' : JV4 ,V"il 4 ':U BOMBAY DUCKS 



.-. . : Masiiis, " is -a pleasing idyl. They are chaste, gentle, 

 unsuspecting, full of tender affection, and deserve above 

 all others the epithet of 'the pious birds.' Without 

 guile, like doves, it is said in the Bible. Without guile 

 and free from anger, suffering all, even death, and not 

 once uttering a cry of pain, what other animal may 

 be compared to them? 



" The dove alone, according to the ancients, is desti- 

 tute of gall ; and in a hundred popular rhymes and 

 love-songs, as well as in the metaphors of the medieval 

 wandering preachers, the praise of her innocence re- 

 sounds." 



This may be taken as a fair statement of popular 

 opinion of the dove. Some people go further. Thus 

 dear old Eliza Cook says : " Linnets teach us how 

 to love, and ring-doves how to pray." Now I do not 

 wish to poke fun at that estimable and well-meaning 

 lady, but I am constrained to say that it is unfortunate 

 that she did not study the ways of the dove a little 

 before penning the above line. Had she but invested 

 eighteenpence in one of the cooing community, she 

 might have said of them : " They teach us how to 

 swear." But then, of course, the question would arise, 

 do men need to be taught that accomplishment ? I am 

 inclined to think that swearers, like poets, are born, not 

 made. 



How delightful is the idea that doves are " free from 

 anger ! " I once knew a dove which was in a rage for a 

 whole week because it had been transferred from one 

 cage to another. It did not approve of the style of 

 architecture of its new habitation, so sat, for the space 



