9404 Birds. 



throat; another followed, and was treated in the same manner, then 

 more, until no less than five had been thus disposed of. This num- 

 ber appeared to satisfy him, and, the whole neck being now enor- 

 mously distended, it was with difficulty that he waddled away to his 

 favourite corner of the coal-shed, where I left him sitting, face to the 

 wall, upon a lump of coal, the legs of the last starling still projecting 

 from the corner of his mouth. After this a bird was always a favourite 

 morsel, and he would follow me for a long distance when I happened 

 to be carrying a gun. Once I gave him, for a single meal, two bunt- 

 ings, a twite, a sparrow, two snow buntings, and a ringed plover, and 

 even then he followed me for more. Birds, fish and mice were always 

 swallowed head foremost. During the first two years he kept almost 

 entirely to the ground, only occasionally sitting upon a stone or a low 

 wall, but afterwards the roof of the house was preferred, from which 

 elevated position he used suddenly to pounce down, either to rob a 

 fish-basket or to scatter a company of feeding ducks. But this was 

 merely as a diversion, not as a necessity, for at the time when he first 

 took up his position on the roof, he also commenced regularly to pro- 

 cure his own meals, flying to the voe for that purpose, and, after 

 remaining there for an hour or two, returning to his former station by 

 the chimney. He never showed any desire to escape, but, on the 

 contrary, he became more and more attached to his human friends. 

 Strangers who attempted to handle him ran the risk of becoming 

 acquainted with the sharpness of his mandibles, and of being scared 

 by the unearthly croaking which always accompanied the bite. Being 

 one of his especial friends, I was permitted to stroke and handle 

 him with impunity, and he would even fly several hundred yards to 

 meet me when I called him. The kitchen fire was his great delight, 

 and he would bask near it for hours ; but at such times it was impru- 

 dent to leave either fish or flesh within his reach. Once he carried 

 off" a newly-skinned rabbit, and at another time he attacked a living 

 duck, and even succeeded in swallowing the head and part of the 

 neck before a rescue could be effected. He would sometimes extend 

 his explorations beyond the kitchen, wandering through the passages 

 as calmly as if the house were his own, but always betraying himself 

 by the loud flap, flap, of his great webbed feet upon the flags. For about 

 the first year of his life the iris of the eye was of a brownish colour, 

 then it became pale bluish green, and towards the end of the second 

 twelvemonth bright emerald-green. During the third year he rapidly 

 acquired his adult plumage, but just as this was approaching its per- 

 fection he was unfortunately killed by an old half-blind dog, which in 



