diff options
Diffstat (limited to '21111-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 21111-8.txt | 5429 |
1 files changed, 5429 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/21111-8.txt b/21111-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fbbf15c --- /dev/null +++ b/21111-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5429 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Wild Nature Won By Kindness, by Elizabeth Brightwen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wild Nature Won By Kindness + +Author: Elizabeth Brightwen + +Illustrator: Elizabeth Brightwen + +Release Date: April 16, 2007 [EBook #21111] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD NATURE WON BY KINDNESS *** + + + + +Produced by Joe Longo and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + Wild Nature + + Won by Kindness + + + + + _WILD NATURE WON BY KINDNESS._ + + + + + _BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ + + MORE ABOUT WILD NATURE. With Portrait + of the Author and many other full-page Illustrations. + Crown 8vo, imitation leather gilt, gilt edges, in box, 5s. + + INMATES OF MY HOUSE AND GARDEN. + With 32 Illustrations by Theo Carreras. Uniform with + above, 5s. + + ALSO + GLIMPSES INTO PLANT LIFE. Fully Illustrated. + Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. + + + + + WILD NATURE + WON BY KINDNESS + + BY + MRS. BRIGHTWEN + + _Vice-President of the Selborne Society_ +AUTHOR OF "INMATES OF MY HOUSE AND GARDEN," ETC. + + _ILLUSTRATED_ + + EIGHTH EDITION + + London + T. FISHER UNWIN + PATERNOSTER SQUARE + 1898 + + _All rights reserved._ + + + + +To + +SIR JAMES PAGET, BART., F.R.S., D.C.L., ETC., ETC. + +MY DEAR SIR JAMES,-- + +The little papers which are here reprinted would scarcely have been +written but for the encouragement of your sympathy and the stimulus of +what you have contributed to the loving study of nature. Shall you, +then, think me presumptuous if I venture to dedicate to the friend what +I could never dream of presenting to the professor, and if I ask you to +pardon the poorness of the gift in consideration of the sincerity with +which it is given. + + Pray believe me to be + Yours very sincerely, + ELIZA BRIGHTWEN + + THE GROVE, GREAT STANMORE. + _June, 1800_. + + + + +[Illustration] + + TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + INTRODUCTION. + 1. REARING BIRDS FROM THE NEST + 2. DICK THE STARLING + 3. RICHARD THE SECOND + 4. VERDANT + 5. THE WILD DUCKS + 6. THE JAY + 7. A YOUNG CUCKOO + 8. TAMING OF OUR PETS + 9. BIRDIE + 10. ZÖE THE NUTHATCH + 11. TITMICE + 12. BLANCHE THE PIGEON + 13. GERBILLES + 14. WATER SHREWS + 15. SQUIRRELS + 16. A MOLE + 17. HARVEST MICE + 18. A CALIFORNIAN MOUSE + 19. SANCHO THE TOAD + 20. ROMAN SNAILS + 21. AN EARWIG MOTHER + 22. THE SACRED BEETLE + 23. SPIDERS + 24. TAME BUTTERFLIES + 25. ANT-LIONS + 26. ROBINS I HAVE KNOWN + 27. ROBERT THE SECOND + 28. FEEDING BIRDS IN SUMMER AND WINTER + 29. RAB, MINOR + 30. A VISIT TO JAMRACH + 31. HOW TO OBSERVE NATURE + + + + +[Illustration] + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + FLYING WILD DUCK + SACRED BEETLE + SWALLOW + REARING BIRDS FROM THE NEST + STARLINGS + FLYING STARLINGS + STARLING IN SEARCH OF FOOD + WILD DUCK + TINY, SIR FRANCIS DRAKE AND LUTHER + JAY + ANOTHER JAY + A YOUNG CUCKOO + BUTTERFLY AND CATERPILLAR + YOUNG CUCKOO ATTACKED BY BIRDS + ARABESQUE + ZÖE, THE NUTHATCH + NUTHATCH IN A COCOANUT + TITMICE IN PURSUIT OF BEES + TITMICE + BLANCHE THE PIGEON + GERBILLES + WATER SHREW + SQUIRREL + MOLE + MICE + ROMAN SNAILS + EARWIG + EGYPTIAN BEETLES + FLYING BEETLE + TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS + BUTTERFLY + ANT-LION + THE ROBIN + YOUNG BIRDS + CHILD AND PET BIRD + RAB MINOR + RAB MINOR RUNNING + NESTLINGS + NEST OF WASPS + SNAKE IN CIRCLE + + + + +PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION. + + +Two short chapters, one describing the life of an Ant-lion, and the +other the habits of a tame Toad, were added to the second edition, which +was in other respects a reproduction of the first. + +The present edition has been improved by the adoption of a number of +illustrations which were designed for the German translation of this +book. + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +I have often wished I could convey to others a little of the happiness I +have enjoyed all through my life in the study of Natural History. During +twenty years of variable health, the companionship of the animal world +has been my constant solace and delight. To keep my own memory fresh, in +the first instance, and afterwards with a distinct intention of +repeating my single experiences to others, I have kept notes of whatever +has seemed to me worthy of record in the life of my pets. Some of these +papers have already appeared in _The Animal World_; the majority are +now printed for the first time. + +In the following chapters I shall try to have quiet talks with my +readers and tell them in a simple way about the many pleasant +friendships I have had with animals, birds, and insects. I use the word +friendships advisedly, because truly to know and enjoy the society of a +pet creature you must make it feel that you are, or wish to be, its +friend, one to whom it can always look for food, shelter, and solace; it +must be at ease and at home with you before its instincts and curious +ways will be shown. Sometimes when friends have wished me to see their +so-called "pet," some scared animal or poor fluttering bird has been +brought, for whom my deepest sympathy has been excited; and yet there +may have been perhaps the kindest desire to make the creature happy, +food provided in abundance, and a pleasant home; but these alone will +not avail. For lack of the quiet gentle treatment which is so requisite, +the poor little captive will possibly be miserable, pining for liberty, +hating its prison, dreading the visits of its jailor, and so harassed in +its terror that in some cases the poor little heart is broken, and in a +few hours death is the result. In the following simple sketches of +animal, bird, and insect life, I have tried to show how confidence must +be gained, and the little wild heart won by quiet and unvarying +kindness, and also by the endeavour to imitate as much as possible the +natural surroundings of its own life before its capture. I must confess +it requires a large fund of patience to tame any wild creature, and it +is rarely possible to succeed unless one's efforts begin in its very +early days, before it has known the sweets of liberty. + +In many cases I have kept a wild animal or bird for a few days to learn +something of its ways, possibly to make a drawing of its attitudes or +plumage, and then let it go, else nearly all my pets, except imported +creatures, have been reared from infancy, an invalid's life and +wakefulness making early-morning feeding of young fledglings less +difficult than it would have been in many cases, and often have painful +hours been made bearable and pleasant by the interest arising from +careful observation of the habits and ways of some new pet animal or +bird. + +I have always strongly maintained that the love of animated nature +should be fostered far more than it usually is, and especially in the +minds of the young; and that, in fact, we lose an immense amount of +enjoyment by passing through life as so many do without a spark of +interest in the marvellous world of nature, that book whose pages are +ever lying open before us. + +The beauties of the country might as well have been left uncreated for +all the interest that thousands take in them. Not only town dwellers, +who might be excused for their ignorance, but those who live in the +midst of fields and woods, often know so little about the curious +creatures in fur and feathers that exist around them that they are +surprised when told the simplest facts about these, their near +neighbours. + +One reason may be, that it is now so much the fashion to spend the year +in various places, and those always moving about have neither the time +nor opportunity to cultivate the little undergrowths of quiet pleasures +which spring out of a settled home in the country, with its well-tended +garden and farmyard, greenhouses, stable, and fields--the horses and +cattle, petted and kindly cared for from their birth, dogs and poultry, +and all kinds of special favourites. + +There is a healthy, happy tone about such a life, and where it exists +and is rightly maintained, good influence is, or ought to be, felt in +and around the home. Almost all children have a natural love of living +creatures, and if they are told interesting facts about them they soon +become ardent naturalists. I well remember that in my childhood I had a +great dread of toads and frogs, and a relative, to whom I owe much for +having directed my mind into the love of animated nature, took up a frog +in her hand and made me look at the beautiful gold circle round its +eyes, its curious webbed feet, its leaping power arising from the long +hind legs; she told me also of its wonderful tongue, so long and +flexible that it folded back in its mouth, and that the frog would sit +at the edge of an ant-hill and throwing out the tongue with its sticky +point, would pick off the ants one by one as they came out. When I +learnt all this, I began to watch such a curious reptile; my fears +vanished, and like Kingsley's little daughter, who had been wisely led +to care for all living things and came running to show her father a +"dear delightful worm" she had found! so I, too, have been led all +through my life to regard every created thing, great or small, +attractive or otherwise, as an object well worth the most reverent +study. + +Perhaps I ought to explain that I have described methods of taming, +feeding, and housing one's pets with extreme minuteness in order to help +those of my readers who may be very fond of live creatures, and yet from +lack of opportunity may have gained no knowledge of their mode of life, +and what is required to keep them happily in health and vigour. I have +had to learn by experience that attention to very small details is the +road to success in keeping pets as well as in other things, and the +desire to pass on that experience must be my excuse to more scientific +readers for seeming triviality. + +Many admirable books have been written by those well qualified to impart +their knowledge in every branch of Natural History, and the more such +books are read the better, but the following pages simply contain the +life histories of my pets and what I personally have observed about +them. I shall be glad indeed if they supply any useful information, or +lead others to the more careful study of the common every-day things +around them with a view to more kindness being shown to all living +creatures, and tender consideration for them. I trust I may feel that +this little book will then have attained its purpose. May it especially +tend to lead the young to see how this beautiful world is full of +wonders of every kind, full of evidences of the Great Creator's wisdom +and skill in adapting each created thing to its special purpose, and +from the whole realm of nature may they be taught lessons in parables, +and their hearts be led upward to God Himself, who made all things to +reflect His own perfection and glory. + + "Gem, flower, and fish, the bird, the brute, + Of every kind occult or known + (Each exquisitely form'd to suit + Its humble lot, and that alone), + Through ocean, earth, and air fulfil + Unconsciously their Maker's will." + + ELIZA BRIGHTWEN. + +[Illustration] + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +REARING BIRDS FROM THE NEST. + + +The most delightful of all pets are the birds one has taken the pains to +rear from the nest; they never miss the freedom of outdoor life, they +hardly know what fear is, they become devotedly attached to the one who +feeds and educates them, and all their winsome ways seem developed by +the love and care which is given to them. + +I strongly deprecate a whole nest being taken; one would not willingly +give the happy little parent birds the distress of finding an empty +home. After all their trouble in building, laying, sitting, and +hatching, surely they deserve the reward of bringing up their little +babes. + +Too often when boys thus take a nest they simply let the young birds +starve to death from ignorance as to their proper food and not rising +early enough to feed them. + +It is a different matter if, out of a family of six, one takes two to +bring up by hand--the labour of the old birds is lightened, and four +fledglings will sufficiently reward their toil. + +The birds should be taken before they are really feathered, just when +the young quills begin to show, as at that stage they will not notice +the change in their diet and manner of feeding. They need to be +carefully protected from cold, kept at first in a covered basket in +flannel, and if the weather is cold they should be near a fire, as they +miss the warmth of the mother bird, especially at night. + +I confess it involves a good deal of trouble to undertake the care of +these helpless little creatures. They should be fed every half-hour, +from four in the morning until late in the evening, and that for many +weeks until they are able to feed themselves. + +The kind of food varies according to the bird we desire to bring up, and +it requires care to make sure that it is not too dry or too moist, and +that it has not become sour, or it will soon prove fatal, for young +birds have not the sense of older ones--they take blindly whatever is +given them. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: STARLINGS.] + +DICK THE STARLING. + + +Few people would think a cat could possibly be a tender nurse to young +birds! but such was really the case with a very interesting bird I +possessed some years ago. + +A young starling was brought up from the nest by the kind care of our +cook and the cat! Both were equally sympathetic, and pitied the little +unfledged creature, who was by some accident left motherless in his +early youth. Cook used to get up at some unheard-of hour in the morning +to feed her clamorous pet, and then would bring him down with her at +breakfast-time and consign him to pussy's care; she, receiving him with +a gentle purr of delight, would let him nestle into her soft fur for +warmth. + +As Dick became feathered, he was allowed the run of the house and +garden, and used to spend an hour or so on the lawn, digging his beak +into the turf, seeking for worms and grubs, and when tired he would fly +in at the open window and career about until he could perch on my +shoulder, or go in search of his two foster-mothers in the kitchen. + +His education was carried on with such success that he could soon speak +a few words very clearly. Strangers used to be rather startled by a +weird-looking bird flying in from the garden, and saying, "Beauty dear, +puss, puss, miaow!" But it was still more strange to see Dick sitting on +the cat's back and addressing his endearments to her in the above words. +Pussy would allow him to investigate her fur with exemplary patience, +only objecting to his inquisitive beak being applied to her eyelids to +prize them open when she was enjoying her afternoon nap. Dick's love of +water led him to bathe in most inconvenient places. One morning, when I +returned to the dining-room after a few minutes' absence, I found him +taking headers into a glass filter and scattering the contents on the +sideboard. After dinner, too, he would dive into the finger-glasses with +the same intention, and when hindered in that design would visit the +dessert dishes in succession, stopping with an emphatic "Beauty dear!" +at the sight of some coveted dainty, to which he would forthwith help +himself liberally. + +In summer Dick had to resist considerable temptation from wild birds of +his own kind, who evidently made matrimonial overtures to him, but +though he "camped out" for a few nights now and then, he never seemed to +find a mate to his mind, and elected to remain a bachelor and enjoy our +society instead of that of his own kith and kin. + +Dick was certainly a pattern of industrious activity, never still for +two minutes. He seemed haunted by the idea that caterpillars and grubs +existed all over the house, and his search for them was carried on under +all possible circumstances--every plait of one's dress, every +button-hole, would be inquired into by his prying little beak in case +some choice morsel might chance to be lurking there. Dick lived for a +few happy years, and then his bathing propensities most unhappily led to +his untimely death. One severely cold day in winter he was missed and +searched for everywhere, and after some hours his poor little body was +found stiff and cold in a water-tank in the stable-yard, where the ice +had been broken. He had as usual plunged in for a bath, and we can only +suppose the intense cold had caused an attack of cramp, so that he could +not get out again, and thus was drowned. Many tears were shed for the +loss of the cheery little bird, who seemed like a bright ubiquitous +sunbeam about the house, and our only consolation was the thought that, +as far as we knew, he had never had a sorrow in his life, and we can +only hope that if there are "happy hunting-grounds" for birds our Dick +may be there, bright and happy still. + + + + +[Illustration: FLYING STARLINGS] + +RICHARD THE SECOND. + + +On a wet stormy day in May a young unfledged bird was blown out of its +nest and was picked up in a paved yard where, somehow, it had fallen +unhurt. + +There he was found by my kind-hearted butler, who appeared with the +little shivering thing in his hand to see if I would adopt it. The +butler pleaded for it, and it squawked its own petition piteously +enough, but I was far from strong, and I knew at what very early hours +these young feathered people required to be fed. I therefore felt I +ought hardly to give up the time which sometimes brought me the precious +boon of sleep after a wakeful night. Very reluctantly I refused the +gift, and felt wretchedly hard-hearted in doing so. I will confide to my +readers that in my secret heart I thought the poor orphan was a +blackbird or thrush, and they are birds I feel ought never to be caged; +they pine and look so sadly longing for liberty; even their song has a +minor key of plaintiveness when it comes through prison bars, and this +feeling helped my decision. + +A few days after I heard that the birdie was adopted in the pantry, and +was being fed "in the intervals of business." When a few days later I +was definitely informed that the birdie waif was a starling, then I +confess I did begin to long for another little friend such as my former +"Dick" had been, and it ended in my receiving Richard the Second, as we +called him for distinction, into my own care and keeping, and month +after month I was his much-enduring mother. Most fledglings are much the +same at first; whenever I came in sight the gaping beak was ever ready +for food, and the capacity for receiving it was wonderful. Richard grew +very fast; little quills appeared and opened out into feathers; his +walking powers increased till he could make a tottering run upon the +carpet; and then he began to object to his basket and would have a perch +like a grown-up bird, practised going to sleep on one leg, which for a +long time was a downright failure and ended in constant tumbles. + +He was always out of his cage whilst I was dressing, and was full of fun +and play, scheming to get his bath before I did, and running off with +anything he could carry. When he was about two months old I had to go to +Buxton for a month's visit and decided that I could not leave Richard +behind, as he needed constant feeding with little pieces of raw meat and +was just old enough to miss my training and care. He was therefore to +make his first start as a traveller, in a small cage, papered round the +sides, the top being left open for light and air. He was wonderfully +brave and good, very observant of everything, and if scared a word from +me would reassure him, until at last even an express train dashing past +did not make him start. It was very amusing to see the attention +bestowed upon him at the various stations where we had to get out. A +little crowd would gather round and stare at such a self-possessed small +bird. I was asked "if it was a very rare bird?" It seemed almost absurd +to have to reply, "No, only a common starling;" but people are so +accustomed to see a caged pet flutter in terror at its unusual +surroundings, that my kingly Richard rather puzzled his admirers. + +When we began life in our apartments, one important consideration in the +day's proceedings was the starling's food. There was no home larder to +fall back upon, so a daily portion of tender rump-steak had to be +obtained, to the great amusement of the butcher with whom we dealt for +our own joints. + +About this time the plain grey plumage began to be varied by two patches +of brilliant little purple feathers, tipped with greyish-white, which +appeared on each side of his breast. Some began to peep out of his back +and head. He moulted his tail, and had rich, dark feathers all over, in +time, till he arrived at being what he was often called, "a perfect +beauty"--glossy and brilliant, bronze gold and purple, with reflets of +rich green, and little specks of greyish-white all over his breast; this +richness of colour, combined with his beautiful sleek shape, made +Richard a very attractive bird. + +When we returned from Buxton, I was so confident of the bird's tameness +I used to carry him in my hand out to the tulip tree, and there I often +sat and read, while Richard would pry into the moss and the bark of the +tree, searching for insects, and though he could fly well by this time, +he did not try to do so, but seemed content to keep near me. + +One morning I heard his first articulate word, "Beauty," spoken so +clearly it quite startled me. I had been diligently teaching him, by +constant repetition, for many weeks, and by degrees he gained the power +of speaking one word after another, till at last he was able to say, +"Little beauty," "'Ow de doo?" "Pretty, pretty," "Beauty, dear," "Puss, +puss," "Miaow," and imitated kissing exactly. All this was intermingled +with his native whistle and sundry inarticulate sounds, intended, I +suppose, to result in words and sentences some day. Whilst talking and +singing, his head was held very upright, and his wings flapped +incessantly against his sides, after the manner of the wild birds. + +Nothing stirred my indignation more keenly than the question so often +asked, "Have you had your starling's tongue slit to make him talk so +well?" I beg emphatically to entreat all my readers to do their utmost +to put an end to this cruel and perfectly useless custom. My bird's +talking powers were remarkable, but they were the result of his +intelligence being drawn out and cultivated by constant, loving care, +attention to his little wants, and being talked to and played with, and +made into a little feathered friend of the family. + +Now must be told an episode which cost me no little heartache. Richard +was out in my room one morning as usual, when the room door happening to +be open, away he flew into the next room, and out at an open window into +the garden. I saw him alight on a tree, but by the time I could reach +the garden he had gone. I saw a group of starlings in a beech tree near +by, and another set were chattering on the house roof, but there was no +telling if my Richard was one of them. I called till I was tired, and +continued to do so at intervals all day, but no wanderer appeared. His +cage had been put on the lawn, but to no purpose. I feared I should +never see my pet again, because I supposed he might be lured by the wild +birds till he got out of hearing of any familiar voice. I confess it was +hard to think of my bright young birdie starving under some hedge, for I +felt sure he was too much of a gentleman from his artificial bringing-up +to be able to earn his own living. All I could do was to resolve to be +up very early next day, and call again and again, on the chance of his +being within hearing. Before six o'clock next morning I was seeking the +truant. Plenty of wild birds were about, the bright sun glancing on +their sleek coats--all looking so like my pet it was impossible to +distinguish him. I little knew that he was then starving and miserable +under a bush in the upper part of the garden. I continued calling and +seeking him until breakfast-time, and fast losing all hope of ever +seeing him again. About eleven o'clock I was returning from the kitchen +garden, with my hands full of fruit and flowers, when, to my intense +delight, poor little Richard came slowly out from under a laurel, and +stood in the path before me, as veritable a type of a birdish prodigal +son as could well be imagined. + +His feathers were ruffled, his wings drooping, his whole aspect +irresistibly reminded one of the Jackdaw of Rheims; and the way he +sidled up to me, with half-closed eyes and drooping head, was one of the +most pathetic things I ever experienced. He so plainly said, "I'm very +sorry--hope you'll forgive me; won't do it again"; and certainly his +mute appeal was not in vain, for down went my fruit and flowers, and +with loving words I took up my lost darling, and cooed over him all +sorts of affectionate rubbish until we reached home and he was restored +to his cage. There his one desire was water. Poor fellow! he was nearly +famished. I think another hour would have seen his end. There is no +water in the garden, except in the stone vase in front of the +dining-room window, and he would not have known how to find that, so he +must have been twenty-eight hours without drinking anything beyond a +possible drop of dew now and then. I had to feed him with great care--a +little food, and very often, until he recovered a measure of strength. +He was very drooping all day, and I quite feared he might not live after +all, he was so nearly starved to death. After some days, however, +"Richard was himself again," and as bright and amusing as ever. I have +not related the amusing characteristics of his "daily tub." His love of +water was a perfect passion, and water he would have. At first he was +treated to a large glass dish on the matting in the dining-room, but he +sent up such a perfect fountain of spray over curtains, couch, and +chairs, that the housemaid voted "that bird" a nuisance, and a better +plan was devised. In the conservatory is a pool of water, with rock-work +and ferns at the back, and there is a central tube where a fountain can +be turned on. I made a small island of green moss a little above the +water, and, placing Richard upon it, I turned the fountain on to play a +delicate shower of spray over him. He was perfectly enchanted, and +fluttered, turned about, and frisked, like a bird possessed. As he +became accustomed to it, I began to throw handfuls of water over him, +and that he did enjoy. He would cower down, and lie with his wings +expanded and beak open, receiving charge after charge of water till +quite out of breath; then he would run a few paces away on his island +till he recovered himself, and then would go back and place himself +ready for a renewed douche. I never saw such a plucky bird. If I had +been trying to drown him I could not have done more, for sometimes he +was knocked backwards into the pool; but no matter, he was up again, and +all ready in a minute. He generally tired me out, and when I turned off +the fountain, he would either fly or run after me into the drawing-room +and go into his cage, which always stood there; and there followed a +very careful toilette--a general oiling and pluming and fluttering, +until his bonnie little feathers were all in good order; and then would +follow endless chatter, and he would inform the world that he was a +"little beauty," "pretty little dear," &c. + +Starlings seem to have an abundant supply of natural oil in the gland +where it is stored, for his feathers were never really much wetted by +his tremendous baths, and he was a slippery fellow to hold, his plumage +was so glossy and sleek. + +A word must be said about his temper; it was decidedly not meek by any +means, and his will was strong, so the least thing would bring a shower +of pecks in token of disapproval, and if scolded his attitude was most +absurd; he would draw himself up to a wonderful height, set up his crest +feathers, and stand ready to meet all comers, like a little fighting +cock; and when a finger was pointed at him he would scold and peck, and +flap with his wings with the utmost fury; and yet if a kind word was +said all his wrath vanished, and he would come on your hand and prize +your fingers apart, looking for grubs as usual. It seemed strange that +his habit of thus searching for insects everywhere should continue, +though he was never by any chance rewarded by finding one. A starling's +range of ideas may be summed up in the word "Grubs." It was always +immensely amusing to strangers to see Richard, when out in the room, +searching with his inquisitive beak in the most hopeless places with a +cheerful happy activity, as if he always felt sure that long-looked-for +grub, for which he had searched all the years of his life, must be close +by, round the corners somewhere, under the penwiper, behind that book, +amongst these coloured silks; and if interfered with he would give a +peck and a chirp, as much as to say, "Do let me alone, I'm busy; I've +got my living to get, and grubs seem scarce." Richard was the only bird +I have ever had who learnt the nature of windows, he never flew against +them; he had one or two severe concussions, and being a very sensible +bird he "concluded" he wouldn't do it again; he would fly backwards and +forwards in the drawing-room in swift flight, but I never feared either +the windows or the fire, as he avoided both. + +Several times Master Richard was found flying about in the drawing-room, +and yet no one had let him out; we could only suppose that by some +mischance the door must have been left open; yet we all felt morally +certain it had been fastened properly, and there was much puzzlement +about the matter. + +However, the mystery was soon solved by my watching Richard's +proceedings. I heard a prolonged hammering and found he was at work upon +the hasp of his cage door. He managed to raise it up higher and higher, +till by a well-directed peck he sent it clear out of the loop of wire +which held it in its place. Still the door was shut, and it required a +good many more pecks to force it open, but he succeeded in time, and out +he flew--delighted to find himself entirely master of the situation. +Then I watched with much amusement his deliberate survey of the room. + +I was ill at the time, and he first flew to greet me and talk a little; +he hopped upon my hand, and holding firmly on my forefinger he went +through his usual morning toilette, first an application to his oil +gland, then he touched up all his plumage, drew out his wing and tail +feathers, fluttered himself into shape, and when quite in order he began +to examine the contents of my breakfast tray; took a little sugar, +looked to see if there were any grubs under the tray cloth, peered into +the cream jug, decided that he didn't like the salt, gave me two or +three hard pecks to express his profound affection, and then went off on +a voyage of discovery, _autour de ma chambre_. He squeezed himself +between every ornament on the mantlepiece, flew to the drawers, and +found there some grapes which were very much to his taste; so he was +busy for some time helping himself. He visited every piece of furniture, +threw down all the little items that