GREEN TODY. 75 



which he would drag from their webs and swallow. 

 He sought these also about the ceiling and walls, 

 and found very many. I have said that he con- 

 tinued at this employment all day without inter- 

 mission, and, though I took no account, I judged 

 that, on an average, he made a capture per minute. 

 We may thus form some idea of the immense 

 number of insects destroyed by these and similar 

 birds; bearing in mind that this was in a room, 

 where the human eye scarcely recognised a dozen 

 insects altogether; and that, in the free air, insects 

 would doubtless be much more numerous. Water 

 in a basin was in the room, but I did not see him 

 drink, though occasionally he perched on the brim ; 

 and when I inserted his beak into the water, he 

 would not drink. Though so actively engaged in his 

 own occupation, he cared nothing for the presence 

 of man ; he sometimes alighted voluntarily on our 

 heads, shoulders, or fingers ; and when sitting, would 

 permit me at any time to put my hand over him and 

 take him up; though, when in the hand, he would 

 struggle to get out. He seemed likely to thrive, 

 but incautiously settling in front of a dove-cage, 

 a surly Baldpate poked his head through the wires, 

 and with his beak aimed a cruel blow at the pretty 

 green head of the unoffending and unsuspecting 

 Tody. He appeared not to mind it at first, but 

 did not again fly; and about an hour afterward, 

 on my taking him into my hand, and throwing 

 him up, he could only flutter to the ground, and 

 on laying him on the table, he stretched out his 

 little feet, shivered, and died. 



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