ing the free use of his wings, which, after moult- 

 ing, I omitted to clip, — he one evening took an 

 airing, and flew over the house. Whither he 

 went, is best known to himself! Having vainly 

 searched for him for three days, I ultimately dis- 

 covered that he had been in the hands of several 

 persons. An omnibus conductor distinctly saw 

 him assailed by numerous cats : indeed he had been 

 seen by everybody; but where he was at that 

 precise moment nobody knew. At last, I dis- 

 covered his place of retreat. He was in a tree ! 

 lie saw me from his perch, before I saw him, and 

 immediately descended; still he seemed unde- 

 cided whether to fly away again, or deliver him- 

 self up. This last he ultimately did; — clearly 

 demonstrating the preponderance of his affection 

 for me over love of liberty. A more miserable 

 object than he, I never beheld. He had, whether 

 by a North American Indian of his tribe has 

 not distinctly appeared — been divested of his 

 scalp; and altogether he presented a most 

 wretched appearance: yet was he penitent, 

 withal; exhibiting a " never-do-it-again " cast of 

 countenance, which could not be mistaken. He 

 was, of course, very pleased to see me, and 

 acknowledged my presence with his usual 

 " Hallo !" I have as yet eulogised his good 

 qualities; I must now point out his failings. Of 

 these, " the sulks " or " doldrums," I am sorry 

 to say, form a very prominent feature. Coming 

 in rather too late to his breakfast the other morn- 

 ing (for he generally takes that meal with us), 

 he discovered, after going the round of the table, 

 first upsetting everything in his way and then 

 elongating himself to a fearful height to look into 

 the large milk jug — that there was no egg in 

 either of the shells which he had been scrutinis- 

 ing ! Now being very fond of egg, he took this 

 very much to heart, and actually sulked the 

 whole day through, pecking everybody that came 

 in his way. The other day, being "free and 

 easy," he took a sip from every glass on the table, 

 and you may readily infer that, there being a 

 great many, he soon found himself off the table, 

 and as the phrase goes, not only " drunk," but 

 utterly "incapable." This was the signal for his 

 being immediately removed and locked up for 

 the night, as all " drunkards " should be. He 

 slept feverishly, but a recourse to his usual habit 

 of "ducking" in the morning, acted as a "re- 

 fresher." He has strange notions that my rab- 

 bits like nails; and he is therefore continually 

 stuffing a few into the oats, and watching the 

 effect. Whilst the persevering animals are en- 

 deavoring to masticate them, " Jack " gives 

 them sundry pecks on the nose ; and then walks 

 away as if he knew nothing at all about it, and 

 as if "rabbits" were quite beneath his notice. 

 This hauteur he extends to sparrows, when 

 desirous of catching one, in doing which I have 

 never seen him succeed. If a flight of pigeons 

 should happen to cross the garden, he will break 

 the drum of everybody's ears with screaming, 

 and scarify his own throat into the bargain. He 

 once caught a mouse, the eating of which seemed 

 to entirely change his nature, rendering him ex- 

 ceedingly savage. I must not omit to mention, 

 that he is in the habit of coming into my bedroom 

 while I am washing. He will then "duck" 

 himself in the very water I use myself. Again, 



he will amuse.himself for hours with the sound 

 of his own voice — " giving quotations," whether 

 from my brothers, or Shakspeare, I have not yet 

 discovered. But, Mr. Editor, if I were to deline- 

 ate every trick of this interesting little creature 

 (who helps to shell the peas in summer, and to 

 pick the plums in winter), I should have a long 

 task. Indeed he is the most affectionate, amusing, 

 extraordinary, and never to-be -forgotten animal, 

 with whom I have ever had the pleasure of being 

 acquainted ; and if the readers of your Journal 

 will believe these statements, as sincerely as I 

 know them to be true, — it is all that I desire. — 

 G. S. 



Instinct in the Canary. — I find a very curious 

 anecdote in the Fifeshire Journal about a Canary. 

 Can you credit the circumstances as related? I 

 confess / cannot. It savors too much of the 

 marvellous I think for you ; — " A favorite pet 

 canary, belonging to one of the servants in 

 Blair Adam House, being frightened by a person 

 going near its cage, made its escape from it, and 

 after making a few revolutions of the room, 

 darted out at the window, which chanced to be 

 open at the time, and in a moment was out of 

 sight, taking its flight over the top of the house, 

 and of course never was expected to be seen again. 

 In this its owner was agreeably mistaken ; for on 

 the following morning, having been away a day 

 and a night, the pet finding the change not for 

 the better, made its appearance at the window 

 out of which it had escaped, and was fruitlessly en- 

 deavoring to gain admission, when it was caught 

 and safely consigned again to its wiry prison- 

 house. This is no sooner found out than it began 

 to pour out notes of thankfulness, we shall sup- 

 pose, for its return again to its happy home. 

 What renders the circumstance more striking is, 

 that it was exposed during one of the frosty 

 nights we had lately; and, as the canary is a deli- 

 cate bird, it is surprising how it could have sur- 

 vived it.'' 



[If the above statement be true, we can only 

 say the " facts " are singular. Of all birds, the 

 canary is most out of its element when at liberty; 

 and its return to where it flew from, would argue 

 an "instinct " of which we never yet found this 

 bird possessed. A Linnet or a Goldfinch would 

 have shown such an instinct; but we confess 

 there is a " doubt " about this canary.] 



Diseases of Canaries and their Cure.— A Corres- 

 pondent, A. P., in No. 4 of your "London 

 Journal/' mentions that his and his neighbor's 

 bird had a complaint, well known by almost all 

 who keep them — viz. hard breathing, &c. Having 

 had canaries for some years, I have remarked as 

 an almost invariable rule, that this (in the way 

 your Correspondent mentions) is almost entirely 

 confined to hens. I have very seldom known 

 young birds, or cocks, to be so afflicted. Should 

 they be, it is either to be traced to negligence in 

 not keeping them clean, or to their having bad 

 seed, water, or stale green food. But in hens, it 

 is entirely different, and seems to assume a 

 chronic form. After they are two or three years 

 old, I have found that although kept in the same 

 cage with cocks, and treated to precisely the 

 same food and attention, they have become 



