II] THE HISTORY OF A ROOK. 97

 

fall'on the ground, and taking the trap and the chain
by which it had been fastened in the ground, walked
away with them, muttering to himself as he went in a
manner by no means complimentary to the trap-
setter.

I felt a small glimmering of satisfaction when I
found that the fiend who had been the cause of my
misfortune had lost his trap, but this feeling was far
overbalanced by the sense of the great loss which I
had sustained. Not to dwell longer upon so painful
a subject, I may as well say, without further parti-
culars, that after I had rested for a time sufficient to
recover my strength, I betook myself to the abode of
one of those owls who had studied the art of surgery,
and having been successfully treated by this skilful
practitioner, was enabled, after a short time, to re-
sume my daily pursuits. But for a long while I felt
great inconvenience from the loss of my foot, and
even to this very day I find it wearisome work to be
‘obliged to stand on one leg continually. I declare it
is worse than always harping on one idea or invari-
ably telling the same story. I have known people
who do both the one and the other, but then ¢hey
have this advantage, that they only bore others,
whilst standing on one leg bores oneself to a great
extent.

After this adventure, you may well believe that I
was exceedingly careful in my search for food, and
indeed in all my proceedings. There was always a
good deal of danger to be apprehended from mankind
especially at particular seasons of the year. One of
the worst—perhaps I ought to say the very worst—of

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