BIRDS OF THE NIGHT 209 



willow herb and burdock leaves at the stream- 

 side, where they sparkled like gems in the 

 sunlight. 



To return to Hooter, after the episode of the 

 duckling all went well with him for twelve 

 months or more. He continued on intimate terms 

 with all the family. He occasionally got into 

 scrapes, such as finding a way from the attics 

 into the space between the roofs, wherein he 

 could >be heard pattering about, but from 

 which he would not descend. A dusty trap- 

 door had at length to be prized open, when, 

 tempted by the offer of a mouse, he flew down 

 to me. He several times flew out into the 

 garden, but returned through an open window 

 in fact, he appeared to have no inclination to 

 go away ; but the time came when he had to 

 be exiled to an outbuilding. The trouble began 

 through a housemaid taking a brush and 

 sweeping Hooter off his roosting place one morn- 

 ing, when she wanted to turn out the sitting- 

 room from that time forward he bore all 

 women who wore white caps a fixed grudge. He 

 would wait on the tops of doors until he saw 

 a maid coming, and then drop silently on to her 

 head, when, having given her a great fright, he 

 would fly hooting away. Soon all the servants 

 were in terror of the bird ; not that he hurt them, 

 but his sudden and quite unexpected descent 

 was so startling ! The climax came when he 

 mistook my father's bald head for a white cap 

 coming ! That finished it, he had to go, and I 



14 



