298 HAMPSHIRE DAYS 



him, tossed them so as to cause them to fall near him, 

 and he saw and knew what they were, and swallowed 

 them hungrily ; and he saw, too, that they were thrown 

 to him by a hand, and that the hand was part of that 

 same huge grey-clad monster that had a little while 

 back so furiously hunted him ; and at once he seemed 

 to understand the meaning of it all, and instead of 

 flying from he ran to meet us, and, recovering his voice, 

 called to be fed. The experience of one day made him 

 a tame bird; on the second day he knew that bread 

 and milk, stewed plums, pie-crust, and, in fact, anything 

 we had to give, was good for him ; and in the course of 

 the next two or three days he acquired a useful know- 

 ledge of our habits. Thus, at half-past three in the 

 morning he would begin calling to be fed at the bed- 

 room window. If no notice was taken of him he would 

 go away to try and find something for himself, and 

 return at five o'clock when breakfast was in prepara- 

 tion, and place himself before the kitchen door. Usually 

 he got a small snack then ; and at the breakfast hour 

 (six o'clock) he would turn up at the dining-room 

 window and get a substantial meal. Dinner and tea 

 time twelve and half-past three o'clock found him 

 at the same spot; but he was often hungry between 

 meals, and he would then sit before one door or window 

 and call, then move to the next door, and so on until 

 he had been all round the cottage. It was most amus- 

 ing to see him when, on our return from a long walk 

 or a day out, he would come to meet us, screaming 



