Ill 



to me like buying something that had got value and 

 you could not wipe it out. An American friend once 

 said tome, ' Whenever you get hold of a ten-dollar, 

 note, you want to get it into ye, or onto ye just as 

 quick 's ye kin. We're here to-day and gone to- 

 morrow,' he'd say, ' an' there aiut no pocket in a 

 shroud.' I felt as I read that advertisement that if I 

 did not do some buying I should deserve to be kicked. 

 I have bought birds for a considerable number of 

 years, but that particular transaction has a peg all to 

 itself. In the first place the pair on arrival proved 

 to be two cocks, and instead of the lovely condition 

 spoken of in the advertisement, the motto of one at 

 any rate was only too clearly Morihirics te salutat, I 

 acting the part of Imperial Csesar ! There was only 

 one thing to be thankful for, he had the grace to die 

 before I had paid for him, and I fully re-echoed the 

 words of the Editor of our greatest daily, who, on 

 hearing of the death of Carlyle exclaimed, ' Thank 

 God he died in time for the outer sheet ! ' Was it not 

 Edgar Allen Poe who sang he ' dwelt alone in a land 

 of moan ' ? Anyhow, I did that day. As I sorrowfully 

 contemplated his dead body I tliought of what I once 

 heard an old farmer's wife say of her favourite drake, 



* He'll make a fine hat when his time comes!' 



Clearly my course now was to find my remaining 

 gentleman a wife ; for hope builds as fast as know- 

 ledge can destroy. That very morning I got a letter 

 from a well known dealer offering me two Red 

 Gouldian hens, beauties, underlined, 25s. the pair. 

 Wire if I wanted them. Need my line of action be 

 recorded ? 



The two ladies arrived, and certainly they were 



* exceeding fair,' at least one was ; the other was a bit 

 picked, but no doubt had grave and sober attributes. 

 Master Gould, however, has an eye to beauty, though 

 it may be only skin deep, and in this respect resembles 



