Published: Thursday, 15th July, 2010 9:30am

Jinky the wing-er returns home

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A canary on the loose has returned after four weeks in the wild and has most certainly lived up to his name of 'Jinky' after the famous Celtic football winger.

'Hoops' supporter Jim O Halloran of Blackdales Avenue in Largs put an appeal in the "News in Brief" section of the Largs and Millport Weekly News after the yellow canary had escaped from his cage, leading to reported sightings in Largs and Fairlie.

According to reports, the canary was able to jink away from sparrows who followed him in hot pursuit for food but were not able to come close to the speedy wing-er who evaded their talons with apparent ease.

Winging it ... 'Jinky' comes home with owner Jim O Halloran

However, it was Fairlie woman Edith Paterson of Allanpark Terrace who managed to coax the elusive 'Jinky' into her house to bring a successful end to the month long search.

Jim said: "Jinky was hanging about her garden. We had a posse of around seven of us trying to catch him but he always managed to get away. Every time she went near him he would fly away when she left food at her window sill."

So Edith then hatched her plan to bring Jinky home to roost. Jim said: "She enticed him with food to her window ledge and used seeds which he followed into her house, before pulling a bit of rope to close the window. I have to thank Edith very much for all her help. She enticed him using some bird seed and a bit of string!

"He is aptly named 'Jinky' - he is a wee character and flew faster than the sparrows because they knew he was close to where any food was. We got Edith a lovely bunch of flowers as thanks for all her help."