apiece.
My younger daughter had a tame duck, Susie by name, who gravely
waddled behind her round the garden. In summer at tea-time Susie would
much enjoy the company under the wych-elm on the lawn, and took her
"dish of tea" out of the saucer in the antique and orthodox manner.
Another amusing pet was a jackdaw who had an outdoor residence, though
often allowed to be loose. He acquired an exact imitation of my old
gardener's chronic cough, and enjoyed the exhibition of his
achievement when the old man was working near the cage, somewhat to
the man's annoyance. He was full of mischief, and was not allowed in
the house; but he once got in at my study window, picked out every
sheet of notepaper from my stationery case, and scattered them in all
directions.
A still more accomplished mimic, a lemon-crested cockatoo, reproduced
the voices of little hungry pigs. He lived indoors on a stand over a
tray, with a chain round one leg, and was very clever at mounting and
descending by the combined use of beak and claws, without complicating
himself with his chain. He got loose one day, and ascended one of the
chestnut trees, and a volunteer went up after him by a ladder. Cocky
resented his interference, flew at him and bit his finger to the bone.
His beak was a very powerful weapon, and, until I made him a new tray
with a zinc-covered ledge, he demolished any unprotected wood or even
furniture within reach.
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