In My Bird Sanctuary. 119 



do, though it is so long- before the breeding season, the duck 

 and drake come together again and spend the whole of the 

 autumn and v\inter displaying every sign of affection in each 

 oiler's company. 



The greatest instance of this I have seen I will tell you of. 

 It was a Red-crested Pochard — a British species, though a very 

 rare one. ( )ne drake that 1 reared was never pinioned so that 

 lie could fly. I had him for over ten years, and during all that 

 time he had never been away once. He mated with a duck, a 

 bird of his own species, but which had been pinioned and could 

 not fly. He spent years with her. and had every appearance 

 of being happy and contented. One day, early in the year. 

 Lis mate was injured by some vermin and practically ripped 

 open on one side. She sat on the bank for two days, perfectly 

 helpless, and there he sat by her. She was so much injured 

 that I had her caught and put out of her pain. There was 

 another female pinioned red-crested pochard unmated, and I 

 thought, of course, he would mate with her; but he would pay 

 no attention to her. He spent, if I recollect the time — it was 

 some years ago — two or three weeks flying about with every 

 sign of restl^'ssiiess and distress from one pond to another, 

 looking" everywhere for his old mate. I had had him for some 

 ten years, and he had never gone away, but now, aftei two or 

 three weeks he went. He flew away, and I never saw nan again; 

 it was as if he had gone on an endless search of the world for 

 the mate lie had lost. 



That sort of thing is very interesting, for it shows the 

 great natural affection which exists amongst birds of a high]\^ 

 developed and intelligent species. To me it is a clear proof 

 ot the fact that the relationship between the more highly 

 developed birds is one of real domestic happiness, not confined 

 to the breeding season only and the reproduction of species. 



I know that swans become attached to eacli other. ^'ou 

 can see it is so. They do become permanently attached to each 

 other, and have domestic happiness, which plays a large part in 

 their lives, quite apart from the breeding season. 



Length of Life: Perhaps you would like to know how 

 long this sort of bird will Hve. A great many of my birds are 

 unpinioned and fly away, but in the case of a pinioned bird you 



