120 INCREASE AND DISPERSAL OF BIRDS 



ducing the cries of the curlew, oyster catcher, 

 redshank and golden plover. One that some 

 years ago had been brought up from the nest, 

 and had learned to whistle correctly a bar or 

 two of an air and to articulate a few words, 

 including his own name, lived in an out-door 

 aviary on friendly terms with the other birds, 

 rabbits and squirrels. One day the door was 

 inadvertently left ajar and Jacko escaped, flying 

 to the tops of the lofty adjacent elms. When 

 his master was summoned he was evidently 

 enjoying the society of a chattering flock of 

 wild starlings, and his capture seemed hopeless. 

 Nevertheless, as soon as he heard the familiar 

 strains of his little tune whistled to him, he left 

 his new friends, descending in gentle spirals and 

 lighting on his master's shoulder, and so per- 

 mitted himself to be carried quietly once more 

 to his home. Though a fearless bird as a rule, 

 one day he got a terrible shock ; a large white 

 pigeon, which had turned up strayed and ex- 

 hausted, having been introduced into the aviary. 

 As soon as he saw this ghostly apparition he 

 fled shrieking into the innermost recesses of the 

 rabbits' hutch, burying himself in the hay with 

 piteous exclamations of ' Poor Jacko ! Poor 

 Jacko ! ' The unsophisticated black man is said 

 to regard a white man, when first he sees him, as 



