Indian River, Florida.
My generous uncle James takes Young People for me, and as you welcome messages from your little readers, I thought I would tell you that I enjoy it very much. Then, too, you might like to know that it is a favorite in the extreme South as well as in the far West and in the North. Little folks North and little folks South have pretty much the same tastes, I reckon; and as I have been interested in the accounts which little North men give of their pets, I would like to say something of mine—a pair of egrets.
My father brought them from a heronry not many miles from the great Okeechobee Lake. Then they were very young, and so fat that their long, awkward legs would not sustain their weight. Now they are three months old, and stand about two feet high. Their plumage is white as snow, and their legs and long beak a bright orange-color. Their eyes are yellowish-gray, and very keen and beautiful.
I feed them mostly on fish or fresh meat, but in an extremity they will not disdain a piece of salt pork. They are creatures of approved valor, and have vanquished all our dogs, as well as the cocks in the poultry-yard. When attacking they rush forward with loud cries and flapping wings, well calculated to frighten their adversaries, and having long necks, they thrust their sharp beaks like javelins. When threatened by hawks, they squat closely to the earth, and present their beaks somewhat as the French soldiers did their bayonets when assailed by the terrible Mamelukes in Egypt. One night lately an opossum thought to make a meal of them, but they defended themselves with such vigor that the robber scampered off just as my father appeared to succor them.
They are not vicious toward persons, although they sometimes try to bully people into feeding them when begging does not avail. Young egrets are a long time learning how to fly, and are meanwhile carefully attended by their parents. The mother bird fishes industriously to feed the whole family, while her plumed mate stands guard at the nest, for their home is in wild regions, where enemies of many kinds abound. The famous chief Osceola used egret plumes to adorn his turban.
John Calhoun J.
Cincinnati, Ohio.
I wish to tell you about two pet deer I had, Dolly and Pet. They were very tame, and if I was eating anything, they would come up to me and put their fore-feet on my knees, as if to beg for a piece. They had a very large cage, and I used to go in and play with them. I am eleven years old.