A FAVOURITE BIRD 211 
Great White Egret. He is quite a big bird, larger 
even than our common heron—and you know what 
a big bird he is. The other one, which is called 
the Small White Egret, is not more than half the 
size of the great one, but his feathers are the most 
beautiful, so that, though he has not nearly so many 
of them, he is worth nearly twice as much money. 
That means, of course, that the servants of the 
wicked little demon, who shoot him and sell his 
feathers, can get nearly twice as much money for 
them as they can for the feathers of the other one. 
So, of course, they like shooting him best, but they 
are very glad to shoot the other one—the Great 
White Egret—too, for even Ais feathers are worth 
a good deal. Now, if the wicked little demon had 
not frozen the hearts of women, they would never 
want to wear feathers that cost the lives of the poor 
birds towhom they belong—because, you know, women 
are, really, so kind. Then, of course, those feathers 
that are so beautiful would not be worth anything 
(as it is called), and so men would not shoot the 
White Egrets, because they would not be able to 
sell their feathers. I am afraid they would have 
no better reason for not doing so than that, because 
men, you know, are not kind and pitiful—as women 
eeu Only their hearts. are not, frozen. But, at 
any rate, the White Egrets would be left alive. 
