BECOMING AN ILLUSTRATOR 37 



turned him to the nest. Before the day was over 

 he was lifting his head and taking food with the 

 other young. When the brood left the nest I dis- 

 covered that this bird had a leg out of joint at the 

 socket. He could fly and hop around the cage as 

 well as the others but the injured leg was longer, 

 and'while in use, it could be seen that the bird was a 

 cripple. At once my family began to urge that the 

 bird be removed from the cage and put out of what 

 they termed "its misery." I watched the bird 

 closely but could discover no sign that he was suf- 

 fering any pain and only very slight inconvenience. 

 In plumage, he was almost the clear yellow of his 

 mother with a touch of green making a perfect cap 

 jockily placed on his head at a very saucy angle, 

 which gave him a particularly pert, ingratiating 

 appearance. In size he was the largest bird of the 

 brood and soon the largest in the cage. This may 

 have been accounted for by the fact that he did not 

 take as much exercise as the other birds, seldom 

 leaving the top perch except for food or water, 

 while when feeding he ate longer. Before any 

 other of the young birds had begun to think of 

 music, this one was trying to sing. In a year he 

 had his father's whole repertoire, to which he added 

 robin, song sparrow, and indigo finch notes that 

 he learned from outdoor birds flocking over the 

 conservatory, inside which his house stood. When 

 he was two years old, with his feathers settled 

 tight, his head tipped at an impertinent angle, 



