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0?i Some Garden Pets.



nuts, and of course flies and all insects. The Demoiselles are

very hardy and never go under any shelter, however stormy or

wet the weather. They sleep standing on one leg on the lawn

under my window, and sometimes they will spend the whole

night in a shallow pond in the depth of winter. They prefer to

be in the open, and do not go under bushes unless they are

ill. I had one Crane which went totally blind. It was partly

paralyzed when it came to me, but it was some time before the

blindness suddenly came on. It was touching to see a hen bird

leading it to the food and water. She never left the blind one,

and the two stayed together in a quiet corner of the garden.

She was a much older bird and had always protected this delicate

young one. I had him mercifully chloroformed by a doctor (in

his sleep) as I could not bear to have him without sight. He

liked me to sit by him and stroke him and I carried him about

in my arms.


Dick, my Flamingo, and the Crowned Cranes are very

friendly and sleep together in a sheltered house. A small passage

between two aviaries leads up to this house, and it is most con¬

venient for the Flamingo in frosty weather, for I notice when

there is frost on the grass he never likes to walk on it but stays

in the passage till it clears off. He feels safe and retired there

when the grass is being cut, and yet he is not shut up. His

bucket of soaked wheat and shrimps stands in the passage, and I

have never had the slightest difficulty in driving him gently

through it into his house beyond, when bedtime comes.


He takes his exercise several times a day walking up and

down the paths or racing over the lawn with a cantering step,

flapping his beautiful pink and black wings and baa-ing very

loudly. A Curlew, shy and wary of strangers but very tame

with me, is much attached to Dick, and it is amusing to see them

bathing together, the contrast in height is so funny. This little

bird has had more ‘ adventures.’


Since I wrote of them in the January number of the maga¬

zine, his wing healed and he was able to fly again. Something

one day startled him and he must have flown over the wall. I

did not miss him for an hour or two, and then was told he was in

a large field a quarter of a mile away. Several times I took him



