272 FEATHERED FRIENDS. 



doubtless were withering sarcasm, if one could but have 

 understood her language. 



In order to restore peace I procured a hen Barbary 

 Turtle and introduced her to the Cambayan as the next 

 best thing I could do for him, seeing that it was im- 

 possible to obtain him a mate of his own race. She was 

 only about half his size, it is true, and looked very pale 

 beside the swarthy 'Moor, but in a short time she built a nest 

 and laid two eggs, on which the huge Cambayan sat during 

 the daytime and the little Laughing Dove at night. 



As I had never seen the birds pair, or indeed take 

 the smallest notice of each other, I was naturally anx- 

 ious to see the result of their most attentive incubation, 

 which I feared would be nothing of more consequence 

 than a couple of addled eggs. In this, however, I was 

 agreeably disappointed, for at the end of seventeen days 

 I caught sight of a little black-looking thing in the 

 nest, and the next day it had a companion, and the 

 two turned out to be the offspring of the badly matched 

 pair, at least badly matched in point of size, for they 

 really were a most affectionate couple. 



The young strangers grew apace but were by no 

 means pretty, for their shapeless bodies were covered 

 with dark, almost black down, and their complexions 

 could not be described truthfully as anything but swarthy. 

 When fully grown they resembled their father in ap- 

 pearance, but their mother in point of size, and were, 

 I judged from their manner, cock and hen. 



