Mr. Hubert I). Astley,



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For some hours they absolutely refused to touch it, hungry

as they were, but on finding no fish was forthcoming, they

reluctantly took to the rabbit flesh, and in a day or two seemed to

have forgotten the taste of fish.


As the winter wore on, abating nothing of its severity and

bitter cold, the egrets began to show signs of a lack of robustness,

so that I was glad indeed when I was able in the middle of April

to give them their liberty. Yet still for a week or so they returned

to their winter quarters for the night, having to walk along a paved

path, through a wicket oak gate, and across a bit of lawn to the

aviary door.


Then came an evening when they were not there. Fine

weather had come. They were hack on the willow boughs above

the water, side by side; and how they rejoiced when a fish diet was

once more set before them.


Then in May they moulted, and by the middle of June not

only was their plumage glistening in snowy whiteness, “ aigrettes,”

crest, and all, hut their feet became bright yellow, as well as the

skin about the nostrils and as far as the eyes. The legs are greenish.

And then they could fly ! Would they fly far? was my somewhat

anxious thought.


Their tameness is wonderful, and sometimes they have

perched on a window-sill of an open window, peering into the room

if they discovered I was there.


Every morning at 7.30 they stand outside the front door,

awaiting me for their breakfast. If I look out to tell them I will

fetch it, and then go indoors to a bath-room on the ground-floor,

where I keep a supply of live fish, the egrets immediately run ofl'

and take up their position just under the window of the bath-room.


If they see me on a stone bridge which spans the moat with

a fishing-rod in my hand, they fly on to the parapet and sit close to

me, eagerly watching for a catch of fish.


When I pull out the line they both stretch out their necks.

If I have missed the fish, they stand quiet; but if they see a fish on

the hook, they are immediately excited, and, rushing forward, seize

it directly I have it free. Dace of five inches in length they can

swallow whole if their appetite is keen, after which bulky mouthful



