Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/150

124 gray squirrels that abound in Madras. These pretty little creatures live on the house-tops and in the verandah blinds, and claim a right to eat of all that grows upon the premises. Not content with injuring the fruit, they make inroads upon the provisions of the house when an opportunity occurs.

The crows are innumerable. They are not useless, for they clear the streets of garbage that might produce disease, but their impudence is quite provoking; they perch upon the housetops and trees, with their shining heads outstretched, and their keen eyes on the watch, so that nothing can be left uncovered with safety that suits their very accommodating appetites. When a fair opportunity occurs, they dart into the house, (which, it must be remembered, is almost without closed doors or glazed windows) thrust their bills into the butter, or take the bread from the plate. They do not hesitate to snatch a biscuit from a child's hand, and flying off, coolly to eat it on a neighbouring house-top.

Add bats, mice, muskrats, sparrows, and monkeys to the list of a Madras housekeeper's visitors, and you will believe that some care is needed in housekeeping, house-cleaning, and house-walking. Yet the evil is greater in ap-