Jimmy the Butcher-bird 119 



would hop back and forth in a threatening way. This 

 happened several times, till one day the mocker had his 

 chance; I think he had been waiting for it. Jimmy was 

 on the side of the cage with his feet hooked in the wires, 

 when the mocker suddenly grabbed him by the toe and 

 gave it such a sharp pull that Jimmy squealed in pain. It 

 was a pure case of revenge, and the mocker enjoyed it. 

 It gave a good insight as to how quick Jimmy could learn, 

 for he kept off the cage after that, and did not tease the 

 mockingbird. 



Gradually Jimmy's freedom of the house was taken 

 from him. He couldn't be trusted to leave anything in 

 order. He knocked things off the bureau, broke a painted 

 china cup, and he always wanted to taste out of every dish 

 on the table. He stuck his feet in a dish of jam, and then 

 tracked it across the table. And how he liked butter 1 He 

 dipped right In the instant he saw butter, and that was his 

 first thought when the pantry door was open. 



One day when the kitchen was closed Jimmy found 

 the window of the east room upstairs open and In he went, 

 and soon appeared in the dining-room, helping himself. 

 After that the window was kept shut, but Jimmy would 

 go anyway and peck on the glass till he was let In. His 

 master often sat there, and that became Jimmy's favorite 

 room. All during the winter on rainy days he liked to 

 stay In that room. The window looked directly out to the 

 east over a waste of weeds and sage-brush. This was 

 Jimmy's hunting-ground; he always went out that way 

 when he wanted to hunt, for that was the only unculti- 

 vated tract about the house. That was the place he hunted 

 grasshoppers and crickets. His favorite perch was the 



