LIG-LAGS AT THE ZOO. 393
between their shoulders, until, from the back, you shall judge onc a humpbacked old witch and a thing of evil.
King Sam; with all his majesty, must take exercise sometimes— - usually after the royal bath. Whereat all other birds avoid his path, and hide m unconsidered corners. Sam’s exercise is a devastating rush, comprehending all this inclosure, without consideration for trecs, or shrubs, or birds, or rocks, or water. He merely sweeps through all, 1 strides of many yards, with outstretched neck, and wings a-spread and gorgeous in black and scarlet. This lor some five stormy minutes, and with again and again a “ Kra-a-ak.”
One only among the flamingo nobility retains, in this climate, a pink flush over all his outer feathers ; and he, good soul, 1s subject to rhecumatism or some similar - afflic- tion : whercefore he limps pammfully until Church, the keeper, anoints his legs with otl, and 1s an object of small consideration among the plebean culls and ducks about him: for wherein is the crandeur of rhcumatic legs, even when so many times as long as thick ?
And so, noa quiet corner, he stands, with a special pail of refreshment within beak- 777 reach, and nurses his aftliction. And smaller birds, with a cor- tain timorous 1mpudence for he has still a fearsome heak, which will rcach a long wav - * trot up and pretend to o syvm- A THING OF EVIL. pathize with him. You have only to look at them to read all they are saying. They suggest all sorts of treatment, just as people do to human rhcumatics. They begin by suggesting reasonable remedies, and, growing bolder by rcason of impunity and the titters of their friends, venture upon
A VULGAR RELATION.
SAM S EXIERCISE,
mpertinence. That little ruff who has just escaped the big beak probably suggested the process of standing on his head and giving his legs a rest, or something equally savouring of crrand-boy wit.
There are two wicked old herons who offer advice with ulterior designs. They assume a
sympathetic and soothing demeanour and approach together. They inquire anxiously for Vol. iv.—s1.