A tame Hunting Cissa.



63



looking at me, through a piece of thin perforated tin, a lovely bright

eye and saw also a scarlet beak. Before that bird was quite un¬

packed all the good resolutions were forgotten.


I must say he is the most delightful pet one could keep,

besides being so pretty. At present he is deep in his moult and

looks more like a porcupine than a bird.


Now as to his funny ways. The first thing' in the morning

he comes out in my room to be petted ; he likes to be held in your two

hands and stroked and told he is lovely, growling all the time. He

then helps himself to a small piece of butter off my tea tray, and

holds it in his mouth till nearly melted, when he swallows it with a

gulp. I take him on my hand into the bath-room, where he at once

takes a bath in tepid water, and sits on the back of a chair in the

sun to dry. Everything that is bright is carried away, and generally

my dressing table is denuded of all the smaller things. He buries

anything he likes very much, under a quilt or the corner of a cushion.

I have never met a bird so free from fear : the only thing he hates is

a dog, and the awful noise he makes, terrifies them as much as he is

terrified himself. I caught him carrying off a ring the other day,

and we had quite a fight before he would give it up.


I feed him on “ Perfecto,” Mr. Galloway’s food, and York

cheese, and he has a small bird such as a Sparrow when one is

caught, also some raw meat as he is moulting so heavily. He likes

raw peas in their pods, flies, and gentles. He found the mealworm

pan the other day, and I was wondering what mischief he was up to

as he was so quiet : I found him simply gorging as fast as he could

pick them out. He will also eat potato and rice.


I let him fly about as often as possible, and for a large bird I

have never noticed so little smell: he is very clean and, in fact, quite

a companion.



