Birds. 



8163 



accessible, permitting herself to be stroked on the head, which pleased her vastly, and 

 generally elicited a low muttering vole of thanks. She would jump on to my knee or 

 shoulder when sitting in the garden, but was easily alarmed, and, once having been 

 caught when so doing, for the purpose of having her wing cut, it was a long time 

 before she came again. The presence of strangers excited her greatest curiosity. 

 After barking for some time she would gradually try to get on better terms, and was 

 at once subdued by the jingling of a bunch of keys or the exhibition of anything 

 shining. The presence of children, however, excited her utmost indignation, and, 

 having enlisted Hope (the next bird to be described) into her service, she would fly at 

 their feet, and if naked get hold of the skin, exciting the utmost terror among very 

 young " bairns." It was this singular propensity which made the gentleman who 

 formerly owned her transfer her to my care. Faith remained in my possession a year 

 and a half. To my horror and vexation she was one day found dead on the garden 

 wall, with a hole in her body, entering behind and passing right through the heart. 

 No bullet was discovered, but I have no doubt she fell a victim to the cruel brutality 

 of those who think it a great feat of skill to shoot down even tame and innocent birds. 

 Hope, also now numbered with the dead, was a remaikable bird. He had evidently 

 been brought up in the neighbourhood of or in company with the common peewit 

 plover, whose whistle he imitated exactly, and which performance gave him in my 

 household the soubriquet of Whistler. Among his other qualities Hope had a remark- 

 able propensity to wander out of the garden. Although his wing was cut, he would 

 make extraordinary jumps from shrubs, or get on the top of the wall by the fruit trees. 

 When there he chose to wander about the next garden, also walled in, and commit all 

 sorts of depredations among newly-planted things, exciting the ire and wrath of my 

 neighbour's gardener. There is a Scotch fir tree at the corner of one of the walks, in 

 which Mr. Hope would quietly ensconce himself, knowing full well that his wander- 

 ing would soon be looked to. At the bottom of this tree was a stack of faggots, among 

 which, when pursued, he would creep, and thus avoid capture for the time. When 

 missed from the garden, a search was of course immediately instituted, and Mr, 

 Hope's whereabouts was generally announced by a long whistle of defiance, from the 

 thick part of the fir tree, the moment he saw the well-known gauze net which was 

 usually the means of catching him. Nothing could be more provoking. Pursuit was 

 useless so long as his means of retreat were not cut off. If, however, my servant could 

 get round unobserved, so as to get between the tree and the faggots, capture was cer- 

 tain. Whistler knew this as well as we did, and generally kept a sharp, close watch, 

 announcing, wherever we were, his discovery of the enemy by his defiant whistle. 

 When his retreat, however, was intercepted, he knew resistance was useless, and gene- 

 rally hopped down on to the stubble and thence into the garden. Hope was (alas ! I 

 speak in the past tense) a very amusing bird. He had the same dislike to children as 

 Faith, and joined with her, as before stated, in determined raids against them when- 

 ever they appeared. Mr. Hope had his likes and dislikes. The latter he always 

 evinced most unmistakeably against the footman, who caught him in his wanderings. 

 The former were equally shown, in the opposite direction, by the affection he evinced 

 towards the housemaid. He would almost scream with delight when she went into 

 the garden, and would strut about, with his crest and tail erect, in a most ludicrous 

 manner. He would permit any amount of liberty to be taken with him in this 

 direction. He would let her stroke his head or take him up in her arms without a 

 struggle, and if he heard her voice in the room above sure enough he would be found 



