THE OOLOGIST. 



a mark for all the other birds of the 

 same species to peck at by reason of its 

 oddity. While yet a very young bird it 

 was a fairly good fyer, its unique plum- 

 age rendering it conspicuous and easily 

 kept in view. He picked up a stick and 

 followed it from tree to tree, endeavor- 

 ing to mesmerize it by keeping his eyes 

 constantly upon it. Apparently it at 

 once discovered that it was being sin- 

 gled out from the general rabble (jiiat 

 as it had always ueen throughout its 

 short existence) and became very un- 

 easy and frightened, frequently looking 

 over its shoulder at its pursuer until 

 finally it missed a tree altogether and 

 bringing up against the side of ihc 

 house, was easily made a prisoner and 

 placed in confinement. 



Faithful to the instinct of true parents, 

 the old birds came about and probably 

 would have fed it but for their suspic- 

 ions and fear of the shining brass cage 

 hanging in the open air. 



I carried it home in the evening ot the 

 6th, it nesting quietly in my hand, and 

 the next morning it was placed in a 

 canary cage, but beat about so much 

 upon the least noise that I feared it 

 would injure itself. 



Now that I had it under my own eye 

 and care, I.anticipated athorough study 

 of its peculiarities and mentally formul- 

 ated a line of experiments to demon- 

 strate the nature and degree of its de- 

 fects in sight, hearing, etc., if possible. 



As it would eat nothing, I was com- 

 pelled to pry open its mandibles and 

 force some bread crumbs down its 

 throat. Being away from home the 

 greater part of the day, on my return I 

 learned that it had eaten nothing what- 

 ever, although it drank some water 

 from a spoon. 



Toward evening I placed the cage in 

 the open air, su.'-pended from a porch 

 rafter; immediately I heard a scramble 

 and before I could return it had squeez- 

 ed between the bars and flew away, 

 luckily I caught it a moment later on a 

 rose bush. 



Apparently it had fasted ever since 

 placed in captivity and while it rested 

 quietly in my hand I feed it bread 

 crumbs soaked in water. During this 

 operation it voluntarily opened its 

 mouth for the first time and gave that 

 unmistakable cry of Passer domeslicus. 

 Later I gave it seven house flies, which 

 it would eagerly peck at but almost in- 

 variably miss by a (|uarter to a half 

 an inch. Not only hitting on either side 

 but above and below. 



Owing to its nervousness when con- 

 fined in the case, I gave it the liberty 

 of an unoccupied room, where it seem- 

 ed well content hopping about the floor. 



Darkness and strong light .seemed to 

 produce the same ellect, both making it 

 drowsy; the latter caused liy the ex- 

 treme weakness of its e^es. 



In the brief time it survived it became 

 very tame, hopping quickly toward me 

 and perching on my linger when I 

 whistled softly to it. It would allow 

 me to carry it anywhere about the 

 house, resting contented on mv shoul- 

 der or perched on my flnger, yet often 

 executing a "right about face" with 

 great dispatch when a slight noise was 

 made in its rear. 



While its hearing was acute, it was 

 not unerring for the buzzing of a capt- 

 ive fly did not aid it greatly in its in- 

 deavors to secure the inoisel. Its sight 

 was very defective, small objects could 

 not be clearly distinguished one half an 

 inch from the tip of its beak and it was 

 not sure <if a large immovable object 

 ten feet distant. 



r^Aside from its delicate organization, 

 the extreme nervousness and irritability 

 to which it was subject, can be attribut- 

 ed in part to the Sparrow mob singling 

 it out as apart and distasteful to them. 



I also discovered on occasions, an in- 

 describable aimlessness never before 

 observed in the actions or manners of a 

 bird. Perhaps something was wrong 

 with its brain, at any rate at such times 

 it strongly reminded one of a person 

 weak in intellect. 



