86 



to his full height, and does exactly the same with his 

 wings. They always come up to the winter garden, 

 where we have tea, and the other day they walked in 

 at the door and ate cake out of our hands. The old 

 one is not so tame, and, though he comes near, will 

 not let us touch him : he has most lovely plumes. 

 The others have not yet got their adult plumage, and 

 are brown, with a sprinkling of grey feathers. 



The old Crane forsook the Flamingo as soon as 

 the new ones came. 



I have now got a splendid cock Flamingo and 

 also a pair of fine Rheas. These birds are all friendly 

 together, and have their liberty, but go into separate 

 places at night. 



The Flamingos spend most of their time in a 

 pond or stream. 



I find the Cranes are very fond of digging up 

 plants as soon as planted, and the}^ follow the 

 gardeners about and undo all they have just done. 

 But if the beds are wired round for a few weeks after 

 planting, they take no further notice of them when 

 the wire is removed. 



It is very pretty at tea time to see the Rheas, 

 Cranes, and Peafowl all assembled on the lawn 

 waiting for tea : they seem to know the exact hour. 



None of these birds have any heat in their houses 

 and are out all the winter, being only shut in at 

 night. I have seen the Flamingo standing for hours 

 in the pond, when there was a coating of ice on the 

 water. 



I am sorr}^ to say that since writing the above 

 the delicate Crane has died — it had been looking 

 rather dull, but died quite suddenly. 



