MY PET WOOD THRUSHES. 199 



migratory Thrush. It was not half fledged, and had no 

 doubt been turned out of its nest by some accident, and as 

 it happened to be on the edge of a piece of swamp, where it 

 evidently had no business, it instantly called to mind a coup- 

 let of Scott's, describing the Exodus of the Fairies : 



And the Kelpie must flit from the black-bog pit 

 And the Brownie must not tarrie. 



" Yo ho ! here is our kelpie 1 so now he shall flit from the 

 black-bog pit, and be playmate for our Brownie." So I cap- 

 tured the little monster, than which surely no goblin shape 

 was ever uglier. I had called our bird Brownie, from the 

 color of its back in the first place ; but now, the coincidence 

 was so evident, that the poor captivated Eobin must needs be 

 christened Kelpie ! He was taken home and placed under 

 the guardianship of Mr. Brownie, who, for the first day, 

 seemed to be afraid of the hideous little creature, and al- 

 though he hopped round and round it with the most in- 

 tensely curious expression, yet its harsh and incessant cry 

 with the wide gaping of its great yellow mouth, seemed to 

 be too much for his nerves. On the morning of the second 

 day, we observed Mr. Brownie employing himself in a very 

 mysterious sort of fashion, for instead of eating the worms 

 that were placed as usual at his disposal, he would take one, 

 and after beating it with his bill until it was quite dead, he 

 would gather it up with the greatest care until it made the 

 smallest possible bulk, and then carefully wetting it in the 

 water, he would hop about the squalling Kelpie, as if to at- 

 tract attention. Failing in this, he would perseveringly at- 

 tempt to push the food into its mouth ; having, it would 

 seem, made the sage discovery that stuffing food into that 

 wide mouth was the only way to stop it. During the whole 

 day we watched the benevolent little fellow, endeavoring by 

 every conceivable art, to make his dingy fellow-captive un- 

 derstand what it was he wanted of him ; but open his mouth 



