BIRDS IN THE CALENDAR 



as alleged, fall upon a wounded comrade 

 and destroy it. Wishing to satisfy himself 

 on the point, Houssay, having come upon 

 some ducks in a small pond, deliberately 

 pelted them with stones till he had wounded 

 one of their number. Instead, however, of 

 behaving as he had been led to expect, the 

 rest of the ducks formed close order round 

 the wounded bird and sheltered it from 

 further harm. 



Few domestic animals none, possibly, 

 with the single exception of the camel are 

 less suggestive of " pets " than such gross 

 poultry, yet even a gander, the most vicious 

 tempered of them all, has been known to 

 show lasting gratitude for an act of kindness. 

 The bird, which had long been the terror of 

 children in the little Devonshire village near 

 which it lived, managed one day to get 

 wedged in a drain, and there it would eventu- 

 ally have died unseen if a passing labourer 

 had not seen its plight and set it at liberty. 

 Down to the day of its death the bird, 

 though nowise relinquishing its spiteful 

 attitude towards others, followed its rustic 

 benefactor about the place like a dog. 

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