BIKD-ALTKUISM 77 



at their death? But we require no luxuriant poet to sing 

 this swan-song, for " M. A" has conveyed its wonder to 

 us in a prose of simple grace. 



A HUSBANDLY COCK'S POLICY 



With reference to the very interesting stories of bird- 

 kindness which have been appearing in your paper, I am 

 tempted to send you the following particulars of an in- 

 cident which occurred in my presence, and in which, 

 indeed, I was concerned, many years ago in the West 

 Indies. Amongst the poultry at the Government House 

 in one of our islands was a very handsome and very 

 pompous cock a " silver Martinique," I think they 

 called him bright silver all over, with blood-red hackles 

 and comb. It was a constant source of amusement to 

 me to watch the airs which this fowl gave himself, and 

 it was only after much solicitation from me that he con- 

 descended to become friends. In the grounds of Govern- 

 ment House stood the half of an old sugar boiler rising 

 several feet from the ground, and so high as to make it 

 difficult to see the water it contained for garden purposes 

 unless one stood beside it. One morning, as I passed 

 some distance from the boiler, to my great surprise my 

 pompous friend suddenly attacked me, pecked hard at my 

 toes, and beat my ankles with his wings. I could not 

 imagine what possessed the bird, and at first thought that 

 the servants had stupidly given him grain soaked in beer, 

 as they used sometimes to do, and so had intoxicated the 

 fowl. But a fluttering noise attracting my notice, I 

 stepped forward to the boiler and in the water I saw a 

 hen drowning. The poor lady had perched on the edge 

 and stooped for a drink as was her custom ; but the water 

 chancing to be low, she had evidently overbalanced and 

 fallen in. Now, her lord and companion must have 

 argued in his mind that he could do no good in such trying 

 circumstances, and, further that I could. Then he de- 



