64 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [12:2— Feb., 1916 



I had not long to wait for almost immediately I saw, on the dry 

 floor of the ravine, a Wilson thrush busily scratching away, seeking 

 tid-bits — evidently with good results, for he soon flew to a twig 

 but a few feet from the opposite bank from where I was sitting, and 

 settled himself for a "nap of full content." 



He dreamily closed his eyes, at intervals blinking good-naturedly 

 at the sun. It was a good world to be in — a lovely, lazy, loafy 

 world. He had been sitting thus for some minutes when I was sur- 

 prised to see him suddenly open his mouth — for all the world like 

 a young robin asking for food — and regurgitate what seemed to be 

 the stone of a wild cherry. I had not known before that regurgita- 

 tion is one of the digestive tricks of the Wilson thrush. Having 

 disposed of the useless morsel, he resumed his dreaming. All this 

 I observed through my opera glasses, which I held leveled at his 

 immediate locality. 



All at once I became aware of a movement in the grass about 

 six feet back of my little protege, and on looking more closely, I 

 found that an immense Maltese cat was creeping along in the exact 

 direction of the birdling, who was quite unconscious of the foe that 

 lurked behind him. Before I needed to decide on a course of action 

 to protect the little thing, to my astonishment I beheld two wild, 

 terror-stricken eyes gazing into mine through the opera glasses. 

 The cat had discovered the awful creature with the awful thing in 

 its face, and was stunned with fright. For an instant she continued 

 to gaze at me, and then she began to back — carefully, cautiously, 

 with her eyes still focused on the object of terror which I held 

 pressed to mine. She retreated a few steps, turned, gave me one 

 more look, and fled for safety. It was clearly a case of "safety 

 first." 



The little thrush, who had been unaware of the whole procedure, 

 still sat blinking and dreaming. Once more I saw him regurgitate, 

 and again, and yet again. Then he flew away for more worlds to 

 conquer — perhaps round, round worlds in the shape of cherry ends. 

 The opera glasses had saved the day. 



