MY PET WOOD THEUSHES. 
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migratory Tlirusli. It was not half fledged, and had no 
doubt been turned out of its nest by some accident, and as 
it happened to be on the edge of a piece of swamp, where it 
evidently had no business, it instantly called to mind a coup- 
let of Scott's, describing the Exodus of the Fairies ; 
And tlie Kelpie must flit fi-om the black-bog pit 
And the Brownie must not tarrie. 
" Yo ho ! here is our kelpie I so now he shall flit from the 
black-bog pit, and be playmate for our Brownie." So I cap- 
tured the little monster, than which surely no goblin shape 
was ever uglier. I had called our bird Brownie, from the 
color of its back in the first place ; but now, the coincidence 
was so evident, that the poor captivated Kobin must needs be 
christened Kelpie ! He was taken home and placed under 
the guardianship of Mr. Brownie, who, for the first day, 
seemed to be afraid of the hideous little creature, and al- 
though he hopped round and round it with the most in- 
tensely curious expression, yet its harsh and incessant cry 
with the wide gaping of its great yellow mouth, seemed to 
be too much for his nerves. On the morning of the second 
day, we observed Mr. Brownie employing himself in a very 
mysterious sort of fashion, for instead of eating the worms 
that were placed as usual at his disposal, he would take one, 
and after beating it with his bill until it was quite dead, he 
would gather it up with the greatest care until it made the 
smallest possible bulk, and then carefully wetting it in the 
water, he would hop about the squalling Kelpie, as if to at- 
tract attention. Failing in this, he would perseveringly at- 
tempt to push the food into its mouth ; having, it would 
seem, made the sage discovery that stuffing food into that 
wide mouth was the only way to stop it. During the whole 
day we watched the benevolent little fellow, endeavoring by 
every conceivable art, to make his dingy fellow-captive un- 
derstand what it was he wanted of him ; but open his mouth 