he could lift, and, as I was +reading, I did not particularly notice what he was about, until he came +on a small table near my bed, and then I heard a suspicious noise, and +turned to find the indefatigable bird with his beak in my ink bottle, +and the sheet already plentifully bespattered with black splashes and +little streams of ink trickling over the table cover; such misplaced +zeal was not to be borne, so Richard had to be caged. When he was seven +months old, his beak began to turn from black to yellow. The colour +began to show first at the base of the beak, and it went on gradually, +until in a month's time it was nearly all yellow, though it was black at +the tip for some time longer. As time went on, Richard's talking powers +increased; he quite upset any grave conversation that might be going on; +his voice dropped at times to a sort of stage whisper, as if he wished +to convey some profound secrets. "Oh, you little beauty, pretty little +dear, 'ow de doo?" used to mingle most absurdly with the conversation of +his elders and betters. When he could not have his bath in the +conservatory, I used still to give him his glass dish, which we used +together, for he would never enjoy his ablutions without me, and I +became considerably sprinkled in the process. His delight was to have a +water fight, pecking at my fingers, scolding, as if in a great rage, +using his claws, and all the while calling me "Dear little Dicky; +beauty; pretty little dear," &c., for he had no harder words to scold +with; certainly the effect was most comical. When he supposed he had +gained the victory, he would settle down to a regular bathe, fluttering +and taking headers until he was dripping wet and delightfully happy, and +the next thing would be to perch on one's chair, and shake a regular +shower of drops over one's books or work. + +Richard was not, as a rule, at all frightened by noises, or by being +carried about in his cage in strange places, but early one morning, when +he was out in my room, he flew away from the window with a piercing +scream of terror, and hid himself quite in the dark, behind my pillow, +shivering with fright, as if he felt his last hour had come. We found +out, when this had occurred several times, that his _bête noire_ was a +great heron, which used occasionally to leave the lake, and circle round +the house, high up in the air. It could only have been by pure instinct +that Richard was inspired with such terror whenever he saw the great +winged bird, and it showed that artificial training, though it develops +additional powers and habits, in no way interferes with natural +instinct. + +The starling has a remarkably active brain; its quickness of movement, +swift flight, and never-tiring activity, all show the working of its +inner mind; but more than that, it seems to be capable of something akin +to reasoning. Richard sometimes dropped a piece of meat on his sanded +floor, and I have often seen him take it up and well rinse it in his +water, till the sand was cleansed away, and then he would swallow it; +and a dry piece of meat he would moisten in the same way. Now this +involved a good deal of mental intuition, and I often wondered whether +he found out that water would remove the sand by accident, or by a +process of thought; in either case, it showed cleverness and +adaptability. So also with the processes of opening the door of his +cage. He had first to prize up the latch with his beak to a certain +height, and then by sudden sharp pecks send it clear of the hasp; then +descend to the floor, and by straight pecks send the door open. If he +could not get the door to open thus, he understood at once that the +latch was not clear of the hasp, so he went back to his perch and pecked +at it until he saw it fall down, and then he knew all was right. + +When the second summer of Richard's life came round, some young +starlings were obtained, as we much wished to rear a hen as a mate for +Richard in the following year. These birds were placed in a cage in the +same room with him, as we hoped he would prove their tutor, and save us +the trouble of teaching them. But no; Richard evidently felt profoundly +jealous of these intruders, and day after day remained perfectly dumb +and out of temper. This went on for a week, and then fearing he might +lose his talking powers, I was obliged to remove them and pay special +attention to him, to soothe his ruffled feelings. He did not begin to +talk until more than a week had passed by, evidently resolving to mark +in this way his extreme displeasure at others being admitted to share +our friendship--a curious instance of innate jealousy in a bird's mind. + +For more than five years Richard was a source of constant pleasure and +amusement, and was so much a part of my home-life that when anything +unusual happened, in the way of a garden-party or a change in daily +events from any cause, one's first thought was to provide for his +comfort being undisturbed. I confess I dreaded the thought of his +growing old, and could not bear to look on to the time when I must learn +to do without his sweet, cheering little voice and pleasant +companionship. Alas! that time has come, and I must now tell how the +little life was quenched. + +In a room to which he had access, there was a small aquarium half-full +of water thickly covered with pond-weed. I had left Richard to have his +usual bath whilst I went down to breakfast, and when I returned I could +nowhere find my pet. His usual bath was unused; I called and searched, +and at last in the adjoining room I saw the little motionless body +floating in the aquarium. The temptation had been too strong; Richard +thought to have a lovely bathe, had flown down into the water, no doubt +his claws were hopelessly entangled in the weed and thus, as was the +case with my former starling Dick, the intense love of bathing led to a +fatal end. + +The sorrow one feels for the loss of a pet so interwoven with one's life +is very real; many may smile at it and call it weakness, but true lovers +of animals and birds will know what a blank is felt and how intensely I +shall ever regret the untimely fate of my much-loved little Richard. + + + + +[Illustration] + +VERDANT. + + +One day in early summer I found on a gravel walk a poor little unfledged +birdie, sitting calmly looking up into the air, as if he hoped that some +help would come to him, some pitying hand and heart have compassion upon +his desolate condition. + +I carried him indoors, and "mothered" the little helpless thing as well +as I could, by feeding him with hard-boiled yolk of egg mixed with brown +bread and water. Being a hard-billed bird, I supposed that would be +suitable food, and certainly he throve upon it. The little blue quills +began to tell of coming feathers, his vigorous chirpings betokened +plenty of vocal power, and in due time he grew into a young greenfinch +of the most irrepressible and enterprising character. His lovely hues of +green and yellow led to the name of Verdant being bestowed upon him, and +his early experiences made it a somewhat suitable name. + +Poor little man! he had no parents to instruct him, and he consequently +got into all manner of scrapes. He only learnt the nature of windows and +looking-glasses by bitter experience; flying against them with great +force, he was often taken up for dead; but his solid little skull +resisted all these concussions, and by pouring cold water upon his head +and some down his throat, he always managed to recover. He once +overbalanced into a bath, and was nearly drowned; he fell behind a +wardrobe, and was nearly suffocated; later on he almost squeezed himself +to death between the bars of his cage--in fact, he had endless escapes +of various kinds. He was very amusing in his early youth. Whilst I was +dressing he would delight in picking up my scissors, pins, buttonhook, +and anything else he could lift, and would carry them to the edge of the +dressing-table and throw them down, turning his sly little head to see +where they had fallen. He delighted in mischief, and was ever on the +watch to carry off or misplace things; and yet he was a winning little +pet, fearless in his confidence, perching on one's head or shoulder, and +hindering all dressing operations by calmly placing his little body in +the way, regardless of consequences. + +He lived in his cage during the day, and next to him, on the same table, +lived a bullfinch--a very handsome bird, but heavy and lethargic to a +degree; he sang exquisitely, and for that gift I suppose Verdant admired +him, for his delight was to be as near him as possible. Perched on the +top of his cage, he gazed down at his friend, and in great measure +imitated his singing. Bully, on the contrary, hated Verdant, and would +have nothing to do with him. The two characters were a great source of +amusement to us. + +Verdant was always let out at meal-times to fly about and enjoy his +liberty, and I am sorry to say he was always on the look-out for any +mischief that might be possible. Bully's water-jar was fastened outside +by a small pin; this Verdant discovered was movable, and before long we +were startled by the fall of the said water-jar, the greenfinch having +pulled out the pin; he then began upon the seed-box, and that also fell, +to his great delight; he was then talked to and scolded, and up went his +pretty yellow wings with angry flappings, and his open beak scolded back +again in the most hardened manner. He was greatly interested in watching +the numerous birds frequenting a basket filled with fat which hung +outside the window, and he would swing backwards and forwards on the +tassel of the blind, chirping to the outsiders, and watching all their +little squabbles. Sunflower seeds were his greatest dainty; he would +perch upon the hand to receive one, or if it were held between the lips +he would flutter and poise upon the wing to take it. A sort of swing +with a chain and movable wheel was provided, upon which Verdant soon +learned to perch and swing, whilst he amused himself by pecking at the +chain till he disengaged the sunflower seeds I had fixed in the links. +When he was more than a year old, and I thought he might be depended +upon, I tried the rather anxious experiment of letting him out of doors. +He soon became quietly happy, investigating the wonders of tree +branches, inquiring into the taste of leaves and all kind of novelties, +when two or three sparrows flew at him and scared him considerably. Away +he went, followed by the sparrows, and I began to repent my experiment, +and feared he might go beyond my ken and lose himself. He was out nearly +an hour, but at last he returned and went quietly into his cage. It +seemed strange that the wild birds should so soon discover that he was +not one of their clique, but I suppose Verdant revealed the secret by +looking frightened, and the others could not resist the fun of chasing +him. For more than a year and a half my birdie was a constant pleasure. +Whenever he entered the dining-room my first act was to open Verdant's +cage, when he would always fly to the bullfinch's cage and greet him +with a chirp, then look to see if his friend had any provender that he +could get at--a piece of lettuce between the bars, or a spray of millet +to which he could help himself; no matter that Bully remonstrated with +open beak, Verdant calmly feasted on stolen goods _con gusto_, and then +scouted around for any dainties on the carpet, where he sometimes found +a stray sunflower seed, always his greatest delight. After his summer +moulting he became wonderfully vigorous, and would fly round the room +with such velocity that I often felt afraid he might some day fly +against the plate-glass windows and injure himself. + +That mournful day came at last! He had been out as usual at +breakfast-time, came on my finger for a seed, had his bath, and went on +the little swing for more seeds, and flew about with all his joyous life +and vigour. We had only left the room for a few moments, when, on +returning, the dear little bird lay dead beneath the window, against +which he had flown with such force as to break his neck and cause +instant death. + +The sorrow of that moment will never be forgotten; indeed, I cannot even +now think of my little pet with undimmed eyes--he was a moment before so +full of life and beauty, so fearless, such a "sonsie" little fellow; +and then to hold the little golden green body in my hand and watch the +fast-glazing eye, and think that I should never again have my cheery +little friend to greet me and be glad at my coming, was one of those +sharp pangs that true lovers of nature alone can understand. From all +such I know I shall have sympathy in the tragic death of my much-loved +little Verdant. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: WILD DUCK.] + +THE WILD DUCKS. + + +WHEN our grass was being cut the mowers came upon a wild duck's nest +containing eight eggs; they were carried whilst still warm and placed +under a sitting hen; in a week's time she brought out eight fluffy +little ducklings, which were placed with her under a coop in the +farmyard. I paid them a visit the next day, but, alas! I saw four little +corpses lying about in the grass, the remaining four were chirping +piteously, and the hen was in despair at being unable to comfort her +uncanny children. Evidently their diet was in fault; I thought I would +take them in hand, and therefore had the coop brought round to the +garden, and placed under the drooping boughs of a deodar near the +drawing-room window, where I could watch over them. + +I gave the wee birdies a pan of water, and placed in it some +finely-shred lettuce, with grits and brown bread crumbs, not forgetting +suitable food for the poor distracted hen. It was charming to hear the +little happy twitterings of the downy babes, how they gobbled and +sputtered and talked to each other over their repast, swimming to and +fro as if they had been ducks of mature age and experience, instead of +mere yellow fluffs of a day old; and, finally, they seemed to remember +they had a warm, comfortable mother somewhere, and sought refuge under +her kindly wings, where I left them exchanging confidences in little +drowsy chirps. + +I found it needful to guard my little brood with fine wire-work, for +some carrion crows kept hovering near, and a weasel was constantly on +the watch to carry them off; but these enemies were successfully +baffled, and three of the ducks survived all dangers and grew to +beautiful maturity, the fourth having died in infancy from an accidental +peck from the hen. In rearing all wild creatures the great thing is to +study and imitate, as nearly as possible, their natural surroundings, +and especially their diet. Chopped lettuce and worms made a fair +substitute for their natural food, but the jubilation that went on when +a mass of water-weed, full of insects, water snails, &c., was brought +them, showed that they knew by instinct what suited them best. With +constant care and attention they grew very tame, and would eat out of +one's hand, and when let out of the coop would follow me to a certain +heap of dead leaves where worms abounded, and there, with the most +amusing eagerness, they pounced upon their wriggling prey, snatching the +worms out of each other's beak, and tumbling over one another in their +excitement, all the while making a special chirp of exceeding happiness. + +They were named Tiny, Sir Francis Drake, and Luther--I fear the last +name had a covert allusion to the "Diet of Worms." + +When the purple feathers began to show in their wings, and they +considered themselves quite too old to pay any allegiance to their +hen-mother, they began to absent themselves for some hours each +afternoon, and this, too, in a most secret fashion, for I could never +tell how they disappeared, but they returned in due time, walking +quietly in Indian file, and lay down in their coop. At last I traced +them to a pond a long distance off--it really seemed as if they had +scented the water, for they had to traverse a lawn and wood, go across a +drive, and through a hedge and field, and then the pond was in a hollow +where they could not possibly have seen it; but there I found my little +friends in high glee, darting over the surface of the water, splashing, +diving, sending up showers of spray from their wings, and going on as if +they were possessed. I called to them, and in a moment they quieted +down, and behaved exactly as children would have done when caught +tripping--they came out of the water and followed me, in the meekest and +most penitent manner, back to their home under the deodar. + +These birds would stay the whole morning with me in perfect content if +they were allowed to nestle into a wool mat placed at the doorstep of +the French window leading out upon the lawn; there they would plume +themselves and sometimes preen each other, and I could watch the way in +which the feathers were drawn through the apparently awkward bill, yet I +suppose so suited for its various uses; anyway the feathers came out +from its manipulations as smooth and sleek as velvet, and when the +toilet was over the head found its rest behind the wing, and profound +sleep followed. Sometimes my friends would make a spring upon the sofa +by my side, I fear with a view to forthcoming worms, of which they well +knew I was the purveyor; and nothing could exceed the slyness of their +eyes as they looked up at me and mutely suggested an expedition to that +heap of leaves! + +I must say I derived an immense amount of amusement from those ducks; +they had such innate character of their own, quite unlike any other bird +I ever came across. + +I had often looked forward to the time when they would take to their +wings and come down upon the lawn from aerial heights with a grand fuss +and fluttering of wings, but that desire they never gratified. The day +came at last when I saw them circling high up in the air, so high that +they were mere specks in the sky, but where they alighted I never could +find out. They always re-appeared, walking solemnly (the little +hypocrites!) one after the other, as if they had been doing nothing in +particular, and were now coming in exemplary fashion to be fed. I +believe it is very rarely the case that wild ducks, however they may +appear domesticated, will remain all the year through with those who +have reared them, and really take their place in the poultry-yard with +the other inmates. Still it has been known, and I will subjoin an +account given me by a friend, which goes to prove that such a state of +things is possible. My friend gave me in substance the following account +of her wild ducks:-- + +"There are different kinds of wild ducks; these are mallards. The first +we had were hatched by hens. They feed with the other ducks, but show a +decided preference for Indian corn. They are very troublesome about +laying, often leaving their eggs exposed, where the crows find them and +carry them off. We gather most of them we find, to take care of them +(though the ducks lay in different places each time their nest is +robbed) until there are preparations for sitting, when, if we have been +fortunate enough to discover the fact, we add a number of the previously +gathered eggs. + +"The sitting duck comes for food every two or three days, and that is +all we see of her for some time, until at length she may be seen coming +through the meadow, the half-grown mowing grass behind her trembling and +waving in an unusual manner: by-and-by, the road or shorter grass is +reached, when it is found the proud mother is bringing home her little +fluffy family of perhaps eight to eleven darkie ducklings--quick, +active, tiny things that refuse at first all friendly advances, but +becoming accustomed to their surroundings soon behave much in the manner +of their elders. There are dreadful fights on the pond when two or more +little families arrive about the same time, the mother of one flock +tyrannizing over the members of another, and thus causing many deaths. +They often fly away, but they always come back again. All through the +winter they go under cover with the other ducks, but when spring comes +they are not to be found at night; nevertheless they are sure to be +ready for breakfast next morning." + +I confess I always had a faint hope that my ducks might stay with me, or +at any rate return from time to time, but their wild nature prevailed, +and they finally left; only Luther reappeared alone one day and took his +last "diet" from my hand; but there was a look in his pretty blue eye +which said plainly, "You will never see me again," and he had his final +caress and departed "to fresh woods and pastures new." + +[Illustration: _TINY, SIR FRANCIS DRAKE AND LUTHER_] + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE JAY. + + +My Jay was taken from the parent nest, built on the stem of an +ivy-covered tree which had been blown down in the winter. A young jay is +a curious-looking creature: the exquisite blue wing feathers begin to +show before the others are more than quills; the eyes are large and +bright blue, and when the great beak opens it shows a large throat of +deepest carmine, so that it possesses the beauty of colour from its +earliest days, and when full grown and in fine plumage it is one of the +handsomest of our birds. In its babyhood my jay was much like other +young things of his kind, always clamouring for food, and seeming to +care for little else, but as he grew up he attached himself to me with a +wonderful strength of affection which entirely reversed this order of +things, for whenever I came into the room he was restless and unhappy +until I came near enough for him to feed me, he would look carefully +into his food-trough, and at last select what he thought the most +tempting morsel, and then put it through the bars of his cage into my +mouth. He would sometimes feed other people, but as a rule he disliked +strangers, and I have known him even take water in his beak and squirt +it at those who displeased him. On the whole, a jay is not a very +desirable pet; he is restless in a cage, and too large to be quite +convenient when loose in a room; again, his great timidity is a +drawback--the least noise, the sight of a cat or dog, puts him in a +nervous fright, and he flutters about with anxious notes of alarm. He +is seen to best advantage hopping about on a lawn, where he may be +attracted by acorns being strewn in winter and spring. It is a pity that +his marauding habits in game preserves lead to his being so ruthlessly +shot by gamekeepers till it is almost a rare sight to see the handsome +bird and hear his note of alarm in the woods. One morning I saw a jay on +the lawn near the house, and rather wondering as to what he was seeking, +in a minute or two I saw him pounce upon a young half-fledged bird and +carry it off in his beak, a helpless little baby wing fluttering in the +air as he flew away. Their sight is wonderfully keen, and their cunning +is amusing to watch as they steal by careful steps nearer and nearer to +their prey, and at last by a sudden dart secure it and make off in rapid +flight. + +[Illustration: THE JAY.] + +After a year or two my poor jay met with a very sad fate. A garden-party +was to take place, and knowing the jay's terror of any unusual noise or +upstir, I carried his cage to a quiet room where I hoped he would be +quite happy and hear nothing. + +I, however, did not happen to notice that, later on, the band had +established their quarters near this room, and I suppose the unwonted +sounds drove the poor bird into a wild state of terror, and that in his +flutterings he had caught his leg in the bars of the cage; anyway, I +went up about the middle of the party to see how my pet was faring, when +I found him in utter misery clinging to the bars, his thigh dislocated +and his leg hopelessly broken. It was a mournful duty to carry him away +to merciful hands that would end his torture by an instant death. For +many a day I missed that bright, handsome birdie who had always a +welcome for me and the offer of such hospitality as his cage afforded. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: A YOUNG CUCKOO.] + + + + +[Illustration] + +A YOUNG CUCKOO. + + +Looking out of my window before six o'clock one bright morning in early +summer, I chanced to see a large bird sitting quietly on the gravel +walk. Its feathers were ruffled as if it felt cold and miserable, and +its drooping head told a tale of unhappiness from some cause or other. +Whilst I was watching it, a little bird darted with all its force +against the larger one, and made it roll over on the path; it slowly +rose up again, but in another minute a bird from the other side flew +against it and again rolled it over. Such conduct could not be +tolerated, so, dressing quickly, I went out, and picking up the strange +bird I found it was a young cuckoo nearly starved to death, having, as I +supposed, lost its foster-parents. The bird was in beautiful plumage, +except down the front of its throat, where the repeated attacks of the +small birds in showing their usual enmity towards the cuckoo, had +stripped off the feathers. The poor bird was only skin and bone, nearly +dying from lack of food and persecution, and made no resistance when I +brought him in to see if I could act the part of foster-mother. +Finely-mixed raw meat and brown bread seemed to me the best substitute +for his insect diet--but he _was_ an awkward baby to feed--though +sinking for want of nourishment he would not open his great beak, and +every half-hour he had to be fed sorely against his will with many +flapping of his wings and other protests of his bird nature. He would +not stay quiet in any sort of cage, but when allowed to perch on the rim +of a large basket quite free, he remained happily enough by the hour +together. After a few days he grew into a vigorous, active bird, flying +round the room, and too wild to be retained with safety He was +therefore let loose, and soon flew quite out of sight. I should hope he +was quite able to support himself by his own exertions. I must say he +showed no gratitude for my benevolent succour in his time of need. + +[Illustration: YOUNG CUCKOO ATTACKED BY BIRDS] + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE TAMING OF OUR PETS. + + +Since the love of animal and bird pets seems so universal, both amongst +rich and poor, it is well that the desire to keep creatures in captivity +should be wisely directed, and that young people especially should be +led to think of the things that are requisite to make their pets live +and prosper in some degree of happiness. + +I have often been consulted by some sweet, impulsive child about its +"pet robin" or "dear little swallow," as to why it did not seem to eat +or feel happy? and have found the poor victims quietly starving to +death on a diet of oats, canary seed, or even green leaves, the infant +mind not feeling quite sure what the "pretty birdies" lived upon. + +It is needless to say we might as well try to keep a bird on pebbles as +give hard grain to a soft-billed insect-eating bird; but this kind of +cruelty is constantly practised simply from ignorance. I would therefore +endeavour to give a few general rules for the guidance of those who have +a new pet of some kind, which they wish to domesticate and tame. + +To begin with animals; suitable food, a comfortable home, means of +cleanliness, and exercise are essential to their health and comfort. +These four requisites are seldom fully attended to. Often a large dog is +kept in a back yard in London chained up week after week--kept alive, it +is true, by food and water, but without exercise, and with no means of +ridding himself of dirt and insects by a plunge now and then into a pond +or river. No wonder his piteous howls disturb the neighbours, and he is +spoken of as "that horrid dog!" as if it was his fault poor fellow! that +he feels miserable and uses his only language of complaint. + +One would suggest, it is better not to keep such a dog in a confined +space in town, but if he is to be retained he should have one or two +daily scampers for exercise, the opportunity of bathing, if he is a +water-dog, plenty of fresh water, dog-biscuits, and a few bones twice a +day, and a clean house and straw for bedding. + +I would call attention to the piece of solid brimstone so persistently +put into dogs' water pans. It is placed there with the best intention, +but is utterly useless, seeing it is a perfectly insoluble substance, +but a small teaspoonful of powdered brimstone mixed now and then with +the water would be lapped up when the animal drinks, and would tend to +keep his skin and coat in good condition. + +Different animals need treating according to their nature and +requirements, and surely it is well to try and find out from some of the +many charming books on natural history all the information which is +needed to make the new pet happy in its captivity. It is both useless +and cruel to try to keep and tame newly caught, full-grown English +birds. After being used to their joyous life amongst tree branches, in +happy fellowship with others of their own kind, living on food of their +own selection, it is hardly likely they can be reconciled to the narrow +limits of a cage and the dreariness of a solitary life; it is far better +not to attempt keeping them, for what pleasure can there be in seeing +the incessant flutterings of a miserable little creature that we know is +breaking its heart in longings for liberty, and though it may linger a +while is sure to die at last of starvation and sorrow. No, the only way +to enjoy friendships with full-grown birds is to tame them by food and +kindness, till such a tie of love is formed that they will come into our +houses and give us their sweet company willingly. + +No cruelty of any kind whatever should be tolerated for a moment in our +treatment of the tender dumb creatures our Heavenly Father has given us +to be a solace and joy during our life on earth. + +The taming of pets requires a good many different qualities--much +patience, a very quiet manner, and a cheery way of talking to the little +creatures we desire to win into friendship with us; it is wonderful how +that prevents needless terrors. + +There are no secrets that I am aware of in taming anything, but love and +gentleness. Directly a bird flutters, one must stop and speak kindly; +the human voice has wonderful power over all animated nature, and then +try to see what is the cause of alarm, and remove it if possible. In +entering a room where your pet is, always speak to it, and by the time +you have led it to give an answering chirp, the taming will go on +rapidly, because there is an understanding between you, and the little +lonely bird feels it has a friend, and takes you instead of its +feathered companions, and begins to delight in your company. + +A person going silently to a cage and dragging out the bottom tray will +frighten any bird into flutterings of alarm, which effectually hinders +any taming going on; but approach gently, talking to the bird by name, +pull the tray quietly a little way, and then stop and speak, and so draw +it out by degrees and the thing is done, and no fright experienced. A +better way still is to have a second cage, and let birdie hop into that +while you clean the other, and then it is amusing to see the pleasure +and curiosity shown on his return when he finds fresh seed, pure water, +and some dainty green food supplied; the loud chirpings tell of great +delight and satisfaction, and the dreaded process is at last looked +forward to as a time of recreation. It is much best that one person only +should attend to the needs of a pet; indeed, I doubt if taming can ever +go on satisfactorily unless this rule is observed; a bird is perplexed +and scared if plans are changed, and, not knowing what is required of +him, he grows flurried, and the training of weeks past may be undone in +a single day. + +Only those who have tried to educate birds can have any idea of the way +in which their little minds will respond to affectionate treatment shown +in a sensible way. They have a language of their own which we must set +ourselves to learn if we would be _en rapport_ with them. Their +different chirpings each mean something, and a little observation will +soon show what it is; for instance, my canary fairly shrieks when she +sees lettuce on the breakfast-table, and her grateful note of thanks +when it is bestowed upon her is of quite a different character. So also +is her tender little sound of rejoicing when I give her some broken +egg-shell; she seems to value it immensely, and chirps to me with a +great piece of it in her bill, quite regardless of good manners. I often +think with pain how much birds must suffer when hour after hour they +call and chirp and entreat for something they want, which they can see +and long for, and yet the dull-minded human beings they live with pay no +heed to them, food and water are given, but, in many cases, nothing more +all day long, not even a little chickweed or groundsel, or the +much-needed egg-shell to supply strength to their little bones. A bright +word or two for birdie now and then, and a few friendly chirps as we +enter the room, would do much to cheer the little prisoner's life, and +would soon bring a charming response in fluttering wings and evident +pleasure at our return. + +This state of things cannot be attained in a day or a month; it is only +by persistent kindness, exercised patiently, until the little heart is +won to a perfect trust in you as a true friend. + +Birds can easily be trained to come out for their daily bath, and then +go back to their cage of their own accord, but it needs patience at +first. The bird must never be caught by the hand or driven about, but if +the cage is put on the floor with some nice food in it, and the bird is +called and gently guided to it, though it may take an hour to do it the +first time, it will at last hop in, and then the door may be very +quietly shut. Next time he will know what you wish and will be much more +amenable, until at last it will be the regular thing to go home when the +bath is over. + +I would condemn the practice of making birds draw up their own water; +they are never free to satisfy their thirst without toilsome effort, and +are much more liable to accident when chained to an open board than when +kept in a cage. It is also sad to know that dozens of birds are starved +to death or die of thirst whilst being taught this trick--frequently but +one out of many is found to have the aptitude to learn it. + +It is a great help if some specially favourite food can be discovered by +which the pet creature can be rewarded for good conduct. I _never_ take +away food or water to induce obedience by privation--a practice which I +fear is often resorted to in training creatures for public +exhibition--but an additional dainty I much enjoy to bestow, as a means +of winning what is at first, it is true, merely cupboard love, but it +soon grows into something far deeper, a lifelong friendship, quite apart +from the food question. + +Cleanliness is a _very_ important item in a bird's happiness. Whilst +kept in a cage with but little sand and an outside water-glass which +affords no means of washing its feathers, a bird is apt to become +infested with insects; it is tormented by them day and night, and having +no means of ridding itself of them, it grows thin and mopy, and at last +dies a miserable death. + +There should be a bath supplied daily, suited to the size of the bird, +and so planned that the cage itself may not get wet, else it may give +the bird cramp to have to sit on a damp perch or floor. When its +feathers are dry, some insect powder may be carefully dusted under the +bird's wings, at the back of his head, where parasites are especially +apt to congregate, and all over the body, only taking care that the +powder may not get into the bird's eyes. The cage itself should be well +washed with carbolic soap and water, all the corners scrubbed with a +small brush; and, when dry, it might be sponged with carbolic lotion +over the wire-work to kill any insects which may yet remain. