had several beautiful parrots, and some
monkeys; one of the latter was a full-grown male of a very large
species. One morning, while the servants were engaged in arranging
the room I was in, 'Pretty Polly' asking for her breakfast as usual,
'_Du pain au lait pour le perroquet Mignonne_,' (bread and milk for
the parrot Mignonne,) the man of the woods probably thought the bird
presuming upon his rights in the scale of nature; be this as it may, he
certainly showed his supremacy in strength over the denizen of the air,
for, walking deliberately and uprightly toward the poor bird, he at once
killed it, with unnatural composure. The sensations of my infant heart
at this cruel sight were agony to me. I prayed the servant to beat the
monkey, but he, who for some reason, preferred the monkey to the parrot,
refused. I uttered long and piercing cries, my mother rushed into the
room; I was tranquilized; the monkey was forever afterward chained, and
Mignonne buried with all the pomp of a cherished lost one. This made, as
I have said, a very deep impression on my youthful mind."

In consequence of the long absences of his father, who was an admiral in
the French navy, the young naturalist's education was neglected, his
mother suffering him to do much as he pleased, and it was not to be
wondered at, as he says, that instead of applying closely to his
studies, he preferred associating with boys of his own age and
disposition, who were more fond of going in search of bird's nests,
fishing, or shooting, than of better studies. Thus almost every day,
instead of going to school, he usually made for the fields where he
spent the day, returning with his little basket filled with what he
called curiosities, such as birds' nests, birds' eggs, curious lichens,
flowers of all sorts, and even pebbles gathered along the shore of some
rivulet. Nevertheless, he did study drawing and music, for which he had
some talent. His subsequent study of drawing under the celebrated David,
richly equipped him for a work which he did not know was ever to be his,
and enabled him to commence a series of drawings of birds of France,
which he continued until he had upwards of two hundred completed. "All
bad enough," he says, "yet they were representations of birds, and I
felt pleased with them." Before sailing for France, he had begun a
series of drawings of the birds of America, and had also begun a study
of their habits. His efforts were commended by one of his fr