BIRTH OF TOMMY 75 



and the sun and everyone who passes by, showing 

 its round face at its door and even coming out, at 

 odd times of the day, to stare and bob and play the 

 clown. It does not cry " Tuwhoo, Tuwhoo," as the 

 poets would have it, but laughs, jabbers, squeaks 

 and chants clamorous duets with its spouse. 



All this I knew. I had also gathered from his 

 public appearances that a spotted owlet is happy in 

 his domestic life and that he is fond of fat white 

 ants, for, when their winged swarms were flying, 

 I had seen him making short flights from his perch 

 in a tree and catching them with his feet ; and I 

 believed that he fed in secret on mice and lizards. 

 But all that did not amount to understanding an 

 owl, as I discovered when Tommy became a member 

 of our chummery. 



Tommy was born in " the second city of the 

 British Empire," to wit, Bombay, in the month of 

 March, 1901. His birthplace was a hole in an old 

 " Coral " tree. Domestic life in that hole was not 

 conducted with regularity. Meals were at uncertain 

 hours and uncertain also in their quantity and 

 quality. The parents were hunters and were absent 

 for long periods, and though there was incredible 

 shouting and laughter when they returned, they 

 came at such irregular times that we did not suspect 

 that they were permanent residents and had a 

 family. One night, however, Tommy, being pre- 

 cocious and, as we discovered afterwards, keen on 

 seeing life, took advantage of parental absence to 



