STORY OF A JACKDAW 271 



and was going on at him when in flew the jackdaw 

 and came flop on her shoulder ! After that mother 

 and father said they'd keep the daw a little longer, 

 and then he could let it go at a distance where there 

 were other daws about. By and by they said they'd 

 let it stay where it was. Father liked a bloater for 

 his tea, and there was n'othing the jackdaw was 

 fonder of, so he was always on the table at tea-time, 

 eating out of father's plate. Then he got to be 

 troublesome. He was always watching for a door or 

 window of the parlour to be opened to let the air 

 in, and that was the room mother was so careful 

 about, and every time he got in he'd fly straight to 

 the mantelpiece, which was covered with photo- 

 graphs and ornaments. They were mostly those 

 little things — pigs and dogs and parrots and all 

 sorts of animals made of glass and china, and the 

 jackdaw would begin to pick them up and throw 

 them down on to the fender, and of course he broke 

 a lot of them. That made mother mad, and she 

 scolded him and told him to get rid of the bird. 

 So he wrapped it up so as it shouldn't know where 

 it was going and went off two or three miles along 

 the coast, and let it go where there were other daws. 

 It flew off and joined them, and he came home. 

 That afternoon Jackie came back, and they wondered 

 how he had found his way. Father said 'twas plain 

 enough, that the bird had just followed the coast till 



