FERRUGINOUS THRUSH. 27 



rower, and the spots on the breast less. In other respects their plumage 

 is nearly alike. 



Concerning the sagacity and reasoning faculty of this bird my vener- 

 able friend Mr. Bartram writes me as follows : " I remember to have 

 reared one of these birds from the nest ; which when full grown became 

 very tame and docile. I frequently let him out of his cage to give him 

 a taste of liberty ; after fluttering and dusting himself in dry sand and 

 earth, and bathing, washing and dressing himself, he would proceed to 

 hunt insects, such as beetles, crickets, and other shelly tribes ; but 

 being very fond of wasps, after catching them and knocking them about 

 to break their wings, he would lay them down, then examine if they had 

 a sting, and with his bill squeeze the abdomen to clear it of the reser- 

 voir of poison, before he would swallow his prey. When in his cage, 

 being very fond of dry crusts of bread, if upon trial the corners of the 

 crumbs were too hard and sharp for his throat, he would throw them up, 

 carry and put them in his water-dish to soften ; then take them out and 

 swallow them. Many other remarkable circumstances might be men- 

 tioned that would fully demonstrate faculties of mind ; not only innate, 

 but acquired ideas (derived from necessity in a state of domestication) 

 which we call understanding and knowledge. We see that this bird 

 could associate those ideas, arrange and apply them in a rational man- 

 ner, according to circumstances. For instance, -if he knew that it was 

 the hard sharp corners of the crumb of bread that hurt his gullet, and 

 prevented him from swallowing it, and that water would soften and 

 render it easy to be swallowed, this knowledge must be acquired by 

 observation and experience ; or some other bird taught him. Here the 

 bird perceived by the effect the cause, and then took the quickest, the 

 most effectual, and agreeable method to remove that cause. What could 

 the wisest man have done better ? Call it reason, or instinct, it is the 

 same that a sensible man would have done in this case. 



" After the same manner this bird reasoned with respect to the wasps. 

 He found, by experience and observation, that the first he attempted to 

 swallow hurt his throat, and gave him extreme pain ; and upon examina- 

 tion observed that the extremity of the abdomen was armed with a poi- 

 sonous sting ; and after this discovery, never attempted to swallow a 

 wasp until he first pinched his abdomen to the extremity, forcing out 

 the sting with the receptacle of poison." 



It is certainly a circumstance highly honorable to the character of 

 birds, and corroborative of the foregoing sentiments, that those who 

 have paid the most minute attention to their manners are uniformly 

 their advocates and admirers. " He must," said a gentleman to me the 

 other day, when speaking of another person, " he must be a good man ; 

 for those who have long known him and are most intimate with him 

 respect him greatly and always speak well of him." 



