TRANSIENT GUESTS IN THE BIRD-ROOM. 141 



a bound toward the cage. Misled, — I suppose 

 by the vine-covered wall paper, which she tried 

 to clutch, — she did not jump far enough, and 

 fell heavily to the floor. In a second, however, 

 she was up, and, taking the same route, made a 

 better spring from the chair-back, and landed 

 on the side of the cage. The tenant — a calm 

 thrush — looked at her fearlessly, even draw- 

 ing nearer as if to question her right to hang 

 upon his cage. 



But the little monkey was savage ; she thrust 

 a small but cruel hand between the wires as far 

 as she could reach, and not much wisdom was 

 required to know that she would make short 

 work of a bird if she got her fingers upon it. I 

 tried to drive her off, but she scrambled over 

 the other side and eluded me. Then she sprang 

 lightly several feet to another cage, that of 

 a golden-wing woodpecker, who was terribly 

 frightened and beat himself against the wires 

 in uncontrollable panic. This seemed to please 

 the assailant, who clung with such desperation 

 to the cage that I feared I should not get her 

 away before the bird had seriously injured him- 

 self. She went from one side to the other so 

 rapidly that it was impossible to catch her, 

 and, for a long time, equally so to drive her 

 off. 



Having succeeded at last in getting the run- 



