60 



walk upon the grass by choice ; and it required a strong 

 temptation to induce him to step off the gravel. Mon- 

 tagu's account of this bird forms an interesting illustration 

 of the general habits of the species : " His curiosity is 

 beyond bounds, never failing to examine anything new to 

 him : if the gardener is pruning, he examines the nail -box, 

 carries off the nails, and scatters the shreds about. Should 

 a ladder be left against the wall, he instantly mounts, and 

 goes all round the top of the wall ; and, if hungry, de- 

 scends at a convenient place, and immediately travels to 

 the kitchen window, where he makes an incessant knock- 

 ing with his bill till he is fed or let in ; if allowed to 

 enter, his first endeavour is to get up stairs ; and if not 

 interrupted, goes as high as he can, and gets into any 

 room in the attic story ; but his intention is to get upon 

 the top of the house. He is excessively fond of being 

 caressed, and would stand quietly by the hour to be 

 smoothed ; but resents an affront with violence and effect, 

 by both bill and claws, and will hold so fast by the latter, 

 that he is with difficulty disengaged. Is extremely at- 

 tached to one lady, upon the back of whose chair he will 

 sit for hours ; and is particularly fond of making one in a 

 party at breakfast, or in a summer's evening at the tea- 

 table in the shrubbery. His natural food is evidently the 

 smallest insects : even the minute species he picks out of 

 the crevices of the walls, and searches for them in summer 

 with great diligence. The common grasshopper is a great 

 dainty, and the fern-chaffer is another favourite morsel : 

 these are swallowed whole ; but if the great chaffer be 

 given to him, he places it under one foot, pulls it to pieces, 

 and eats it by piecemeal. Worms are wholly rejected ; 

 but flesh, raw or dressed, and bread, he eats greedily, and 

 sometimes barley with the pheasants, and other granivo- 

 rous birds occasionally turned into the gardens, and never 



