266



Mr. G. E. Low,



the small communication door was left open, the omission not being

observed when the outer door was opened to air the shelter in the

afternoon.


On returning from a short walk I was horrified to find the

aviary empty, and at the same time to distinguish Bob’s song of

triumph in the distance, floating on the breeze over fields and hedges,

the attraction of spending their honeymoon abroad with travelling so

cheap being altogether too much for them.


Anyone who has had an experience such as this will he able

to appreciate in a measure my feelings of blank despair and dis¬

appointment at that moment. A great piece of luck, however,

supplied me with the key to the situation, the bride being discovei’ed

sitting on a crossbar—unseemly attitude—in the greenhouse, looking

in no way discomposed, with door and windows wide open.


She consented to be transferred to a cage, and having fully

explained to her the situation we proceeded to search for the sporting

bridegroom.


I eventually marked him down in a thick thorn hedge in

rather a public locality, singing lustily at intervals, the quality of the

song being considerably ahead of his usual performances. He made

a very attractive picture, flitting about through the bright green

foliage, always at a discreet distance.


I deposited Kate on the gi’ass with an empty cage on the

top of hers, baited with mealworms and cockroaches, a wire being

attached to the door, which was propped open.


Making myself as scarce as possible I thought my sporting

friend would quickly come down, as he is usually so very tame.

Having tasted freedom, however, he was as wild as possible, and I

could see him regarding me from the middle of the hedge with a look

in his eye which seemed to convey : “ If you hadn’t got my un¬

fortunate little wife boxed up there, don’t flatter yourself I should

long remain hanging around in your neighbourhood.” However, the

attractions of cockroaches and mealworms, rather more I think than

those of Kate, were his undoing, and after over three hours’ patient

waiting he hopped into the unoccupied cage at just 7 p.m., and the

door was rapidly closed on a very disgusted bird—need I say with

what satisfaction to his owner ?



