TRANSIENT GUESTS IN THE BIRD-ROOM. 139 



The moment he grabbed his food he snatched 

 a hasty mouthful, never taking his eyes off the 

 dispenser of supplies, threw the rest on the 

 floor, and thrust out the hand to be filled 

 again. Just so long as anything eatable was 

 in sight would he repeat the operation, and to 

 pick up a bit that was dropped never seemed 

 to occur to either of them. Both were very 

 decided in their opinions of food ; neither would 

 touch rice, potato or bread ; only apple and ba- 

 nana suited their delicate taste, oh yes ! and 

 meal-worms. For the latter delicacy they were 

 absolutely frantic, both pressing against the 

 wires and thrusting forth four droll little plead- 

 ing hands to receive the dainty, which they de- 

 voured as a child disposes of a stick of candy. 



On one occasion a fisherman of the family 

 brought home some of his bait, a number of 

 sand-worms of large size, long, tufted and alto- 

 gether dreadful - looking creatures, measuring 

 six inches or more. Since the marmosets bade 

 fair to cause a meal-worm famine and still re- 

 main unsatisfied, I resolved to offer them one 

 of these delicate objects, not much thinking 

 they would accept. But I underrated their 

 ability ; they eagerly snatched them and pro- 

 ceeded to gobble them down at once, as rapidly 

 as possible, and with evident relish. Naturally 

 the more greedy of the two quickly finished his 



