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The Duchess of Bedford



in any outside shed in winter. Fortunately I have a small room

indoors, which is slightly heated. In a recess, a thick natural perch

is fixed across, on which Penini sleeps ; a curtain over the window,

and a screen to prevent his jumping down, till I fetch him in the

morning, complete the arrangement for his and our comfort. At

dusk he will walk in at the front door and solemnly proceed upstairs

to bed. These birds, more than tame as they are, dislike being

handled or carried, except when allowed to step on one’s wrist.

On the other hand, they will jump on to one’s lap, and love to

have the head and neck stroked and caressed. They are most

affectionate, but differ from the monkey, who gives all his love to

me alone.


Trumpeters will be friends with and make much of the

merest strangers, and are interested in any human being who opens

the gate, be he postman or dustman or errand boy. They will run

up and welcome him with pretty twittering sounds, but the louder

real trumpeting note is reserved usually for small children with bare

legs. Unless they are old enough for stockings it is unwise to have

them in the garden, and both my birds have attacked children’s legs

quite fiercely, tears being the consequence. Nothing seems to excite

these birds more, except the sight of a dog or cat.



SPRING BIRD-NOTES FROM VARIOUS

SCOTTISH ISLANDS.


By The Duchess of Bedford.


The following notes have been made during two cruises

round the north and west coasts of Scotland this summer, 1914.


My yachting season began with the usual spring visit to Fair

Isle on the 29th April. The north-west wind, which favours land¬

ing on this often inacessible island, is not the one which is most

conducive to the arrival of migrant birds, and it was not until the

8th of May that any number of them appeared.


On that day, when the wind had been blowing strongly for


[Reprinted by kind permission of the Editor from The Scottish Naturalist,

August, 1914 .]



