. Birds of the water, wood & waste . of courtesy and complacence,on the only vegetation visible. This wasgrass, and it was comical to w^atch himplucking rather distastefully small mouth-f uls of this uninviting tack, whilst the otherthree were gobbling at their little squaresand cubes of bread. Several times he thusfed with the others, hopping about andapparently searching for something betterthan the grass and daisy heads, of whichhe partook sparingly and in a very half-hearted fashion. At last one day he wasseen to pick up and swallow one or twotiny crumbs, and this we considered anothergrea
. Birds of the water, wood & waste . of courtesy and complacence,on the only vegetation visible. This wasgrass, and it was comical to w^atch himplucking rather distastefully small mouth-f uls of this uninviting tack, whilst the otherthree were gobbling at their little squaresand cubes of bread. Several times he thusfed with the others, hopping about andapparently searching for something betterthan the grass and daisy heads, of whichhe partook sparingly and in a very half-hearted fashion. At last one day he wasseen to pick up and swallow one or twotiny crumbs, and this we considered anothergreat step in his education. After this mydates are exact, for our hopes were growingthat we should be able to hand-feed andtame a fully matured wild born bird, andwe were all very much interested. OnJune 2nd he was again on the ground, andthis time attempted to secure a bit of breadout of Uncle Harrys beak. A day ortwo after, and when once more on thegroimd with the others, Uncle Harrywas observed to feed him twice, turning PLATE L\\\\. ••No. 4 at WOOD AND WASTE 193 round to do so, and moreover taking careto shove the bits of bread well down histhroat. On June 5th, sitting on a lowbranch, he took bread readily, but thougheating a hearty meal, could not be quitecoaxed to leave his branch and accept theproffered wrist. On the 6th he took fromme a big feed of the suety crust of anapple dumpling. Though, however, hewould not venture on to my wrist, he wasotherwise perfectly serene, and apparentlyregarded apple dumpling crust as not atall an extraordinary diet for a sensiblebird. Between the 5th and the 13th, whilstbeing fed, he was repeatedly within anace of trusting himself on wrist or arm,and several times, too, when about to alight,hovered as if intending to perch on thehead of the bread carrier. Until the 13thhis heart failed him, but upon that datehe flew without hesitation or vacillationstraight to the head of one of our guests,and allowed himself to be quietly manip
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1910
