72 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



or adventures, to be treated in the book they must be 

 left out. Or all but one given here for a special reason. 

 This is the case of a jackdaw which was found last 

 year, unable to fly, and taken home by a boy in the 

 village of Tilshead in the South Wiltshire downs. In 

 a very few days the bird recovered from his weakness 

 and was perfectly well and able to fly again, but he 

 did not go away; and the reason of his remaining ap- 

 peared to be not that he had been well treated but 

 because he had formed an extraordinary attachment, not, 

 as one would naturally suppose, to the boy who had 

 rescued and fed him but to another, smaller boy, who 

 lived in the next cottage! It was quite unmistakable; 

 the bird, free to go away if he liked, began to spend 

 his time hanging about the cottage of his chosen little 

 friend. He wanted to be always with him, and when 

 the children went to school in the morning the daw 

 would accompany them, and flying into the schoolroom 

 after them settle himself on a perch where he would 

 sit until the release came. But the proceedings were 

 always too long for his patience, and from time to 

 time he would emit a loud caw of remonstrance, which 

 would set the children tittering, and eventually he was 

 turned out and the door shut against him. He then 

 took to sitting on the roof until school was over, where- 

 upon he would fly down to the shoulder of his little 

 friend and go home with him. In the same way he 

 would follow his friend to church on Sunday morning, 

 but even there he could not repress his loud startling 

 caw, which made the congregation smile and cast up 



