320 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



watching for a door or window of the parlour 

 to be opened to let the air in, and that was the 

 room mother was so careful about, and every 

 time he got in he'd fly straight to the mantel- 

 piece, which was covered with photographs and 

 ornaments. They were mostly those little things 

 — pigs and dogs and parrots and all sorts of 

 animals made of glass and china, and the jackdaw 

 would begin to pick them up and throw them 

 down on to the fender, and of course he broke a 

 lot of them. That made mother mad, and she 

 scolded him and told him to get rid of the bird. 

 So he wrapped it up so as it shouldn't know where 

 it was going and went off two or three miles along 

 the coast, and let it go where there were other 

 daws. It flew off and joined them, and he came 

 home. That afternoon Jackie came back, and 

 they wondered how he had found his way. 

 Father said 'twas plain enough, that the bird had 

 just followed the coast till he got back to Deal, 

 and there he was at home. He said the only 

 way to lose it was to take it somewhere away 

 from the sea ; so he wrapped it up again and took 

 it to his Aunt Ellen's at Northbourne, about 

 five miles from Deal. His aunt told him to carry 



