THE COMMON-SENSE VIEW 183 



faithful and tender as a human spouse, took it 

 upon himself to carry food to her regularly in his 

 beak. * He continued feeding her in this way for 

 four months, but the infirmities of his companion 

 increased day by day, until at last she was no 

 longer able to support herself on the perch. She 

 remained cowering down in the bottom of the 

 cage, making from time to time ineffectual efforts 

 to regain her perch. The male was always near 

 her, and did everything in his power to aid the 

 feeble efforts of his dear better-half. Seizing the 

 poor invalid by the beak or the upper part of her 

 wing, he tried his best to enable her to rise, and 

 repeated his efforts several times. His constancy, 

 his gestures, and his continued solicitude, all 

 showed in this affectionate bird the most ardent 

 desire to relieve the sufferings and assist the weak- 

 ness of his sinking companion. But the scene 

 became still more affecting when the female was 

 dying. Her unhappy consort moved about her 

 incessantly, his attentions and tender cares re- 

 doubled. He even tried to open her beak to give 

 some nourishment. He ran to her, and then 

 returned with a troubled and agitated look. At 

 intervals he uttered the most plaintive cries ; then, 

 with his eyes fixed on her, kept a mournful silence. 

 At length his companion breathed her last. From 

 that moment he pined away, and in the course of 

 a few weeks died ' (10). 



Even the rough-looking ostrich has sensibility 

 enough to die of a broken heart, as was the case in 

 the Jardin des Plantes at Paris a few years ago. 



