CALVIN: A STUDY OF CHARACTER. 181 



was genuinely fond of birds, but, so far as I 

 know, he usually confined himself to one a 

 day ; he never killed, as some sportsmen do, 

 for the sake of killing, but only as civilized 

 people do, from necessity. He was inti- 

 mate with the flying-squirrels who dwell in 

 the chestnut-trees, too intimate, for almost 

 every day in the summer he would bring in 

 one, until he nearly discouraged them. He 

 was, indeed, a superb hunter, and would 

 have been a devastating one, if his bump of 

 destructiveness had not been offset by a 

 bump of moderation. There was very little 

 of the brutality of the lower animals about 

 him ; I don't think he enjoyed rats for them- 

 selves, but he knew his business, and for the 

 first few months of his residence with us he 

 waged an awful campaign against the horde, 

 and after that his simple presence was suffi- 

 cient to deter them from coming on the 

 premises. Mice amused him, but he usually 

 considered them too small game to be taken 

 seriously ; I have seen him play for an hour 

 with a mouse, and then let him go with a 



