May 15, 1882.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



127 



about the rooms through the day, as screens 

 at the doors and windows kept them from 

 escaping, although they did not attempt to 

 get out or fly against the wmdows as wild 

 birds usually do. 



I soon taught them to come at my call and 

 feed from my lips, or rest on my breast 

 while at my painting, and that recalls an 

 amusing incident that happened to one of 

 my pets. Being '• ferociously" hixngry he 

 made a dash at a mass of chrome-yellow on 

 my pallette which stuck to his bill, and as 

 I was hurrying to finish my day's work I 

 did not notice the mishap until his plain- 

 tive peep, and fluttering before my face, 

 called my attention. Upon relieving the 

 poor little " Omoline Ortesi" of his super- 

 abundance of chrome-yellow, he uttered 

 bis thanks and made a hurried dart after 

 a fly. I have often seen both making quick, 

 short turns and not stopping until one or 

 the other had made a captive of a house 

 fly. They would perch themselves upon 

 the rounds of my chair, chirping with a 

 squeaky, unmusical note, as if to let me 

 know of their presence. 



'N^Tien their food was gone they would 

 poise themselves in the air close to my 

 mouth, thrust their bills between my lips, 

 then fly to their cup, then back to my 

 mouth, and repeat it until I answered their 

 demands. J. G. Cooper remarked, while 

 watching their flight through the rooms, 

 that he had never known of the hummers 

 having been taught to gather honey from 

 flowers only by the parent bird, and I de- 

 cided to make the experiment, gathering 

 some scarlet geraniums and verbenas, pla- 

 cing them in a vase on the table, holding 

 up my briish, I called my pets to me. I 

 placed them in front of the flowers. They 

 did not take any notice of them. I then 

 put a drop of syi-up in the centre of each 

 blossom, putting the bills on the drops of 

 sugar, which they sipped from every flower, 

 hovering in the air as we see them out of 

 doors ; they did not need a second lesson 

 nor (lid they ever forget their instruction. 



When fresh flowers were brought in, 

 there was a gleaning without delay. I no- 

 ticed the scarlet blossoms received atten- 

 tion first, and they would perch upon my 

 arm and hover about me with evidently 

 pure delight, when I wore a scarlet jacket, 

 showing a preference for bright colors. 



I had my pets two weeks when I noticed 

 one of them on a rug where the sun shone, 

 fluttering its wings as if wishing for a bath. 

 I gave it a dish of water. Its foot was so 

 small and the dish so slippery, that it could 

 not stand. On placing a bit of moss in 

 the dish and putting the wee one on it, it 

 began to flutter its wings, sending the wa- 

 ter in tiny showers, calling its mate to join 

 in the glee. After washing they perched 

 themselves on the centre cross-bar of the 

 window, in the sunshine, dressing their 

 feathers, stretching themselves over on 

 their sides, acting as though quite well 

 taught, all from bird intuition as they had 

 not known a mother since leaving the nest. 

 I found them very apt in learaing and fond 

 of caresses, allowing me to stroke them, 

 turning their heads to one side as if listen- 

 ing to my words. 



My pets were three months and a half 

 old when a friend came to visit me. As we 

 sat chatting, the smaller and brighter of 

 the two alighted on her hand, sitting for 

 some five minutes, appealing as content as 

 bird could be. I called it, and as it flew to 

 my lips for sugar, finding none, hastened 

 to its cage. As it was alighting, its com- 

 panion who was at the cup, gave it a 

 sharp peck on the head, which stunned 

 the poor thing, felling it to the floor. I 

 picked it up and placed it on its perch 

 by the food. It would not eat and seemed 

 dazed like, dying on the following day. 



The remaining one went uneasily from 

 room to room, calling most pitifully for its 

 mate, and after the second day it refused 

 to eat and died. Indeed I cannot tell 

 you how we missed our pets, for every day 

 we had learned something new and strange 

 in the habits and peculiarities of the hum- 