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +BIRDIE. + + +Amongst all the different birds which are kept in cages, either for +their beauty or song, there is one which to my mind far excels all +others, not only in its vocal powers, which are remarkable, but for its +very unusual intelligence. I refer to the Virginian nightingale. It is a +handsome, crimson plumaged bird, rather smaller than a starling, not +unfrequently seen in bird-sellers' collections, but seen there to the +worst possible advantage, for, being extremely shy and sensitive, and +taking keen notice of everything around, the slightest voice or movement +in the shop will make it flutter against the bars of its cage in an +agony of fright, and it therefore looks a most unlikely bird to become +an interesting pet; but I will try to show what may be done by gentle +kindness to overcome this natural timidity. This will be seen in the +history of Birdie, my first Virginian nightingale, my daily companion +for fourteen years. + +He had belonged to a relative, and there was no way of tracing the age +of the bird when first obtained; I can therefore only speak of those +years in which he was in my possession. Birdie had been accustomed to +live in a cage on a high shelf in the kitchen, well cared for, no doubt, +but, untamed and unnoticed, he led a lonely life, and was one of the +wildest birds I ever met with. For many months his flutterings, when any +one came near his cage, could not be calmed, but by always speaking to +him when entering the room, and if possible giving him a few hemp-seeds +or any little dainty, he grew to endure one's presence; then, later on, +he would begin to greet one with a little clicking note, though still +retreating to the furthest corner of the cage, and a year or two passed +by before he would take anything out of my hand, but this was attained +by offering him his one irresistible temptation, _i.e._, a lively +spider; this he would seize and hold in his beak while he hopped about +the cage, clicking loudly with delight. After a time I began to let him +out for an hour or two, first releasing him when he was moulting and +could not fly very easily. He learned to go back to his cage of his own +accord, and was rewarded by always finding some favourite morsel there. +Thus, by slow degrees, he lost all fear, and attached himself to me with +a strength of affection that expressed itself in many endearing little +ways. When called by name he would always answer with a special chirp +and look up expectantly, either to receive something or to be let out. +His song was very similar to the English nightingale, extremely liquid +and melodious, with the same "jug-jug," but more powerful and sustained. +On my return to the room after a short absence he would greet me with +delight, fluttering his outspread wings and singing his sweetest song, +looking intently at me, swaying his head from side to side, and whilst +this ecstasy of song lasted he would even refuse to notice his most +favourite food, as if he must express his joy before appetite could be +gratified. After a few years he seemed to adopt me as a kind of mate! +for as spring came round he endeavoured to construct a nest by stealing +little twigs out of the grate and flying with them to a chosen retreat +behind an ornamental scroll at the top of the looking-glass. He spent a +great deal of time fussing about this nest, which never came to +anything, but he very obligingly attended to my supposed wants by +picking up an occasional fly, or piece of sugar, and, hovering before me +on the wing, would endeavour to put it into my mouth; or, if he was in +his cage, would mince up a spider or caterpillar with water, and then, +with his beak full of the delicious compound, would call and chirp +unceasingly until I came near and "made believe" to taste it, and not +till then would he be content to enjoy it himself. + +During an absence from home, Birdie once escaped out of doors, and was +seen on the roof of the house singing in high glee; the servants called +him, the cage was put out, but all to no purpose, he evidently meant to +have "a real good time," and kept flying from one tree to another until +he was a quarter of a mile from home. A faithful servant kept him in +sight for three hours, by which time hunger made him return to our +garden, where he feasted on some raspberries, took a leisurely bath in a +tub of water, and at length flew in at a bedroom window, where he was +safely caged. I never knew a bird with so much intelligence, one might +almost say reasoning power. He was once very thirsty after being out of +his cage for many hours, and at luncheon he went to an empty silver +spoon and time after time pretended to drink, looking fixedly at me as +if he felt sure I should know what he meant, and waited quietly until I +put water into the spoon. Another curious trait was his sense of humour. +Whilst I was writing one day he went up to a rose, which was at the far +end of the table, and began pecking at the leaves. I told him not to do +it, when, to my surprise, he immediately ran the whole length of the +table and made a scolding noise up in my face, and then, just like a +naughty child, went back and did it again. He would sometimes try to +tease me away from my writing by taking hold of my pen and tugging at a +corner of the paper, and whenever the terrible operation of cutting his +claws had to be gone through, he quietly curled up his toes and held the +scissors with his beak, so that it needed two people to circumvent his +clever resistance. He had wonderfully acute vision, and would let me +know directly a hawk was in sight, though it might be but the merest +speck in the sky. He once had a narrow escape, for a sparrow-hawk made a +swoop at him in his cage just outside the drawing-room window, and had +no one been at hand would probably have dragged him through the bars. +Whenever he saw a jay or magpie, a jackdaw or cat, his clicking note +always told me of some enemy in sight. For many years Birdie was my +cherished pet, never was there a closer friendship. As I passed his cage +each night I put my hand in to stroke his feathers, and was always +greeted with a low, murmuring note of affection never heard in the +daytime. + +It was with deep concern that I watched Birdie's declining strength; +there was no disease, only weakness, and at last appetite failed, but +even then he would take whatever I offered him and hold it in his beak +as if to show that even to the last he would try to please me as far as +he could, but he wanted nothing but the quiet rest which came at length, +and dear little Birdie is now only a cherished memory of true +friendship. + + + + +[Illustration: ZÖE, THE NUTHATCH.] + +ZÖE, THE NUTHATCH. + + +A visit to a bird-dealer's shop always awakens a deep feeling of pity in +my mind as I look at the unhappy, flutter-little captives, and think of +the breezy hill-sides and pleasant lanes from which they came, to be +shut up in cages a few inches square, with but little light, a stifling +atmosphere, strange diet, and no means of washing their ruffled feathers +or stretching their wings in flight. Truly, they are in evil case, and +no wonder so many die off within a few days of their capture! In some +places they are better cared for than in others, but in most bird-shops +dirt and misery seem to prevail amongst the tenants of the cages. + +One such place I have often visited for the sake of meeting with live +curios. The owner was a kind-hearted woman, and did not intentionally +ill-treat her live-stock; but the shop was very dark and dirty, and one +could but wonder how anything contrived to live in such close, stivy +air. On going in one day, I nearly walked over a large, pensive-looking +duckling which stood in the middle of the shop. His brother had been +considered suitable for the adornment of a table-lamp with a +looking-glass stand, on which a bright yellow duckling was placed, as if +swimming on water; this bird, having some darker markings, was of no use +for that purpose and had been allowed to live. He had a strange, +old-fashioned look, and gave one the impression that he was already +tired of life and felt bored. A lark on its little piece of turf, +fluttering and looking up for a glimpse of blue sky; a dejected robin, +with no tail to speak of, and sundry other sad-looking specimens met my +pitying gaze, and I suppose I had caught their sorrowful expression, +for I was startled by a sharp voice near me, saying, "What's the +matter?" I turned to reply, and found the inquiry was made by a grey +parrot, who introduced himself as "Pretty Poll," and was ready to make +friends to any extent. But my attention had been caught by seeing what +looked like a nuthatch: only it was moping and ill, with eyes shut and +feathers ruffled. I asked about it, and was told it had some injury to +its foot, and was unsaleable, as the woman feared it would not live. I +made a bid for it, and it was accepted. I confess I was not sorry to +leave the stilling air of the shop and bring my new pet home. I fitted +up a large cage with pieces of wood and tree-bark, a pan for bathing, +sand, and fine gravel; a bone with a little meat upon it hung from the +roof of the cage, and other suitable food was placed in a tin. The poor +birdie was a pitiable object for some days; she ate now and then, but +remained for the most part quite still, with closed eyes, from morning +till night. Then she began to creep up and down the small tree-stem I +had placed in the cage. She took a bath and plumed herself, and in less +than a fortnight she became quite well and vigorous, and very amusing +in a variety of ways. Never was there a more active, busy little +creature. + +Her characteristic was life, so she was named "Zöe," and before long she +seemed to recognize her name, and would give an answering chirp. The +pieces of bark appeared to afford a never-failing interest. They were +examined and investigated in every crevice. Like a little woodpecker +hanging head downwards, Zöe would hammer at a nut fixed in the cracks of +the bark, and would hide away unfortunate mealworms not required for +immediate use. + +Zöe regularly honeycombed the little tree-stem with her incessant +hammering, and in the numerous holes thus made she kept her supply of +food. No sooner was her tin filled with small pieces of raw meat than +she began stowing them all away for future use. She seemed to exercise a +good deal of thought about the matter; a morsel would be put in and out +of a hole half a dozen times before it was considered settled and +suitable, and then it had to be well rammed in and fixed, and off went +the busy little creature to fetch another piece, and so on, till all +was disposed of, and the tin left empty. Zöe was greatly exercised by a +half-opened Brazil nut: it was too large to fix into the bark, it would +not keep steady while she pecked at it, and yet there were good things +inside which must be obtained. I watched her various devices with great +amusement. She hung head downwards from the tree-stem and hammered at it +on the ground, but it shifted about, and she made no way; then she +carried it in her beak and tried fitting it into various places. I hope +she did not swear at it, but she seemed to think the thing was +possessed, for it was not like the ordinary nuts: she could manage them; +they would go into holes in the bark; this wouldn't fit anywhere, and +yet she could not give it up. At last, by a bright inspiration, she got +it fixed into a space between the tree-stem and the side of the cage. +Now she was in high glee, and all the household might have heard the +rapping that went on while she scooped out the inside and chipped off +pieces to be hidden carefully away in some secret place. + +Zöe had a cosy nook under a sloping piece of bark, to which she would +retire at times, and sitting down on the bottom of her cage in the +shadow, looked like a little grey mouse. When appetite brought her out +again, she would go to her tree-larder and pick out the choice hidden +morsels, as if they were the insects which would have been her food if +her lot had been cast amongst tree-branches instead of in a cage. + +When winter began, Zöe was placed in the conservatory, where a tame +robin often came for a few hours to enjoy his daily crumbs and the +pleasant warmth of the air. Bobby was greatly puzzled at the nuthatch, +watched her hammerings from the top of the cage, walked round it, +surveying the provisions inside, and at last he made up his mind to get +in somehow and partake of the longed-for dainties. I could see quite +plainly the attraction, the hesitation, the pros and cons, and then, +finally, the resolve, and felt very curious as to how the birdish mind +would carry out its intention. There was only one place, where the bars +were rather widely apart, so that the nuthatch could have got out if she +had possessed half the wits of the robin. After a quiet survey and a few +flights backwards and forwards, Bobby saw this place, and made towards +it, sat and considered for a few seconds, and finally went in. The +nuthatch was sitting quietly under her piece of bark, and did not see +him; so he picked up the desired morsels, and, after a few minutes, went +out where it came in. These visits he repeated frequently through the +day, but once I was amused to see that he forgot "the way out," and put +himself in a great fuss, realized that a cage was a prison, and flew up +and down in a fright, until by chance he saw the opening, and glided +out. At last Zöe caught him in the act of purloining her goodies, and +was most indignant. A rush at the thief, with an angry chirp, sent Bobby +flying away in ignominious haste, a wiser, but not a repentant bird; for +he continued his robberies, only with care to avoid being caught; he +ventured only a little way into the cage, ready to go out at a moment's +notice. + +Zöe had a good deal of quiet humour, and was a character in her way. She +considered me very attentively one day, with a roguish look in her black +eyes, and then, going to her tree-stem larder, she pulled out a hidden +mealworm and held it up for me to see, with an evident wish that I +should know about it, and possibly with a little birdish triumph that +she possessed such delights; and then it was put back again and well +rammed into its crevice until the hungry moment should arrive. After a +few months Zöe became tame enough to be let out of her cage, and would +hop quietly about the room, and, like a small, grey-coated detective, +would peer about stealthily under tables and chairs in search of live +dainties; and extremely pretty she looked as she crept up the curtains +with jerky motions, evidently thinking they were tree-stems where, by +careful search, delightful centipedes and beetles might be found. + +I do not know if naturalists have remarked that the nuthatch has a very +limited range of vision. Zöe could see nothing beyond twelve or fourteen +inches; the most tempting mealworm might lie on the floor of the cage +unnoticed if she happened to be on her tree-stem; and I have tried +bringing the insect nearer by degrees, and found that only when within a +foot of her eyes could she see it, and I fancy then only indistinctly +as she would peer about excitedly, as if uncertain what it was, until +near enough to be in the focus of clear vision, and then, by a sudden +dart, she would seize and flit away with it. + +At first Zöe's roosting-place was under the curved piece of bark lying +on the floor of her cage, but after a time she took up her nightly +quarters in a small box which hooked on to the side of her cage. It was +a very cramped and uncomfortable lodging, and I wondered how she +contrived to squeeze into such a small space. It occurred to me that a +little cocoa-nut with a hole at one end would be the sort of +sleeping-chamber she would prefer, as being most like a hole in a +tree-stem, in which, probably, nuthatches roost. + +An empty cocoa-nut was, therefore, provided. With birdish distrust and +caution Zöe only eyed it for some days, then perched on it; but finally +she went in, and it was amusing to see her evident delight: how she went +incessantly in and out, and turned round and round inside, and finally +sat down and remained in it for an hour or more, quite still and happy, +peering out at any one passing by, her sleek head and neck looking +remarkably like a snake, and her furtive black eye observantly watching +all that went on around her. + +Her cage, when not in the conservatory, was placed on a table in the +drawing-room, close to where I was sitting, and thus she was frequently +spoken to and noticed, which is one great secret in taming birds and +animals. They soon learn to greet one with some token of recognition, +and their often solitary lives are brightened and cheered by such +companionship. + +An amusing thing occurred one day while I was away from home for a few +hours. Zöe's cage had been placed in the sun, and a friend of mine, +glancing at the bird, saw her in an apparently dying state, her head +hanging on one side, the beak wide open, all the feathers ruffled, and +the whole aspect of the bird indicating the near approach of death. The +bell was rung, the servants came in, and whispered consultations were +held as to what could be done, and "What would mistress say?" seemed the +uppermost thought. All at once, Zöe jumped down and began a vigorous +hammering at her tree-stem, as full of life as ever, and she was at once +voted "a little impostor." When I returned and heard the account, it was +easy to explain that my birdie had been enjoying a sun bath, which +always gives rise to most lackadaisical positions while the state of +dreamy absorption lasts. + +The mealworms which Zöe mainly lived upon were kept in a tin +biscuit-box, which she knew well by sight, and one day, being too busy +to spare time to feed her with them, I opened her cage-door and put the +box down a little way from the cage on the floor, and placed a small log +of wood for her to descend by. Down she came, perched on the edge of the +box, looked at the layers of flannel which covered her delightful worms, +and tugged at one corner after another till she obtained her prey. After +swallowing two or three, she thought a little store might be useful, and +began taking them in her beak, and searching for some convenient +hiding-places, but as I did not desire to have the drawing-room neatly +ornamented with mealworms, I had to prevent that little design being +carried out. My tiny pet lived happily for about a year, but when the +moulting time came she grew weak and ill, and did not seem to have +strength to produce her new plumage; for, in spite of all possible care, +she drooped and died. She lives in my memory as one of the most gentle, +innocent birdies I have ever had, absolutely without temper, contented +and cheerful, a perfect pattern of industry, chipping out holes in her +log of wood, and flitting about with a happy little chirp from morning +till night, a bright example of what a cheery life may be lived, even by +a caged bird, when kindly treated and cared for thoughtfully. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +TITMICE. + + +I must own my strong liking for these active, saucy little birds. For +eighteen years I have always had a basket hung just outside the +dining-room window containing their favourite food, _.e._, fat of any +kind, cooked or uncooked; and most amusing it is to watch their little +odd ways and tempers whilst frequenting the said basket. Four species +thus studied showed distinct characteristics. Directly I put out a fresh +supply of fat, the Cole Tit would spend all his time and energies in +carrying it away, piece by piece, to lay by in store for the future, in +crevices in the bark of trees, and this work he would carry on with +misplaced energy until the basket was emptied. The Greater Tit and Marsh +Tit came quietly for the supply of their own personal needs, and to feed +their young in nesting time, but the Blue Tit was by far the most +amusing. His attitudes were quite a study; he seemed rather to prefer +being upside down; clinging to the basket and hammering away at the hard +fat, head downwards, was a favourite pose; then, when any one else +desired a share, he would make a stand with open beak and outspread +wings and enact "king of the castle" in the most impertinent manner, +considering his tiny dimensions. A guerilla warfare seems always going +on amongst these Blue Tits. If one was in the basket and remaining +perfectly still, I knew two or three others were meditating a sudden +combined assault, but it seemed as if the steady gaze of the titmouse +in possession kept them at bay for a time. At length a twittering +scrimmage ensued, and the combatants disappeared. I once coaxed a Blue +Tit to live in the dining-room for a few days, and he made himself very +happy, constantly flitting about in search of insects, running up and +down the curtains like a veritable mouse, alighting on any joint of cold +meat which happened to be on the sideboard, and making an excellent +dinner in Bohemian fashion. Of course his fearless curiosity led him +into difficulties. He would sit on the edge of a jug and peer down to +see what it might contain, and his plumage was not improved by the baths +of milk or cocoa which he met with in the pursuit of knowledge of this +kind. Some years ago an empty cocoa-husk with a hole at one end, +furnished with nesting materials, was hung up just above the basket of +fat. A large tit began to build in it, but unhappily for him a Blue Tit +had also been house-hunting, and determined to settle in it. I saw the +matter decided by a pitched battle between the two; they fought +desperately, rolling over and over on the lawn, pecking, chirping, +beating each other with their wings, like little feathered furies as +they were. + +[Illustration: Titmice.] + +At last it was ended, and Blue Tit was victor. It was pretty to see the +tiny pair building their nest, with little happy twitterings and +confabulations over each piece of moss or dried leaf, and so fearless +were they that a large blind was often let down close to and over the +husk without disturbing the inmates. When the hen bird was sitting, the +cock would bring a green caterpillar for her every four or five minutes, +and sometimes take her place on the nest. I often took the husk down +from its nail to show the brave little bird sitting on her eggs. If +touched she would hiss and set up her feathers, but did not leave her +nest. When the young birds were hatched, the parents were incessantly at +work from early morning till late at night bringing small caterpillars +about every two minutes to supply the wants of the tiny brood. One can +judge of the usefulness of these birds in ridding our gardens of insect +pests by the amount consumed by this one pair. By a moderate +calculation, and judging by what I saw one afternoon, I believe they +must have brought 3,570 in the course of one week. At last the day came +when five little blue heads peeped out of the entrance to the husk. One +after another the little ones flew into branches near by; the last one I +held in my hand for a while that I might draw its portrait. Fearing it +might be hungry if I kept it too long, I placed it in a cage on the +lawn, where the old birds found it and fed it for me through the bars. I +then brought it in again, and having finished its likeness, had the +pleasure of restoring it to its parents. The Blue and Cole Tit often +choose the inside of a disused pump as their nesting-place. A Cole Tit +built in an old pump in our grounds for many years, the curved spout +being its mode of ingress and egress. I could open a small door and look +at the pretty little hen on her nest, and then at her numerous family, +and watch their growth till old enough to fly. Certainly young birds +show a grand lesson of obedience, for creeping out into the world +through a dark, curved pipe, must have seemed a rather perilous mode of +exit. Another less fortunate Cole Tit built in a post-box placed by a +garden gate, and seemed in no way disconcerted when letters came in +suddenly around and upon her. She usually laid eighteen eggs in a deep, +soft nest of moss and hair. As boys were apt to take this nest year +after year, a lock was placed to the box to protect the little bird; but +the genus boy has no pity, and through the slit for the letters, some +cruel urchin, vexed at not being able to take the nest, put in a stick +and killed the poor little mother and broke the eggs. For several years +a Blue Tit chose to build her nest in the lower part of a stone vase in +the garden. There was a hole for drainage in the bottom, and through +this hole the little bird found a circular space just suited for her +nest. That particular vase could not be filled with plants till long +after all the rest were gay with flowers. We were obliged to wait till +the domestic affairs of the Tit family were ended, else their fate would +have been sad indeed. There is no doubt that these birds do contrive to +secure their share of peas and other things in the kitchen garden, and +are by no means favourites with the gardeners, but I still maintain that +the good they do in destroying insects counterbalances their evil doings +in other respects. However, they sometimes commit other misdemeanours. +My head gardener came to me one day looking very serious, and began by +asking what he was to do about "those Blue Tits." "Why, what have they +been doing?" I asked. "Two of them have been sitting at the entrance of +one of the hives, and they have picked off and killed every bee as it +came out, and now they have begun upon a second hive." "Well, you had +better hang up some potatoes stuck over with feathers, and that will +frighten them away." "I've done that, ma'am, and they sit on the +potatoes and look at me!" It was a trying case of utter contumacy, and +at last I was obliged, for the sake of saving my bees, to let one little +victim be shot and hung up as "an awful example" to the rest, and it +proved an effectual remedy. My basket of fat used to prove very +attractive all through the cold weather, when, I suppose, these tiny +birds need the caloric it supplies; they always left off coming as soon +as the days were warm and insects plentiful. