156 Bird -Lore 



At times, when extremely restless, he was content only to sit cuddled close 

 to my neck or nestled in my hair. This kind of petting was rare, however, 

 for we always avoided, as much as possible, actually touching him, letting 

 him have his way and perch where he chose. He hated to be caught in the 

 hand, and was rarely so insulted, but was good about accepting a finger, 

 even when he knew it was to take him home against his wish. When he 

 wanted to come out of the cage, he would pound on the door with his beak, 

 then fly back on the perch and await the result. If no move were made to 

 take him out, he would repeat it more impatiently. It was a busy day, 

 indeed, if he had to knock many times. 



There are those who seem to believe that a bird has no memory, but 

 Zeke proved his memory good in many ways which would have satisfied the 

 most skeptical. At one time, when about two months old, a little friend of 

 ours who called to see him wore a string of coral beads. He was very much 

 like an Indian in his tastes, being extravagant in his admiration of beads, 

 especially red ones; so Marjorie's beads proved more interesting to him than 

 he to her. Almost instantly flitting to her, he began running his beak along 

 the string in search of the fastening, which I knew from my own experience 

 he could very likely open. She took off the beads and hid them, much to 

 his disappointment. About a week later, when Marjorie came in dressed 

 differently and without the beads, Zeke at once recognized her and flew to 

 look for them. He was very unwilling to give up, but searched diligently 

 around the neck of her dress and under her curls. 



He always noticed when we wore anything new, and showed very plainly 

 his likes and dislikes. One particular tie which my Aunt wore we called "Zeke's 

 tie," because he was not content a minute while she wore it unless he could 

 be touching it. He would run his beak gently along the edge of the silk, which 

 was one of his ways of caressing, and plainly show his admiration. 



He seemed to think he belonged especially to me, and though he loved all 

 the family, was more content to have me near, and on my return from a few 

 weeks' absence would be wild with delight. 



Zeke loved to bathe, but the breaking of his bathing-dish, at one time, 

 caused us much trouble, as he positively declined to accept another. To make 

 matters worse, someone attempted to bathe him forcibly, and he seemed then 

 to vow "never again." Finally, by much coaxing and splashing of the water, 

 he was tempted in; but, dear me! this led to more trouble, for he found it 

 great fun to splash the water on his unwilling assistant. The minute said 

 victim dared withdraw the hand from the dish he was out and onto her 

 shoulder, to begin the drying process by shaking off the water, much or 

 little, from his feathers. 



We often wondered if he would be happier to have his liberty, but it did 

 not seem safe to give it, since he was unused to the wild life; for he was more 

 afraid of his own kind than anything else, cats included. He was even fearless 



