ii 6 
A NATURALIST ON THE PROWL. 
those hungry mouths filled with tender green crickets all 
the day long? And at what other time could the infants, 
just learning to use their puny wings, have escaped the 
eye of the pitiless crow? But a time is coming when 
food will be scarce and the trees will be comparatively 
bare. Then the hawks will . make their nests, and their 
young ones will require to be fed with little birds all the 
day long. The water also will dry up, and there will 
only be one pool left, and the tiger will know it. Then 
the sambhur which has indulged too freely in the good 
things of this life will be the first victim. And the poor 
cattle ! They appeared to have made good progress in 
the art of living without food, but now they have quite 
forgotten the bitter lesson. When the time of tribula- 
tion returns, it will have to be learned afresh, and their 
fat sides will feel the stick all too keenly. 
