32 EFFECTUAL ATTKACTIONS. [CHAI-. I. 



their character for sanity. A less absurd recipe, of the 

 same date, is a goat's head, stewed down with plenty of 

 cummin and salt, to which some add burnt clay, urine, 

 coriander, hempseed, honey, and substitute the herb 

 tragus (He Croat), if we could discover what that is, 

 for the stewed goat's head ; in short, making the regular 

 salt cat, which the trappists (not ecclesiastical) of the 

 present day know to be so irresistible a bait for stray 

 birds. But the great bond of attachment is to make 

 their home comfortable, of which Temminck gives an in- 

 structive instance. The proprietors of a farm went to 

 occupy it themselves, after it had been held by a tenant 

 for a lease of nine years : they had left the pigeon- 

 house amply stocked, but they found it deserted, dis- 

 mantled, filthy, and occupied by every enemy of the 

 poor fugitives. They took no further pains than to 

 whitewash the pigeon-house within and without, to 

 restore the dilapidations of the interior, to have it 

 cleaned out perfectly, and to keep abundance of water 

 and salt therein. The pigeon-house was replenished 

 with birds as if by enchantment ; so much so, that 

 when the owners again quitted their estate, there were 

 more than a hundred and fifty pairs of Pigeons, which, 

 moreover, were supplied with scarcely any food. Three 

 years was all the time required to work this change, 

 and even to attract deserters from the pigeon-houses 

 for three miles round. Rational means succeeded 

 better than all the charms and conjurations of Thessaly, 

 and the French land-owner may exculpate himself 

 almost in the words of Othello, from all malpractices 

 with " spells and medicines bought of mountebanks:" 



" Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors, 

 My very noble, and approved good masters, 



