husband of six wives--How he was esteemed and loved by every one--On
leaving home I lose sight of Don Evaristo--I meet him again after
seven years--His failing health--His old first wife and her daughter,
Cipriana--The tragedy of Cipriana--Don Evaristo dies and I lose sight
of the family


CHAPTER XIV
THE DOVECOTE

A favourite climbing tree--The desire to fly--Soaring birds-A
peregrine falcon--The dovecote and pigeon-pies--The falcon's
depredations--A splendid aerial feat--A secret enemy of the dovecote--
A short-eared owl in a loft--My father and birds--A strange flower--
The owls' nesting-place--Great owl visitations


CHAPTER XV
SERPENT AND CHILD

My pleasure in bird life--Mammals at our new home--Snakes and how
children are taught to regard them--A colony of snakes in the house--
Their hissing confabulations--Finding serpent sloughs--A serpent's
saviour--A brief history of our English neighbours, the Blakes


CHAPTER XVI
A SERPENT MYSTERY

A new feeling about snakes--Common snakes of the country--A barren