egg-lifter had to thank a pair of kites that attacked the eagle and
caused her to drop that article while defending herself from their
onslaught.

DECEMBER

Striped squirrels raced; the mynas perked and pricked,
The seven sisters chattered in the thorn,
The pied fish-tiger hung above the pool,
The egrets stalked among the buffaloes,
The kites sailed circles in the golden air;
About the painted temple peacocks flew.
ARNOLD, _The Light of Asia_.

In the eyes of the Englishman December in Northern India is a month of
halcyon days, of days dedicated to sport under perfect climatic
conditions, of bright sparkling days spent at the duck tank, at the
snipe _jhil_, in the _sal_ forest, or among the Siwaliks, days on
which office files rest in peace, and the gun, the rifle and the rod
are made to justify their existence. Most Indians, unfortunately, hold
a different opinion of December. These love not the cool wind that
sweeps across the plains. To them the rapid fall of temperature at
sunset is apt to spell pneumonia.

The average villager is a hot-weather organism. He is content with
thin cotton clothing which he wears year in year out, whether the
mercury in the thermometer stand at 115 degrees or 32 degrees.
However, many of the better-educated Indians have learned from
Englishmen how to protect themselves against cold; we may therefore
look forward to the time when even the poorest Indian will be able to
enjoy the health-bringing, bracing climate of the present month.

By the 1st December the last of the spring crops has been sown, most
of the cotton has been picked, and the husbandmen are busy cutting and
pressing the sugar-cane and irrigating the poppy and the _rabi_
cereals.

The crop-sown area is covered with a garment that, seen from a little
distance, appears to be made of emerald velvet. Its greenness is
intensified by contrast with the dried-up grass on the grazing lands.
In many places the mustard crop has begun to flower; the bright yellow
blooms serve to enliven the somewhat monotonous landscape. In the
garden the chrysanthemums and the loquat trees are still in flower;
the poinsettias put forth their showy scarlet bracts and the roses and
violets begin to produce their fragrant flowers.

The bird choir is composed of comparatively few voices. Of the
seasonal choristers the grey-headed flycatchers are most often heard.
The fantail flycatchers occasionall