io6 
NATURE NOTES. 
Jack ? ” “ Shut up in the laundry. He was such an awful 
plague, we could not get on with him loose about.” “ Oh ! poor 
boy, such a lovely morning too ! It was hard upon him. Come 
out, old fellow ! ” And out Jack came, in as vile a temper as a 
bird can be in and live. “ Come and have some luncheon. Jack.” 
“ Sha-a-ant,” and with a sulky swing of his whole body he dis- 
appeared into a guelder rose bush just outside the back door. 
After luncheon the family strolled round to the scene of the 
morning’s operations. What a sight met their eyes ! Every 
pot had been laid over carefully on its side ; every label was- 
pulled up and piled in a neat heap at one end of the border ; 
every young plant was bitten off just above the ground ! There 
was but one opinion as to the identity of the culprit. “ That’s 
Jack’s revenge for being shut up all the morning in the laundry.” 
“ Jack ! ” “ Wha-a-at ? ” and a small black imp appeared on the 
scene out of the shrubs near by. “ Come here ! What have }’ou 
been doing, sir ? ” But Jack was not sorry for his sin, and he was- 
not going to confess. Stepping on to the flower-bed he investi- 
gated the damage done, with a “ Dear, dear, what a pity ” sort 
of air, turned some of the pots upright again by inserting his bill 
into the hole at the bottom, looked at the heap of labels and the 
withering plants, made a few remarks under his breath and 
walked off again ; and it was one of his few sins, if not the only 
one, for which he never expressed any contrition. 
Jack had now been formally made over to me by his proper 
mistress, who declared there was little pleasure in calling a pet 
hers if he did not care in the least for her. He had grown a 
new tail, re-grown most of his broken bill, regained his self- 
respect, and was a very smart jackdaw indeed. One wing was 
still clipped, but when it grew in the autumn moult we did not 
cut it again, knowing his devotion to me to be too strong to 
allow him to desert us altogether. Indeed Jack would fly a 
mile to talk to another tame jackdaw in a cage at the mill, and 
come straight home after his gossip. There was no fear of 
losing him. 
One of Jack’s most unfailing sources of amusement was 
pulling worms out of their holes. He would apply one eye to 
a worm hole, pull up the occupant with a jerk, throw it down 
by the side of the hole, then stand by to watch. There was 
much wriggling and tying into knots on the worm’s part, and 
then presently, all being quiet, the creature would begin to slip 
slowl}'' home again. Nearer would come Jack, and more eager 
became his expression, and just as the last ring of the worm 
was disappearing down his hole there was a pounce from Jack, 
and the worm found itself once more wriggling in a heap by the 
side of its hole, with all its work to do over again. I never saw 
Jack attempt to eat a worm, and I never could discover that he 
hurt them. If I happened to notice Jack teasing a worm for 
more than half-an-hour at a time, I would send him on to 
another — but I could not bring myself to think that the worm 
minded much. 