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +BLANCHE, THE PIGEON. + + +Pigeons possess a great deal more individuality of character than any +one would suppose who has only seen them in flocks picking up grain in a +farmyard, like domestic fowls. + +They show to better advantage when only a few pairs are kept and fed +daily at some settled place; but to make really interesting pets two are +quite sufficient, and may be made very amusing companions. Some species +may possess more mental capacity than others. Those I have to speak of +were snow-white trumpeters. A pair was sent to me, but, to my sorrow, I +found on opening the basket that the male bird had escaped on the way; +so I could only put the solitary hen in a cage, and do all that was +possible in the way of plentiful food and kind care to make her happy; +but all to no purpose. The poor bird pined and grew weaker every day, +till she became unable to get up to her perch. I used, therefore, to go +to her every evening and place her comfortably for the night; and she +soon grew tame enough to like being caressed and talked to. When spring +returned I obtained a male pigeon, and hoped Blanche would accept him +for a mate, but she showed a great deal of temper, and made him so +unhappy that he had to be exchanged for another--a fine snow-white bird +like herself, and, happily, of such a forbearing disposition as to +endure being considerably "hen-pecked." Now began the curious part of +Blanche's history. The pair built a nest in a small pigeon-house close +to my window, so that I was able to watch all the family arrangements +with much interest. Blanche liked to be with me for some hours in the +morning, sitting on the table pluming herself, quite at ease, and when +that operation was ended she generally seated herself on a large Bible +which lay at one end of the dining-table, and there she usually went to +sleep; a white dove resting on the Word suggested to one's mind many a +beautiful emblematic thought. These visits to me were paid most +regularly when a nest was finished and the eggs were being hatched; she +then shared the duties of incubation by turns with her mate. He would +sit patiently for four hours on the nest, while Blanche spent that time +with me; then, punctually at the right moment, she would wake up, and, +lazily stretching her wings, would fly out at the open window to see how +affairs were getting on at home, and take her place on the nest for her +appointed four hours. + +She was a most eccentric bird in the matter of laying eggs. I sometimes +found she had made me a present of one, neatly placed amongst my working +materials! In fact, wherever she happened to be upon the table would be +deemed by her a suitable place for laying; and, as I always conveyed the +eggs to her nest, her little freaks did not much matter. But at last +she took it into her wilful little head to lay her eggs in the +coal-scoop, an arrangement which by no means improved her snowy plumage. +She had a pretty crest, which curved over her head, and her feet were +clothed with rather long feathers reaching to the claws. At our +breakfast-time she would often sit close to my plate, letting me stroke +her and draw out her pretty wings. I must own she was as conceited as +any peacock, throwing herself on her side and stretching out a feathered +foot, little dreaming how she was being laughed at for her affected +attitudes. If she had a fault, it was her temper! I have seen her go up +to her mate and give him a most uncalled-for peck, and he--amiable +bird!--would bear all her unkindness so meekly, only answering by a +propitiatory coo. Blanche reared many sons and daughters, but none were +so interesting as herself. I ascribe her unusual tameness to the loving +care bestowed upon her in her long illness. When once a bird's +affections are won in that way they generally remain firm friends for +life. + + + + +[Illustration] + +GERBILLES. + + +These curious little animals were brought to my notice by a scientific +friend who had seen them at the Zoological Gardens, and heard that they +were to be obtained there by applying to Mr. Bartlett. + +As I always regretted the untimely death of my pet jerboa, I thought +these little rodents would fill his place, and prove amusing pets. And, +accordingly, I paid a visit to the Zoo, and found a whole colony of +gerbilles of all ages living very amicably together in a large, +strongly-built wooden box, with bran, oats, and nuts for provender. + +It was no easy matter to secure a pair of suitable size and age. I could +but admire the patience of the attendant who made persevering attempts +to catch the nimble creatures for me, but they leaped and sprang about, +darted through his fingers, disappeared into holes, and seemed to enjoy +his discomfiture. At length a lively pair, with sleek skins and perfect +tails, were securely caged. + +Then I was warned to keep them in a tin-lined cage, as they would "gnaw +through anything," even the solid teak chest in which they were kept was +being rapidly demolished by their powerful incisors. + +The gerbilles were placed in a plant case, four feet long, with glass +sides and top, through which their gambols could easily be seen. The +case had a glass partition, and on one side lived a pair of chipmunks, +or striped American squirrels. They were highly incensed at their new +neighbours, springing with all their force against the partition, with +low growlings, casting up the cocoa fibre with their hind legs, as if to +try and hide them from their view. They soon found a little chink, +through which, I am afraid, some very strong language was launched at +the new-comers. + +Happily the gerbilles did not mind. They found delightful tree-roots to +gnaw at, plenty of food, and freedom to frisk and frolic to their +heart's content, so their neighbours were free to growl as much as they +liked, and they in their turn raised a hill of fibre and played at +hide-and-seek in their new domain. + +But let me now describe these gerbilles. I believe there are several +species, differing somewhat in appearance. These were fawn-coloured, +with sleek, soft fur, which, like the chinchilla, was blueish next to +the skin. They were about the size of small rats, with little ears and +long tails, with a black tuft at the end. The fur was white underneath, +the eyes jet black and very large, and long black whiskers, which were +always in motion. The hind legs being longer than the front ones, +enabled the creature to spring and leap along the ground with great +rapidity, as I found to my cost one night, when five of them got out of +their case and gave us an hour's occupation before they could be +recaptured. One managed to get inside an American organ, and effectually +baffled all our efforts to secure him. There was no help for it, he had +to be left there, and I went away with an anxious mind as to what his +busy teeth would be employed upon all night; and, sure enough, next +morning a velvet curtain was found nibbled and tattered, and being +converted into a nest for the enterprising gerbille! They became very +amusing, tame little creatures, ready to take dandelions, nuts, or any +little dainty, from one's hand. + +As they breed very readily in England, I was soon presented with a +little family of five very tiny, pinkish-coloured infants, quite blind, +and destitute of hair. They were not attractive, and so were left to +their mother's care till they could see and were properly clothed, and +then they were extremely pretty, and rapidly developed all the habits +and manners of their parents, gnawing wood, nibbling nuts, and having +merry games of their own, darting with wonderful quickness in and out of +the tree-roots, and getting up small battles for some coveted morsel of +diet. The first pair were quiet enough, and agreed happily together, but +when, later on, mother and daughter happened to have a little brood at +the same time, things became complicated, and it was no uncommon sight +to see the two mothers careering about, each with an infant in its +mouth, and it often fell to my lot to take care of the unfortunate +children and replace them in the nest whilst the mothers had a +"stand-up" fight, and this is a literally true expression, for gerbilles +sit bolt upright and fight each other with their front feet; but, though +they appear to be in desperate conflict, I must say I never saw that any +damage was done. As to their gnawing power, it is almost beyond +description. I gave them a strong wooden box as a nursery for the young +gerbilles, but before long they had eaten out the back and sides, and a +mere skeleton of a box remained. There was a piece of zinc, which formed +a partition, but they ate a hole right through the zinc in no time, and +when a wire cage, with a sliding door, was placed in the plant case, +they soon learnt how to lift up the door and get out. We often watched +the formation of the family nest, which was constructed of wool and hay +nibbled very small, and carried by mouthfuls and woven together. It +generally had two outlets for ingress and egress. There the entire +family would sleep during the day amicably enough, but towards evening +the nursery disputes would begin, and old animosities led to frequent +battles and scrimmages, because somebody wanted some one else's pieces +of wool for the precious infants. Still they were very tame, amusing +little creatures, liking to be stroked and fed and rewarded by a run +upon the breakfast-table, where they would examine every dish and plate +in a delicate, inquiring way, not touching the contents--only trying to +add to their small amount of knowledge of the outside world. Their food +consisted of bran, oats, pea-nuts, wheat, fresh dandelion and +clover-leaves, and on these they lived in perfect health and beauty. + +As the colony increased, it was needful to make several homes for the +gerbilles, and the original pair happened to be, for a time, in a cage +upstairs on a landing. One of these found its way out of the cage, down +the stairs, across the hall, and was discovered next morning in a room +where the younger members of the family were kept. This would go to +prove a keen scent, which, I suppose, guided the little animal to find +its friends, and also confirms what travellers have written about +gerbilles living in large colonies and always keeping together. + +One evening I had to read some natural history papers at a Band of Mercy +meeting in a neighbouring village, where the clergyman's wife took great +interest in promoting kindness to animals, and as I proposed speaking +about the gerbilles, I thought I would take some of them with me to show +the children. Accordingly a mother and four little ones, were put into a +cage with some food and bedding for their comfort whilst being +exhibited. I was concerned to see the extreme terror they seemed to feel +at the unusual motion of the carriage, and in a few minutes one became +convulsed and literally died of fright. I held the cage in my lap, and +talked to the others to reassure them, fearing more casualties, but +after a while they settled down, and we reached the schoolroom in due +time. I was scarcely prepared for the tremendous sensation the gerbilles +created. Remarks in broad Hertfordshire greeted their appearance. "Whoy, +here's a lot of moise." "Noa, they ain't; they's rats!" "Will they +boite?" and then such a cluster of children came round me they had to be +called to order, and the cage was carried round that all might see the +little foreigners, and through all the after-proceedings many pairs of +eyes remained fixed upon the cage and its inmates. I fancy that evening +will long be remembered by the children. + +The great difficulty that attends the keeping of these little animals is +their rapid rate of increase. It is true they can all be kept together, +for, as I have said, though there are squabbles they do not result in +any personal injury, and thus my colony was allowed to go on till there +was no counting the number of generations that existed. I very much +wished to reduce the numbers, and give some away, but could never tell +which were the mothers of the small pink infants I was being presented +with continually. I tried putting a little family of the babies into a +cage in the plant case, hoping the mother who belonged to them would +then appear and take care of them; but no, the entire colony trooped in +and ran riot in the new place, and if a young gerbille was by chance +left uncovered in the _melée_, a twentieth cousin would take it up +tenderly as if it was its own mother, and replace it in the nest--a very +emblem of brotherly kindness and charity. The colony had finally to be +dispersed and given away in small detachments to different friends, and, +strange to say, in no other case did the numbers increase, I imagine +because the requisite conditions of space and quietness were not +realized as in the pleasant home I was able to provide for them. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +WATER SHREWS. + + +Hearing that the little patients in a London hospital had scarcely any +toys, and that they especially desired a very large doll, I had one +dressed for them, and various other interesting items, such as an album +of pictures, bags of shells, a stamp snake, &c., were prepared; but a +large box was needed in which to pack all these treasures; and one which +had been for months in the wine-cellar was brought up for that purpose +into the hall. + +It was filled with straw, and as I was watching this being taken out I +noticed some small black animals darting about in it. + +"They must be young rats," I exclaimed, "and the rare kind, too--the +black rat, which has been almost entirely eradicated by the stronger +brown species." A curious instance, by the way, of a foreign interloper +driving out the native. + +I immediately resolved to secure these animals, whatever they might +prove to be, and, armed with leather gloves, and an empty glass globe to +place my captures in, I began to search in the straw, and soon secured +the supposed rats, but they proved to be a pair of water shrews--jet +black, lively little creatures, with sharply-pointed snouts and teeth, +as I soon discovered to my cost. I had taken off my gloves and was +watching the activity of the shrews, when suddenly they flew upon each +other, biting and screaming with rage, and, thinking they would kill +each other at that rate, I tried to separate them, but one turned and +bit me pretty severely, and it was with some difficulty they were +parted. One I put into a zinc fern case, and the other into a large +empty aquarium, with shingle at the bottom, moss and wool for bedding, +and a large pan of water for swimming and bathing. + +They were rather larger than the common mouse, jet black above, and +greyish-white beneath--restless, active creatures, usually found near +ponds and ditches; and how ever these two had found their way into a dry +cellar, and lived in a box of straw will always remain a mystery. I +learnt from books that they fed on worms and insects, and that diet was +provided, though much to my distress, for it is a miserable thing to see +any living creature tortured and devoured alive, even though it may be +in obedience to natural instincts. Happily I soon found a substitute. I +was showing one of the shrews to a fellow-student of natural history, +and with a long feather soon attracted the little animal's attention; he +always came out of his bed and sprang upon the feather like a little +tiger, dragging it about and holding on with the grip of a bull-dog, so +that one could lift him off the ground and keep him swinging a minute in +the air to see the pretty white fur underneath. My friend suggested that +it probably fed on small birds and thought the feather was part of its +daily fare. + +I obtained a fowl's head from the larder, and then it was a sight to see +how it was pounced upon and dragged about until securely hidden under +the moss, when we could hear our little friend crunching the bones and +tearing it to pieces as if he had not had anything so good for a long +while. + +One shrew died in a few days, but the other lived three weeks in perfect +health, and I believe it was an accidental failure of sufficient food +that led to the death of the second; their appetite seems to be, like +that of the mole, most voracious, and unless they obtain a constant and +ample supply of food they quickly die of hunger. + +They are worth studying for a few days, but their dreadful odour and +fierce character make them anything but pets. I suppose there is hardly +any animal in England so fierce and combative, and probably that may +account for the fact that one so often comes across a dead shrew lying +on the path in summer. + +When swimming, the shrew's furry coat perfectly resisted the entrance of +moisture; it always came out absolutely dry. The said coat was most +carefully kept in order; a daily brushing and cleansing went on, the +little tongue was often at work licking off every little speck of dust; +the toes were spread out and examined; the small amount of tail kept in +order. I could but think how many a lesson we may learn from the small +as well as the great creations of God's hand--habits such as this little +animal possessed might, in the way of cleanliness, lead to the +prevention of endless diseases, if imitated by those who never dream of +daily cleansings as being necessary to health and life. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: SQUIRREL.] + +SQUIRRELS. + + +If one lives in the country where these graceful little animals exist, +it is well worth while to attract them near the house so that one may +enjoy the sight their gambols and minister to their wants by suitable +diet. As I have already said, for many years food was placed in a basket +outside the dining-room window to attract the charming little titmice, +and four species might be seen feasting on fat of different kinds. I +placed Barcelona nuts for the nuthatches, and they came and shared the +contents of the basket with the tits. The nuts also drew a squirrel to +the spot, and after about a year, the little fellow became so used to +seeing us moving in the room that he would sit in the basket with his +graceful little tail curved over his back, cracking his nuts, and +nibbling away quite at ease. Then the window was opened and the nuts put +on a table inside the room, and there little "Frolic" sits whilst we are +at meals and forms one of the family, holding his nuts cleverly in his +paws, whilst his sharp teeth bite a hole in them, and, regardless of +tidiness, he flings the shells about as he nibbles at the kernels, +looking at us with his black, beady eyes, perhaps speculating upon what +our breakfast may be. How much more enjoyable is this sort of pet than a +poor caged squirrel whirling round in his wheel, condemned to a dreary +life, with no freedom or change, no intercourse with his kind. + +In town there is, perhaps, no way to keep a squirrel but in a cage; even +so, by an occasional release from its captivity, a constant variety in +its food, and its being talked to and noticed, its life may be made +less irksome, and, if young, it may eventually be made quite tame, and +become an interesting daily companion. + +We derived great amusement from our squirrel visitors; one after another +they would leap up the side of the window and spring in and out of the +basket in quick succession, carrying away a nut at each visit, playing +and skirmishing with each other in lively fashion. I am sorry to confess +there was great jealousy amongst them. A second squirrel took to coming +into the room, and Frolic and he had a pitched battle, in which our +favourite, poor little fellow! lost half his ear, and a sponge and water +were needed to efface the sanguinary stains left by the fight. + +The squirrel's great enemy is the cat. One would not think she could +catch the agile little creature; but one day we saw a cat watching an +unconscious little squirrel under the tulip-tree: we did not dream that +she could harm it, but in a moment she made one swift rush at her prey. +The squirrel ran at full speed, but alas! before we could interfere it +was caught and carried away. + +At Dropmore, the gardener told us he had a cat that kept the Pinetum +quite clear of squirrels. They certainly nibble the young shoots of firs +and horse-chestnuts unmercifully in the spring, and one very dry summer +they took very kindly to our peaches and nectarines; but I freely +forgive their little sins, and should be sorry to miss them from the +lawn where there are often four or five to be seen at once. + +They chase each other round a tree-stem with wonderful agility, and +express their animosity with angry grunts and a stamp of the foot like a +rabbit. In autumn I have acorns and beech-mast collected, and store some +bushels of each to be doled out through the winter and spring; strewn +under the tulip-tree this food, mixed with corn, attracts an amusing +variety of live creatures. Besides the squirrels which are constantly +there, we see jays, wood-pigeons, jackdaws, rooks, and flocks of the +smaller birds; if snow should prevail, a whole rookery will come to see +what is to be had. By constantly watching their movements I have learnt +that the squirrel's tail has quite a language of its own. It can be +curved over its back and so spread out that on a wet day it forms a +complete shelter from rain. It will take the form of a note of +interrogation or lie flat on the ground, stand out at an angle or +bristle with anger, according to the mood of the possessor. + +I did not find the American chipmunks, before alluded to, at all +tameable. They were very handsome, of grey colour with dark brown +stripes on their sides. + +They were extremely wild, and would spring round their cage in perfect +terror when looked at, so, finding they could not be made happy in +confinement, I let them loose in the garden in the hope they might +burrow under a large rhododendron clump, but after a day or two they +disappeared, and I suppose they made their escape to a neighbouring +wood, so that I have little hope of ever seeing them again. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +A MOLE. + + +A live mole above-ground is a somewhat rare sight, for, as a rule, his +habits are altogether subterranean; but now and then he may be captured +by a sudden grasp as he scrambles along in his odd, unwieldly fashion, +and a curious fellow he is in many ways. + +Strolling quietly along a country lane one summer's evening, I heard a +great rustling in a dry ditch, the dead leaves were being scattered +right and left, and I stopped to see what could be the cause. In a +minute the black velvet coat of a mole appeared, and I at once resolved +to endeavour to catch it, though with little hope of success, for the +creature is apt to dive into the ground in an instant when alarmed. +However, watching my opportunity, I managed to seize and hold him +firmly; but I had nothing to put him in, and he struggled furiously to +escape. All I could do was to roll him up in one end of my black lace +shawl and hurry home with my capture. Alas! for the unlucky shawl--the +mole soon began rending and tearing it into shreds with his powerful +feet and teeth. I was rapidly becoming acquainted with the habits of +moles, and in a way that I should not soon forget; still, that mole must +be brought home somehow, and I next transferred him to my dress pocket, +which I held fast, whilst he scrambled and pushed his strong little +snout in all directions to find some way of escape. He was soon placed +in a zinc fern case, with glass sides, supplied with earth to burrow in, +and fed with worms. I also gave him a pan of water, as I remembered +seeing a plan of a mole's burrow which always includes a place for +water. It was a really painful sight to watch the creature feeding; he +pounced upon a worm with the fury of a tiger, and holding it in his +mouth, tore it to pieces with his sharp claws and rapidly devoured all +the pieces, and snuffing about to make sure he had quite finished it, he +then darted off to seek another. The mole has a most voracious appetite +and dies very quickly if unable to obtain food. I was interested to +watch the bustling, active life of the little creature; his morning +toilet when the black velvet coat was attended to, carefully brushed and +licked by a tiny red tongue (though it never seemed to pick up dirt or +defilement in its passage through the earth) and finally, after a few +days, I had the pleasure of setting him free, when he dived into the +ground out of sight in a moment. + +Some years later a live mole was much desired by a young relative who +was giving Natural History lectures to some school children. It happened +that a mole had found its way into the conservatory and was doing much +damage there by making its runs close to the surface and uprooting the +plants in its course. The gardener and I resolved to catch it; he was +anxious to prevent further mischief to his plants, and I was wishing to +help the lecturer by sending a lively specimen to illustrate his +subject. The exciting part of the business was the necessity of making +the capture before eleven o'clock, when the carrier would pass by, and, +taking charge of the animal, would deliver it in time for the lecture +next day. We watched for the upheaving of the mole's run which came at +last. The gardener made a quick plunge with his hand into the soft +earth, but alas! the mole escaped. He kept quiet for ten minutes, then +another attempt was made, and failed. The carrier's bell sounded and he +passed by. I still kept watch, and again saw the earth move--the third +time was successful. I had gone to find a tin box, and on my return I +was greeted with "Here's the mole, ma'am!" Poor fellow! he was being +ignominiously held up by the scruff of his neck, and kicking furiously +at the indignity. He was soon packed up in soft grass, with a plentiful +supply of worms to feast upon by the way. A special messenger overtook +the carrier, and a telegram was sent to announce the dispatch of the +precious animal. + +He first reached a London office, where I fear he tended to hinder +business, as it was needful to transfer him to a cage, and no one seemed +particularly anxious for the honour of catching him, as his teeth were +known to be both sharp and numerous, and his disposition not of the +meekest. However, he was placed in his cage, travelled down into Kent, +and gave wonderful pleasure when exhibited to the children. + +One would naturally suppose that in a country village where boys and +girls are daily going to and from school, they would all have been +familiar with this little creature, but when the question was asked if +they had ever seen a dead mole, only fifteen children out of ninety had +seen one, and only three had ever seen a live one. + +Next day the mole was let loose upon a very hard piece of ground, but +even there he very quickly burrowed out of sight. + + + + +[Illustration] + +HARVEST MICE. + + +I had often wished to keep these interesting little animals, but as they +are only found in some parts of England and are difficult to capture +from their minute size and delicacy, I had to wait many years before +they could be obtained. At length, through the kindness of a friend, six +were sent to me from Norfolk, and for two years they lived in captivity +and afforded me much pleasure. + +They are the smallest English rodents, two of them only weighing a +halfpenny; they are brown in colour with white underneath, very long +whiskers and prehensile tails. They were made happy by finding all +things needful for their comfort in a large plant case. A thick layer of +cocoa fibre was spread over the bottom of the case, dry moss and hay +provided, wheat-ears, oats, and canary seed, and a small cup of water. A +flowerpot in which a number of small branches were fixed afforded +opportunity for exercise in climbing, and a pleasant resting-place was +formed by a half-cocoanut filled with cotton-wool and roofed over with +dry moss, then slung by three wires in a tripod of sticks of +corky-barked elm, a little hole for entrance being left at one side. +Into this the mice went the moment they were turned into the case, and +in it they mostly lived. I fancy its swinging a little as they moved +inside was congenial to their ideas of comfort. As they live in +cornfields and make a pendulous nest attached to an ear of corn, I +supplied them with a pot of growing wheat, in the hope that they would +incline to make a nest in it; but I could never induce them to rear a +family. They would sit for hours in the corn-stalks and nibble them +into a heap of shreds, but no nest ever appeared. Their greatest delight +was a handful of fresh moss full of little insects on which they would +feed. The greatest excitement was always shown when the moss +appeared--little heads would peep out of the cocoa-husk, little noses +sniffed in all directions, and then, with jerky runs, the tiny folk made +their way to the attractive spot, and soon each would be seen sitting up +like a small kangaroo feasting on a beetle or spider held in the tiny +paws. Sometimes in their great happiness they made a low, sweet chirping +like a company of wrens conversing cheerily together. When climbing in +their tree-branches it was interesting to see how the fine wiry tail was +always coiled round the stem as the creature descended, so as to keep it +from falling and injuring itself. + +Canary seed and brown bread seemed a favourite diet, and if I put a +trough of growing corn into the case the mice made little burrows +through it so as to be able to eat the wheat from below. I had heard a +sad report that my fairy-like pets had a tendency to eat each other as +spring came round! This I fancied might arise from lack of animal food, +so once or twice a week I always gave them a small portion of meat and +this seemed to prevent any tendency to cannibalism. + +After keeping them two years several deaths occurred, so I thought the +remainder should have their liberty, and I had the pleasure of seeing +them enter one of my corn-stacks where I hope they found all that their +little hearts could desire, and possibly they would stray to a +neighbouring bank and found a colony. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE CALIFORNIAN MOUSE. + + +A rather strange parcel from California reached me by post some years +ago. It was marked "Live animals with care," and consisted of a box, +containing several divisions, each having fine wire-work to admit air. +In one I found a spiny creature called a Gecko, in another a beautiful +lizard which had not survived the journey, and in the third a very rare +species of mouse known as _Perognathus Pencillatus_. It has a soft silky +coat of silver grey and fawn colour, and a long tail with a little tuft +at the end, very large black eyes and white paws. It was alive, but weak +and tired with its journey of ten days and all the jars and shocks it +must have had by the way. I gave it warm milk and soaked bread, which it +seemed to enjoy, and some hours later it was supplied with wheat grains, +the food upon which it lives in its native country. + +True to his natural instinct, mousie soon began to fill both his cheek +pouches with the corn, and tried to hide it away as a supply for the +future. In a few days the little creature was in perfect health, and he +has been a great pet now for several years; perfectly tame and gentle, +he will run about on the table and amuse himself happily wherever he is +placed. + +Being entirely inodorous he is kept in the drawing-room in a mahogany +cage which was made specially to meet his small requirements. He is a +busy little creature at night, as he likes daily to make a fresh bed of +cotton-wool, and fusses about with his mouth full of material until he +has arranged his little couch. + +In his own country, where the cold is very severe in winter, its habit +is to become perfectly unconscious, exactly as if dead, and in that +state it can endure the rigour of the climate and wake up when the +temperature rises. It was once left in a cold room and became in this +apparently lifeless state. I was not alarmed, as I knew of its +peculiarity, but it really was difficult to believe it ever could +revive; there was no trace of warmth, or any apparent beating of the +heart, and so it lay for some days, but on bringing it into a warm room +it became as bright and active as ever. It seems a more intense form of +hibernation than that of our squirrel and dormouse. + +The naturalist at San Bernardino, from whom I obtained this mouse, told +me he had kept one as a pet for many years, and his specimen lived +entirely without water; as there was sufficient moisture in the wheat +grains on which it fed to supply its need; but I think it is cruel to +keep anything without the means of quenching thirst which might arise +from an artificial mode of life, so my little pet has always a small jar +of water to which I know it resorts from its requiring to be refilled +from time to time. + + + + +[Illustration] + +SANCHO THE TOAD. + + +About four years ago I began to feed a toad that had found its way into +the conservatory. He sat daily in one place expecting his meal-worms, +and when he had snapped them up with his curious sticky tongue he would +retire to some hidden nook and be invisible until the next day. Each +winter he has hibernated as soon as cold weather began, and reappeared +with the spring sunshine. Sancho is now a very portly, and most amusing +pet. + +Few people would guess how much character can be shown by even this +poor, despised reptile when treated with real kindness, regularly fed, +and never frightened or abused. I will describe what happens when Sancho +is "shown to the public." + +Some meal-worms are thrown on the pavement near him. He sits for a time +gazing at them with his gold-rimmed eyes; then slowly creeps towards +them, fixes his eyes on one of the worms bends his head a little towards +it, then one hears a snap and the prey is taken. The act is so rapid +that one can never see the tongue that has picked up the +meal-worm--simply it is gone! The toad's eyes are tightly shut whilst he +swallows the morsel, and then he turns to pick up a second. Now is the +time to approach him from behind and begin to stroke his leathery, warty +skin. In a few seconds he is in a state of perfect ecstasy, his front +legs are stretched out, he leans first to one side, then to the other, +to guide the hand where he wishes to be stroked, and at last uplifts his +ponderous body until he is an inch or more from the ground, supported on +the tips of his toes. No description can do justice to the absurdity of +the attitude, and the rapture seems so intense that food is forgotten, +and so long as Sancho can get any one to stroke him, he is quite +oblivious to all around him, although at other times he will hop away as +soon as any stranger approaches. + +Sancho will not, as yet, take anything from my hand, but I hope to bring +him to that state of tameness in course of time. