenance expressed great dis- 

 gust at my stupidity in failing to appreciate a really grand 



* For No, 1, vide S. F., V., 380. 



