THE BRAZILIAN BULLFINCH. 83 



surviving occupants. A cat must have got in and done 

 the damage! But where was the murderer? I instituted 

 a minute search: the culprit had fled, not indeed without 

 leaving too abundant traces of his visit, if his person 

 had disappeared. It was too bad I Oh "Someone!" 

 ''Someone!" it was really too bad 1 



Well, the poor Bicudo was gone! But why had not 

 the feline marauder eaten it, as he had done most of 

 the other victims he had slain? I found out afterwards. 

 The poor old fellow was too tough for a starving cat 

 to demolish, and so the iissassin had left his corpse, as 

 well as that of a venerable canary that had been hatched 

 and had lived all his life of 8 or 9 years in the aviary. 



How did I find out that these poor birds, and especially 

 the Bicudo, were too tough for a hungry cat to devour ? 

 In this way: I had just acquired a tame Raven and 

 it was to fetch him home that I had gone on that 

 eventful morning when I, confidingly, had left the closing 

 of the window to "Someone" I gave "Grippa" the 

 two carcases for his (no, her) breakfast, and she 

 managed to dispose of that of the Canary, but only 

 after several re-iterated attempts, but altogether failed 

 to entomb that of the Brazilian Bullfinch in her 

 "capacious maw", although she did her best to get 

 rid of it, but in vain; it was really too tough, and 

 so the poor old fellow was interred in the garden and 

 his place was left vacant, as his memory is lamented, 

 to this day. 



