10 



RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



spout, and it was not until the legs of the 

 last one were left dangling out of his mouth, 

 that he began to think of stopping. I 

 once gave him a large hornpout. I had 

 heard before of getting outside of 3'our din- 

 ner, but never expected to see it so well 

 illustrated. Of all the gulpings, twistings, 

 and wrigglings I ever saw, that capped the 

 lot. He could not swallow it all, and after 

 he had worked industriousl}- for a quarter 

 of an hour, he laid down on the grass at 

 full length, fish and all, to let nature digest 

 enough so that he could swallow the rest. 

 We had a stuffed duck, and put it in the 

 coop to keep him company. He was very 

 fond of it, and one day broke off the head 

 and put it down to keep compan}' with the 

 other things that had gone that way. A 

 wonderful change came over him for a day 

 or so. He ate nothing. Poor Tommy ! his 

 last days were near. I wonder if he had 

 any regrets for his life of gluttony and dis- 

 sipation. I expected to find him dead on 

 my next visit, but instead found in the coop 

 the duck's head, disgorged on account of 

 the arsenic on it, which was too much for 

 his complexion, and Tommy was chasing 

 the chickens around the barn, for he was 

 fearfully hungry, having lived on nothing 

 but stuff"ed duck for two days. As liegrevv 

 older he killed his food before swallowing 

 it. I think he found that to have it jumping 

 around after it was down was gradually de- 

 ranging his internal mechanism, and scatter- 

 ing seed of indigestion liable to cause him 

 regret in after life. When he was old 

 enough to fly, he decided that rather than 

 tr}' to live on scanty rations, such as three 

 frogs, two fish, and a snake or two daily, he 

 would start on his own hook, and by dint 

 of hard labor " keep the wolf from the 

 door." 



He would sleep part of the day and then 

 start for the brook. One day, while upon 

 one of these excursions, he met mv friend 

 Jones fishing in the brook. No sooner did 

 Jones pull out a fish, than Tommy made a 

 swoop from the top of a tree, and before 

 Jones had time to be surprised, had gobbled 

 down fish, hook, and sinker, and stood wait- 

 ing to " do so some more." Jones gathered 

 in his slack line, and then commenced to 

 pull Tommy in, who began screaming, fear- 

 ing he would lose his dinner. Jones was 

 astonished and somewhat frightened. He 



pulled in as much line as seemed advisable 

 under the circumstances, cut it off, shoul- 

 dered his pole, picked up his string of fish, 

 and started for home. No sooner did 

 Tomni}- see the fish than he made a rush 

 for them, seized one, and pulled it off the 

 string. This completely unnerved Jones, 

 and he dropped the rest and had the satis- 

 faction of seeing them all slide down that 

 capacious gullet. There was a maiden lady 

 living near us, and one morning when she 

 went out to feed the chickens, Tomm}- was 

 sitting in a tree near bj' making a great 

 racket, for he was hungry. She kindly got 

 him a piece of meat, and down he came in 

 great haste, and got hold of the meat, along 

 with two of the lad\''s fingers. She screamed, 

 and made tracks for the house. Tommy 

 meanwhile shutting down on her fingers like 

 a steel trap. A boarder at the house came 

 to the rescue, and between them they man- 

 aged to get him off, when Tommy went 

 home, doubtless feeling as if he had been 

 swindled. 



No matter how much he ate he never 

 grew fat. Somebody said it made him poor 

 to carrv around all he consumed. He was 

 not naturall}- quarrelsome — he was too bus}' 

 devising means of subsistence — but self- 

 defence came natural to him, and he did 

 not know what fear meant. We had a fine 

 large rooster, well spurred, and as proud as 

 a king ; the hero of many a battle. Tommy's 

 singing was too classical for him. (It was 

 for most of us.) So he marched up in an 

 important manner, and pitched in without 

 more ado. Tommy evidently thought the 

 long-looked-for dinner had arrived. He 

 seized the rooster by the head, and began 

 thrashing him around in a truly fearful man- 

 ner. He thought 'twas another big snake, 

 that needed all his attention. When Tommy 

 let go it was painful to see our crestfallen 

 fowl. He slunk into the barn, as fast as his 

 dizzy brain would allow him, and under the 

 straw moped away the rest of the day, re- 

 cuperating and re[)enting of his rash act. 

 Pets of this kind usually come to a sad end, 

 and Tommy was no exception. One night, 

 about eleven o'clock, while trying to awaken 

 sympathy b^- his cackle, he received a dose 

 of cold lead. His stomach rebelled at this, 

 and, with a shriek, he fell dead. We planted 

 him in the garden, with a shingle to mark 

 his resting-place. S. F. Denton. 



