140 
BIRD-LIFE. 
exactly all the houses in the place wherever the inhabi¬ 
tants had once given them anything, and never omitted to 
pay them a daily visit. Without the slightest timidity 
they entered the lower rooms of our house, often remain¬ 
ing there some time and feeding out of the same dish 
with a very large pointer. I fed them three times a day, 
and they were thoroughly aware when this took place ; 
they arrived at the proper time and announced them¬ 
selves by screaming. If the time seemed too long they 
marched into the kitchen and waited by the fire until 
their dinner was ready. They would accompany me and 
others in our walks, following us like dogs, sometimes 
taking a flight they gambolled about in the air, alight¬ 
ing occasionally, and then continued to accompany us. 
It was a pleasure to have these charming creatures 
about us.” 
One of these two birds lost its life through an unlucky 
accident, so that the male of the pair only remained. 
Yon Seyffertitz relates the following of the survivor:— 
“ During the winter my lonely Crane had become not 
only more beautiful, hut had greatly improved in intelli¬ 
gence. His hearing had become more dignified, his 
manners and ways more droll and his cleverness increased. 
He had got over the loss of his companion and accustomed 
to solitude, only it appeared to him necessary to return 
to the business of active life. As it was out of my power 
to replace the loss he had sustained by another of his 
own species, he helped himself: he chose a fresh com¬ 
panion, with whom he contracted a new friendship, which 
still exists. You will hardly imagine the one he chose 
among the many creatures surrounding him; it was none 
other than a bull on our estate. 
“How and from what reason the friendship sprang I 
