A NATURAL GIFT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 315, 31 August 1932, Page 6

A NATURAL GIFT

A BANTAM AS A PRESENT PROVES OVER VOCIFEROUS It is well-known that an uncle desirous of popularity with the parents should not present his nephew with a tin drum for Ohristmas morning, but it appears that an innocent gift ] of a pair of bantams may be equally | unwelcome. j Quite recently an uncle in Opotiki presented a bantam cock and hen to a young nephew and niece for their birthday with a request that the birds should be left in the children's bedroom after they had gone to sleep. The instructions were duly carried out and all was well until the break of dawn the following morning. As the dawn broke, the cockerel, true to type, gave tongue in ne-uncertain manner. His lusty crowing wolce the children from their peaceful slumber and two terrified infants hurled themselves into their parents' bedroom. The proud father, also rudely wakr ened, rush-ed for the offending cockciel using language quite unfit for childish ears and hurled the box through the back door. The box broke. and happy in his newly gained freedom, the bantam proceeded to announce it to all and sundry at the top of his voice from just underneath the bedroom window. Once more," the now thoroughly irate parent, hastened outside muttering threats of murder. Unfortunately the bird saw him coming and quicldy dived to safety through a dividing hedge into the neighbour's garden. Here clucking encouragingly to his mate he proceeded to scratch vigorously in a seed plot. All hopes of further sleep having disappeared, father hastily donned trousers and slippers and sallied forth again. The two bantams now seemed to enter thoroughly into the spirit of the game. They waited quite innocently until their pursuer stooped to grab them, when with an elusive quirk of the tail, they would once more elude capture until the disgusted parent after an hour's chase around gardens, through hedges, into and out of ditclies, very unsportingly gave up the chase and returned to awake his peacefully sleeping spouse with demands for a cup of tea which he imbibed to the accompaniment of blood-curdling threats of the fate he mapped out for the generous uncle.