'ooa -pigeon 



LETTER LIV. 



To the same. 



SIR, When I happen to visit a family 

 where gold and silver fishes are kept in a glass 

 bowl, I am always pleased with the occur- 

 rence, because it offers me an opportunity of 

 observing the actions and propensities of those 

 beings with whom we can be little acquainted 

 in their natural state. Not long since I spent 

 a fortnight at the house of a friend where there was such a 

 vivary, 1 to which I paid no small attention, taking every 

 occasion to remark what passed within its narrow limits. It 

 was here that I first observed the manner in which fishes die. 

 As soon as the creature sickens, the head sinks lower and 

 lower, and it stands as it were on its head ; till, getting weaker, 

 and losing all poise, the tail turns over, and at last it floats on 

 the surface of the water with its belly uppermost. The reason 

 whyfishes, when dead, swim in that manner is very obvious; 



1 A rare and interesting case of a Latin word at one time thoroughly 

 Englished and now once more employed with its classical termination. 

 En. 



