Birds. 001 



When the evening approached I went to seek for him, and proceeded 

 to call him by whistling the call I used when I fed him. He instant- 

 ly responded, and flew to my shoulder or head, and was taken in for 

 the night. Occasionally I neglected to do so until long after his usual 

 roosting hour ; but he never once refused to come when I called him. 

 At last I left him out all night. He then roosted in some fir-trees 

 about a stone's cast from the house. No sooner did I make my ap- 

 pearance in the garden in the morning, than I was sure to see him 

 come flying to me for his breakfast ; and at any time in the day, if I 

 omitted to feed him at the stated intervals, he came to remind me of 

 my neglect as soon as he saw me. Soon after he was regularly turned 

 out in the day-time, I had taken him to the bed of peas, and there in- 

 dulged him with the green peas, of which he was particularly fond : 

 but he did not like the trouble of shelling them for himself; and if he 

 saw me in that part of the garden and was at all hungry, he generally 

 flew first to me and then to the peas : if I did not follow him at once 

 but continued where I was, he soon returned, and after waiting a little, 

 presently went back again. This I always understood as an invita- 

 tion to go and open the pea-pods for him ; and it was one I always 

 acceded to, although sometimes I caused it to be repeated two or 

 three times. When he flew to me he generally alighted on my shoul- 

 der, sometimes on my head ; in the former case, if hungry, he sought 

 my mouth with his bill, which he endeavoured to insert in search of 

 peas, being not forgetful of his early habits. 



He was now as nearly in a state of nature as possible ; with abun- 

 dance of his natural food within his reach, uncontrolled as far as li- 

 berty was concerned, and with numerous birds of his own species in 

 the neighbourhood. There was nothing to prevent his making off if 

 he chose : yet he never showed the least inclination to do so. He 

 flew to me as fearlessly as ever, to the very last day of my stay at 

 home : if he saw me lying on the grass, he came and nestled on my 

 breast : I walked about the garden, and in and out of the house, with 

 him on my shoulder ; and though he never favoured any of my friends 

 with the same symptoms of confidence and attachment as he did my- 

 self, he was under no kind of fear of them. At last, "Black Monday" 

 came round again. I loved my bird too well to confine him ; still 

 less could I think of taking him back to school with me : so I left 

 him to do as he liked. For the first three or four days of my absence 

 he continued to keep about the house ; he seemed to be looking for 

 something he had lost; once, and once only, he flew on to i:iy father's 

 shoulder, but seemed instantly to be aware that it was not his well- 



