XX 



PREFACE. 



of his charges was daily expected by his master. Place 

 was found, though at some distance from the house, 

 for the erection of large and commodious aviaries, the 

 tenants of which frequently testified to the suitability 

 of their lodging by matrimonial alliances, and possibly 

 there have been few establishments of the kind in which 

 the captives have to such an extent been tempted to 

 solace their imprisonment by indulging in the tender 

 passion. After a time, too, a large piece of water in 

 the park, with a wide border of shrubbery and turf, was 

 securely fenced in, and in this enclosure was maintained, 

 safe from the depredations of the well-known foxes of 

 Northamptonshire, one of the finest collections of living 

 Water-fowl — and especially of the Crane-family — that 

 has ever been formed. Bat this was not all : round 

 the house might be seen no small number of Birds 

 enjoying almost absolute freedom, from the mighty 

 Lammergeyer to the Little Owl, dear to Pallas Athena, 

 of which last several pairs nested in the hollow trees of 

 the gardens and park. Indoors were a few especial 

 favourites, of constitution too delicate to be exposed to 

 the weather, and among them the Torillo, whose deep 

 note in the silent hours of the night would surprise the 

 unwary visitor, who had not thought the somewhat 

 meek-looking " Button-Quail " capable of uttering such 

 a terrible sound. Of late years the aviaries at Lilford, 

 with its beautiful gardens, became an object of great 

 public attraction, and access to them being readily 

 given, on at least one day in the week, the population of 



