The Marquess of Tavistock—1934 : Things that did come off 257



may be chewed up by the birds with an appearance of relish but the

amount they can actually find to swallow is negligible.


My second and original pair of Pennant’s also did well this year.

Their success was rather unexpected as for the past two seasons only

two of their eggs have been fertile and the cock is certainly aged.

I was, indeed, intending to replace him by another but the substitute

proved a poor specimen and quite unsuitable, so I was obliged to try the

old bird once more. During the winter he flies loose but never goes

any distance from the aviaries. He had been kept as a cage bird for

many years by the owner of a public house in Wigan before he came

into my possession and his sojourn in that salubrious city has perma¬

nently affected his character. Despite the fact that they have reared

many families together, I regret to say that the mutual regard existing

between him and his wife is of the most lukewarm character. She

would desert him instantly for a more eligible substitute if one presented

himself and he would not care two pins if she did ! He divides his time

at liberty between admiration of the Queen of Bavaria Conures, whom

I have even seen him try to feed ; flirtations with unattached hen

Broadtails ; and the exchange (from a safe distance) of back-chat with

rival couples of Platycerci in the aviaries. Being as big a coward

as he is a braggart he never tries conclusions with cock Broadtails, even

through wire netting, confining his attacks to their wives. The hen

Pennant of the other pair he particularly dislikes and it is evident that

she has said something about Wigan pubs that rankles deeply ! When

compelled to face domestic duties he is laziness personified, and I do not

blame his wife for her indifferent opinion of him. When he is first put

back in the aviary she is often master, and I believe she only gives

way to him at the finish, not because she has to, but because, in Broadtail

society, it is considered quite too impossibly incorrect for the husband

not to be ruler of his household ! It is, indeed, very amusing to watch

the way in which a big, powerful hen Broadtail who has fallen in love

with a much smaller and weaker male of another species will be most

careful, both out of consideration for his feelings and respect for the

conventions, to behave as though she were really rather in awe of him.

I have even seen a hen do this to a cock she had savagely bullied during

the time a more favoured lover was at hand but whom she decided she



