Reminiscences. 253 



him (his name was J oily) and he came back, but 1 had to chmb 

 a tree before I actually got him on my hand. Once there he 

 never attempted to fly away. lie hated being" held. Origin- 

 ally he had a good temper, but my aviary boy got ner\ous when 

 he flew on to him and wished him good morning. Doubtless 

 he gave the boy's ear a little tweak, a trick he was rather given 

 to. quite in fun, but never to hurt, and the youth, who was not 

 noted for his courage or valour, used to drive him away. This 

 made Jolly a little inclined to nip at times, but never those whoni 

 he really knew. Mine nested, but never hatched out. and 

 thereby hangs a tale. A beautiful Mealy Rosella shared the 

 same aviary, but although he had the clothing of a sheep he 

 had the heart of the blackest villain. Moreover, he was as sly 

 as a fox. and never manifested his murderous tendencies when 

 I was about. I sold him once, but the person who was 

 supposed to have bought him sent him back, as he had not got 

 blue cheeks. This so annoyed the Rosella that on his return 

 he ran amok and killed poor Joey, all but killed Sarah, his wife, 

 and then killed m\- hen Malabar Parrakeet, who was herself 

 nursing- a baby Malabar, than whom there never was a more 

 inoffensive bird in existence. This was another blow to me, 

 and my opinion of jieople who buy birds properly descril)ed, 

 keep them for ten days, although not sent on approval, an.l 

 then return them saying" " they havn't g"ot blue cheeks "is better 

 imagined than described. Sometimes I think I will have 

 another Joey and Sarah, but. I ask myself, would it be loyal 

 to my old friends to supplant them in my memory? I once 

 g'ot as far as ordering- a pair, but nine guineas seemed rather a 

 big- price. I was living in a hotel at the time, and so I decided 

 to let Joey and Sarah reign supreme in my memory for a little 

 longer at any rate. 



Xow all these birds were absolutely differetU in 

 character; the Xightingale showed dog-like faithfulness, but 

 wanted to be treated as a friend standing in the same place 

 as I did. The Sugarbird was a partner and told me all her 

 troubles, and, woman-like, leant on me to help her through. 

 The Orange-flanks were of the familiar friend type, so aptlv 



