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Mrs. Gregory,



might have been here for years and showed no fear or shyness.

But the hen bird remained weak for some time. Unlike most

small birds they seemed to understand the boundaries of their

domain and never hid in bushes or tried to escape, even if the gate

stood open. In some ways they reminded me of Cranes [in minia¬

ture] , for when not hunting for insects, or bathing, they stood in

repose on one leg and always preferred to be close beside the large

birds. Not eating the same food probably made them all more

friendly together. Teru eat worms, slugs, and all kinds of insects ;

in addition I gave them twice a day a little raw beef cut very finely.

After a few days they would eat from mv hand and liked to stand

close by me. They are intelligent and have no fear of strangers,

but they are too small to keep comfortably in a garden; I feared

cats and rats, but no doubt the presence of the big Cranes kept the

former away.


These little Patagonian Lapwing are made much of in their

own country, and the friend who sent them says almost everyone

keeps them, for they act as watch dogs and run up and call loudly

when anyone approaches the house. One thing I am sure of, they

would not like to be in an aviary, however large.


They are not to be compared as pets to Trumpeter Birds

[from the same country]. I wrote an article in the Avicultural

Magazine for 1908 on a Trumpeter Bird I then had for just over a

year. I am fortunate enough at the present time to possess another

one, which I call “ Penini,” and well he answers to his name. I

should like to say a little about him, for I do not think there

are any birds so interesting, intelligent, and fond of human beings

in general as the Trumpeters. My own bird never likes to be

without the company of humans : birds he does not care for, and

seems to be only interested in them when he helps me drive them

into their houses at night, and very excited and fierce he is with

them unless they obey instantly. He waits and watches for hours

outside the windows for someone to come out and walk, when he

follows up and down the paths like a dog, and indeed has been for

some distance on the road with me, and is fond of coming after me

into our Vicar’s garden, where he makes himself quite at home.

Now, it is not aviculture to write of monkeys, but I cannot help



