ana 



to fifty feet, in two years, and when wreathed in 

 its great massive clusters of rich, white, open, 

 trumpet-shaped flowers, presents a truly gorgeous 

 spectacle. 



The lawn was usually rendered more attractive 

 by the graceful pose of a pair of cranes. At one 

 time I kept tall, gray Saras cranes, with red heads, 

 and at another time Demoiselle cranes and a 

 white-necked stork, a very wise and sedate bird. 

 They all lived in and stalked about the garden at 

 their own sweet will and naturally became very 

 tame. But the most characteristic and affection- 

 ate bird I ever kept is the great hornbill. 



I have had two specimens of this bird on differ- 

 ent occasions and both of them showed them- 

 selves of the same marked character and intelli- 

 gence. They both slept in a box nailed to the 

 wall, and the first one used to spend his day sitting 

 by the gatekeeper at the sill of the gateway. He 

 never once showed the least inclination to pass 

 that self-imposed barrier to explore the streets 

 of the town, though he would remain for hours 

 at a time intently watching all that passed 

 by in the outer world. Nothing disturbed his 



57 



