154 HOOPER. 
he would see her, come up from the water, wait at the gate 
to be let in, and then come up and lie down close to her. 
Never so happy as when near us, he would sit under the 
windows or on the steps for hours, if allowed, and each 
year increased his attachment and sagacity. 
After being with us for upwards of six years, to our great 
distress, on coming down to breakfast one morning, we dis- 
covered poor Dan standing upon the steps of the front 
door, with his head and neck covered with blood, the skin 
under his lower mandible being torn from the bone and 
hanging down, as was his tongue from having nothing to 
support it. The first thing we thought of was to sew the 
skin on again, in the hope of its adhering to the bone; 
but neither this nor other endeavours to effect a cure suc- 
ceeded, and the poor bird was in danger of being starved to 
death, as he had not the power of swallowing, even if he 
got the food into his mouth, having no use of his tongue. 
We were very loath to sign his death-warrant, and yet 
could think of no means of saving him; when one of the 
servants proposed the carpenter’s making a wooden bill for 
him; we acted on the suggestion, and had one made with 
holes drilled in it, and corresponding ones through the horny 
substance of his mandible, and fastened it on with wire. 
This contrivance answered admirably; he was able to eat as 
usual, and began to recover his good looks; but nothing 
would induce him from the time of his accident to remain on 
the water at night; he always came up to the house towards 
evening to go to rest, and was most persevering in his 
endeavours to obtain an entrance into his bed-place, and if 
he failed one way he would try another. Occasionally he 
would call under our sitting-room windows to be let in. In 
the morning he quietly marched down to the water, quite 
contentedly. What caused the accident we could never dis- 
cover, and can only suppose it to have been done by a 
stoat or polecat, as he had been seen more than once 
attacking the former, which were very numerous. 
The wooden bill answered admirably well for two or three 
months, when the wire by which it was fastened became 
corroded, and it dropped off; it had unfortunately been 
secured with brass or steel wire, instead of gold or silver; 
had it been done with either of the latter, in all probability 
poor Dan might yet have been alive, if not to tell his tale, 
to have shewn his wonderful cure; but as it was, we did 
