Birds. 517 



elm trees have been knoSvn by the name of the Jackdaw Grove 

 longer than I can remember, and continue to retain it. 



Doubtless, it is well known that the jackdaw can be 

 domesticated. He frequently is ; and a playful, merry, mis- 

 chievous little fellow he becomes. One that was hatched in 

 the grove before mentioned came into my possession as soon 

 as it was fledged, and I kept it for more than twelve months. 

 I fed it with cheese-curd, which, as a cheese was made in the 

 family on most days, I could readily procure. Jack soon 

 became the favourite of the family, and " fared sumptuously 

 every day." When he had become able to fly, he would 

 follow me or any of the family into the garden, or anywhere 

 near the house. Many a time has he perched on my shoulder, 

 and amused himself by preening the side of my head, and 

 sometimes giving me a nip on the ear; and then he would 

 call out " Jack ! " lustily, and put his powdered head know- 

 ingly on one side, and look in my face as if to see how I liked 

 it. The garden was his general haunt; there he would 

 amuse himself for hours looking for insects. Earwigs and 

 spiders were his favourite food. I recollect his leaving my 

 shoulder, and pouncing upon a large spider and its white bag 

 of eggs or young. The jackdaws from the tower of the 

 village church frequently flew round in circles, and seemed, 

 by their calls, to invite him to join their society ; but Jack 

 could not be persuaded to leave his abode. Still Jack, 

 although he made our house and outbuildings his home, was 

 not against visiting his neighbours. Many a thimble, por- 

 tion of thread, a spoon in one or more instances, or anything 

 that was portable, has Jack purloined from the adjoining 

 cottages, and concealed under the moss that grew on the 

 thatch of the barn. Jack, by this means, got a very ill word, 

 and if any little thing was missing, he was sure to be accused. 

 The ladder has been raised, his hoard searched, and the lost 

 goods returned. Jack was a very early riser, and w r ould 

 imitate the human voice. Early one morning in harvest, Jack 

 had made his way through a broken pane of glass into a 

 lodging-room, and Jack, finding the leg of one of the lodgers 

 uncovered, gave it a peck. The man got up swearing ven- 

 geance, but Jack made good his retreat. Not long after this, 

 I lost sight of poor Jack. I heard some years afterwards, 

 that an aunt of mine had caught him, and wrung off* his head. 

 — John Demon, senior. Waterbeach, September 25. 1833. 



A Magpie the Tips of whose Mandibles crossed each other in 

 the manner the Sides of the Letter x do, that is, decussated, 

 was, during part of 1831 and 1832, kept, by Mr. Douglas, of 

 the Swan Inn, Kensington Gravel Pits. The decussation 



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