192 BIRDS OF THE WATER 



breach of good manners. He fed, therefore, 

 at first out of courtesy and complacence, 

 on the only vegetation visible. This was 

 grass, and it was comical to w^atch him 

 plucking rather distastefully small mouth- 

 f uls of this uninviting ' ' tack, ' ' whilst the other 

 three were gobbling at their little squares 

 and cubes of bread. Several times he thus 

 fed with the others, hopping about and 

 apparently searching for something better 

 than the grass and daisy heads, of which 

 he partook sparingly and in a very half- 

 hearted fashion. At last one day he was 

 seen to pick up and swallow one or two 

 tiny crumbs, and this we considered another 

 great step in his education. After this my 

 dates are exact, for our hopes were growing 

 that we should be able to hand-feed and 

 tame a fully matured wild born bird, and 

 we were all very much interested. On 

 June 2nd he was again on the ground, and 

 this time attempted to secure a bit of bread 

 out of ''Uncle Harry's" beak. A day or 

 two after, and when once more on the 

 groimd with the others, "Uncle Harry" 

 was observed to feed him twice, turning 



