KARROO BEASTS, BIRDS AND REPTILES. 249 



to the wise-looking little head. Altogether, Horus was 

 one of the most beautiful little birds we have seen. 

 We took it for granted that he was the sacred falcon ; 

 and it will be a disappointment to us if, one day, some 

 learned ornithologist tells us we were quite wrong. 



The little fellow recovered rapidly ; and, although on 

 the first day after the amputation we had to put food 

 down his throat, getting viciously punished by his 

 needle-pointed bill and claws, on the second he took 

 meat from our hands, eating voraciously as much as 

 we would give him, and even coming after us for more ; 

 though, not having yet learned to steer himself under 

 his altered circumstances, he hobbled in a very clumsy 

 and crab-like fashion, now and then making futUe 

 efforts to fly, and tumbling down on his side. Soon, 

 however, he learned to walk straight, and would follow 

 us about like a little dog, with the quaintest short 

 steps. He was soon tame and friendly with all but 

 the meerkat, for which he showed great animosity, and 

 on which he would jump spitefully — or perhaps hun- 

 grily? — whenever it came near him. Possibly, in a 

 wild state, small animals of this kind were his natural 

 prey. He did not object to Toto, who indeed — with 

 the sole exception of his rival and arch-enemy Bobby — 

 has never failed to get on well with all his hetero- 

 geneous companions. 



Horus, debarred by his infirmity from active exercise, 

 and condemned to a somewhat humdrum life, sought 

 consolation in the pleasures of the table, and developed 

 an enormous appetite. He shared the spoils of the 



