190 FEATHERED FRIENDS. 



rid of it, but " for no fault", as ladies say of their 

 cooks in the advertisements in the Times, and during 

 all that time, sufficient to test the endurance of any 

 bird, it enjoyed the most robust health, and remained 

 in "the pink of condition", moulting regularly and 

 easily every year. 



My specimen was a female, and a remarkably quiet 

 bird, but vivacious nevertheless, which sounds somewhat 

 paradoxical, but what I mean is that it never screamed or 

 made disagreeable noises, though it was lively and active, 

 and extremely fond of carpentry, for which reason, to 

 save the perches in its cage, a piece of soft wood was 

 always kept fixed up, on a level with the topmost 

 perch, across one corner of its abode, and when it was 

 not eating, bathing or sleeping, Pilate, as we called the 

 bird, shortly, for Pileated, v/as busily engaged in making 

 minute chips of the piece of timber in question. 



When let out of "his" cage we always used the 

 masculine pronouns when speaking of Pilate, although 

 really the bird was a female "he" would take a 

 rapid flight several times round the room and would 

 then alight on the top of an old-fashioned mirror that 

 stood over the mantelpiece, the top of which, by 

 degrees, was converted into splinters, until at last 

 the paramount authority in the dwelling rose in arms 

 and decreed that such devastation should no longer be 

 permitted. 



Poor Pilate was accordingly condemned to banish- 



