A NEW JACKDAW OF RHEIMS.
The following tale—part of it of the variety generally labelled tall—reaches me from an Oxfordshire Rectory. " We have had here a small edition of the Jackdaw of Rheims. A woman was in the act of stroking a young tame jackdaw when her wedding ring fell off and the bird immediately flew away with it. Next morning the ring was recovered from the ash-tub of a neighbouring cottage." So far the bird appears as a mere type of its kind ; but it reached greater heights. This jackdaw, so it was presumed, took away a screw that was put to fasten a window. A nail was sub- stituted ; but that, too, vanished and so did a third. Later all three were brought back I It is well asked, " is that conscience or humour ? Or is it Rheims minus the excom- munication?" A retrieving jackdaw is new, though, of course, retrieving is almost as natural to a few birds as to dogs.
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