200 WILD SCENES AND SONG-BIRDS. 



at the right time, the heathenish Kelpie obstinately refused 

 to do. Brownie, in the meantime, was in a perfect agony of 

 worry that his good intentions should be so misunderstood, 

 and when even the creature became clamorous, he renewed 

 his efforts in a seeming entire forgetfulness of himself. On 

 the third morning he seemed to have begun to lose all pa- 

 tience, and to be determined that his protege should accept 

 his kind offices, whether or no. 



I observed him now pushing at the corners of its mouth 

 with all its might, to force it open, and that evening, seeing 

 Brownie grievously disturbed and troubled fluttering about 

 the Robin, I took it up to examine what had happened. I 

 was not a little shocked to see that one eye was entirely de- 

 stroyed ! Poor Brownie, in his zeal to force its mouth open, 

 had wounded the eye-ball fatally with his sharp bill ! In all 

 my experience of human actions and emotions, I never wit- 

 nessed anything more touchingly expressive of distress for 

 an accident and affectionate solicitude for the subject of it 

 than was now displayed by our Brownie. He evidently un- 

 derstood perfectly that he had done serious mischief, and ap- 

 peared to feel that he could not do enough to make amends. 

 He now almost killed the little sufferer with kindness, and 

 stuffed it incessantly with food, for the unfortunate Kelpie 

 seemed, when it was now only just too late, to understand 

 what had been all the time required of him, and fed with 

 the utmost readiness. This was certainly a singular and 

 touching exhibition of a parental, or else chivalrous feeling, 

 on the part of this bird, which was only a few weeks older 

 than the other. The Kelpie died not long afterwards, and 

 we were not sorry except for Brownie's sake, who seemed to 

 feel the loss very seriously. After its painful mutilation, we 

 neither expected nor desired to raise it. I have known many 

 instances in which old birds that had bred before captivity, 

 have exhibited this sort of solicitude for young birds that 

 might be placed in the cage, without reference to the species. 

 Indeed, I knew an old woman in Washington City, who pos- 



