THE HOSPITAL 



IT is a painful thing to see a bird unhappy 

 or uncomfortable, and it is a real grief to see 

 one ill. Even though you are not responsible 

 for the bird's being in captivity, and have no 

 neglect or carelessness to blame yourself for, 

 you cannot help feeling reproached, and think- 

 ing you will never keep another. 



There are three considerations in which I 

 find comfort for the sickness and death of a 

 bird. First, I did not cause him to be torn 

 from his life of freedom and subjected to un- 

 natural conditions ; secondly, I have, in every 

 case, bettered his lot, and spared no thought 

 or labor to make him happy ; lastly, my close 

 study of birds has convinced me that Mother 

 Nature is kind to her own, and that creatures 

 who live natural lives do not suffer in illness 

 and death as we do, who have so far departed 

 from the simple, healthful, natural life. 