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: ROMAN SNAILS.] + +ROMAN SNAILS. + + +"How _can_ you take an interest in snails and slugs?--horrid, slimy, +crawling things!" More than once have I heard this kind of remark from +youthful lips when I produced my grand old Roman snails and gave them a +pleasant time for exercise upon the dewy lawn. Now in my secret mind I +think a snail is a wonderfully curious creature, neither ugly nor +"horrid"--it _is_ slimy, but about that I shall have something to say +later on. + +When staying at Box Hill, near Dorking, I often saw the great apple +snail, _Helix Pomatia_, which is only found on chalk soils, and is +supposed to have been introduced by the Romans, from the quantities of +their empty shells found with Roman remains in all parts of England. +They were kept and fattened in places called "Cochlearia" and made into +various "dainty dishes" which the Romans thought quite fit to set before +their kings. It is certain that they are very nutritious creatures, and +that in times of famine people have supported life and kept themselves +mysteriously "fat and well-liking" by resorting to snails and slugs as +articles of diet. Indeed I have heard more than once that the famous +"Pâte de Guimauve" owes its healing nutritive character to this despised +univalve, which is said to enter largely into its composition. I brought +several apple snails home with me from Box Hill and kept them for many +years, until I really believe the creatures, in a dim sort of way, +recognized me as their friend, or at any rate their feeder. I cannot +boast, as I believe an American lady is said to have done, that "her +tame oysters followed her up and down stairs," but certainly my snails +would, when placed upon the lawn, very frequently crawl towards me, and +would do so again and again when removed to a distance. As the weather +became cold they always hibernated, closing the mouth of the shell with +a thin, firm covering, or operculum, of chalk, which, mixed with their +slime, made a substance like plaster of Paris. Thus enclosed they would +lie as if dead until the warmth of the following spring made them push +the door open and come out, with excellent appetites, ready to eat +voraciously to make up for their long fast. These Roman snails were +quite five inches long when fully extended, and therefore were much +larger than our English species; the body was cream colour and the shell +a pale tint of buff varying somewhat in different specimens. + +These creatures were kept in a fern case with glass top and sides, and +it was singular to observe the way in which they could suspend +themselves (as shown in the drawing) from the top of the box. + +The substance which exists in the caterpillar of the silkworm moth, and +which can be drawn out into fine shreds of silk, is very similar to the +slime of the snail, only in the latter it is not filiform, but exudes as +a liquid and then hardens into a thin layer of silk which is strong +enough to support the weight of two of these snails, for, seeing them +one day thus suspended, I put them in the scales and ascertained that +the weight of the two amounted to 2-1/2 ounces. + +This mucus forms the glistening, shiny track which the snail leaves +behind it, enabling it to glide easily and painlessly over rough +substances which would otherwise lacerate its soft body. + +One hardly expected to find social feeling and affection in animals so +low down in the scale of nature, but I do not know what else could have +led my "Romans" to caress each other with their long horns by the hour +together and always keep close to one another, twisting and curling +their yielding bodies round each other in the most odd contortions. Our +English snails hibernate in whole colonies for the winter, which also +points to their affectionate and gregarious habits. + +In lifting up some moss I once came upon some yellow, half-transparent +eggs about as large as pearl barley, and wishing to know what they would +prove to be I kept them in damp moss under a tumbler for about a +fortnight, when, to my dismay, I found a grand colony of yellow slugs! +and not a little was I teased about these interesting young people. I am +afraid I must own they were given as a _bonne bouche_ to my Virginian +nightingale, who seemed highly to approve of this addition to his daily +fare. Snails' eggs are nearly white and semi-transparent; the empty +shells of young snails are very lovely when placed in a good microscope: +the polariscope bringing out their exquisite prismatic tints. + +The gardener one day brought in a testacella, or shelled slug. It fed +upon earth-worms and was quite unlike the ordinary black or grey slug, +of which we have, alas! countless thousands preying upon all the green +things of the earth. This shelled slug was yellow, and seemed able to +elongate its body very differently to any other species. The shell was +quite small, a simple dome-shaped plate upon the anterior part of the +body. I kept it for some weeks on damp moss under a tumbler, but it was +often able to escape by flattening itself to a mere thread and then +crawling under the rim of the tumbler, and at last I gave it liberty as +a reward for its persevering efforts to obtain its freedom. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +AN EARWIG MOTHER. + + +I had often read of the earwig as an incubating insect, and much wished +to see for myself how she carried out her motherly instincts. One bright +May morning found me busily turning over stones, clinkers, and old +tree-roots in a fernery, which, having been long undisturbed, seemed a +likely spot for the nest I wished to find. There seemed no scarcity of +worms, wood-lice, centipedes, or beetles, but no earwigs could I see; +and I was just about to give up the search when, lifting a piece of +stone, I saw a small cavity, about as large as would contain a pea, and +in it lay about twenty-six round, white eggs, hard-shelled and shining, +of the size of a small pin's head. An earwig had placed herself over the +eggs, and I was delighted to think at last I had lighted upon the insect +mother I had been searching for. But what was to be done with her? How +could I watch the process of incubation? The difficulty was solved by +lifting the nest and its mother with a trowel and placing it in a saucer +under a tumbler, without any displacement of the eggs; thus the mother's +care could be conveniently watched. The earwig first carefully examined +her new home, touching each morsel of earth and stone with her antennæ; +and, having ascertained the exact condition of things, she set to work +to make a fresh nest, labouring with great industry until it was formed +to her mind. She then took up the eggs, one by one, with her mandibles, +and placed them in the new nest, arranging and rearranging them, until +at last she seemed content, and remained either upon or near them for +the rest of the day, quite motionless. + +Every night, and sometimes two or three times in the day, she would +form fresh places in the earth, and replace the eggs. To prevent the +soil becoming too dry, I used to sprinkle a little water upon it--a drop +here and there--and if by accident the water fell too near the eggs, the +earwig became much excited, hurrying to and fro with her eggs, until +they were all removed to a drier spot. On the other hand, if I omitted +the water until the earth became dry, she would choose the dampest spot +that remained in which to form her nest, and seemed to welcome the +water-drops, drinking herself from them, and feeling the damp earth with +her antennæ. She remained thus for three weeks, feeding on little pieces +of beef or mutton, or an occasional fly; I did not then know that +earwigs are mostly vegetable feeders, but it is clear they can eat other +food when needful. The first time I dropped a newly-killed house-fly +near her she looked at it intently, felt it with her antennæ, and then +suddenly wheeled round and pinched it with her forceps, and being +apparently satisfied that it could do no harm to her eggs, she began to +devour it, and after an hour or two but little remained except the +wings. + +As it was early in the year, but few insects could be seen, but by +searching in the conservatory I found a large green aphis, which I gave +to the earwig. To my surprise, instead of devouring it at once, she +applied herself to one of the projecting tubes of the aphis, and +evidently sucked its sweet secretion, and enjoyed it as much and in the +same way as ants are said to do. She feasted thus for four or five +minutes, but I am sorry to add that, unlike the humane ants, who care +tenderly for their aphides and preserve their lives by kind treatment, +the earwig ended by munching up the unfortunate aphis, till not a trace +of it was left. + +At the end of three weeks I found one morning all the eggs were hatched, +and tiny, snow-white earwigs, with forceps and antennæ fully developed, +were creeping about and around their mother. I placed a slice of pear in +the saucer, upon which the little ones swarmed, and seemed to find it +congenial food. In a few days they increased to nearly double their size +when first hatched, and turned a light brown colour. Having ascertained +all I wished to know about the maternal instincts of the earwig, I +released the mother and her family, and no doubt she was happy enough to +return to her old haunt in the fernery, and would greatly prefer +tree-roots and stones to my tumbler-and-saucer arrangement. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: EGYPTIAN BEETLES.] + +THE SACRED BEETLE. + + +On reading books on Egypt and the voyage up the Nile, one is sure to +find some mention of the curious beetle which is found along the banks +of the river, especially in Nubia, where the shore is traceried with the +footprints of the busy little creature. Miss Edwards, in her very +interesting book, "A Thousand Miles up the Nile," thus speaks of it: +"Every one knows how this scarab was adopted by the Egyptians as an +emblem of creative power and the immortality of the soul; it is to be +seen in the wall-sculptures, on the tombs, cut out in precious stones +and worn as an ornament, buried in the mummy-cases, and a figure of the +beetle forms a hieroglyph, and represents a word signifying 'To be and +to transform.' If actual worship was not paid to _Scaraboeus Sacer_,[1] +it was, at any rate, regarded with the greatest reverence and a vast +amount of symbolism drawn from its various characteristics." + +[Footnote 1: Or _Ateuchus Sacer_.] + +I had often wished to see this insect alive, and one day my wish was +very unexpectedly gratified by the arrival of a small tin box in which I +found a specimen of the sacred beetle swathed in wet linen like a +veritable mummy, only, instead of being an Egyptian specimen, this had +come from a kind friend at the Riviera, who knew that the same species +existed there, and had sent me this one by post. The scarab was at once +named "Cheops," and treated with all the respect due to his ancient +family traditions. + +His wants were easily supplied: a deep tin box, with earth and moss +slightly damped, gave him space for exercise; and then for food--alas! +that his tastes should be so degraded--he had to be supplied with +cow-dung! This could be done in secret, and judiciously hidden by fair, +green moss; but when exhibiting my cherished pet to admiring friends +the first question was sure to be, "What does he feed upon?" and one had +to take refuge in vague generalities about organic substances, &c., +which might mean anything, and then, by diverting attention to some +point of interest apart from the food question, the difficulty was +generally overcome. + +I kept a close watch to see if the beetle would be led by instinct to +form its round pellets of mud as is its custom on the banks of the Nile, +and having placed its egg in the centre, it begins to roll it from the +margin of the river until it is above high-water mark. There it digs a +hole and buries the pellet, leaving the sun to hatch the eggs in due +time. Travellers who have watched the process describe the untiring way +in which both the male and female beetle roll these pellets, often +falling down with their burden into holes and ridges in the rough +ground; but then their comrades will give them help, and, picking up the +ball, they patiently labour on. Walking backwards, having the pellet +between their broad hind legs, they push it up and up until it is +placed in safety. The persevering energy of this insect led the +Egyptians to adopt it as an emblem of the labours of their great deity, +Osiris, or the sun; they also traced a resemblance in the spiny +projections on its head to the rays of the sun. + +Great was my delight to find at length that Cheops--even in +captivity--was true to his native instincts, that he had formed a pellet +about the size of a marble and was gravely rolling it with his hind legs +backwards and forwards in his box. Poor captive! he was evidently +puzzled what to do with the precious thing. He had no Nile bank to +surmount, and the sun was hardly warm enough to encourage any hope for +his future family; but he did the only thing that was possible--he set +to work to scoop out a hole of sufficient size, then rolled the pellet +in and covered it over with loose earth. Three such pellets were made at +intervals of a few days; one of them I unearthed and kept as a curio. +The beetle never seemed to miss it, and having done his duty under +difficult circumstances, his mind seemed to be at rest. + +I often placed Cheops in my hand to show him to visitors, and there he +would lie feigning to be dead until he was gently stroked over the +elytra, when he would stretch out his antennæ, then his legs by slow +degrees appeared (for he tucked them close to his body out of sight when +frightened), and at last he would begin to walk in a jerky manner, as if +moved by machinery, often stopping to look and listen to be sure that it +was safe to move, and even if busily at work in the earth, if he saw any +one coming near he would stop, draw in his antennæ and limbs and remain +motionless. + +He had a strong and peculiar odour at times, which became more apparent +if he was annoyed. He was infested with a small mite, and though these +were frequently cleared away with water and a camel's-hair brush, they +always reappeared in a day or two, clustering under the thorax between +the first pair of legs, and at times they might be seen racing over his +body with great rapidity. Once Cheops nearly escaped, for I had placed +his box in the sun, and the warmth so excited and waked him up that he +opened his wing-cases, used his gauze-like inner wings, and with a +mighty hum was all but gone in search of his native land, but +fortunately I was near enough to intercept his flight and place him in +safe quarters. After keeping this curious creature in perfect health for +sixteen months, I was much vexed to find him one morning lying in a +shallow pan of water in his box, quite dead. He had overbalanced on to +his back, and, being unable to turn over, had been drowned, though the +water was scarcely half an inch deep. Poor Cheops is enshrined in a +pyramid-shaped box, in which he is often shown and his life-history told +to interested visitors. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS.] + +SPIDERS. + + +Of all the varieties of "creeping things" spiders seem to be the most +universally disliked. I knew well the kind of expression I should see on +the faces of my friends when I produced the box which contained my pet +Tegenaria, a large black spider, long-legged and very swift, a +well-known kind of house-spider. + +Happily the box had a glass lid, so the inmate could be seen in comfort; +and when the spider's history was told there was always an interest +created in even this poor despised creature. + +When first placed in its new home the Tegenaria began spinning tunnels +of white silky web in various directions across the box. They were +almost as close in texture as fine gauze, and had openings here and +there, so that they formed a kind of labyrinth. + +The spider always lived in one corner, curled up, watching for prey, and +when a blue-bottle was put in, and began buzzing, she then rushed up one +tunnel and down another until she could pounce upon her prey. + +The fly was quickly killed by her poison fangs, and then carried to the +corner to be consumed at leisure. Unlike the habit of the garden or +diadem spider, no cobweb was rolled round the victim; only the wings +were cut off and the body carried away. After some months I noticed the +corner seemed filled up with web and fragments of insects, and when I +examined it more closely there appeared a large round ball of eggs, over +which the spider had spun some web, and then had collected all the legs +and wings of her prey and stuck them carelessly here and there in the +web so as to conceal her nest, and make it look like the remains of an +old cobweb. Over this nest she kept careful watch. One could not drive +her from it; she only left it for a moment to spring upon a fly, and +would return with her food immediately and resume her watchful life in +the corner. At length the young spiders were hatched in countless +numbers; they crept about the tunnels, and though so minute as to be +mere specks, they were perfect in form, active in seeking for prey, and +appeared perfectly able to take care of themselves and begin life on +their own account. + +I had kept the Tegenaria more than a year in confinement, and having +shown such admirable motherly instincts, I thought she had earned the +reward of liberty. No doubt she welcomed "the order of release"! At any +rate, she scampered away under some tree-roots, and possibly resides +there with her numerous family to this day. + +Spiders hunt their prey in a variety of ways--some by spinning their +beautiful web, with which we are all familiar; others, as the Zebra +spiders, catch flies by leaping suddenly upon them, and these may often +be seen on window-sills watching some coveted insect, drawing slowly +nearer to the victim, till, by a well-directed spring, it can be +secured. There are nearly three hundred species of spiders in this +country, and nearly all spin and weave their silken threads in some way, +but each in different fashions, according to their mode of life. The +female spider is the spinner, and her supply is about 150 yards. When +she has used that amount a few days' rest will enable her to secrete a +similar quantity. + +With great pains the spider's silk has been obtained and woven into a +delicate kind of material; but as each spider only yields one grain of +silk, and 450 were required to produce one yard, the process was found +to be impracticable. The insect possesses silk of two colours, +silver-grey and yellow; one is used for the foundation-lines of the web, +and the other for the interlacing threads. The silk is drawn by the +spider from its four spinnerets, and issues from them in a soft, viscid +state, but it hardens by exposure to the air. If a web is examined with +a magnifying-glass, it will be seen that its threads are closely +studded with minute globules of gum, which is so sticky that flies +caught in the web are held in this kind of birdlime until the spider is +able to spring upon them. + +Astronomers and microscopists make use of the strongest lines of the +spider's web to form some of their delicate instruments. The thread is +drawn in parallel lines at right angles across the field of the +eye-piece at equal distances, so as to make a multitude of fine +divisions, scarcely visible to the naked eye, and so thin as to be no +obstacle to the view of the object. One means of classifying spiders is +by the number of eyes they possess. These are usually two, six, or eight +in number. The fangs with which the spider seizes its prey are hollow, +and emit a venomous fluid into the body of the victim, which speedily +benumbs and kills it. In Palestine and other countries a kind of spider +is found which is entirely nocturnal in its habits, and never either +hunts or feeds in daylight, but makes itself a little home, where it +abides safely till sunset. It is called the trap-door spider, from the +curious way in which it protects the entrance to its nest. It bores a +hole in the dry earth of a bank a foot or more in depth, lines the hole +with silk, and forms a lid, or trap-door, which secures the spider from +all intruders. I have one of these nests in which the door is a +wonderful piece of mechanism, quite round and flat, about as large as a +threepenny piece, made of layers of fine earth moistened and worked +together with silk, so that it is tough and elastic and cannot crumble. +The hinge is made of very tough silk, and is so springy that when opened +it closes directly with a snap. The outside is disguised with bits of +moss, glued on so that no one can see where the door is. The only way of +opening it is with a pin, and even then the spider will hold on inside +with his claws, so that it is not easy to overcome his resistance. +Amongst some insects sent to me from Los Angelos is a huge "Mygale," a +hairy monster of very uninviting aspect. When its legs are outspread it +measures nearly six inches across, and one can well believe the stories +one hears of its killing small birds if it finds them on their nests. A +gentleman living in Bermuda is said to have tamed a spider of the +species "Mygale," and made it live upon his bed-curtain and rid him of +the flies and mosquitoes which disturbed his nightly rest. He thus +describes this remarkable pet: "I fed him with flies for a few days, +until he began to find himself in very comfortable quarters, and thought +of spinning a nest and making his home. This he did by winding himself +round and round, combing out the silk from the spinnerets at the end of +his body till he had made a nest as large as a wine-glass, in which he +sat motionless until he saw a fly get inside our gauzy tent; then I +could fancy I saw his eyes twinkle as his victim buzzed about, till, +when it was within a yard or so of him, he took one spring and the fly +was in his forceps, and another leap took him back to his den, where he +soon finished the savoury morsel. Sometimes he would bound from side to +side of the bed and seize a mosquito at every spring, resting only a +moment on the net to swallow it. In another corner of the room was the +nest of a female Mygale of the same species. She spun some beautiful +little silk bags, larger than a thimble, of tough yellow silk, in each +of which she laid more than a dozen eggs. When these hatched the young +spiders used to live on her back until they were old enough to hunt for +themselves. I kept my useful friend on my bed for more than a year and a +half, when, unfortunately, a new housemaid spied his pretty brown house, +pulled it down, and crushed under her black feet my poor companion." +This kind of spider, or an allied species, captures large butterflies in +the tropical woods by hanging strong silken noozes from branches of +trees, and they have been seen to kill small birds by this method. One +of our British spiders lives under water in a dome-like cell of silk, +which is filled with air like a diving-bell by the spider carrying down +successive globules of air between its legs, which it liberates under +the dome until it is filled; and the young are hatched there. + +The spider, on its way through the water, never gets wet. It is hairy, +and is enveloped in a bubble of air, in which it moves about protected +from wet and well supplied with air to breathe. As the spider's supply +of food is always precarious, they are able to live a long time without +eating. One is known to have lived eighteen months corked up in a +phial, where it could obtain no food; but though thus able to fast, the +spider is a voracious feeder, and will eat his own kith and kin when +hard pressed by hunger. + +I believe it is now thought that the spider of the Scriptures was a kind +of spiny lizard called the Gecko. One of this species was sent to me +from California, and lived for a few weeks, but as nothing would induce +it to eat, to my great regret it pined and died. It was about as large +as an ordinary full-grown toad, of a speckled grey colour, with rich +brown markings, its head something like a lizard, with large thorny +projections which extended all along the spine. The feet were very +remarkable, each toe being furnished with a sucker which enabled the +Gecko to walk with perfect ease in any position on a wall or pane of +glass without losing its hold; and travellers say that it is a frequent +inmate of Eastern houses, and may be seen catching flies as it creeps +along walls and ceilings. + +Many kinds of spiders run with ease upon the surface of ponds and +ditches, and one forms a kind of raft of a few dead leaves woven +together, on which it sits and is blown by the wind hither and thither, +and thus is enabled to prey upon various aquatic insects. + +The surface of grass lawns may be seen on autumnal mornings covered with +tiny webs gemmed with dew. We may therefore estimate the immense number +of flies captured by these traps so thickly spread over the grass, and +see in them another proof of the adaptation of each created thing for +its special purpose, and how wonderfully the balance of nature is +maintained, so that one creature keeps another in check, and all work +harmoniously together, according to the will of our great Creator. