144



Mr. Goodfellow tells us (page 125) 01 the Tovi Parrakeets

following him and the Indian women, and always wanting to be

with him. A pair I had for some years treated me in a similar

way, following me about the aviary, perching on head, shoulders,

any spot on which they could obtain a footing. This looks very

pretty on paper, but it did not work out quite prettily in practice.

The female was a spiteful little wasp, and would seize hold of any

exposed piece of flesh she could reach, my ears and neck being

her favourite morsels ; and the male, excited and incited to evil

by this Jezebel, would join in most heartily. The more I dodged

about and tried to beat them off, the more waspish and Jezebelish

would they become, shrieking all the while at the top of their

voices like a couple of infuriated women. The male was really

a good-hearted fellow, but was superbly chivalrous, always

standing up for his wife. For some years, off and on, a six-foot

flight cage in my dining room was their home : and the end two-

foot door I would innocently open and would attend to the food,

the male sitting perfectly still on a perch opposite and rather

below me, the female being on her eggs at the other end. O11

one such an occasion the male suddenly dashed at my forehead

almost with the weight and violence of a thrown-up cricket

ball, half stunning me and making quite a respectable wound,

although the beak did not readily catch hold of the tightly-

drawn skin. For a few days I was very cautious, but, finding

him quite quiet, once more gave him an opportunity, of which

he promptly availed himself. Darting straight at me like a bolt

from a cross-bow, without cry or the slightest warning, he seized

me sideways across the centre of the upper lip, a little below the

nose, and hung on like a bulldog, the blood flowing inside

the mouth testifying to the bird’s long upper mandible having

gone well home. I think it is in “ Verdant Green,’’ in a Town and

Gown row at Oxford, that we are given an account of a Proctor

peeping cautiously out at a side door into the street, and having

his claret tapped by a playful member of the many-headed. As

he held his handkerchief up to the damaged member, in agonizing

tones he announced to the sympathizing undergraduates around

him, “ Gentlemen, this is painful, this is very painful.” Now, I

have been bitten by many birds and beasts, under varying cir¬

cumstances, and in various parts, but it is seldom that any

creature has found out such a tender spot in such a searching man¬

ner, and most feelingly could I have declared to an assembly of

my fellow aviculturists, “ Dadies and gentlemen, this is painful,

this is very painful.” I observe that some of you are laughing ;

well, if you do not believe me just try it for yourselves.



