220 SOME COMMON LAND-BIRDS. 



The pair were put in a large parrot cage with a swinging ring 

 and lived there for six weeks, apparently happy and certainly 

 well fed. They were very much pleased with the swinging 

 ring, and became quite expert in leaping into it without losing 

 their balance, although I often altered the position of the 

 perches below, so they must strike the ring at a new and 

 inconvenient angle. They swung in it singly and together, and 

 at night always slept in it side by side — a forest habit, no 

 doubt, of sleeping in a high place for safety. At first they 

 slept soundly, with their heads tucked under their wings ; but 

 frequent interruptions and night alarms caused them either to 

 give up the habit entirely or to sleep much more lightly, for 

 after a few days we never caught them napping. 



They ate apples, both fresh and the " frozen-thawed " from 

 the trees, preferring the seeds, but eating a portion of the 

 pulp also. The berries of the mountain ash they ate eagerly, 

 rejecting most of the pulp. They loved the terminal buds of 

 fir and maple twigs, and one day, when loose in the room, 

 cropped their mistress's carnations and azaleas of every leaf- 

 bud. Bird-seed formed their principal diet after the first two 

 weeks, and they showed a decided preference for canary seed. 

 When fed the mixed hemp, rape, millet, and canary seed they 

 appeared to reject all but the latter. At first they carefully 

 shelled all their bird-seed, as they do their apple-seeds, and 

 the cage was littered with the chaff ; but toward the end of 

 their stay they seemed to learn that there was no necessity 

 for this extra work, and few husks were found on the floor. 

 When the fresh seed was first x^ut in, the male usually stood 

 in the middle of the seed-dish and made his little wife watch 

 him while he'enjoyed himself. When their hunger was satis- 

 fied, and they were eating for the fun of it, they would take 

 several seeds in their mouths and hop up on the perch, where 



