ip. Alas! that time has come, and I must now tell how the
little life was quenched.

In a room to which he had access, there was a small aquarium half-full
of water thickly covered with pond-weed. I had left Richard to have his
usual bath whilst I went down to breakfast, and when I returned I could
nowhere find my pet. His usual bath was unused; I called and searched,
and at last in the adjoining room I saw the little motionless body
floating in the aquarium. The temptation had been too strong; Richard
thought to have a lovely bathe, had flown down into the water, no doubt
his claws were hopelessly entangled in the weed and thus, as was the
case with my former starling Dick, the intense love of bathing led to a
fatal end.

The sorrow one feels for the loss of a pet so interwoven with one's life
is very real; many may smile at it and call it weakness, but true lovers
of animals and birds will know what a blank is felt and how intensely I
shall ever regret the untimely fate of my much-loved little Richard.

[Illustration]

VERDANT.

One day in early summer I found on a gravel walk a poor little unfledged
birdie, sitting calmly looking up into the air, as if he hoped that some
help would come to him, some pitying hand and heart have compassion upon
his desolate condition.

I carried him indoors, and "mothered" the little helpless thing as well
as I could, by feeding him with hard-boiled yolk of egg mixed with brown
bread and water. Being a hard-billed bird, I supposed that would be
suitable food, and certainly he throve upon it. The little blue quills
began to tell of coming feathers, his vigorous chirpings betokened
plenty of vocal power, and in due time he grew into a young greenfinch
of the most irrepressible and enterprising character. His lovely hues of
green and yellow led to the name of Verdant being bestowed upon him, and
his early experiences made it a somewhat suitable name.

Poor little man! he had no parents to instruct him, and he consequently
got into all manner of scrapes. He only learnt the nature of windows and
looking-glasses by bitter experience; flying against them with great
force, he was often taken up for dead; but his solid little skull
resisted all these concussions, and by pouring cold water upon his head
and some down his throat, he always managed to recover. He once
overbalanced into a bath, and was nearly drowned; he fell behind a
wardrobe, and was nearly suffocated; later on he