BROWSINGS IN OTHER FIELDS. 239 
eyes and swaying their heads from side to side in 
a nervous, irritable way. 
I felt many times repaid for my saunter through 
the Zoo, and would advise all who have an oppor- 
tunity of visiting a good zoological garden not to 
let it go by unimproved. A great deal of informa- 
tion as well as pleasure may be thus gained. 
Wherever one is, one must get people to talking 
about one’s mania. How else could it be said that 
there is method in one’s madness, or in what re- 
spects it differs from mere lunacy? While visiting 
with a delightful family living in a city some dis- 
tance from my home, our conversation drifted — 
perhaps with a good deal of calculation on my part 
—to the birds, with the result that I was put in 
possession of several facts worth noting, chiefly be- 
cause they prove how helpful some birds are to one 
another in their domestic relations. No birds are 
more ingenious in planning for one another’s com- 
fort and safety than our ‘“ foreign brethren,” the 
English sparrows. ‘The mistress of this intelligent 
family, a woman who has keen eyes and ears for 
the birds, declared that she always heard one spar- 
row in the trees about the house waking up its 
sleeping mates at break of day, like the father of a 
family rousing his drowsing children. It called in 
shrill tones as if it were saying, ‘‘ Wake up! wake 
up! Day is coming! ‘Time to go to work!” As 
it continued its clamor, it seemed to be flying 
about from one point to another, visiting every bed- 
room, until at length a faint peep was heard here 
