14 BOMBAY DUCKS 
live upon bigger game, which cannot be caught with- 
out much effort, no doubt often find that the day is 
none too long to enable them to obtain a sufficient 
meal. 
It is a merciful provision of nature that herbivorous 
animals, whose food is lying waiting for them on all 
sides, have to eat a terrific quantity in order to satisfy 
their hunger, otherwise such creatures would surely 
soon grow weary of life. Animals spend much time in 
sleep. The lower the development of the brain, the 
more repose its possessor seems to need. 
Some one has said that of the twenty-four hours 
a wise man requires to sleep seven, a woman eight, a 
child nine, and an idiot ten, The lower animals prob- 
ably slumber from twelve to fourteen hours a day. 
Most of them sleep from sunset to dawn, while almost 
every animal enjoys a prolonged rest during the heat 
of the day in the warmer weather. 
Only yesterday I was watching a wagtail hunting for 
insects amid the stones of a mountain stream. There 
was no beating about the bush with him; he meant 
business, and most methodical was his search. Then, 
quite suddenly, into his downy shoulders went his head, 
while one leg was retracted into his ruffled feathers, 
and, then and there, on a stone in midstream, he took 
forty winks. Presently he roused himself as suddenly 
and renewed the hunt. 
Every one must have noticed at the Zoological 
Gardens that, except at feeding-time, the majority of 
the animals are asleep. Of course, I am aware that 
such animals do not live natural or healthy lives, and I 