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +TAME BUTTERFLIES. + + +In _The Century_, for June, 1883, Mr. Gosse described a monument, in +which the sculptor had carved a child holding out her hand for +butterflies to perch on. He went on to say that this was criticised as +improbable, even by so exact an observer as the late Lord Tennyson. It +may therefore be of some interest to record the following facts from my +personal experience. + +One summer I watched the larvæ of the swallow-tailed butterfly through +their different stages, and reserved two chrysalides to develop into +the perfect insect. In due time one of these fairy-like creatures came +out. I placed it in a small Indian cage, made of fine threads of bamboo. +A carpet of soft moss and a vase of flowers in the centre made a +pleasant home for my tiny "Psyche." + +I found that she greatly enjoyed a repast of honey; when some was placed +on a leaf within her reach, she would uncoil her long proboscis and draw +up the sweet food with great apparent enjoyment. + +She was so tame that it became my habit, once or twice a day, to take +her on my finger; and while I walked in the garden she would take short +flights hither and thither, but was always content to mount upon my hand +again. She would come on my finger of her own accord, and, if the day +was bright, would remain there as long as I had patience to carry her, +with her wings outspread, basking in the sunbeams, which appeared to +convey exquisite delight to the delicate little creature. + +I never touched her beautiful wings. She never fluttered or showed any +wish to escape, but lived three weeks of tranquil life in her tiny +home; and then having, as I suppose, reached the limit of butterfly +existence, she quietly ceased to live. + +On the day of her death the other butterfly emerged, and lived for the +same length of time. Both were equally tame, but the second showed more +intelligence, for she discovered that by folding her wings together she +could easily walk between the slender bars of the cage; and having done +so she would fly to a window, and remain there basking in the sun, +folding and unfolding her wings with evident enjoyment, until I +presented my finger, when she would immediately step upon it and be +carried back to her cage. + +The tameness of these butterflies I ascribed in great measure to the +fact of their having been hatched from chrysalides, and having therefore +never known the sweets of liberty. I often wondered if really wild +specimens could be won by gentle kindness and made happy in confinement, +and one bright summer's day I resolved to try. A "Painted Lady" had been +seen in the garden the day before, and I soon caught sight of her making +rapid flights from one bed of flowers to another, and when resting for +a few minutes, folding and unfolding her wings on the gravel path, I +crept slowly up to her with a drop of honey on my finger to try and make +friends; but my "lady" was coy, "she would and she wouldn't," and after +letting me come within a few inches with my tempting repast, she floated +away, out of sight, and I feared she would not be willing to give me +another chance; however, I waited quietly, and in a few minutes she +alighted at a little distance. I again drew near very slowly, and again +she sailed away, but the third time she gained confidence enough to +reach out her proboscis and taste the honey, and finally crept upon my +finger. I very gently placed the light bamboo cage over her and brought +her indoors; she, all the while, entranced with the sweet food, remained +quietly on my finger, and when satisfied, crept upon a flower in the +middle of the cage, and after a few flutterings round her cage seemed +content and folded her delicate wings to rest. Whilst engaged in her +capture I had observed a "Red Admiral" hovering over some dahlias, and +thinking "Cynthia"[2] might like a companion, I tried my blandishments +upon him. I had not much hope of success, for though a bold, fearless +fellow, he is very wary, and his powerful wings bear him away in swift +flight when alarmed. Many a circle did I make around that dahlia bed! +"Admiral" always preferred the opposite side to where I stood, and +calmly crossed over whilst I went round. At last, by long and patient +waiting, he, too, allowed me to come near and present my seductive food +to his notice--the wiry proboscis was uncoiled and felt about for the +honey; once plunged into that, all volition seemed to cease, he allowed +me to coax him upon my finger, and he, too, was safely caged; but he +behaved very differently from "fair Cynthia." The moment his repast was +ended he flapped with desperate force against the bars, and in a minute +he was out and on the window-pane, fluttering to escape. The cage had to +be secured with fine net, and he was replaced and soon quieted down. +Twice a day these delicate little pets would come upon my hand to +receive their sweet food, and appeared perfectly content in captivity. + +[Footnote 2: The former Latin name for the "Painted Lady" butterfly] + + + + +[Illustration] + +ANT-LIONS. + +(MYRMELEON FORMICARIUS.) + + +Many years ago a friend sent me some of these remarkable insects from +the Riviera, and for sixteen months I fed them as regularly as possible, +but the cold of a remarkably severe winter killed them, to my great +disappointment, as I had hoped to be rewarded by a sight of the perfect +insect. + +Ant-lions are not, I believe, found in any part of England, so I had to +wait till I could again procure some from the south of France, where +they are frequently met with in dry, sandy places. + +Early in March this year (1890) three specimens were sent me and were at +once placed in a box of dry silver sand, where they buried themselves +and remained quietly resting for some hours. + +Many of my readers may be interested to know what the ant-lion is like, +and why I thought it worth while to take great pains to rear it. These +young specimens were flat, grey, six-legged creatures about the size of +a small lady-bird, covered with hairs, and possessing two strong forceps +projecting from their heads. They are so formed that they cannot go +forward, but move always backward by a series of jerks. As they live +upon ants and are so strangely formed, they have to resort to stratagem +in order to entrap their prey, and this they do by means of pits formed +in the sand in which they live; into these pits the ants fall, and are +seized by the forceps of the ant-lion, who lies in wait at the bottom. + +Many a time have I watched the formation of these pits, and will try to +describe the process. The insect begins describing a small circle on +the surface of the sand by jerking himself backwards and flinging the +sand away with his flat head and closed forceps, which form a kind of +shovel. Each circle is smaller than the last, until the pit is like an +inverted cone, and the ant-lion lies buried at the bottom, only his +forceps being visible. When an ant has fallen headlong down into the pit +it makes frantic efforts to escape, and if the ant-lion sees that it is +likely to get beyond his reach, he then with his forceps flings some +sand at it with such unerring aim the poor victim is sure to roll over +and over until it reaches the jaws of its captor, who feasts upon it and +then flings the remains of the body out of the pit. + +One difficulty was how to ensure a supply of ants, but this was overcome +by filling a box with part of an ants' nest, and as these insects +settled down and seemed content with their quarters, they were ready +when wanted, and three times a day the lions had to be fed! One learns +to sacrifice one's feelings in the cause of science, but to the last it +was a real distress to me to have to put the poor little ants where they +would be devoured; but Nature is cruel, and from the real lion to his +insect namesake, preying upon one another seems the prevailing law of +her realm. + +As the ant-lions grew, the pits increased in size. At first they were +about as large as a threepenny-piece, but ended by measuring more than +two inches across. + +I could not tell whether the insect moulted its skin, as it was always +hidden, but in July, after four months' feeding, the ant-lions changed +into chrysalides, which looked like perfectly round balls of sand. + +The box was placed in a warm greenhouse, and in seven weeks' time the +perfect insects appeared. They were like small dragon-flies, with +slender bodies, four black-spotted gauzy wings, two large black eyes and +short antennæ. + +I had read about their being nocturnal insects, feeding on flies, so +they had that diet provided for them in the glass globe in which they +were kept, but I could never feel sure that they ate the flies, and +fearing they would be starved I tried giving them a little sweet food, a +drop of raspberry syrup at the end of a twig; it seemed to be the right +thing, for they greedily sucked it in, but in spite of all my care they +only lived four weeks; which, however, is probably the term of their +existence. + +Whilst I was writing this paper a singular incident occurred. I heard a +strange, wild note, and something brilliant dashed past me to the end of +the room, and there, on a white marble bust sat a lovely kingfisher--a +bird I had hardly ever seen, even at a distance, and here he had come to +pay me a visit in my drawing-room. Would that I could have told him how +welcome he was! but, alas! he darted about the room in wild alarm, flew +against the looking-glasses, and though I tried to guard him from a +plate-glass window, that has often proved fatal to birds, I was too +late; he came with a crash against it and fell down quite dead, his neck +being broken by the force of the blow. + +I had heard that a kingfisher had been seen at my lake, and hoped that +the bird might build and become established there; it was, therefore, a +keen regret to me that this bright visitant had met with such an +untimely fate. + + + + +[Illustration: THE ROBIN.] + +ROBINS I HAVE KNOWN. + + +If I once begin to speak about these winning, confiding little birds, I +shall hardly know when to stop. There can scarcely be a more delightful +pet than a wild robin which has learnt to love you, and will come +indoors and be your quiet companion for hours together. One can feel +happy in the thought that he has his liberty and his natural food out of +doors, and that he gives you his companionship freely because he likes +to be with you, and shows that he does, by singing his sweet songs +perched on the looking-glass or some vase of flowers. + +Autumn is the best time to begin taming such a little friend. When one +of those brown-coated young birds in his first year's plumage (before +the red feathers show) takes to haunting the window-ledge, or looks up +inquiringly from the gravel path outside, then is the time to throw out +a mealworm, four or five times a day, when the bird appears. He will +soon associate you with his pleasant diet, and come nearer, and grow +daily less fearful, until, by putting mealworms on a mat just inside the +room, he will come in and take them, and at last learn to be quite +content to remain. The first few times the window should be left open to +let him retreat, for unless he feels he can come and go at will he will +probably make a dash at a closed window, not seeing the glass, and be +fatally injured, or else too frightened to return. + +Like all other taming, it must be carried on with patience. + +One summer, many years ago, we occupied an old-fashioned house in the +country, where, in perfect quietude, one could make acquaintance with +birds and study their habits and manners without interruption. From the +veranda of a large, low-ceilinged sitting-room one looked out upon a +garden of the olden type, full of moss-grown apple-trees, golden +daffodils, lupines and sweet herbs, that pleasant mixture of the kitchen +and flower garden which always seems so enjoyable. It was an ideal home +for birds, no cat was ever visible, and from the numbers of the +feathered folk one could believe that countless generations had been +reared in these apple-trees and lived out their little lives in perfect +happiness. I soon found a friend amongst the robins; one in particular +began to pay me frequent visits as I sat at work indoors. At first he +ventured in rather timidly, took a furtive glance and then flew away, +but finding that crumbs were scattered for him, and while he picked them +up a kindly voice encouraged his advances, he soon became at ease, made +his way into the room and seemed to examine by turns, with birdish +curiosity, all the pieces of furniture and the various ornaments on the +mantelpiece and tables. Much to my pleasure he began to sing to me, and +very pretty he looked, sitting amongst the flowers in a tall vase, +warbling his charming little ditty, keeping his large black eyes fixed +upon me as if to see if I seemed impressed by his vocal efforts. + +Once he stopped in the middle of his song, looked keenly at a corner of +the ceiling, and after a swift flight there, he returned with a spider +in his beak; one can well believe what good helpers the insect-eating +birds must be to the gardener, by destroying countless hosts of minute +caterpillars and grubs that would otherwise prey upon the garden +produce. Bobbie continued his visits to me throughout the summer, +remaining happy and content for hours at a time, pluming himself, +singing, and at times investigating the contents of a little cupboard, +where he sometimes discovered a cake which was much to his taste, on +which he feasted without any leave asked, though truly it would have +been readily given to such a pleasant little visitor. He soon showed +such entire confidence in me that he would perch on the book I was +reading, and alight on my lap for crumbs even when many people were in +the room. + +When we had to leave this country home I wished that dear Bobbie could +have been packed up to go elsewhere with our other possessions, but +since this could not be, let us hope he still inhabits the old garden +and cheers other home-dwellers with his confiding manners and morning +and evening songs of praise. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +ROBERT THE SECOND. + + +After slight intimacies with various robins who were visitors to the +conservatory and found their way in and out at the open windows, I was +led to special friendship with a brown-coated young bird I used often to +see close to the open French window where I was sitting. He was coaxed +into the room by mealworms being thrown to him until he made himself +quite at home indoors. By the time he had attained his red breast the +weather had become too cold for open windows, but Bobbie would sit on +the ledge and wait till I let him in, and then he would be my happy +little companion for the whole morning, flitting all about the room, +along the corridor, into the hall--in fact, he was to be found all over +the house; but when hungry he returned to me as his best friend, because +I was the provider of his delightsome mealworms. It was always amusing +to visitors to see me feed my small fowl! He would be on the alert to +see where his prey was to be found, and he would hunt for it +perseveringly if it happened to fall out of sight. He was often to be +seen perched on the Californian mouse's cage, and I wondered what could +be the attraction; at last I discovered that he coveted mousie's brown +biscuits, and after that he was allowed one for his own use, kept in a +special corner, where a cup of water was also provided for his small +requirements. + +However tame wild birds may seem there will be times when all at once a +sort of intense longing to get out seems to possess them. When this was +the case Bobbie would fly backwards and forwards uttering his plaintive +cry (one of the six kinds of notes by which robins express their +feelings), and his distress was so evident that the window was always +opened at once to let him go out. + +I am sorry to have to confess that robins are most vindictive towards +each other! Bobbie maintained a very angry warfare with a hated rival +out-of-doors, in fact his chief occupation in life seemed to be watching +for his enemy. He might often be seen sitting under a small palm in a +pot on the window-ledge, and whilst looking the picture of gentle +innocence he was, I fear, cherishing envy, hatred, and malice in his +naughty little heart, for, all at once, there would be a grand +fluttering and pecking at the window whilst the two little furies, one +inside and the other out, expended their strength in harmless warfare +which only ceased when they were too exhausted to do more, and then +followed on both sides a triumphant song of defiance or victory. + +I must now weave into this biography the life-history of a poor robin +which, I suppose, must have been caught in a trap, for it had lost the +lower mandible of its beak, and had only a little knob remaining of the +upper mandible. It haunted the windows, and looked so hungry and +miserable from its inability to pick up its food, that I thought it +kindest to coax it into a cage where it could be fed with suitable food. +By placing mealworms in a cage I at last induced it to hop in, and for +five months it had a very happy life indoors, feeding on soaked brown +bread and all the insect diet I could secure for it. When the cage was +cleaned each morning Bobbie was let out, and would take a bath in a +glass dish, and then fly to the top of the looking-glass, where he would +often remain all day unless we were quick enough to secure his cage-door +when he went in to feed. By the middle of May I thought caterpillars +would be plentiful enough for him to find his own living, so one day he +was released, but unhappily Robert the Second was close by, and the +moment he saw the invalid in his cage on the lawn with the door open, he +rushed in and savagely fought the poor defenceless bird. Before we could +interfere he drove our pet out of his cage, and terrible was the battle +that went on; the beakless bird was driven far away, and I was quite +unhappy about his fate, for he was now beyond my loving care, and I +never expected to see him again. Two months passed by, and I only once +caught a glimpse of the invalid, but at last he came just as before to +the window, looking thin and ill, with ruffled feathers, and evidently +again at starvation point. Once more he entered his cage and began his +old life, only now he was hung under the veranda so as to enjoy fresh +air and the songs of his companions. For two months I endeavoured to +keep the dear little creature happy; we were all so fond of him, and it +seems very touching to think that in his times of extremity he should +have come willingly into captivity and felt sure that a kind welcome +would be accorded him. But no amount of care could bring him through the +moulting season, the lack of a beak to plume his feathers and his great +difficulty in picking up even the mealworms made him weak and sickly. He +got out of his cage one day into the garden, and a few days after we +found his poor little body lying dead close to the window where he had +always found the help he needed, and yet we could not but be glad that +his sorrowful little life was ended. + +When robins have been thus tamed for years the families they rear are +like pet birds; they are fed by their parents close to the windows, and +then come indoors, as if they knew they would be welcome everywhere. + +There is one feature in the robin's character that, as far as I know, is +shared by no other bird; I mean his adopting a certain spot as his +district and always keeping to it, just as the stickle-backs portion out +a pond and jealously defend the territory they have chosen. Here, there +is a special robin to be found at each of the lodges; one haunts the +Mission Hall and will often sing vigorously from the reading-stand while +classes are going on. A very tame one lives in the coachman's house, +running about the floor like a little brown mouse, and sitting inside +the fender on cold days to warm himself. He must have met with trouble +in his early youth, for when first seen he was very lame, and had lost +the sight of one eye. Through kind care he has become well and strong, +but he is much at the mercy of his enemies, who often attack him on his +blind side. The conservatory, dining-room, and drawing-rooms have each +their little redbreast visitor; the latter is so tame he will take +meal-worms from my hand, and sits on my inkstand singing a sweet, low +song whilst I write. As long as each bird keeps to his domain there is +peace, but woe to any intruder! The conflicts are desperate, and I have +often to mediate, and separate two little furies rolling over and over +on the ground. I suppose it is in this way that the idea has arisen +about the young robins killing the old ones; I cannot ascertain that it +has any foundation--in fact, every robin fights his neighbour all the +year through, except when paired and busy with domestic duties. As dead +redbreasts are not found specially in autumn, I do not think there can +be any truth in the superstition. + + + + +[Illustration] + +FEEDING BIRDS IN SUMMER AND WINTER. + + +On wintry mornings, when leaf and twig are decked with hoar-frost and +the ground is hard and dry, affording no food for the birds, it is a +piteous sight to see them cowering under the evergreens with ruffled +feathers, evidently starving and miserable, quietly waiting for the +death that must overtake many of them unless we come to their rescue. + +It is one of my delights to feed the small "feathered fowls" through all +the winter months, and I only wish all my readers could enjoy with me +the lovely scenes of happy bird life to be witnessed through the French +window opposite my writing-table. These gatherings of birds are the +result of many years of persistent kindness and thought for the welfare +of my bird pets. Their tameness cannot be attained all at once; it takes +time to establish confidence; it needs thought about the kinds of food +required by various species of birds, regularity in feeding, and quiet +gentleness of manner to avoid frightening any new and timid visitors. +Doubtless there are very many lovers of birds who share this pleasure +with me, but for those who may not happen to know how to attract the +feathered tribes I will go a little into detail. + +This being a large garden near game preserves, and surrounded by a wide, +furze-covered common, I have been able to attract and tame the ordinary +wild pheasants by putting out Indian corn, buckwheat, and raisins, till +now they come to the doorstep and look up with their brilliant, +red-ringed eyes, and feed calmly whilst I watch them. It is a really +beautiful sight to see three or four cock birds, with their +golden-bronze plumage glistening like polished metal as the morning sun +rests upon them, and as many of their more sober-coloured mates +feasting on the dainties they find prepared for them; as a rule, they +are very amicable and feed together like barndoor fowls. When satisfied, +the brown hens run swiftly away to cover, while the cocks, with greater +confidence, walk quietly away in stately fashion, or remain under the +trees. + +Wood-pigeons are usually very shy and wary birds, yet these also come, +six and eight at a time, and feed at my window, Indian corn and peas +being their specialities. I have large quantities of beech-nuts and +acorns collected every autumn, and thus I can scatter this food also for +pigeons and squirrels all through the winter. Jays, jackdaws, rooks, and +magpies also approve of acorns and beech-nuts, so it is doing a real +kindness to tribes of birds to reserve this food for them until their +other stores are exhausted, and we can thus bring them within our view +and study their interesting ways, their modes of feeding, and, I fear I +must add, their squabbles also, for hungry birds are very pugnacious. + +Blackbirds and thrushes are very fond of Sultana raisins; they also like +split groats and brown bread crumbs, as also do starlings and, I +believe, most of the smaller birds. Fat in any shape or form will +attract the various species of titmice to the window. I always keep a +small Normandy basket full of suet and ham-fat hanging on a nail at the +window. It is a great rendezvous for these charming little pets, and it +is also supplied with Barcelona nuts for nuthatches, who fully +appreciate them and carry them off to the nearest tree with rugged bark +into which they fix the nuts, and then hammer at the shell till they can +extract the contents. + +In very hard frosts I used always to put out a pan of water, as I feared +the birds suffered from thirst and needed this help. One day, however, I +was comforted to see some starlings, after a good meal of groats, run +off to the grass plot and eagerly peck at the hoar-frost, which, while +it exists, thus supplies the lack of water. + +Bewick says linnets are so named from their fondness for linseed, and I +think most of the finches like it. The greenfinch is soon attracted by +hemp seed, and all the smaller birds by canary seed. I hope this paper +may induce many kind hands to minister to the needs of our feathered +friends during the winter months. It is sad to think of their dying for +lack of the food we can so easily afford them, and they will be sure to +repay us by their sweet songs and confiding tameness when summer days +return. + +One is apt to think that winter is the only time when birds need our +help and bounty, but there is almost as much real distress after a long +drought in summer, especially amongst the insect-eating birds. + +I was led to think of this by the pathetic way in which a hen blackbird +came to the French window of my room early in June last and stood +patiently waiting and clicking time after time in trouble of _some_ kind +I knew, and, supposing it might be food, I threw out a plentiful supply +of soaked brown bread. At once the poor bird went to it, devouring +ravenously for her own needs, and then, filling her beak as full as it +would hold, she flew off with a supply for her young brood. Then came +thrushes, robins, sparrows, a whole bevy of feathered folk all doing the +same thing--carrying the provisions in every direction for unseen +families at starvation point, and I began to realize that the month of +continued sunshine in which we had rejoiced had brought great distress +upon the birds by drying up the lawns so that no worms could be found, +and, as it was early in the year, but few insects were to be had, so +that just when each pair of birds had a clamorous brood to provide for +the food supply had fallen short. Now I understood the pathos of the hen +blackbird's appeal; her dark eyes and note of distress were trying to +say to me, "I know you care for us; you seemed so kind last winter; when +we were without food you fed us and saved our lives; but now I am in far +deeper distress--my children are crying for food, the grass is dried up, +and the ground so hard that I cannot find a single worm, I am thin and +worn with hunger myself; do help me and my little ones, and we will sing +you sweet songs in return to cheer you when wintry days come back again. +Does she understand? I've said all this several times before, but I +thought I would make one last appeal before my children die. Yes; she +has left the room! I will wait. Ah! here it is, just the soft food that +will suit my little ones: how they _will_ rejoice and all want to be +fed at once. I hope my friend can understand that I am thanking her with +all my heart." Love has a universal language and can interpret through +varied signs, and thus I quite believe the mother bird's heart wished to +express itself. + +Ever since that day I have been careful in nesting time to supply +suitable and varied food for the families of young birds in times of +drought, for it seems mournful to think of their dying from want, in the +season of flowers and green leaves, when nature is to us so attractive, +and rendered all the more so by their sweet songs. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +RAB, MINOR. + + +This familiar name recalls the delightful story of "Rab and his Friends" +in "Horæ Subsicivæ," with its naïve description of a very original +"tyke" of a doggie--a biography which had so lived in my recollection +that when a queer little fluffy dumpling of a puppy was given me I could +not help giving it the old familiar name, little knowing how aptly true +the name would prove to be in after years. + +Is there anything more comical than a young Scotch terrier puppy, with +its preternatural gravity, its queer, ungainly attempts at play, its +tumbles, and blue-eyed simplicity, and, best of all, its sage look, with +head on one side, trying to consider the merits of some doggie idea +which is puzzling his infant brain? Rab went through all the stages of +puppyhood, showing the usual amount of mischief and fun; he might be met +carrying about some unfortunate slipper frayed to pieces by his busy +teeth, or burying a favourite bone under a wool mat in the drawing-room, +or, worse still, it is recorded in domestic chronicles that he buried a +hymn-book in the garden, whereupon the cook remarked that she believed +he had more religion in him than half the Christians; but that reasoning +was not apparent to any one but herself. + +Rab's most notable adventures took place after he had emerged from +puppyhood. He had a most indomitable spirit of disobedience; he would +hunt rabbits or anything else he could find in the woods, and one day he +reached home with a snare tightly drawn round his neck, and panting +distressingly for breath; the wire was cut only just in time to save +his life. + +Another time he was poisoned by something he had eaten, and had a long +suffering illness. + +His fights with other dogs were fierce and frequent, and whilst engaged +in a scrimmage with a hated rival, Rab was run over by a passing cart, +and limped home in a very dejected state; no bones were broken, but he +was an invalid for some months in consequence. + +At last it was thought needful to tie him up, and he had his appointed +house and a long chain, and with frequent exercise he became quite +content. One morning our brave little friend was found nearly dead, with +two terrible wounds in his neck, which must have been made by a sharp +knife, driven twice through his throat, but, strangely enough, had each +time just missed severing the wind-pipe. He had nearly died from loss of +blood, and was scarcely able to breathe; still, our kind servants did +not give him up; warm milk and beef tea were given him constantly +through the day; and by night he had revived a little, and was evidently +going to live. We could never trace the origin of this outrage, and +could only suppose that burglars had purposed breaking into our house, +and, enraged at Rab's barking, had at last got hold of, and, as they +thought, killed him, and flung the body into an adjoining field. Poor +little doggie! he suffered grievously for his brave defence, and for +months the wounds were a great distress to him and to us; but all that +loving care could do was done, and once more his wonderful constitution +enabled him to regain health and strength. We kept at that time several +very large mastiffs, and the next adventure occurred early one morning, +when we were aroused by a terrific noise in the stable-yard, and the +message brought to us was to the effect that Rab was quite dead. He had +been worried by one of the mastiffs which had got loose in the night. I +rose quickly and went to see the poor little victim's body, and looking +at it, I saw a little quiver in the eyelid that led to a gleam of hope. +I had him carried indoors, and again teaspoons of milk, &c., were given, +and actually he began to revive, and a feeble wag of his tail, seemed to +say, "I'm very bad, but not dead yet." The sad part was that the shaking +and worrying he had received had reopened the previous wounds, and +though after a time he was able to get about, he was quite a wreck; one +ear was gone, and the other, strange to say, was but a fragment, like +his namesake in "Rab and his Friends." Still, he lived to be nearly +fifteen, and then rheumatism and loss of teeth made his life a distress +to him, and he was peacefully dismissed to the rest he had bravely +earned by his life of courageous devotion to what he thought the path of +duty. