36 



search of health, and before starting asked if he 

 could bring me back some birds. To make a long 

 story short — he procured somewhere or other a 

 pair of Mocking-birds and took them on to Boston, 

 where he stayed for a month or six weeks with some 

 friends before coming home. Eventual]}^ he brought 

 them over, keeping them while on the voyage under 

 his own care and in his own cabin — not putting them 

 under the ofttimes perfunctory guardianship of the 

 ship's butcher. When they came into mj^ possession 

 they were sprightly, active, health}', and most par- 

 ticularly tame and confiding. Along with them were 

 presented to me two large tins, (one in use, the other 

 unopened), of what at that time was to me a most 

 mysterious and uncanny kind of substance, and about 

 which my friend could give me no information 

 beyond that when mixed with a little crushed plain 

 biscuit it was the proper food for these and other soft- 

 billed birds. It had a sharp, pungent, and slightly 

 unpleasant smell, and was of a dark brown colour: 

 on examination I found it to be composed of some 

 dried and powdered insect, or insects of sorts. For 

 nearly two months— as long as this food lasted — the 

 birds remained in perfect condition, and the cock 

 began to come into song. When it came to an end, 

 and not knowing then how I could obtain further 

 supplies, I adopted the use of a much recommended 

 soft food containing the vaunted egg. The birds took 

 to it at once and seemed to enjoy it, but, sad to sa}^ 

 within a fortnight first the hen and then the cock 

 died of a violent enteritis, which to my certain 

 knowledge was caused by none of the influences to 

 which it is so commonly ascribed. Even at that 

 time, in the consciousness that egg is a most un- 

 natural food for birds, (although in their very earliest 

 stages of development they are entirely nourished by 

 it),* I always suspected it of being the cause of death, 

 but so long as I had only suspicions to go on I said 



