Nature and Death

I used to frequent the cathedral environs in the early hours of the morning, round about 6.30 am in summer, to pick up stray fledgling pigeons that had flown or fallen out of the nesting rooks of Bell Harry tower. These young birds often had "balled foot", which was an accumulation of faeces that enveloped their feet and hardened. This could deform and cripple them.

The foundlings were kept at the back of Meister Omers with the housemaster's facit approval. Pryor was quite human and allowed a rough cage to be constructed at the back wall adjoining the "Dean's Walk".

Sometimes I'd pick up other young undernourished birds too. Once it was a crow or rook I'm not sure which. He was quite a raucous youngster and required to be hand fed with a sop of bread, milk and sugar until he learnt to pick and eat by himself.

I taught him to fly onto my shoulder and accept a morsel of food. He was quite happy in his Spartan cage where a stick nest became his home. He was extremely noisy but not very melodious. His 'caw caws' were very demanding and his appetite insatiable.

On many occasions, he'd fly onto my shoulder, take his food and then 'crap' on my back for thanks! I learnt to check my coat before leaving the yard as the artistic dribble like splatter could find me being singled out for attention.

One particular day I coaxed him from his sanctuary with a small piece of biscuit. He flew onto my shoulder on cue, turned around, gave a short 'caw' and dropped down in front of me dead. Yes, I had no idea of what had happened except that when I picked him up his blue eyes were half shut and he wasn't breathing.

Heart failure...even animals suffer from this disease. I was devastated and grieved the loss of my pet. A small burial mound and a tiny stick cross marked his final resting place amongst the holly-hocks at the base of Meister Omers House eastern wall.