144: TRANSIENT GUESTS IN THE BIRD-ROOM. 



rustled violently. In jerking his tail he alter- 

 nately spread it like a fan, and closed it up sud- 

 denly, while his wings were slightly lifted from 

 his side and brought down sharply. 



This thrush was emphatically a bird of one 

 idea ; if a finger w^as pointed at him, he be- 

 came so absorbed in the contemplation of that 

 phenomenon that one could easily advance the 

 other hand and seize him in it before he no- 

 ticed it. He did not much care if he was 

 caught, for he feared people no more than 

 birds, seemed to have no doubt of his ability 

 to protect himself, and would bite with a good 

 will. He could not be driven from any posi- 

 tion he wished to retain ; it was often neces- 

 sary to fairly push him away. 



This thrush's encounter with the looking- 

 glass was of the same fierce nature as all his 

 deeds. He began by pecking, and ended by 

 beating himself against the figure in the glass, 

 fighting and snapping and scolding so violently 

 that he was in danger of bodily injury, and the 

 glass was covered. He was a blusterer about 

 the cages of other birds, and his offensive note 

 was a sharp clatter of the bill, like a pair of 

 castanets. He always reminded me in his man- 

 ner of a big boy who likes to threaten a little 

 one, and frighten him with the thought that 

 fee is about to annihilate him. Exactly in that 



