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brisk, the Bengalese never stirred from their perch 

 unless it was to feed. They took possession of a basket 

 nest in a corner of the cage, and would sit atthe opening 

 blinking lazily at their more energetic companions, 

 probably thinking — if it was not altogether beyond 

 them to do so — what foolish creatures they were to 

 skip about at all. Sometimes I felt quite wild with 

 them and would make them move ; but as the process 

 often disturbed some birds which were genuinely 

 resting, I generally let ihem follow their own 

 inclinations. Of course the inevitable result was 

 death by fits, the final manifestation of a condition 

 brought on by overfeeding and want of exercise. 



Soon after the Bengalese had departed I gave two 

 of the Mannikins to a friend, who thought very highly 

 of them ! (Needless to say he had not previously kept 

 foreign birds). Another Manuikin went in part 

 exchange for a cock Cordon Bleu. There was rather 

 an amusing incident in connection with my very 

 short possession of this bird. 



When I put him into the cage he flew to a perch 

 and sidled along until he had reached the wires, when 

 he calmly hopped through and sat outside ! I was 

 considerably astonished by the bird's matter of fact 

 manner, and after a little effort I caught him and placed 

 him back in the cage, having first squeezed together 

 the wires through which he had escaped, as they 

 seemed a trifle wider than the rest. But Master 

 Cordon Bleu was not a particular individual, and it 

 was apparently immaterial to him whether he went 

 out through those identical wires or any others. At 

 all events he did not trouble to ascertain whether the 

 same opening would suit his purpose again, but chose 

 the first he came to and hopped through once more, 

 wearing a calm " see-what-I-can-do-when-I-like" 

 expression that was very engaging in such a mite. 



As I could hardly spend the rest of my days 



