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it is good neither for men nor birds to be alone, I set 

 about to procure him a mate. Marriage is the proper 

 state for birds as well as men As a dear old woman 

 once said to me, " It's such a mortifying o' the flesh 

 as none can beat it." 



After some little trouble I lighted on a hen. B}^ 

 English catchers, I find that the hens are little sought 

 after in any species ; in fact they are regarded as so 

 much useless lumber, unless specially ordered. The 

 hen Wagtail is fairly good to tell, when you know; as 

 she is much more "sooty" in her colours than the 

 cock, and has not the beautiful silver lacing on the 

 wings which he possesses. She is also a bit thicker 

 in the body than he is. Another ver}^ certain way of 

 knowing a hen is to put two together in an aviary, 

 and watch them a few moments. If one displays the 

 sort of nervousness which Sydney Smith felt when he 

 dined with his bishop, and which caused him to 

 crumble his bread — you have a true pair; if the two 

 are cocks you will soon have a battle royal. 



My cock had hitherto been rather stand-offish, as 

 we say about here ; but with the advent of a lady his 

 disposition seemed to change. I often found myself 

 laughing in a friendly way as I watched the old 

 gentleman. Where were all his boasted coyness and 

 aloofness ? Gone at a glance from a hen-bird's eye. 

 It is comforting to find that men are not in all respects 

 more foolish than the beasts. 



When the hen first arrived she was very tame ; 

 but how could it be otherwise when she was like the 

 convent horse, of which the prior quaintly said "that 

 he could not but be tractable in respect that he draweth 

 much of our winter firewood — and eatelJi 710 corn^ I do 

 not know what my hen had lived on before she came to 

 me, but whatever it was I do not think she would 

 have lived on it much longer. A man could, at a 

 pinch, live on bits of old shoe leather, but it is hardly 



