206 I'ACT AaAlNST FICTION. 



oyster-catclierj the lesser puffin, the goosander, 

 the Bahama duck, the Pernambuco goose, the 

 prairie grouse, the cormorant and bittern, and I 

 have tamed all of them more easily and com- 

 pletely than the little bird who is to some extent 

 tame to us by nature — I mean, the common robin. 



I have tamed a stoat so successfully that he 

 would come from his cage after dinner, bathe in 

 a finger-glass on the dining-room table, and carry 

 back to his cage a sponge-cake. One amusing 

 mistake he would occasionally make, I must 

 describe. He invariably selected a lady's dress 

 by which to ascend to the table (he was always 

 asked for after dinner both in town and country), 

 and when several guests of both sexes were 

 assembled, he never omitted what he rightly 

 considered the best mode of ascent. But he 

 failed always to distinguish which line led to the 

 desired spot, the outside or the inside of the 

 elaborate attire. A slight exclamation, a laugh, 

 a blush, a stooping forward, and a pressure from 

 the hand, sometimes a jump and a shake, would 

 tell me that '' Totie," as he was called, had 

 mistaken his way ; and the fact very often led 

 to much amusement. 