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +A VISIT TO JAMRACH. + + +There is an old and true saying--"Everything comes to him who waits." I +thought of this saying while on my way to visit the well-known place +near the London Docks where Mr. Jamrach is supposed to keep almost every +rare animal, bird, and reptile, ready to supply the wants of all +customers at a moment's notice. For many long years I had wished to pay +him a visit, but ill-health and other causes had proved a hindrance and +I could hardly believe my wish was going to be realized when I found +myself on the way to his menagerie. After driving through a labyrinth of +narrow, dirty streets, we were at last obliged to get out and walk till +we came to the shop, and then we did indeed find ourselves in the midst +of "animated nature." We had landed amongst the cockatoos, macaws, and +parrots, and they greeted our arrival with such a chorus of shrieks, +screams, and hideous cries that my first desire was to rush away +anywhere out of the reach of such ear-piercing sounds. One had to bear +it, however, if the curious creatures in the various cages were to be +examined, and after a time the uproar grew less, and I could hear a word +or two from Mr. Jamrach, who called my attention to some armadillos, +huge armour-plated animals, very curious, but somehow not attractive as +pets; one could not fondle a thing composed of metal plates, shaped like +a pig, with a tendency to roll itself up into a ball on the slightest +provocation, and even Mr. Jamrach's argument that if I got tired of it +as a pet I could have it cooked, as they were excellent eating, failed +to lead me to a purchase. There was a fine, healthy toucan, with his +marvellous bill, looking sadly out of place in a small cage in such a +dingy place. Did he ever think of his tropical forest home, I wondered, +and wish himself in happier surroundings? A long wooden box with wire +front contained rows and rows of Grass Parrakeets: many hundreds must +have been on those perches, one behind the other, poor little patient +birdies, sitting in solemn silence, never moving an inch, for they were +wedged in as closely as they could sit and how they could eat and live +seemed a mystery. As I was in quest of some small rodents I was asked to +follow Mr. Jamrach to another place where the animals were kept. We came +to a back yard with dens and cages containing all kinds of tenants, from +fierce hyenas and wolves to tame deer, monkeys, cats, and dogs. A chorus +of yelps and barks and growls sounded a little uninviting, and a caution +from Jamrach, to mind the camel did not seize my young friend's hat, +made us aware of a stately form gazing down upon us from a recess we had +not before noticed. Every nook and corner seemed occupied, and in order +to see a kangaroo rat I was invited up a rickety ladder into a loft +where a Japanese cat, a large monkey, and sundry other creatures lived. +I did not take to the kangaroo rat, he was too large and formidable to +be pleasant, and was by no means tame, but to be pulled out of the cage +by his long tail was, I confess, enough to scare the mildest quadruped. +At length I was shown some Peruvian guinea-pigs. Wonderful little +creatures! With hair three or four inches long, white, yellow and black, +set on anyhow, sticking out in odd tufts, one side of their heads white +and the other black, their eyes just like boot buttons, they _were_ +captivating; and a pair had to be chosen forthwith, and packed in a +basket with a tortoise and a huge Egyptian lizard, and with these spoils +I was not sorry to leave this place of varied noises and smells. The +lizard was about fourteen inches long, a really grand creature. He came +from the ruins of ancient Egypt, and looked in his calm stateliness as +though he might have gazed upon the Pharaohs themselves. When placed in +the sun for a time he would sometimes deign to move a few inches, his +massive, grey, scaly body looking very like a young crocodile. I was +greatly teased about my fondness for "Rameses," as I called this new and +majestic pet; there was a great fascination about him, and as I really +wished to know more of his ways and habits, I carried the basket in +which he lived everywhere with me indoors and out, and studied all +possible ways of feeding him; but alas! nothing would induce him to eat. +After gazing for five minutes at the most tempting mealworm, he would at +last raise up his mighty head and appear to be revolving great ideas to +which mealworms and all sublunary things must give place. Jamrach told +me that the lizard would drink milk, so a saucerful was placed before +him, and once he did drink a few drops, but generally he walked into and +over the saucer as if it did not exist. + +I believe the poor creature had been without food so long that it had +lost the power of taking nourishment, and to my great regret I found it +grew weaker and thinner, and at last it died, and all I could do was to +send the remains to a naturalist to be preserved somewhat after the +fashion of its great namesake. + +The odd little guinea-pigs were named Fluff and Jamrach, and were a +source of much amusement. As they could not agree, and as the fights +grew serious, Jamrach was banished to the stable and Fluff occupied a +cage in the dining-room. When let out it was curious to see how he would +always keep close to the sides of the room--never would he venture into +the middle, the protection of the skirting board seemed indispensable, +and when let out under the tulip-tree he ran round the trunk in the same +way, only occasionally making an excursion to the edge of the branches +which rested on the ground, the space beyond was a _terra incognita_ +which could not be explored by the timid little beastie. + +There the two little guinea-pigs enjoyed a happy life on fine days and +grew to be friends at last, grunting little confidences one to the other +and going to sleep side by side. They had to be watched and their +liberty a good deal curtailed when we found a weasel began to appear +upon the scene, and as it is proverbially difficult to catch a weasel +either awake or asleep, he has not at present been captured. I much fear +if he ever attacked the little Peruvians they would stand a poor chance +of their lives, for they have no idea of self-defence and would fall an +easy prey to such a fierce, relentless persecutor. Perhaps the gardener +may devise some way of trapping the wary little creature, so that my +little friends may dwell in peace under the shady tree. + +As the winter came on the cold prevented Fluff going out-of-doors, and +he led a most inactive life. I don't think he ever had more than two +ideas in his little brain--he just lived to eat and sleep, and was about +as interesting as a stuffed animal would have been. He is the only +instance of any animal I have ever known who seemed to be literally +without a single habit, apparently without affection, without a temper +good or bad, with no wishes or desires except to be let alone to doze +away his aimless life. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +HOW TO OBSERVE NATURE + + +There is all the difference between taking a walk simply for exercise, +for some special errand, or to enjoy conversation with one's friends, +and the sort of quiet observant stroll I am going to ask my kind readers +to take with me to-day. + +This beautiful world is full of wonders of every kind, full of evidences +of the Great Creator's wisdom and skill in adapting each created thing +to its special purpose. The whole realm of nature is meant, I believe, +to _speak to us_, to teach us lessons in parables--to lead our hearts +upward to God who made us and fitted us also for our special place in +creation. + +In the nineteenth Psalm David speaks of the two great books God has +given us for our instruction. In the first six verses he speaks of the +teachings of the book of nature and the rest of the Psalm deals with the +written Word of God. + +We acknowledge and read the Scriptures as the book which reveals the +will of God and His wondrous works for the welfare of mankind, but how +many fail to give any time or thought to reading the book of nature! +Thousands may travel and admire beautiful scenery, and derive a certain +amount of pleasure from nature, just glancing at each object, but really +observing nothing, and thus failing to learn any of the lessons this +world's beauty is intended to teach, they might almost as well have +stayed at home save for the benefit of fresh air and change of scene. +The habit of minute and careful observation is seldom taught in +childhood, and is not very likely to be gained in later life when the +mind is filled with other things. Yet if natural objects are presented +attractively to the young, how quickly they are interested! Question +after question is asked, and unconsciously a vast amount of information +may be conveyed to an intelligent child's mind by a simple, happy little +chat about some bird or insect. This is _admirably_ shown in a chapter +on Education in the Life of Mrs. Sewell. I would strongly urge every +mother to read and follow the advice there given. + +We will now start for our garden walk. We have not taken many steps +before we are led to pause and inquire why there should be little +patches of grey-looking mud in the small angles of the brickwork of the +house. Opening one of the patches with a penknife we find a hollow cell, +and in it some green caterpillars just alive but not able to crawl. Now +I see that the cell is the work of one of the solitary mason wasps; she +brings the material, forms the cell, and when nearly finished lays her +egg at the bottom and provides these half-killed caterpillars as food +for the young grub when it is hatched, and by the time they are eaten +the grub becomes a pupa and then hatches into a young wasp to begin life +on its own account. One day I saw a bee go into a hole in the brickwork +of the house, and getting my net I waited to capture it; after about +five minutes the bee came out and flew into the net. It proved to be a +solitary mason bee, and was doubtless forming a place to lay its egg, +only, unlike the wasp, she would give the young grub pollen from the +stamens of flowers to feed upon instead of green caterpillars. I +remember seeing a mass of clay which had been formed into a wasp's nest +by one of the solitary species, under the flap of a pembroke table in an +unused room. A maid in dusting lifted up the flap, and down fell a +quantity of fine, dry mud with young grubs in it which would soon have +hatched into wasps, and revealed their rather strange nesting-place. I +have in my collection a very interesting hornet's nest, which was being +constructed in the hollow of an old tree. I happened to notice a hornet +fly into the opening, and, looking in, there was a small beginning of a +nest. It hung from a kind of stalk and consisted of only eight cells, +each having an egg at the bottom. I captured the two hornets, and though +I watched for a long time no others ever came, so I imagine they were +the founders of what would have been a colony in due time. + +But we have been kept a long time engaged with these mason wasps. Let us +start for our walk. As we take our way through the garden we cannot help +noticing the happy songs of the different birds, all in full activity +preparing their nests, carolling to their mates or seeking food for the +little ones. There is a loud tapping noise as we pass an old fir-tree, +but no bird is to be seen, so we go round to the other side and trace +the noise to a small hole near which a quantity of congealed turpentine +shows that the bark has been pierced by a woodpecker and the sap is +oozing out. I rap outside the hole and in a minute the grey head of a +nuthatch appears. He is evidently chiselling out a "highly desirable +residence" for his summer quarters in this cosy nook, and the hole being +so small he will not need to get clay to reduce the size of the opening +and plaster in his mate, which is said to be the curious habit of this +bird. Do you see that hole about forty feet up the stem of the beech +opposite? A nuthatch built there six years ago; I often watched him +going in and out, and heard his peculiar cry as he brought food for his +mate and her young ones. Next year that lodging was taken by a +starling, who reared a brood there. The year after the nuthatch had it, +and then a jackdaw built there; and each year I always feel interested +to see who the lodgers are going to be. + +When I was rearing the wild ducks already described, a weasel used often +to be prowling near the coop, and when frightened retreated in this +direction. It happened one day I was walking softly on the grass and saw +the weasel playing and frisking at the root of that young tree; one +seldom has such an opportunity of seeing it, for it is very shy and has +wonderfully quick hearing. It was seeking about in the grass, leaping +here and there, snuffing the wind, with its snake-like, wicked-looking +head raised to see over the grass stems, and thus at last it caught +sight of me, and in a second it darted into the hole you see there, and +I thus learnt where he lived, but I have not been able to trace his +history any further at present. + +Did you see that snake? We have many of them on the common, and they +often cross my path in the garden. Happily there are not many of the +venomous kind: they are smaller than this one, and have a V-shaped mark +on the head. One day in August I was sitting by the open French window +in the drawing-room when one of these harmless snakes came close to me, +looked up at me, putting its quivering little tongue in and out. I +suppose it decided that I could be trusted, for it glided in and coiled +itself round upon my dress skirt and seemed to go to sleep. I let it +stay a good while, but fearing some one might be frightened at seeing it +there, I reached my parasol and with the hooked handle softly took up +the snake and laid it on the grass-plat outside thinking it would go +away--but no, it only turned round and came back and coiled itself up in +the same place. I found it did not mind being touched, so I stroked it +and made it creep all its length through my hand--not a very pleasant +sensation, but a curious experience rarely to be met with. When the +cold, clammy creature had passed out of my hand it threw out a most +disgusting odour, of which I had often read. I imagine it was offended +at my touching it and did this in self-defence. I had at last to carry +it a long distance to ensure it should not return to the room again. + +Some years ago I was witness to the mode in which a snake pursues its +victim. A large frog leaped upon the gravel walk before the windows, +crying piteously like a child and taking rapid leaps; a moment after a +large snake appeared swiftly pursuing the frog. At last it reached it, +and gave it a bite which broke its back, and then, being alarmed, it +darted away amongst some rock-work, leaving the frog in a dying state. + +This bank we are passing is a favourite winter retreat for female humble +bees. Early in the autumn they begin to scoop out a little tunnel in +this grassy slope, and when it is deep enough to protect them from the +frost they retire into it, and pushing up the earth behind them close up +the entrance of the hole, and there lie dormant until the warmth of +spring tempts them to come out. Then they may be found in great numbers +on the early sallow, and other tree-blossoms, recruiting their strength, +while they seek a place in some hedge-bank wherein to found a new +colony. + +The Carder bee forms its nest on the ground and makes a roof of +interwoven moss, from which it takes its name. I once gathered the moss +from such a nest by chance and saw the little mass of cells with honey +in them. I went away, meaning to examine it more closely on my return, +but a crow in the apple-tree overhead chanced to spy the nest and made +off with it in his beak before I could rescue the honey store of the +poor little bees I had so unwittingly injured. + +That old tree-stump is being gradually carried away by wasps. The wood +is just sufficiently decayed to afford the material of which they make +their nests. You see there are several wasps busily rasping pieces of +the rotten wood into convenient-sized morsels, which they can carry to +the nest, there to be masticated into the papery layers of which the +outer walls of the nest are formed. This walk used to have a row of +grand old silver firs of great height, but each winter some of them have +been blown down till only a few are left. + +Some years since I noticed at the root of one of them a pile of fine +sawdust more than a foot high, and found that some wood wasps were +busily engaged in excavating the interior of the tree and forming +tunnels in which to lay their eggs. I watched them for half an hour and +found that every half-minute a wasp went in at the aperture carrying a +blue-bottle or some kind of fly in its mandibles. Next day I took a +friend to see the wasps, and while watching them the wind caused the +immense tree-stem to sway to and fro from its base as if in the act of +falling, and on examination we found it was only held in its place by a +small portion of root, and though the branches were green, it must have +been hollow and dead inside, which appears to be the way in which silver +firs decay, and the wasps had found it out and made a delightful home in +the rotten wood. With some difficulty the great tree was safely taken +down, and then it was a most curious sight to see the endless chambers +and galleries made in the stem, all tenanted by young wasp-grubs and +half-dead flies; and all the summer they were being hatched in countless +numbers. The view over our common is lovely from this point; it is +golden with rich yellow gorse, giving cover to innumerable rabbits, +which find their way into our garden in spite of wire fences and all +that the gardener can do to keep them out. One clever little mother +rabbit made her burrow deep down in a heap of sawdust close to the +stable. My coachman put his arm down to the bottom of the hole and +brought out a little grey furred creature, kicking and screaming with +wonderful vigour in spite of its tender years. The nest was allowed to +remain, and in a few days the mother removed her brood to a hole at the +root of a bushy stone-pine, where the little ones frisked in and out and +looked so pretty that I was won over to allow them to stay, and, by +netting round the tree, we formed a miniature warren for the young +family; but I fear that in course of time we may bitterly repent this +step, and the numbers may increase to such an extent that pinks and +lobelia may become things of the past and the rabbit warren may have to +be abolished. + +A fox is sometimes seen and hunted in these parts. One surprised me by +leaping upon the window-sill and looking into the drawing-room. At first +I could not think what it was. It had been dug out of its hole; its fur +was muddy and torn, its eyes piteous in their expression, and when it +ran slowly on I saw it was very lame. I ran to the window to let it in, +but though it leaped up to each window in succession, they all happened +to be shut, and I was quite grieved to think the poor, weary creature +could find no shelter. I am no admirer of field-sports. I think they +give rise to the utmost cruelty to the creatures hunted and shot, to the +horses and dogs employed; and to witness torture inflicted on +unoffending animals cannot but have a debasing effect on the human mind. +When once any one has seen the anguish of a deer, a fox, or hare, at the +end of the race, there can be no question about the cruelty of the +proceeding, and to one who loves every created thing as I do, it gives +the keenest pain to know how much suffering of this kind goes on during +the hunting season.[3] + +[Footnote 3: I cannot resist quoting and strongly endorsing the +following lament by Mr. H. Stacy Marks, R.A., as to the way in which +birds are too frequently treated by the public at large: "Many people +regarding birds in but three aspects--as things to be either eaten, +shot, or worn.... No natural history of a bird is complete without +recording where the last specimen was shot; and should a rare bird visit +our shores, the hospitality which we accord to the foreign refugee is +denied, and it is bound to be the victim of powder and shot. The fashion +of wearing birds or their plumage as part of ladies' attire, threatens +to exterminate many beautiful species, such as the humming-birds of +South America, the glossy starlings of Africa, and the glorious Impeyan +pheasant of the Himalayas, with many other species."] + +There goes a cuckoo, with quite a flight of small birds pursuing him +wherever he goes. + +Small birds seem to have an intense hatred of jays and cuckoos, and will +often fly at them in the nesting season, giving them no peace till they +drive them out of the garden, knowing full well that their own broods +are often devoured by the jay, and that the cuckoo has designs upon the +nests. + +Although we are some distance from home, I can show you one of my own +bees on this furze blossom. I have a hive of Swiss, or Ligurian bees, +which are said to be in some respects superior to the English species. +The honey is of excellent flavour, and the first year I had far more +honey from the Ligurian hive. I do not think any other hives of +Ligurians are kept within five miles, and, as you see, they have a band +of bright yellow on the abdomen. I can always tell my own bees when I +meet with them in my walks on the common or in the lanes. I had a rather +trying adventure with these bees last May. One Sunday evening we were +just starting for church, about half-past six, when my little niece ran +in exclaiming that there was a great bunch of bees hanging on a branch +near the hives. I knew what had happened--my very irreverent bees had +swarmed on this quiet Sunday evening, and they must be hived if +possible. + +My bonnet was soon off and the bee-dress put on, and in five minutes the +bees were secured and settled into a hive. We went to church and were +not even late, but--during the first prayer I heard ominous sounds of a +furious bee under my dress; it was, fortunately, a partly transparent +material, and glancing furtively about I saw my little friend under the +skirt going up and down with an angry biz-z-z. Only the pocket-hole +could release him, so I held that safely in my hand all through the +service, lest the congregation might suffer the wrath of a furious bee, +which in truth is no light matter, for in blind fury it will rush at the +first person it meets and leave its sting in the face or hand. Happily I +succeeded in bringing the bee home again, and resolved to avoid hiving +swarms before church-time in future. + +You see under the drooping boughs of the fir-tree yonder an old stone +basin, well known to all the birds in the neighbourhood, for there they +always find a supply of fresh water and food of various kinds to suit +all tastes. As it is opposite the dining-room window, it is very +interesting to see a tame jay and sundry squirrels enjoying the acorns +which were collected for them last autumn and stored up so as to keep +the basin well supplied all through the winter and spring, until other +food should be plentiful. Finches, robins, and sparrows find wheat and +crumbs to their taste, and take their daily bath not without some +squabbling as to who shall have it first--a difficulty which is +sometimes settled by a portly blackbird appearing on the scene and +scattering the smaller folk, whilst he takes his early tubbing and sends +up showers of spray in the process. Very pretty are the scenes on that +same stone basin when in early summer a mother bird brings her little +tribe of downy, chirping babes, and feeds each little gaping mouth with +some suitable morsels from the store she finds there. + +A sheaf of corn in winter is also a great boon to the starved-out +birdies, when snow has long deprived them of their natural food, and the +water supply has to be often renewed on freezing days, for many a bird +dies in winter from lack of water, all its usual supplies being frozen. +The tameness of birds in severe weather is a touching sign of their +distress, and a mute appeal to us to help them. + + "The fowls of heaven + Tam'd by the cruel season, crowd around + The winnowing store, and claim the little boon + Which Providence assigns them." + +It is pleasant to think that they seldom appeal in vain. "Crumbs for the +birds" are scattered by kindly little hands everywhere in winter, and in +many a house a pet sonsie little robin is a cherished visitor, always +welcome to his small share of the good things of this life. + +Our ramble might be indefinitely prolonged and still be full of interest +and instruction, but in these simple remarks enough has been shown, I +trust, to lead many to _think_ and _observe_ closely every, even the +minutest, thing that catches their attention whilst out for a ramble in +lanes and fields, even a microscopic moss upon an old wall has been +suggestive of many lovely thoughts, with which I will conclude our +ramble and this chapter. + + "It was not all a tale of eld, + That fairies, who their revels held + By moonlight, in the greenwood shade + Their beakers of the moss-cups made. + The wondrous light which science burns + Reveals those lovely jewelled urns! + Fair lace-work spreads from roughest stems + And shows each tuft a mine of gems. + Voices from the silent sod, + Speaking of the Perfect God. + + Fringeless, or fringed, and fringed again, + No single leaflet formed in vain; + What wealth of heavenly wisdom lies + Within one moss-cup's mysteries! + And few may know what silvery net, + Down in its mimic depths is set + To catch the rarest dews that fall + Upon the dry and barren wall. + Voices from the silent sod, + Speaking of the Perfect God." + + L. N. R. + + +[Illustration: End] + + BOOKS FOR + RECREATION + AND STUDY + +[Illustration] + + PUBLISHED BY + T. FISHER UNWIN, + 11, PATERNOSTER + BUILDINGS, LONDON, + E.C. .... + + +SIX-SHILLING NOVELS + +_In uniform green cloth, large crown 8vo., gilt tops_, 6s. + + +EFFIE HETHERINGTON. By ROBERT BUCHANAN. Second Edition. + +AN OUTCAST OF THE ISLANDS. By JOSEPH CONRAD. Second Edition. + +ALMAYER'S FOLLY. By JOSEPH CONRAD. Second Edition. + +THE EBBING OF THE TIDE. By LOUIS BECKE. Second Edition. + +A FIRST FLEET FAMILY. By LOUIS BECKE and WALTER JEFFERY. + +PADDY'S WOMAN, and Other Stories. By HUMPHREY JAMES. + +CLARA HOPGOOD. By MARK RUTHERFORD. Second Edition. + +THE TALES OF JOHN OLIVER HOBBES. Portrait of the Author. Second Edition. + +THE STICKIT MINISTER By S. R. CROCKETT. Eleventh Edition. + +THE LILAC SUNBONNET By S. R. CROCKETT. Sixth Edition. + +THE RAIDERS. By S. R. CROCKETT. Eighth Edition. + +THE GREY MAN. By S. R. CROCKETT. + +IN A MAN'S MIND. By J. R. WATSON. + +A DAUGHTER OF THE FEN. By J. T. BEALBY. Second Edition. + +THE HERB-MOON. By JOHN OLIVER HOBBES. Third Edition. + +NANCY NOON. By BENJAMIN SWIFT. Second Edition. With New Preface. + +MR. MAGNUS. By F. REGINALD STATHAM. Second Edition. + +TROOPER PETER HALKET OF MASHONALAND. By OLIVE SCHREINER. Frontispiece. + +PACIFIC TALES. By LOUIS BECKE. With Frontispiece Portrait of the Author. +Second Edition. + +MRS. KEITH'S CRIME. By Mrs. W. K. CLIFFORD. Sixth Edition. With Portrait +of Mrs. Keith by the Hon. JOHN COLLIER, and a New Preface by the Author. + +HUGH WYNNE. By Dr. S. WEIR MITCHELL. With Frontispiece Illustration. + +THE TORMENTOR. By BENJAMIN SWIFT, Author of "Nancy Noon." + +PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE. By AMELIA E. BARR, Author of "Jan Vedder's +Wife." With 12 Illustrations. + +THE GODS, SOME MORTALS AND LORD WICKENHAM. New Edition. By JOHN OLIVER +HOBBES. + +THE OUTLAWS OF THE MARCHES. By Lord ERNEST HAMILTON. Fully illustrated. + +THE SCHOOL FOR SAINTS: Part of the History of the Right Honourable +Robert Orange, M.P. By JOHN OLIVER HOBBES, Author of "Sinner's Comedy," +"Some Emotions and a Moral," "The Herb Moon," &c. + +THE PEOPLE OF CLOPTON. By GEORGE BARTRAM. + + + EFFIE HETHERINGTON + BY + ROBERT BUCHANAN + +_Second Edition. Crown 8vo., cloth,_ 6s. + + +"Mr. Robert Buchanan has written several novels ... but among those +which we know, there is not one so nearly redeemed by its ability and +interest.... The girl is simply odious; but Mr. Buchanan is a poet--it +would seem sometimes _malgré lui_, in this instance it is _quand +même_--and he dowers the worthless Effie with a rugged, +half-misanthropic, steadfast lover, whose love, never rewarded, is +proved by as great a sacrifice as fact or fiction has ever known, and +who is almost as striking a figure as Heathcliff in 'Wuthering +Heights.'"--_World_. + + + WORKS BY JOSEPH CONRAD + +I. + +AN OUTCAST OF THE ISLANDS + +_Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + + "Subject to the qualifications thus disposed of (_vide_ first part + of notice), 'An Outcast of the Islands' is perhaps the finest piece + of fiction that has been published this year, as 'Almayer's Folly' + was one of the finest that was published in 1895.... Surely this is + real romance--the romance that is real. Space forbids anything but + the merest recapitulation of the other living realities of Mr. + Conrad's invention--of Lingard, of the inimitable Almayer, the + one-eyed Babalatchi, the Naturalist, of the pious Abdulla--all + novel, all authentic. Enough has been written to show Mr. Conrad's + quality. He imagines his scenes and their sequence like a master; + he knows his individualities and their hearts; he has a new and + wonderful field in this East Indian Novel of his.... Greatness is + deliberately written; the present writer has read and re-read his + two books, and after putting this review aside for some days to + consider the discretion of it, the word still stands."--_Saturday + Review._ + + +II. + +ALMAYER'S FOLLY + +_Second Edition. Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +"THIS STARTLING, UNIQUE, SPLENDID BOOK." + MR. T. P. O'CONNOR, M.P. + + "This is a decidedly powerful story of an uncommon type, and breaks + fresh ground in fiction.... All the leading characters in the + book--Almayer, his wife, his daughter, and Dain, the daughter's + native lover--are well drawn, and the parting between father and + daughter has a pathetic naturalness about it, unspoiled by + straining after effect. There are, too, some admirably graphic + passages in the book. The approach of a monsoon is most effectively + described.... The name of Mr. Joseph Conrad is new to us, but it + appears to us as if he might become the Kipling of the Malay + Archipelago."--_Spectator._ + + + THE EBBING OF THE + TIDE BY + LOUIS BECKE + Author of "By Reef and Palm" + +_Second Edition. Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + + "Mr. Louis Becke wields a powerful pen, with the additional + advantage that he waves it in unfrequented places, and summons up + with it the elemental passions of human nature.... It will be seen + that Mr. Becke is somewhat of the fleshly school, but with a pathos + and power not given to the ordinary professors of that school.... + Altogether for those who like stirring stories cast in strange + scenes, this is a book to be read."--_National Observer._ + + + PACIFIC TALES + BY + LOUIS BECKE +With a Portrait of the Author + +_Second Edition. Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + + "The appearance of a new book by Mr. Becke has become an event of + note--and very justly. No living author, if we except Mr. Kipling, + has so amazing a command of that unhackneyed vitality of phrase + that most people call by the name of realism. Whether it is scenery + or character or incident that he wishes to depict, the touch is + ever so dramatic and vivid that the reader is conscious of a + picture and impression that has no parallel save in the records of + actual sight and memory."--_Westminster Gazette._ + + "Another series of sketches of island life in the South Seas, not + inferior to those contained in 'By Reef and Palm.'"--_Speaker._ + + "The book is well worth reading. The author knows what he is + talking about and has a keen eye for the picturesque."--G. B. + BURGIN in _To-day_. + + "A notable contribution to the romance of the South Seas." + + T. P. O'CONNOR, M.P., in _The Graphic_. + + + PADDY'S WOMAN + BY + HUMPHREY JAMES + +_Crown 8vo._, 6s. + +"Traits of the Celt of humble circumstances are copied with keen +appreciation and unsparing accuracy." _Scotsman._ + +"... They are full of indescribable charm and pathos."--_Bradford +Observer._ + +"The outstanding merit of this series of stories is that they are +absolutely true to life ... the photographic accuracy and minuteness +displayed are really marvellous." + +_Aberdeen Free Press._ + +"'Paddy's Woman and Other Stories' by Humphrey James; a volume written +in the familiar diction of the Ulster people themselves, with PERFECT +REALISM AND VERY REMARKABLE ABILITY.... FOR GENUINE HUMAN NATURE AND +HUMAN RELATIONS, AND HUMOUR OF AN INDESCRIBABLE KIND, WE ARE UNABLE TO +CITE A RIVAL TO THIS VOLUME." + +_The World._ + +"For a fine subtle piece of humour we are inclined to think that 'A +GLASS OF WHISKY' takes a lot of beating.... In short Mr. Humphrey James +has given us a delightful book, and one which does as much credit to his +heart as to his head. We shall look forward with a keen anticipation to +the next 'writings' by this shrewd, 'cliver,' and compassionate young +author."--_Bookselling._ + + + CLARA HOPGOOD + BY + MARK RUTHERFORD + _EDITED_ BY + REUBEN SHAPCOTT + +_Second Edition._ _Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +(_The Third and Cheaper Edition is now ready, Crown 8vo., + cloth_, 3s. 6d.) + +"The writer who goes by the name of Mark Rutherford is not the most +popular novelist of his time by any means. There are writers with names +which that recluse genius has never heard of, probably, whose stories +give palpitations to thousands of gentle souls, while his own are +quietly read by no more than as many hundreds. Yet his publisher never +announces a new story by the Author of 'Mark Rutherford's +Autobiography,' and 'The Revolution in Tanner's Lane,'--which we believe +to be one of the most remarkable bits of writing that these times can +boast of--without strongly exciting the interest of many who know books +as precious stones are known in Hatton Garden.... 'Clara Hopgood' is +entirely out of the way of all existing schools of novel-writing.... Had +we to select a good illustration of 'Mark's way' as distinguished from +the way of modern storytellers in general, we should point to the +chapter in which Baruch visits his son Benjamin in this narration. +Nothing could be more simple, nothing more perfect."--_Pall Mall +Gazette._ + + + A FIRST FLEET FAMILY + BEING A HITHERTO + UNPUBLISHED NARRATIVE + OF CERTAIN REMARKABLE + ADVENTURES COMPILED + FROM THE PAPERS OF + SERGEANT WILLIAM + DEW, OF THE MARINES + + BY +LOUIS BECKE and WALTER JEFFERY + +_Second Edition._ _Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + +"As convincingly real and vivid as a narrative can be."--_Sketch._ + +"No maker of plots could work out a better story of its kind, nor +balance it more neatly."