me quote his own words on the subject of his interest- 

 ing pet : — " It came into my possession in rather a 

 "curious way, having flown on board a ship in the 

 " North Sea. Being secured by a sailor it had one 

 " wing cut, and was given the run of the deck. When 

 '* I had it given to me I had a large wire pen made for 

 " it in the garden. It never became really tame, but 

 *' distinguished me from other people. When it 

 "moulted and grew new feathers in its wings, I 

 " thought it was a pity to keep it in solitary confine- 

 " ment, so let it out in the earl}^ autumn to join its 

 "wild brethren. I was rewarded by its return to its 

 "cage as soon as the hard winter weather set in, and, 

 " for many winters after, Jack, as we called it, came 

 " regularly to his old cage for the food placed there. 

 " I never was more surprised in my life than the first 

 " time I saw him come to the garden in the snow and 

 " go into his old empty pen. He walked in in the 

 " most unhesitating manner, hopped on to his 

 " accustomed perch, and gave his feathers a shake. I 

 " at once got some food and went up the garden. As 

 " soon as he saw me coming he slipped out of the 

 "cage and flew away to a tree about a hundred yards 

 " off, but beiore I was back in the house he was on the 

 " top of the pen, hard at work on the plate of food. 

 " Another interesting point is that, before this episode, 

 " our gardens had never been a resort of Rooks, even 

 "in the winter, being too near to houses; but after 

 " this they used to come, perhaps half-a-dozen at a 

 " time, and watch Mr. Jack on or in his cage. I may 

 " say that after his return I never shut him in the 

 " cage. Now and then one of them w^ould make an 

 "attempt to alight on the cage, but Jack always 



