156 
OUR BIRDS IN WINTER. 
for I was, as I before remarked, afraid of the 
Imge-mouthed, swearing birds. But 1 soon 
/ound they could not reach me, as they were 
confined to their perches by small chains that 
were fastened to their feet. 
I will say that I was treated by the people 
of that house in the most kind manner : every 
day did I have an abundant supply of seeds 
put in my cage, and a nice large dish of fresh 
water. 
But in a month or two I was given to a 
person who was called by many of his friends 
a naturalist, — a natural would be his more 
proper title, — and what I suffered while I 
was in his possession, no mortal tongue can 
tell. He kept me hung in a room, in which 
he had great glass bottles containing numerous 
venomous snakes, and in glass cases all around 
the room were hundreds of our old friends and 
acquaintances, stuffed in a manner similar to 
their natural shape, and with glass eyes put in 
their heads. I can conceive of no more horrid 
prison house than that was. 
“ For many months did I suffer from the 
