By Albati^oss Mail. 



6i 



from his whiskers as he glances sideways at 

 the empty cage, and purrs with satisfaction: 

 "I have eaten the canary." And why not? 

 the game was within his reach. It was his 

 prey, and he has no conscience. 



But it is in the summer that canaries and 

 other caged birds suffer the most. They 

 are baked in the sun as though it were their 

 destiny to be murdered by sunstrokes. 

 Think of it, ye mortals. A bird hung in a 

 cage against the side of a house, perhaps 

 painted white, or some trying color, under 

 the rays of a fierce, blistering sun, from 

 which the chickens and pigs seek the shade 

 of leaves. Possibly, being moved by com- 

 passion, you call the attention of the owner 

 to the facts in the case; she will tell you in 



her wilfulness and ignorance that "birds 

 like the sun." 



Birds sing in the morning and evening in 

 the open air, and in the thickest shade in 

 midday, but most birds are mute and seek 

 cool retreats where the rays of the burning 

 sun cannot enter. 



Poor little prisoner ! Wild with agony be- 

 neath a pitiless sun ! Scream on in your 

 crazy appeals for mercy ! Your mistress has 

 gone shopping or visiting a neighbor, or is 

 rattling away at a sewing machine, making 

 ruffles and tucks. She tells people that she 

 has a splendid singer, and tells the price 

 she paid the fancier for you, but she knows 

 little of the laws of life or the needs of your 

 constitution, and does not want to learn. 

 Helen V. Austin. 



BY ALBATROSS MAIL. 



A SENSATIONAL story, which for 

 romantic interest rivals any of Ri- 

 der Haggards' conceptions, hinges on the 

 following scrap of intelligence, scratched 

 in French on a small piece of tin: 



"Thirteen shipwrecked men took refuge 

 upon the Crozet Islands on August 4th, 

 1887." 



This tin was found on the beach at Free- 

 mantle, South Australia, on the 22d Sep- 

 tember last, attached to the neck of a dead 

 albatross, and the story having been circu- 

 lated in the papers, came to the notice of 

 Governor Robinson, who sent a despatch to 

 the English government, who in their turn 

 instructed their ambassador at Paris to com- 

 municate the fact to the French govern- 

 ment. 



By that time the French papers were dis- 

 cussing the probable loss of the three-master 

 Tamaris, owned by the firm of Bordes & 

 Son, of Bordeaux, which left Bordeaux for 

 New Caledonia in the spring of the year, 

 and of which no news had been received in 

 the interim. Her crew numbered thirteen 

 men, thus tallying with the number which 



had taken refuge on the Crozet Islands, 

 and as these islands were on the line of the 

 ship's course, and the Tamaris should by 

 calculation have made them during July or 

 August, the presumption is very strong 

 that it is her crew, whose whereabouts has 

 thus been made known. 



Every ship sailing in southern seas is 

 followed by albatrosses, which wheel round 

 it on tireless wing, until some animal refuse 

 thrown overboard tempts them to alight, 

 but during the summer m.onths these birds 

 have a wide southern range ; far to the 

 southward of the track of any but whaling 

 vessels, and the comparatively few which 

 are seen by mariners, can be only a very 

 small percentage of the whole. The bird 

 with its message attached might have roam- 

 ed the great southern watery waste for 

 years, without following in the wake of any 

 passing ship ; and even had it immediately 

 taken to following ships, the tag would cer- 

 tainly have attracted attention, but the 

 odds against its being read were very great. 



Sailors frequently take these birds with 

 hook and line, label them with date of cap- 



