Obserz'atiois of a Bird I. over. . 91 



I do not think any apology is needed for including" the 

 above in our pages — too often it is the perfectly obvious that 

 is overlooked. My friend has a great affection for, and kindly 

 interest in, any crippled or injured birds she comes across, that, 

 left to themselves in the battle of nature, would go to the wall, 

 forming a ready prey for the first enemy that appeared. Many 

 such live for years with her, and her affection is returned — I 

 leave her next incident to speak for itself: 



'■ .1 W onderjul Cure. — " Thanks to )(nir former advice ] achieved 

 " lately wiiat seems to me ;i wonderful cure. I would not ask a British 

 " cjuery jier Lagc Bird.< as I should hr.ve been advised to have it killed. A 

 " bird 1 iiave hat' ^or seven years, quite l)lind, I found it lying on the ground 

 " in this garden, had watched it coining to feed with otk,er (jreenfinches. 

 " etc. ; then it went round one way. I knew blind in one eye. After some 

 " time It blundered against cvcrylh'ng — nearly blind — then one day it gave 

 " \\\) in despair, could no longer forage or feed at the pans of food and 

 " water I supplied, and lay down to wait for the first death, that came. It 

 " was not ill, injured or wasted. 1 took it in, and it let me feed it and soon 

 " learned to find the food pots and water vess-1. it bathed and flew across 

 " its clgiiteen nich cage, chirped and still cUjcs so; it lives on soft food. 

 " Now, mv wonderful cure comes in. A week or two ago it l.iegan running 

 " rour/d and round one wa}-, in about an eight inch circle, faster and faster 

 " all day — I tried to feed it and managed to give it enough to keep it 

 " alive as it ran; but after four days and after asking every one I could 

 " think of I read over some of ycur letters, and found dircctior.s for ;• 

 " Bionze-wing Mannikin with fits — Bromide. I gave it two grains of bro- 

 " mide ni food and water, and in one day it was considerably relieved, i" 

 " four days nearly well — I gave it every other day bromide, and three drops 

 " of brandy (as you advised for extreme exhaustion). To-day it is pe>- 

 " fectly well an.d as active as ever." 



" One odd thing about it while the trouble lasted wa". that it stopped 

 " the running round ai'.d round at roosting time and got on its perch and 

 " slept. i'efore it slept I was able to give it a good meal. 1 gave it 

 " a brown paper fioor covering to its cage, so that if it fell from its perch 

 " in tiie nigin it would wake me up." 



My friend writes also in a more general sense, alluding 

 \c, the time when she was not always tied down to apartment 

 rooms; this also demonstrates lier deep love for, and interest 

 i'l wild life. 



" You see, having birds in an outdoor aviary enjoying almost natural 

 " advantages, vou may not be as likely to see what birds do at dawn, as 1 

 " do living with mv pets ar'umd me. When I was at my old country home, 

 " fiee to go out at an\- hour, I used to be out and sit immovable among the 



