64 
NATURE NOTES. 
know, and she has recognised that guinea-pigs have more than 
one noise — “ three voices are there,” Wordsworth might have 
put it — a whistle to express hunger, a mumbling or chanting, 
usually known as “ guinea-pig noise,” when they are contented, 
and a sound of the gnashing of teeth to convey anger. The 
rapid increase of the nation, and the necessity of naming 
and distinguishing each little swine, soon grew to be a serious 
strain on Miss Benson’s mental powers. A sudden outburst of 
crime in the sty, when Brastias murdered one of the seven new- 
born infants of Atahualfa before Miss Benson had found time to 
name it, could not be considered a relief. Each family came 
sooner than the last and was larger. The horrible knot was at 
length cut. The place was overrun with rats, and rat-catchers 
were sent for. These professionals were arranging their plans 
JACK THE CANARY. 
when it was suddenly noticed that the dogs were not with them. 
At the same time a cry was heard from the dwellings of the 
conies, and it was immediately found that the good dogs had 
fallen into an excess of zeal, and that all the guinea-pigs but two 
were dead. 
It is the expression of a personal feeling of no value, but I 
have to say that I fail to follow Miss Benson with enthusiasm in 
her cult of the canary. This bird seems to me to be among 
feathered folk what the parsnip is among vegetables ; it is the 
last expression of genteel insipidity, of lower middle-class refine- 
ment. One knows the sort of “ small gentlemanly residence ” 
that a cock canary would purchase if he could ; fancy shrinks 
from imagining the boudoir of a hen canary ; I feel convinced 