--_Daily Chronicle._ + +"A book which describes a set of characters varied and so attractive as +the more prominent figures in this romance and a book so full of life, +vicissitude, and peril, should be welcomed by every discreet novel +reader."--_Yorkshire Post._ + +"A very interesting tale, written in clear and vigorous +English."--_Globe._ + +"The novel is a happy blend of truth and fiction, with a purpose that +will be appreciated by many readers; it has also the most exciting +elements of the tale of adventure." + +_Morning Post._ + + + THE TALES OF JOHN + OLIVER HOBBES + +With a Frontispiece Portrait of the Author + +_Second Edition._ _Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + +"The cleverness of them all is extraordinary."--_Guardian._ + +"The volume proves how little and how great a thing it is to write a +'Pseudonym.' Four whole 'Pseudonyms' ... are easily contained within its +not extravagant limits, and these four little books have given John +Oliver Hobbes a recognized position as a master of epigram and narrative +comedy."--_St. James's Gazette._ + +"As her star has been sudden in its rise so may it stay long with us! +Some day she may give us something better than these tingling, pulsing, +mocking, epigrammatic morsels."--_Times._ + +"There are several literary ladies, of recent origin, who have tried to +come up to the society ideal; but John Oliver Hobbes is by far the best +writer of them all, by far the most capable artist in fiction.... She is +clever enough for anything."--_Saturday Review._ + + * * * * * + + THE HERB MOON + BY + JOHN OLIVER HOBBES + +_Third Edition, Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + +"The jaded reader who needs sauce for his literary appetite cannot do +better than buy 'The Herb Moon.'"--_Literary World._ + +"A book to hail with more than common pleasure. The epigrammatic +quality, the power of rapid analysis and brilliant presentation are +there, and added to these a less definable quality, only to be described +as charm.... 'The Herb Moon' is as clever as most of its predecessors, +and far less artificial."--_Athenæum._ + + + THE STICKIT MINISTER + AND SOME COMMON + MEN + BY + S. R. CROCKETT + +_Eleventh Edition._ _Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + +"Here is one of the books which are at present coming singly and at long +intervals, like early swallows, to herald, it is to be hoped, a larger +flight. When the larger flight appears, the winter of our discontent +will have passed, and we shall be able to boast that the short story can +make a home east as well as west of the Atlantic. There is plenty of +human nature--of the Scottish variety, which is a very good variety--in +'The Stickit Minister' and its companion stories; plenty of humour, too, +of that dry, pawky kind which is a monopoly of 'Caledonia, stern and +wild'; and, most plentiful of all, a quiet perception and reticent +rendering of that underlying pathos of life which is to be discovered, +not in Scotland alone, but everywhere that a man is found who can see +with the heart and the imagination as well as the brain. Mr. Crockett +has given us a book that is not merely good, it is what his countrymen +would call 'by-ordinar' good,' which, being interpreted into a tongue +understanded of the southern herd, means that it is excellent, with a +somewhat exceptional kind of excellence."--_Daily Chronicle._ + + * * * * * + + + THE LILAC SUN-BONNET + BY + S. R. CROCKETT + +_Sixth Edition._ _Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + +"Mr. Crockett's 'Lilac Sun-Bonnet' 'needs no bush.' Here is a pretty +love tale, and the landscape and rural descriptions carry the exile back +into the Kingdom of Galloway. Here, indeed, is the scent of bog-myrtle +and peat. After inquiries among the fair, I learn that of all romances, +they best love, not 'sociology,' not 'theology,' still less, open +manslaughter, for a motive, but, just love's young dream, chapter after +chapter. From Mr. Crockett they get what they want, 'hot with,' as +Thackeray admits that he liked it." + +Mr. ANDREW LANG in _Longman's Magazine_. + + + THE RAIDERS + BY + S. R. CROCKETT + +_Eighth Edition._ _Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + +"A thoroughly enjoyable novel, full of fresh, original, and accurate +pictures of life long gone by."--_Daily News._ + +"A strikingly realistic romance."--_Morning Post._ + +"A stirring story.... Mr. Crockett's style is charming. My Baronite +never knew how musical and picturesque is Scottish-English till he read +this book."--_Punch._ + +"The youngsters have their Stevenson, their Barrie, and now a third +writer has entered the circle, S. R. Crockett, with a lively and jolly +book of adventures, which the paterfamilias pretends to buy for his +eldest son, but reads greedily himself and won't let go till he has +turned over the last page.... Out of such historical elements and +numberless local traditions the author has put together an exciting tale +of adventures on land and sea." _Frankfurter Zeitung._ + + * * * * * + +_SOME SCOTCH NOTICES._ + +"Galloway folk should be proud to rank 'The Raiders' among the classics +of the district."--_Scotsman._ + +"Mr. Crockett's 'The Raiders' is one of the great literary successes of +the season."--_Dundee Advertiser._ + +"Mr. Crockett has achieved the distinction of having produced the book +of the season."--_Dumfries and Galloway Standard._ + +"The story told in it is, as a story, nearly perfect." _Aberdeen Daily +Free Press._ + +"'The Raiders' is one of the most brilliant efforts of recent +fiction."--_Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser._ + + + THE GREY MAN + BY + S. R. CROCKETT + +_Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + + _Also, an Edition de Luxe, with 26 Drawings by_ +SEYMOUR LUCAS, R.A., _limited to 250 copies, signed + by Author. Crown 4to., cloth gilt_, 21s. _net_. + + +[Illustration] + +"It has nearly all the qualities which go to make a book of the +first-class. Before you have read twenty pages you know that you are +reading a classic."--_Literary World._ + +"All of that vast and increasing host of readers who prefer the novel of +action to any other form of fiction should, nay, indeed, must, make a +point of reading this exceedingly fine example of its class."--_Daily +Chronicle._ + +"With such passages as these [referring to quotations], glowing with +tender passion, or murky with horror, even the most insatiate lover of +romance may feel that Mr. Crockett has given him good measure, well +pressed down and running over."--_Daily Telegraph._ + + + A DAUGHTER OF THE + FEN + BY + S. R. CROCKETT + +_Second Edition._ _Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + +"It will deserve notice at the hands of such as are interested in the +ways and manner of living of a curious race that has ceased to be." +_Daily Chronicle._ + +"For a first book 'A Daughter of the Fen' is full of +promise."--_Academy._ + +"This book deserves to be read for its extremely interesting account of +life in the Fens and for its splendid character study of Mme. +Dykereave." _Star._ + +"Deserves high praise."--_Scotsman._ + +"It is an able, interesting ... an exciting book, and is well worth +reading. And when once taken up it will be difficult to lay it down." +_Westminster Gazette._ + + * * * * * + + IN A MAN'S MIND + BY + JOHN REAY WATSON + +_Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + +"We regard the book as well worth the effort of reading."--_British +Review._ + +"The book is clever, very clever."--_Dundee Advertiser._ + +"The power and pathos of the book are undeniable."--_Liverpool Post._ + +"It is a book of some promise."--_Newsagent._ + +"Mr. Watson has hardly a rival among Australian writers, past or +present. There is real power in the book--power of insight, power of +reflection, power of analysis, power of presentation.... 'Tis a very +well made book--not a set of independent episodes strung on the thread +of a name or two, but closely interwoven to the climax." _Sydney +Bulletin._ + +"There is behind it all a power of drawing human nature that in time +arrests the attention."--_Athenæum._ + + + NANCY NOON + BY + BENJAMIN SWIFT + +_Second Edition._ _Cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + +Some Reviews on the First Edition. + +"'Nancy Noon' is perhaps the strongest book of the year, certainly by +far the strongest book which has been published by any new writer.... +Mr. Swift contrives to keep his book from end to end real, passionate, +even intense. + +... If Mr. Meredith had never written, one would have predicted, with +the utmost confidence, a great future for Mr. Benjamin Swift, and even +as it is I have hopes."--_Sketch._ + +"Certainly a promising first effort."--_Whitehall Review._ + +"If 'Nancy Noon' be Mr. Swift's first book, it is a success of an +uncommon kind."--_Dundee Advertiser._ + +"'Nancy Noon' is one of the most remarkable novels of the year, and the +author, avowedly a beginner, has succeeded in gaining a high position in +the ranks of contemporary writers.... All his characters are delightful. +In the heat of sensational incidents or droll scenes we stumble on +observations that set us reflecting, and but for an occasional roughness +of style--elliptical, Carlyle mannerisms--the whole is admirably +written."--_Westminster Gazette._ + +"Mr. Swift has the creative touch and a spark of genius."--_Manchester +Guardian._ + +"Mr. Swift has held us interested from the first to the last page of his +novel."--_World._ + +"The writer of 'Nancy Noon' has succeeded in presenting a powerfully +written and thoroughly interesting story."--_Scotsman._ + +"We are bound to admit that the story interested us all through, that it +absorbed us towards the end, and that not until the last page had been +read did we find it possible to lay the book down."--_Daily Chronicle._ + +"It is a very strong book, very vividly coloured, very fascinating in +its style, very compelling in its claim on the attention, and not at all +likely to be soon forgotten."--_British Weekly._ + +"A clever book.... The situations and ensuing complications are +dramatic, and are handled with originality and daring +throughout."--_Daily News._ + +"Mr. Benjamin Swift has written a vastly entertaining book."--_Academy._ + + + MR. MAGNUS + BY + F. REGINALD STATHAM + +_Second Edition._ _Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + +Some Press Opinions on the First Edition. + +"One of the most powerful and vividly written novels of the +day."--_Nottingham Guardian._ + +"A grim, terrible, and convincing picture."--_New Age._ + +"Very impressive."--_Saturday Review._ + +"Distinctly readable."--_Speaker._ + +"A remarkable book." _Standard._ + +"Full of incident."--_Liverpool Mercury._ + +"One of the most important and timely books ever written." _Newcastle +Daily Mercury._ + +"A vivid and stirring narrative."--_Globe._ + +"An exceedingly clever and remarkable production."--_World._ + +"A book to be read."--_Newsagent._ + +"A terrible picture."--_Sheffield Independent._ + +"One of the best stories lately published."--_Echo._ + +"Worth reading."--_Guardian._ "A sprightly book."--_Punch._ + +"The story is very much brought up to date."--_Times._ + +"Vivid and convincing."--_Daily Chronicle._ + +"The story is good and well told."--_Pall Mall Gazette._ + +"Ought to be immensely popular."--_Reynolds' Weekly Newspaper._ + +"A most readable story."--_Glasgow Herald._ + +"A brilliant piece of work."--_Daily Telegraph._ + +"The story should make its mark."--_Bookseller._ + +"Admirably written."--_Sheffield Daily Telegraph._ + +"The more widely it is read the better."--_Manchester Guardian._ + +"Will find many appreciative readers."--_Aberdeen Free Press._ + +"Exciting reading."--_Daily Mail._ + +"Can be heartily recommended."--_Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper._ + +"A well-written and capable story."--_People._ + +"Well written."--_Literary World._ + + + TROOPER PETER HALKET OF MASHONALAND + BY + OLIVE SCHREINER + Author of "Dreams," +"Real Life and Dream Life," &c. + +_Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + +"We advise our readers to purchase and read Olive Schreiner's new book +'Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland.' Miss Schreiner is one of the few +magicians of modern English literature, and she has used the great +moral, as well as the great literary, force of her style to great +effect."--_Daily Chronicle._ + +"The story is one that is certain to be widely read, and it is well that +it should be so, especially at this moment; it grips the heart and +haunts the imagination. To have written such a book is to render a +supreme service, for it is as well to know what the rough work means of +subjugating inferior races."--_Daily News._ + +"Some of the imaginative passages are very fine.... The book is +powerfully written."--_Scotsman._ + +"Is well and impressively written."--_Pall Mall Gazette._ + + + MRS. KEITH'S CRIME + BY + MRS. W. K. CLIFFORD + +With a Portrait of Mrs. Keith by the + Hon. John Collier. + +_Sixth Edition._ _Crown 8vo., cloth_, 6s. + +[Illustration] + +"Is certainly the strongest book that Mrs. W. K. Clifford has given to +the public. It is probably too the most popular."--_World._ + +"It is charmingly told."--_Literary World._ + +"A novel of extraordinary dramatic force, and it will doubtless be +widely read in its present very cheap and attractive form."--_Star._ + +"Mrs. Clifford's remarkable tale."--_Athenæum._ + +"Will prove a healthy tonic to readers who have recently been taking a +course of shilling shocker mental medicine.... There are many beautiful +womanly touches throughout the pages of this interesting volume, and it +can be safely recommended to readers old and young."--_Aberdeen Free +Press._ + + + SOME 3/6 NOVELS + +[Illustration] + +Uniform Edition of MARK RUTHERFORD'S works. Edited by REUBEN SHAPCOTT. +Crown 8vo., cloth. + + THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MARK RUTHERFORD. Fifth Edition. + MARK RUTHERFORD'S DELIVERANCE. New Edition. + MIRIAM'S SCHOOLING, and other Papers. By MARK RUTHERFORD. + With Frontispiece by WALTER CRANE. Second Edition. + THE REVOLUTION IN TANNER'S LANE + CATHARINE FURZE: A Novel. By MARK RUTHERFORD. Fourth Edition. + CLARA HOPGOOD. By MARK RUTHERFORD. + +"These writings are certainly not to be lightly dismissed, bearing as +they do the impress of a mind which, although limited in range and +sympathies, is decidedly original."--_Times._ + + +THE STATEMENT OF STELLA MABERLY. By F. ANSTEY, Author of "Vice Versâ." +Crown 8vo, cloth. + +"It is certainly a strange and striking story."--_Athenæum._ + + +GINETTE'S HAPPINESS. Being a translation by RALPH DERECHEF of "Le +Bonheur de Ginette." Crown 8vo, cloth. + +"Pretty and gracefully told."--_Pall Mall Gazette._ + + +SILENT GODS AND SUN-STEEPED LANDS. By R. W. FRAZER Second Edition. With +4 full-page Illustrations by A. D. MCCORMICK and a Photogravure +Frontispiece. Small crown 8vo., cloth. + +"Mr. Frazer writes powerfully and well, and seems to have an intimate +acquaintance with the sun-steeped land, and the strange beings who +people it."--_Glasgow Herald._ + + +PAUL HEINSIUS. By CORA LYSTER. Crown 8vo., cloth. + +"This is an extremely clever and altogether admirable, but not +altogether unkind anatomisation of Teutonic character."--_Daily +Chronicle._ + + +MY BAGDAD. By ELLIOTT DICKSON. Illustrated. 8vo., cloth. + +"Related with a refreshing simplicity that is certain to approve itself +to readers."--_Bookseller._ + + +SILK OF THE KINE. By L. MCMANUS (C. MacGuire), Author of "Amabel: A +Military Romance." Crown 8vo., cloth. + +"We have read 'The Silk of the Kine,' from the first page to the last, +without missing a single word, and we sighed regretfully when Mr. +McManus brought the adventures of Margery Ny Guire and Piers Ottley to a +close."--_Literary World._ + + +A POT OF HONEY. By SUSAN CHRISTIAN. Crown 8vo., cloth. + +"The book is the outcome of a clever mind."--_Athenæum._ + + +LIZA OF LAMBETH. By W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM. Crown 8vo., cloth. + +"An interesting story of life and character in the Surrey-side slums, +presented with a great deal of sympathetic humour."--_Daily Chronicle._ + + +THE TWILIGHT REEF, and other Stories. By HERBERT C. MCILWAIN. Crown +8vo., cloth. + + + THE HALF-CROWN SERIES + + * * * * * + +_Each Demy 12mo., cloth._ + + 1. A GENDER IN SATAN. By RITA. + 2. THE MAKING OF MARY. By JEAN M. MCILWRAITH. + 3. DIANA'S HUNTING. By ROBERT BUCHANAN. + 4. SIR QUIXOTE OF THE MOORS. By JOHN BUCHAN. + 5. DREAMS. By OLIVE SCHREINER. + 6. THE HONOUR OF THE FLAG. By CLARK RUSSELL. + 7. LE SELVE. By OUIDA. 2nd Edition. + 8. AN ALTRUIST. By OUIDA. 2nd Edition. + + + THE CAMEO SERIES + + * * * * * + +_Demy 12mo., half-bound, paper boards, price_ 3s. 6d. + +_Vols. 14-17_, 3s. 6d. _net_. + +_Also, an Edition de Luxe, limited to 30 copies, printed on Japan +paper._ + +_Prices on application._ + + +1. THE LADY FROM THE SEA. By HENRIK IBSEN. Translated by ELEANOR MARX +AVELING. Second Edition. Portrait. + +4. IPHIGENIA IN DELPHI, with some Translations from the Greek. By +RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D. Frontispiece. + +5. MIREIO: A Provençal Poem. By FREDERIC MISTRAL. Translated by H. W. +PRESTON. Frontispiece by JOSEPH PENNELL. + +6. LYRICS. Selected from the Works of A. MARY F. ROBINSON (Mme. JAMES +DARMESTETER). Frontispiece. + +7. A MINOR POET. By AMY LEVY. With Portrait. Second Edition. + +8. CONCERNING CATS: A Book of Verses by many Authors. Edited by GRAHAM +R. THOMPSON. Illustrated. + +9. A CHAPLET FROM THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY. By RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D. + +11. THE LOVE SONGS OF ROBERT BURNS. Selected and Edited, with +Introduction, by Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS, Bart. With Front. Portrait. + +12. LOVE SONGS OF IRELAND. Collected and Edited by KATHERINE TYNAN. + +13. RETROSPECT, and other Poems. By A. MARY F. ROBINSON (Mme. +DARMESTETER), Author of "An Italian Garden," &c. + +14. BRAND: A Dramatic Poem. By HENRIK IBSEN. Translated by F. EDMUND +GARRETT. + +15. THE SON OF DON JUAN. By DON JOSÉ ECHEGARAY. Translated into English, +with biographical introduction, by JAMES GRAHAM. With Etched Portrait of +the Author by DON B. MAURA. + +16. MARIANA. By DON JOSÉ ECHEGARAY. Translated into English by JAMES +GRAHAM. With a Photogravure of a recent Portrait of the Author. + +17. FLAMMA VESTALIS, and other Poems. By EUGENE MASON. Frontispiece +after Sir EDWARD BURNE-JONES. + + + THE MERMAID SERIES + +THE BEST PLAYS OF THE OLD DRAMATISTS. LITERAL REPRODUCTIONS OF THE OLD +TESTAMENT. + +[Illustration] + +_Post 8vo., each Volume containing about 500 pages, and an etched +Frontispiece, cloth_, 3s. 6d. _each_. + + +1. THE BEST PLAYS OF CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE. Edited by HAVELOCK ELLIS, and +containing a General Introduction to the Series by JOHN ADDINGTON +SYMONDS. + +2. THE BEST PLAYS OF THOMAS OTWAY. Introduction by the Hon. RODEN NOEL. + +3. THE BEST PLAYS OF JOHN FORD.--Edited by HAVELOCK ELLIS. + +4 and 5. THE BEST PLAYS OF THOMAS MASSINGER. Essay and Notes by ARTHUR +SYMONS. + +6. THE BEST PLAYS OF THOMAS HEYWOOD. Edited by A. W. VERITY. +Introduction by J. A. SYMONDS. + +7. THE COMPLETE PLAYS OF WILLIAM WYCHERLEY. Edited by W. C. WARD. + +8. NERO, and other Plays. Edited by H. P. HORNE, ARTHUR SYMONS, A. W. +VERITY, and H. ELLIS. + +9 and 10. THE BEST PLAYS OF BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. Introduction by J. +ST. LOE STRACHEY. + +11. THE COMPLETE PLAYS OF WILLIAM CONGREVE. Edited by ALEX. C. EWALD. + +12. THE BEST PLAYS OF WEBSTER TOURNEUR. Introduction by J. ADDINGTON +SYMONDS. + +13 and 14. THE BEST PLAYS OF THOMAS HIDDLETON. Introduction by ALGERNON +CHARLES SWINBURN. + +15. THE BEST PLAYS OF JAMES STANLEY. Introduction by EDWARD GOSSE. + +16. THE BEST PLAYS OF THOMAS DEKKER. Notes by ERNEST RHYS. + +17, 19, and 20. THE BEST PLAYS OF BEN JONSON, Vol. I. edited, with +Introduction and Notes, by BRINSLEY NICHOLSON and C. H. HEREFORD. + +18. THE COMPLETE PLAYS OF RICHARD STEELE. Edited, with Introduction and +Notes, by G. A. AITKEEN. + +21. THE BEST PLAYS OF GEORGE CHAPMAN. Edited by WILLIAM LYON PHELPS, +Instructor of English Literature at Yale College. + +22. THE SELECT PLAYS OF SIR JOHN VANBRUGH. Edited, with an introduction +and Notes, by A. E H. SWAEN. + + * * * * * + +_PRESS OPINIONS._ + +"Even the professed scholar with a good library at his command will find +texts here not otherwise easily accessible; while the humbler student of +slender resources, who knows the bitterness of not being able to possess +himself of the treasure stored in expensive folios or quartos long out +of print, will assuredly rise up and thank Mr. Unwin."--_St. James's +Gazette._ + +"Resumed under good auspices."--_Saturday Review._ + +"The issue is as good as it could be."--_British Weekly._ + +"At once scholarly and interesting."--_Leeds Mercury._ + + + LITTLE NOVELS + +[Illustration] + +_Demy 8vo., printed in bold type, paper covers,_ 6d.; _cloth_, 1s. + + + 1. THE WORLD IS ROUND. By LOUISE MACK. + 2. NO PLACE FOR REPENTANCE. By ELLEN F. PINSENT. + 3. THE PROBLEM OF PREJUDICE. By Mrs. VERE CAMPBELL. + 4. MARGARET GREY. By H. BARTON BAKER. + 5. A PAINTER'S HONEYMOON. By MILDRED SHENSTONE. + 6. THE BOND OF BLOOD. By R. E. FORREST. + 7. A SLIGHT INDISCRETION. By Mrs. EDWARD CARTWRIGHT. + 8. A COMEDY OF THREE. By NEWTON SANDERS. + 9. PASSPORTS. By I. J. ARMSTRONG. + 10. A NOBLE HAUL. By W. CLARK RUSSELL. + 11. ON THE GOGMAGOGS. By ALICE DUMILLO. + + * * * * * + +_PRESS NOTICES._ + +"Novel sets are many, but Mr. Fisher Unwin has begun a new one that for +prettiness, type and cheapness will take front rank.... These little +novels, which are very prettily bound for a shilling, and in paper at +sixpence each, will--if we mistake not--equal the 'Pseudonyms' in +popularity."--_Vanity Fair._ + +"Mr. Unwin's newest series of 'Little Novels,' printed in strong black +type on pleasant paper.... promises to be as good, if not better than +any of the preceding ones.... The first book in the series is an +extremely clever and original story of Australian society."--_Guardian._ + +"Are readable.... They promise well for the success of the series they +begin." _Scotsman._ + +"The 'Little Novels' series starts well with this Australian story ('The +World is Round').... Miss Mack's account of Sydney life is +vivacious.... The two women she describes are brought before us with +ability. Much of the dialogue, and certainly a letter from the Bush, +deserves praise."--_Glasgow Herald._ + +"If Mr. Fisher Unwin's 'Little Novels' series produces many works of the +quintessential power of 'No Place for Repentance,' it will outweigh in +all but bulk whole shelves of Mudie's fiction."--_Illustrated London +News._ + +"We do not apologise for telling the story of this little book, 'The +Bond of Blood,' and giving long extracts from it. It is worth reading +even when one knows all that is coming; for it is excellently told, with +concentrated force, great simplicity, and a very remarkable attention to +illustrative detail."--_Spectator._ + +"A cheap and excellent series."--_St. James's Budget._ + +"Well bound, well printed, and exceptionally low in price."--_Glasgow +Herald._ + + + The CHILDREN'S LIBRARY + + * * * * * + +_Illustrated. Post 8vo., pinafore cloth binding, floral edges_, 2s 6d. +_each_. + + +1. THE BROWN OWL. By FORD H. HUEFFER. Illustrated by MADOX BROWN. + +2. THE CHINA CUP. By FELIX VOLKHOVSKY. Illustrated by MALISCHEFF. + +3. STORIES FROM FAIRYLAND. By GEORGES DROSINES. Illustrated by THOS. +RILEY. + +4. THE STORY OF A PUPPET. By C. CULLODI. Translated from the Italian by +M. A. MURRAY. Illustrated by G. MAZZANTI. + +5. THE LITTLE PRINCESS. By LINA ECKENSTEIN. Illustrated by DUDLEY HEATH. + +6. TALES FROM THE MABINOGIER. By META WILLIAMS. + +7. IRISH FAIRY TALES. Edited by W. B. YEATS. Illustrated by JACK B. +YEATS. + +8. AN ENCHANTED GARDEN. By Mrs. MOLESWORTH. Illustrated by J. W. +HENESSEY. + +9. LA BELLE NIVERNAISE. By ALPHONSE DAUDET. Illustrated by MONTEGUT. + +10. THE FEATHER. By FORD H. HUEFFER. Frontispiece by MADOX BROWN. + +11. FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS. By STANDISH O'GRADY, Author of "Red Hugh's +Captivity," &c., Illustrated by J. B. YEATS. + +12. NUTCRACKER AND MOUSE KING and other Stories. By E. T. A. HOFFMANN. +Translated from the German by ASCOTT R. HOPE. + +13. ONCE UPON A TIME: Fairy Tales. Translated from the Italian by LUIGI +CAPUANA. With Illustrations by C. MAZZANTI. + +14. THE PENTAMERONE; or, The Story of Stories. By GIAMBATTISTA BASILE. +Translated from the Neapolitan by JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR. New Edition, +revised and edited by HELEN ZIMMERN. Illustrated by GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. + +15. FINNISH LEGENDS. Adapted by R. EIVIND. Illustrated from the Finnish +Text. + +16. THE POPE'S MULE, and other Stories. By ALPHONSE DAUDET. Translated +by A. D. BEAVINGTON-ATKINSON and D. HAVERS. Illustrated by ETHEL K. +MARTYN. + +17. THE LITTLE GLASS MAN, and other Stories. Translated from the German +of WILHELM HAUFFMAN. Illustrated by JAMES PRYDE. + +18. ROBINSON CRUSOE. By DANIEL DEFOE. + +19. THE MAGIC OAK TREE, and other Fairy Stories. By KNATCHBULL HUGESSEN +(Lord BRABOURNE) Author of "Prince Mangold," "Queer Folk," &c. + +20. PAX AND CARLINO. By ERNEST BECKMAN. + + * * * * * + +_SOME PRESS NOTICES._ + +"Happy children who are to own books as pretty and portable as this is." +_Saturday Review._ + +"The delightful 'Children's Library.'"--_National Observer._ + +"The binding and printing are simply exquisite."--_Vanity Fair._ + +"What a dainty little blue book!"--_Whitehall Review._ + +"Prettily got up."--_Times._ + +"Fascinating in appearance."--_Athenæum._ + +"Very daintily printed and bound."--_Daily Chronicle._ + +"One of the prettiest books ever trusted to a child's hand."--_Queen._ + +"Altogether agreeable to the eye."--_Globe._ + +"Exquisite and dainty."--_British Weekly._ + +"Very dainty and unique."--_Review of Reviews._ + +"All the books are delightfully illustrated."--_Bookseller._ + +"With every advantage that a dainty binding excellent paper, and +admirable printing can bestow."--_Guardian._ + + + THE AUTONYM LIBRARY + +(Uniform in style and price with the "Pseudonym Library.") + +[Illustration] + +_Paper_, 1s. 6d. _each_; _cloth_, 2s. _each_. + + + 1. THE UPPER BERTH. By F. MARION CRAWFORD. Fourth Edition. + 2. MAD SIR UCHTRED OF THE HILLS. By S. R. CROCKETT. Third Edition. + 3. BY REEF AND PALM. By LOUIS BECKE. Third Edition. + 4. THE PLAY-ACTRESS. By S. R. CROCKETT. Fifth Edition. + 5. A BACHELOR MAID. By Mrs. BURTON HARRISON. + 6. MISERRIMA. By G. W. T. OMOND. + 7. THE TWO STRANGERS. By Mrs. OLIPHANT. + 8. ANOTHER WICKED WOMAN. By G. S. GRANT-FORBES. + 9. THE SPECTRE OF STRATHANNAN. By W. E. NORRIS. + 10. KAFIR STORIES. By W. C. SCULLY. + 11. MOLLY DARLING! And other Stories. By Mrs. HUNGERFORD. + 12. A GAME OF CONSEQUENCES. By ALBERT KINROSS. + 13. SLEEPING FIRES. By GEORGE GISSING. + 14. THE RED STAR. By L. MCMANUS. + 15. A MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE. By ROBERT BUCHANAN. + 16. LEAVES FROM THE LIFE OF AN EMINENT FOSSIL. By W. DUTTON BURRARD. + 17. AN IMPOSSIBLE PERSON. By CONSTANCE COTTERELL. + 18. WHICH IS ABSURD. By COSMO HAMILTON. + + * * * * * + +_PRESS NOTICES._ + +"Very dainty and pleasing in appearance."--_Glasgow Herald._ + +"Well printed and nicely got up."--_Queen._ + +"The volumes promise to be as handy in shape and size as those of the +original series; the printing is excellent, the paper is good, and the +external appearance is neat and attractive."--_Athenæum._ + +"If 'The Autonym Library' keeps up to the pitch of excellence attained +by the first volume its success is assured."--_Speaker._ + + + THE STORY OF + THE NATIONS + +A SERIES OF POPULAR HISTORIES. + + +_Each Volume is furnished with Maps, Illustrations, and Index. Large +Crown 8vo., fancy cloth, gold lettered, or Library Edition, dark cloth, +burnished red top,_ 5s. _each.--Or may be had in half Persian, cloth +sides, gilt tops; Price on Application._ + + + 1. ROME. By ARTHUR GILMAN, M.A. + 2. THE JEWS. By Professor J. K. HOSMER. + 3. GERMANY. By the Rev. S. BARING-GOULD. + 4. CARTHAGE. By Professor ALFRED J. CHURCH. + 5. ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. By Prof. J. P. MAHAFFY. + 6. THE MOORS IN SPAIN. By STANLEY LANE-POOLE. + 7. ANCIENT EGYPT. By Prof. GEORGE RAWLINSON. + 8. HUNGARY. By Prof. ARMINIUS VAMBERY. + 9. THE SARACENS. By ARTHUR GILMAN, M.A. + 10. IRELAND. By the Hon. EMILY LAWLESS. + 11. CHALDEA. By ZENAIDE A. RAGOZIN. + 12. THE GOTHS. By HENRY BRADLEY. + 13. ASSYRIA. By ZENAIDE A. RAGOZIN. + 14. TURKEY. By STANLEY LANE-POOLE. + 15. HOLLAND. By Professor J. E. THOROLD ROGERS. + 16. MEDIÆVAL FRANCE. By GUSTAVE MASSON. + 17. PERSIA. By S. G. W. BENJAMIN. + 18. PHOENICIA. By Prof. GEORGE RAWLINSON. + 19. MEDIA. By ZENAIDE A. RAGOZIN. + 20. THE HANSA TOWNS. By HELEN ZIMMERN. + 21. EARLY BRITAIN. By Professor ALFRED J. CHURCH. + 22. THE BARBARY CORSAIRS. By STANLEY LANE-POOLE. + 23. RUSSIA. By W. R. MORFILL. + 24. THE JEWS UNDER THE ROMAN EMPIRE. By W. D. MORRISON. + 25. SCOTLAND, By JOHN MACKINTOSH, LL.D. + 26. SWITZERLAND. By R. STEAD and LINA HUG. + 27. MEXICO. By SUSAN HALE. + 28. PORTUGAL. By H. MORSE STEPHENS. + 29. THE NORMANS. By SARAH ORNE JEWETT. + 30. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. By C. W. C. OMAN, M.A. + 31. SICILY: PHOENICIAN, GREEK AND ROMAN. By the late E. A. FREEMAN. + 32. THE TUSCAN AND GENOA REPUBLICS. By BELLA DUFFY. + 33. POLAND. By W. R. MORFILL. + 34. PARTHIA. By Prof. GEORGE RAWLINSON. + 35. THE AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH. By GREVILLE TREGARTHEN. + 36. SPAIN. By H. E. WATTS. + 37. JAPAN. By DAVID MURRAY, Ph.D. + 38. SOUTH AFRICA. By GEORGE M. THEAL. + 39. VENICE. By the Hon. ALETHEA WIEL. + 40. THE CRUSADES: The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. By T. A. ARCHER and + CHARLES L. KINGSFORD. + 41. VEDIC INDIA. By ZENAIDE A. RAGOZIN. + 42. THE WEST INDIES AND THE SPANISH MAIN. By JAMES RODWAY, F.L.S. + 43. BOHEMIA. By C. E. MAURICE. + 44. THE BALKANS. By W. MILLER. + 45. CANADA. By Dr. BOURINOT. + 46. BRITISH INDIA. By R. W. FRAZER, LL.B. + 47. MODERN FRANCE. By ANDRÉ LE BON. + THE FRANKS. By LEWIS SERGEANT, B.A. + +"Such a universal history as the series will present us with in its +completion will be a possession such as no country but our own can boast +of.... Its success on the whole has been very remarkable."--_Daily +Chronicle._ + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | Transcriber's notes: Obvious spelling/typographical and | + | punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison | + | with other occurrences within the text and consultation of | + | external sources. | + | | + | The text is a compilation of previously published articles. | + | | + | Inconsistent spelling and inline hyphenation occurs across | + | chapters and is retained. | + | "meal-worm[s]" occurs four times, "mealworm[s]" thirteen times | + | "re-appeared" occurs once and reappeared" occurs three times | + | | + | Page 3: The signature date 1800 is clear error, 1898 is likely | + | correct. | + | Page 28, 29: "I used still to to", extra "to" removed. | + | Page 158: Small ligature oe transcribed as oe in "Scaraboeus". | + | Last Pub. Page: Last entry "The Franks" unnumbered, retained. | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Wild Nature Won By Kindness, by Elizabeth Brightwen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD NATURE WON BY KINDNESS *** + +***** This file should be named 21111-8.txt or 21111-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/1/1/21111/ + +Produced by Joe Longo and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |