TRANSIENT GUESTS IN THE BIRD-ROOM. 135 



precedence in everything, assumed the best 

 place as his right, and his cage-mate submitted 

 as a matter of course. Not only was the most 

 desirable perch, the highest and nearest the 

 light, always occupied by the one, but the other 

 bird never intruded even upon the further end 

 of it, which is quite an unusual degree of defer- 

 ence in birds. He did not seem to be in the 

 least afraid, but simply to recognize that his 

 place was that of an inferior. They had come 

 from a large cage full of their kind, so wild and 

 frightened that I could not believe the bird had 

 secured his position by fighting. Both were 

 males, so it was no question of sex. They prom- 

 ised to be an interesting study, excepting for 

 the one fact that they would not make acquaint 

 tance. From this was inferred a low degree of 

 intelligence which made them unworthy a place 

 among the several members of the thrush fam- 

 ily then occupying the room, and sentence fell 

 upon them accordingly. 



Nor was the next venture more fortunate. 

 This was a skylark which came into the house 

 through personal appeal. Looking slowly 

 through the cages of a bird-store, I was sud- 

 denly saluted by a faint, melancholy cry from 

 this little bird, standing close to the bars, and 

 looking steadily at me. There is not a bird in 

 such an establishment — unless it be the scream- 



