382 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



hurtful pursuits. But a truce to reflection. 

 We will now at once plunge in medias res. 



The Nightingale is looked for about the 

 10th of April ; and he is generally here to 

 his time — he was this year; unless violent 

 gusts of wind prevail, and so prevent him 

 breasting the Channel. It is worthy of 

 note, that the males always arrive some ten 

 days before the females. Hence, all that are 

 trapped early, are sure to prove " birds of 

 song," though of course, not all equally in- 

 spired with the true poetry of song ; for with 

 these birds, as with us — Poeta nascitur, non 

 fit. 



Nightingales are, of all birds, the most easy 

 to be snared. The villainous bird-catchers, 

 in whose callous breasts pity was never yet 

 found, and whose iron hearts never had any 

 feeling, know this well ; and remarking with 

 the astute cunning of a fox where the finest 

 birds are located, they lie in wait all night 

 for their prey. At early dawn they set to 

 work and turn up some mould. The inno- 

 cent birds at once unsuspectingly descend to 

 seek for a worm in the fresh earth, and seeing 

 the bait (a lively mealworm) in the trap, 

 they greedily seize it, and find their liberty 

 gone for ever ! In this manner are the tribe 

 caught by scores. 



The poor birds, when secured, are placed 

 in a store cage, and quickly conveyed to the 

 bird dealers in the Seven Dials. These 

 worthies then proceed at once to " meat them 

 off." This is accomplished thus: — Some 

 fresh, raw beef, is scraped ; and being divested 

 of all fibrous substance, it is mixed into a soft 

 paste, with cold water, and hard-boiled yolk 

 of egg. This is put into a large tin bird-pan. 

 In the middle of this food is placed a very 

 small inverted liqueur glass, with the stem 

 broken off. Under this glass are introduced 

 three or four lively meal-worms, whose oft- 

 repeated endeavors to break out of pris on 

 attract the attention of the nightingale. Not 

 understanding how these worms are placed 

 beyond his reach, he continues to peck at 

 them, until by degrees he tastes the beef and 

 egg, which is artfully rubbed over the sides 

 of the glass. This being palateable, he satiates 

 his appetite with it, and soon feels a zest for 

 it — particularly as his attempts to get at the 

 meal-worms always prove abortive. He now 

 eats regularly — he is meated off. 



When first imprisoned, the front of the cage 

 is covered over with tissue paper, to prevent 

 his majesty from being frightened by too 

 great a glare of light. When he becomes 

 reconciled, or rather resigned to his fate — 

 in a few days, perhaps — this covering is gra- 

 dually removed, by tearing off small sections 

 of the paper. He must then be suspended, 

 not at too great a height, and be disturbed 

 as little as possible. He will sing almost 

 immediately ; but do not imagine therefrom 



that he is " happy" — a bit of conceit on your 

 part ; pardonable perhaps, but far from the 

 fact. Torn, remorselessly torn from all he 

 holds dear in the world, dragged from his 

 shady bowers, and pent up between walls of 

 mahogany — there he sits, an object of real 

 pity ! His lovely voice is indeed heard — he 

 is lovely even in his tears — but his soul is 

 consuming away in the very bitterness of his 

 spirit. Let us poetically imagine that his 

 faith has been plighted long ere he reached 

 our country, and that he has preceded his 

 lady-love only for the purpose of welcoming 

 her on her arrival! 



In the face of all these naked facts, we still 

 persist, year by year, in making fresh prison- 

 ers. This being so, let us perform the very 

 pleasing duty of showing the best way of 

 making them tame, and '• reconciled to their 

 fate" when imprisoned. It is a horrible task 

 truly, and repugnant, to try and alter a bird's 

 nature, but we will e'en attempt to alleviate 

 his sorrows, if we cannot remove them. 



THE TWO COATS. 



In Two Parts. — Part I. 



" Thunder and lightning ! " said my 

 uncle, as he strode across the room in a 

 towering passion, and struck the table, 

 where I sat reading, violently with his fist. 

 " Thunder and lightning ! does the younker 

 understand what I am saying ? " 



Now I had a sort of indistinct conscious- 

 ness of some humming noise, as of one 

 talking rapidly and incessantly for some 

 time in the apartment ; but as my brain 

 was fully employed in endeavoring to com- 

 prehend one of the more abstruse passages 

 in the Kantian system of philosophy, the 

 sound had merely reached the ear without 

 proceeding any further on its journey 

 toward the understanding. My uncle's fist 

 upon the table, however, claimed some at- 

 tention, and I accordingly transferred my 

 eyes from the calm philosophic page on 

 which they had been dwelling, to the fiery 

 visage of my relative. 



"I tell you what, Master Augustus Von 

 Schnediker," said that gentleman, with an 

 emphasis such as might have been expected 

 from the richest merchant in Hamburgh, in 

 a fury — " I tell you what, sir, I will leave 

 every guilder I possess in the world to 

 your half-cousin, Slagenhausen, and cut 

 you, sir, off with a copy of your adored 

 Kant ; and see what that will do for you ! " 



" Sir," said I, with the greatest simplicity 

 in the world, for my uncle's communication 

 had merely disturbed my previous ideas 

 without dislodging them, or making room 

 for others- -" let it be the new edition, pub- 

 lished by Carl, of Leipsic." 



