236 BOMBAY DUCKS 
done an honest day’s work in my life!” He stands all 
day, presumably because he is too lazy to sit, looking as 
though he were thinking of his grandmother, or posing 
for his photograph. He does not often condescend to 
seek his prey. He prefers to wait for the food to come 
to him, which it seems to do with unfailing regularity. 
The bird is a philosopher, his philosophy being of the 
description enunciated in the well-known song entitled 
“You've got to have ‘em, whether you want ’em or not” 
(the “’em” in this case denoting mothers-in-law, measles, 
etc.). Although he does not strictly follow the advice 
to open his mouth and shut his eyes and see what 
somebody sends him—for it is utopian, impossible of 
attainment—he does what in the end comes to much 
the same thing. He stands with his mouth shut and 
eyes open until a juicy frog passes his way, when he 
seizes and swallows it. 
Up-country the paddy-bird is so absurdly tame as to 
receive the name of “blind heron.” Those that dwell 
in Madras are far more wary. I suspect that they are 
highly esteemed as table-birds by the unsophisticated 
Madrassi ; hence the unusual shyness. 
The paddy-bird flies as little as possible. He takes 
the minimum amount of exercise necessary to keep 
himself in good health, just sufficient, indeed, to stave 
off attacks of liver. During most of the day he takes 
up his position in some puddle, where he stands motion- 
less for hours, by preference in a strange attitude. He 
would make a perfect artist’s model. If he could only 
look pleasant he would be a subject after the heart of 
the photographer. But so sad a bird is he that I fear 
