FEEDING OF THE YOUNG. 211. 



carried it off with the young, when they were about 

 fifteen or twenty days old, and put them in a cage 

 at his room window, where the cock and hen con- 

 tinued to feed them, and grew so tame, that they 

 scarcely ever left the room ; and though not shut in 

 the cage, nor subjected to any restraint, they used to 

 eat and sleep with their brood. I have often seen 

 all the four sitting upon Father Montdidier's finger, 

 singing as if they had been perched upon a branch. 

 He fed them with a very fine and almost limpid 

 paste, made with biscuit, Spanish wine, and sugar. 

 They dipped their tongue in it, and when their 

 appetite was satisfied they fluttered and chanted. 

 I never saw any thing more lovely than these four 

 pretty little birds, which flew about the house, and 

 attended the call of their foster-father. He pre- 

 served them in this way five or six months, and we 

 hoped soon to see them breed, when Father Mont- 

 didier, having forgotten one night to tie the cage in 

 which they were roosted by a cord, that hung from 

 the ceiling, to keep them from the rats, had the vex- 

 ation in the morning to find that they had disap- 

 peared; they had been devoured*." 



* Nouveau Voyage aux lies de 1'Amerique, iv. 14. 



