on the Kingfisher and Snipe in Captivity. 141


on the bottom of the sink when plunging in after a fish, but this

I think is hardly likely, and it is more probable that his plumage

being saturated by frequent immersions in the water, he was at

length unable to rise out of it, and failing to negotiate the inch or so

of the slippery sides of the sink rising out of the water, he was at

length drowned. I don’t know when I have ever regretted the loss

of any bird more ; he had become so tame and was in every way a

most intelligent and engaging creature. My two other subsequent

attempts to keep this species were, I regret to say, failures ; but this

I think was more my fault than my misfortune, at all events in the

second case it was my fault, the first can hardly count as an attempt

at all, for the bird was as good as dead when I received it, and

succumbed a few hours after its arrival. The second bird, however,

arrived in fine condition and very much alive ; too much so perhaps,

for it was as wild as a hawk. Instead of caging it up as I should

have done, and as on the former occasion gradually accustoming it

to a life in captivity, I foolishly allowed it to fly loose in a large

aviary with the natural result that it dashed itself about all over

the aviary and against the wire netting. Thinking that it would

gradually quieten down, I left it to its own devices after supplying

it with a quantity of fish. Although it survived two or three days,

the end was inevitable, as for one thing it hardly ate anything, if

indeed it ate at all, and never ceased, so long as I watched it, from

dashing against its prison bars. It was also probably on account

of this wildness which disturbed the other birds, that it was

unmercifully mobbed by the whole crowd ; the Eed-crested Cardinals

I then had in the aviary as usual leading the attack (by the way,

how anyone, as they frequently do, can affirm that these birds are

quite harmless in a mixed series, passes my understanding). It is

true enough that they will leave severely alone any bird which is

strong and bold enough to stand up to them, but let that bird

be worsted in a fight with one of its fellows or another species

and be chased by the victor, and every Eed-crested Cardinal will

join in the pursuit and continue it till they have run down and

battered the panic-stricken creature to death. Again, introduce a

strange bird into their aviary and they will immediately make a

demonstration against it, and should it display any signs of panic



