186 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



of captivity. Like most pets, some of them became 

 troublesome, and got into trouble, too. From hunt- 

 ing in the garden, they considered themselves in 

 time its sole guardians ; children, dogs, and cats 

 were neither required nor allowed from their point 

 of view. This idea they worked out at times by 

 their bills, vulture-like cutting- machines, to their 

 own satisfaction, if not to that of their victims. 

 Accidents occurred that did not always end well for 

 the cobs. If one of the young folks went to have 

 a look at the last litter of pigs, for instance, and 

 the cob slipped up behind and nipped a piece out 

 of his bare leg, a scrub broom was apt to be used 

 in retaliation at random about the cob's body. Or 

 a little maid just in her teens, rejoicing in a pair 

 of the substantial boots made by our local cobbler, 

 might have her leg bitten just above the tops of 

 them, which would draw on the unlucky bird such 

 a kick from the metal toetips that he would meditate 

 with ruffled plumage on the rough ways of the 

 world for the rest of the day. So our cobs were 

 short-lived generally, and had to be frequently 

 replaced. 



On the boats they took fish freely from the hands 



