44 
BIRDS IN A VILLAGE. 
overcome, he had begun to grow fond of this kind 
of food, and now consumed it with avidity. And 
as his strength increased so did his dexterity in 
catching the small active insect prey. He no 
longer gathered the ants up in his palm and 
swallowed them along with dust and grit, but 
picked them up deftly, and conveyed them one by 
one to his mouth with lightning rapidity. Mean- 
while that **acid principle," about which he had 
heard such wonderful things, was having its effect 
on his system. His skin changed its colour ; he 
grew shrunken and small, until at length, after a 
great many years, he dwindled to the grey little 
manikin of the present time. His mind, too, 
changed; he has no thought nor remembrance of 
his former life and condition and of his long-dead 
relations ; but he still haunts the village where he 
knows so well where to find the small ants, to pick 
them from off the ant-hill and from the trunks of 
trees with his quick little claw-like hands. Language 
and song are likewise forgotten with all human 
things, all except his laugh ; for when hunger is 
satisfied, and the sun shines pleasantly as he reposes 
on the dry leaves on the ground or sits aloft on 
a branch, at times a sudden feeling of gladness 
possesses him, and he expresses it in that one way 
— the long wild ringing peal of laughter. Listening 
to that strange sound, although I could not see I 
