But I do not keep them for mere curiosity.

Each of them is the Soul of the tribe to which it belongs.

This, for example--my Cluseret--is the Soul of all the gray parrots; that that you see yonder--Badinguet, I call him--is the Soul of the hawks; this, my Mimi, is the Soul of the little yellow-crested kingfisher.

My task as King of the Birds is to keep a representative of each of these always on hand; in which endeavor I am faithfully aided by the whole population of the island, who bring me eggs and nests and young birds in abundance.

If the Soul of the little yellow kingfisher now were to die, without a successor being found ready at once to receive and embody it, then the whole race of little yellow kingfishers would vanish altogether; and if I myself, the King of the Birds, who am, as it were, the Soul and life of all of them, were to die without a successor being at hand to receive my spirit, then all the race of birds, with one accord, would become extinct forthwith and forever." He moved among his pets easily, like a king among his subjects.