4 The Naturalist of Cumbrae. 



tied to the end of a thin piece of wood was an occu- 

 pation much to his fancy. In this case he had his 

 mother's approbation, as the mice were lodgers she 

 much preferred to do without. 



Simple and commonplace as these pastimes were, 

 they exercised wee David's ingenuity, and gave some 

 promise of the zeal and skill which in later years he 

 has so conspicuously shown in hunting and capturing 

 the various small deer which lie fossilized in beds of 

 clay and sand, or which live in the waters of pool 

 and marsh, of loch and ocean. 



As far as David himself was concerned, the mice 

 which were caught alive would have been allowed to 

 live. He never took pleasure in killing any animal, 

 and always detested the act of boys taking the eggs 

 from birds' nests for the sake of playing at what 

 they called " blind-smash." 



In this cruel game, a number of eggs were placed 

 on the ground at certain distances. One of the party, 

 being blindfolded, then advanced towards them and 

 struck at them with a stick, the object being to see 

 who would break most eggs with the allotted number 

 of strokes. 



In modern times, the same sort of game is harm- 

 lessly played by pinning on to a suspended sheet the 

 picture of a donkey without a tail, and distributing to 

 the company copies of the missing tail, to be affixed 

 with as much accuracy of position as any one can 

 manage with his eyes blindfolded. From this peace- 

 ful alternative, however, the delight of smashing 

 something is absent. 



David's "humour, even in childhood, did not incline 



