38 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



safe, all at the same time, on comes the chilly 

 feeling from a raw wind at the street corner, or 

 the slush of mud and water in which, for the fii'st 

 time, you notice yourself standing. 



After any kind of exercise, do not stand a mo- 

 ment at a street corner for anybody or anything ; 

 nor at an open door or window. When you have 

 been exercising in any way whatever, winter or 

 summer, go home at once, or to some sheltered 

 place ; and, however warm the room may seem 

 to be, do not at once pull off your hat and cloak, 

 but wait some five minutes or more, and lay aside 

 one at a time ; thus acting, a cold is impossible. 

 Notice a moment : when you return from a brisk 

 walk and enter a warm room, raise your hat, and 

 the forehead will be moist ; let the hat remain a 

 few moments and feel the forehead again, and it 

 will be dry, showing that the room is actually 

 cooler than your body, and that, with your out- 

 door clothing on, you have cooled off full soon. 



Among the severest colds that I have known 

 men to take, were those resulting from sitting 

 down to a meal in a cool room after a walk ; or 

 being engaged in writing, and having let the fu'e 

 go out, their first admonition of it was that creep- 

 ing chillness, which is the forerunner of a severe 

 cold. Persons have often lost their lives by 

 writing or remaining in a room where there was 

 no fire, although the weather outside was rather 

 uncomfortable. Sleeping in rooms long unused, 

 has destroyed the life of many a visitor and 

 friend ; our splendid parlors and our nice "spare 

 rooms," help to enrich many a doctor. The cold 

 sepulchral parlors of New York, from May till 

 November, bring diseases, not only to visitors, 

 but to the visited ; for, coming from domestic 

 occupations, or from the hurry of dressing, the 

 heat of the body is higher than usual, and having 

 no cloak or hat on in going to meet a visitor, 

 and having in addition but little vitality, in con- 

 sequence of the very sedentary nature of town 

 life, there is very little capability of resistance, 

 and a chill and cold is the result. — Sail's Journal 

 of Health. 



STORIES OF BIRDS. 



To begin with the kingfisher. This bird has 

 been well styled the only one which, in our islands, 

 decks itself with a plumage of tropical richness 

 and lustre. How rarely is it seen ! — how shy of 

 observation ! — and how dazzlingly splendid when 

 its green and crimson metallic scales, as one may 

 call them, reflect the rays of the sun ! I have 

 seen this bird in an almost domesticated state — { 

 that is, I have seen it in a certain pleasure-ground j 

 remain on some old timber hanging over water, \ 

 until we had come so near as to have a perfect 

 view. It — or rather they, for there were several 

 of them — ran about briskly while we approached, 

 and then only seemed to retire a short way among 

 the water-weeds. I am reminded here of an anec- , 

 dote for which I can vouch, and Avhich shows that 

 the kingfisher has a remarkable tenacity of life. 



One of these birds flew, one day, in some un- 

 accountable way, into the open windows of a coun- 

 try-seat in Berkshire. It entered a drawing-room 

 by one window, and dashed at another which hap- 

 pened to l)e shut. Of course it fell struggling to 

 Uie gi'ound, stunned, if not killed, by the shock. 

 The ladies, who alone were present, summoned 



the butler to put the poor creature out of pain. 

 This he did effectually, by "wringing its neck" in 

 the ordinary Avay, and depositing it on a table, in 

 order that its beauty might be admired by the 

 whole family. Here it lay for some time, to all 

 appearance quite dead ; but at length some slight 

 motion was perceived about its head — the head 

 evidently was moving a little ; and by and by this 

 said head began slowly to turn round and round, 

 which gyration was performed some five or six 

 times, answering no doubt to the "wrings" inflict- 

 ed by the ruthless hand of the butler aforesaid, 

 until at last it seemed to have recovered its natu- 

 ral position. Thus it lay with open and glitter- 

 ing eyes for a short space ; and then, as if instinct 

 with new life, it made a sudden efi'ort, flapped its 

 wings, flew to the open window, and disappeared I 



This recalls a somewhat similar instance of a 

 partridge. This bird — an old cock I warrant him 

 — was knocked over in the usual way in "stubbles 

 and turnips." He was picked up while yet strug- 

 gling, and his head severely knocked on the stock 

 of a gun by one of the party. He was then "hung 

 by the neck" with some others in a net by a leath- 

 er strap contrived for the purpose. In this dur- 

 ance the poor animal remained during the rest of 

 the day and the following night, being hung up 

 with the bag in the gun-room. On the following 

 day, when the keeper proceeded to hand over his 

 prey to the cook, this bird was shaken out of his 

 collar upon the table ; whereupon he ifnmediately 

 got on his legs, looked about him, flew straight 

 at the window, through a pane of which he broke 

 his way, and escaped ! 



I will here mention an anecdote of another 

 kind connected with birds, which has always struck 

 me as most extraordinary. 



I had obtained from the nest three young bull- 

 finches, and had had them several days in perfect 

 apparent health : they could feed alone, and 

 seemed quite strong. One morning they seemed, 

 in the very act of awaking, to be seized together 

 with some sudden fit. They fell from the perch- 

 es into the sand at the bottom cf the cage, beat- 

 ing it about most violently witii their wings; roUr 

 ing over and over, and exhibiting the same ap- 

 pearance as wounded birds generally do. After 

 perhaps two minutes of these extraordinary gam- 

 bols, they all alike seemed to get rid of the excit- 

 ing cause, whatever it was ; they ceased to strug- 

 gle ; sat up languidly on their tails, steadying 

 their panting bodies with their wings ; and at 

 length quite recovered their usual health. About 

 ten days after, the same simultaneous seizvire was 

 repeated ; they all fell down again, and struggled 

 in the same way ; but this time they died — togeth- 

 er, of course. 



I have often asked myself the question, what 

 could have been the mysterious tic of ..ympathy 

 between those singular l;irds ? Had tlioy each in 

 turn died of some fit, it would have beer, a com- 

 mon death of the bullfinch tribe ; but that the fit 

 should have seized them all at the same inoment, 

 in the first instance harmless, a:u! i;i the next 

 with fatal results, remains a mystery t.j me to 

 this day. 



Talking of bullfinches and their fit's I may ob- 

 serve that apoplexy, their great enemy, may be 

 averted for a long time, if not entirely, by avoid- 

 ing the alderman's snare, — I mean, oleaginous 

 feeding. Let them have canary-seed as a staple, 



