138 



THE OOLOGIST. 



that (Eastern Indiaua) and shut them 

 iu their cage. They did not relish that 

 a bit, and at first refused to eat, how- 

 ever, they soon got over that, but would 

 strike savagely at my hand whenever 

 placed near them, and soon Ijegan 

 fighting between themselves. I saw 

 that wouUrnot do so I turned the most 

 quarrelsome one out again, thinking I 

 could drive it away. But it was qot 

 going to be treated that way, and would 

 persist in coming into the house at 

 night 



One night I thought I had succeeded 

 in shutting it out, but next mctrning it 

 crept out from under the treadle of the 

 sewing machine and tiew onto the table 

 to help himself to l^reakfast. The fol- 

 lowing night I felt sure that I had him 

 shut out, as I could not find him any 

 place. Next morning he was nowhere 

 to be found, and I concluded he was 

 gone, but to my surprise, about eleven 

 o'clock he crept out of a fold iu a win- 

 dow curtain, where he had been con- 

 cealed all night and morning, and 

 perched on a chair back, with such a 

 saucy triumphant air, as thougli to say 

 "You might as well give up." I con- 

 cluded then to let him stay, and turned 

 the other one out again. They never 

 attempted to go away after that. 



One of them reminded me of a mis- 

 chievous stulxn-n child more than any 

 thing I ever saw in the bird family. It 

 would get into eveiythiug it could find 

 in a pan or dish uncovered, and was es- 

 pecially fond of getting into fiour. 

 When punished for any of its mischiev- 

 oits tricks it would get on a window 

 sill or on the roof and pout for hours at 

 a time. It could not be induced to 

 either Avalk or fiy. If we would set it 

 on its feet it would fall over as tliough 

 perfectly helpless. I went into tlie kit- 

 chen one day to find tliat "l)r()wuie" 

 had been in a dish of Ijoiletl starcli, and 

 a more comical i)icture of aljject misery 

 would be hard to imagine, for the 

 starch had partially dried, plastering 



every feather to its^body. Its inquisit- 

 iveness proved -fatal at last and brought 

 it to an untimely death in a water tank.. 

 The other one was not so inquisitive, 

 but his propensity for stealing and hid-, 

 ing small articles was equal to any 

 crow. Thimbles, buttons, matches, 

 cai'^et tacks and all such things were, 

 ahvays missing when needed. H& 

 would get into the work basket, and 

 everything siuall enough for him to lift 

 woukl have to be thrown on^; on the- 

 floor. 



He took great delight in unwinding 

 spools of thread by catching the threacj 

 in his bill, and either fiyiug or running- 

 as far as he could, then going b3,ck to 

 the spool and taking a new sti\rt. If no. 

 one happened to see him he would un- 

 wind a whole spool without stop])iug, 

 I had kept him four years, when a 

 neighlior's cat sprang in at the open 

 door one day and caught my little pet, 

 I got the l)ird Imt it was dead, and the 

 cat came to an end a few hours later. 

 Mrs. Lillie Conlev Pleas. 

 Clinton, Ark. 



The Ghewink in Orleans County. 

 By jSTeil F. Posson, Medina, ]sr. Y. 



Thon> is an old proverl) to the effect 

 that ■' an imlucky copper always hap-- 

 pens around when it is not looked for,"' 

 — or something like that. Well' — that'is. 

 a \ery true saying, hs I know- all the 

 readers of the "Oologlst" will agree, 

 when they find who is the autlior ot" 

 this article. 



The OoLoGisT lias not heard from me 

 lately, — not oii account of any lack of 

 iiilerest on my part, hut more on ac^ 

 count of lack of time and ojiportunity \ 

 l)ut moro chiefly (an«l if the truth wera 

 told without reserve) the reason of my 

 silence is purely because of my sym% 

 ))athy for the many readers of the littla 

 journal. 



Il)resuniel wouM'nt have "happene*! 



