6^ A WINTER BIRD-STUDY. 



isliing, when one really notices them, to see 

 how much is expressed by different positions 

 of those members. The thrush, standing with 

 feet side by side, looks the picture of innocence ; 

 the cat-bird, with his wide apart, one a little in 

 advance of the other, is the personification of 

 mischief ; the blackbird, with one foot on a 

 perch, and the other grasping the side of the 

 cage six inches above, resembles terror almost 

 amounting to panic, prepared to flee whichever 

 way seems least dangerous. 



Like many birds, the thrush expresses anger 

 by lowering his head, making his body a hori- 

 zontal object exactly the shape of an egg, with 

 bill at one end and tail at the other ; war is de- 

 clared by a crouching position, in which he 

 looks ready to spring. 



The thrush's sun-bath is the drollest I have 

 seen. Not only does he raise every feather on 

 end and puff himself out three times his nat- 

 ural size, and round as a ball, but he leans over 

 on one side to present the lower parts to the 

 sunlight, slightly raises the wing on the upper 

 side, droops his head, opens his mouth, and 

 often closes his eyes. This looks like the last 

 agony, but is supreme delight. Often during 

 summer he may be seen on the floor in some 

 spot where the sun falls, in this ludicrous posi- 

 tion ; but in winter he indulges in no such va- 



