10. 



of ornithology. He is not a bird, he 

 is a neck, with such subordinate 

 rights, members, appurtenances, and 

 hereditaments thereunto appertain- 

 ing as seem necessary to that end. 



"He has just enough stomach to 

 arrange nourishment for his neck 

 just enough wings to fly pain- 

 fully along with his neck, and 

 just big enough legs to keep his 

 neck from dragging on the ground; 

 and his neck is light colored, while 

 the rest of him is black." 



A Bird Story. 



Several years ago a merry son of 

 sunny Itaty conceived the idea of 

 educating a number of pet birds 

 which he owned. It was his aim to 

 instruct his feathered pupils to per- 

 form feats hitherto unattempted and 

 unthought of by bird-trainers. 

 With the patience peculiar to his 

 people, Sig. Galletti set about his 

 self imposed task. His "bird fam- 

 ily," as he was pleased to call them, 

 was composed of parrots, paroquets, 

 and cockatoos. For several months 

 the young Italian labored with his 

 proteges, admitting no one to his 

 rehearsals, and permitting no person 

 outside of his immediate family to 

 know the secret of how he employed 

 his time. After many months of 

 weary, patient toil Sig. Galletti an- 

 nounced to the citizens of the small 

 village in which he lived that on a 

 certain Saturday at a certain hour, 

 he would furnish them an entertain- 

 ment in a corner building which 

 would prove to them that birds 

 were the possessors of as much in- 

 telligence as were some persons. 

 On the day mentioned a large crowd 

 of the rustic and incredulous vil- 

 lagers assembled at the corner and 

 joked and chaffed each other about 

 coming there to be humbugged. 

 Promptly at the striking of the hour, 

 however, the doors of the building- 

 were thrown open and the crowd ad- 



mitted. They beheld a handsome 

 little stage with scenery which had 

 been erected at the extreme end of 

 the apartment. As soon as the 

 assemblage became quiet Sig. Gal- 

 letti introduced his company of little 

 feathered performers, who proceed- 

 ed at once to enact a melodrama 

 with such precisipn that the inno- 

 cent rustics viewed their fellow- 

 townsman with feelings of mingled 

 awe and wonder. During the pro- 

 gress of the drama a castle was 

 stormed and a persecuted princess 

 was rescued. A great conflagration 

 also took place, which was finally 

 extinguished by the brave firemen, 

 who rushed madly to the scene with 

 engine and hook and ladder. Other 

 marvelous things occured during 

 the progress of the play, and at its 

 conclusion the villagers, mystified 

 beyond expression, wended their 

 way homeward to tell their astonish- 

 ed neighbors of the great exhibition 

 which they had witnessed. Sig. 

 Galletti, well pleased with his suc- 

 cess, took his little feathered family 

 and went to England with them; 

 from there he came to America, 

 where he has exhibited in all the 

 principal cities, and wherever shown 

 his birds have immediately become 

 universal favorites, especially with 

 the ladies and children. 



A Morning Scene. 



One wintry morning recently I 

 happened upon a charming bit of 

 nature that would have captured the 

 heart of a stoic. It had been snowing 

 for some time, and the common was 

 beautiful in its fleecy white mantle. 

 At the foot of a large tree near one 

 of the cross walks was a paper of 

 crumbs nearly buried under the fast- 

 falling snow and on an overhanging 

 limb I counted twenty-seven spar- 

 rows. One after another flew down 

 for a crumb, then back again, and in 

 a moment there was a perfect con- 



