UTTERLY UNLOVELY. 239 



regularly discomfited the singers and silenced 

 the gentle ripple of thrush music in the house by 

 his loud carol. Later, the weather became set- 

 tled, the well and perfect birds were given their 

 liberty, and he had the bird-room to himself, the 

 only utterly unlovely bird I ever knew. 



The relations of a pair of Baltimore orioles 

 at the same time were not much more harmo- 

 nious ; but the little dame being more spirited 

 than her neighbor, things arranged themselves 

 differently. 



I introduced the pair by the rather summary 

 process of putting both into one large cage. She 

 had suffered at the hands of mankind, and her 

 plumage was in a terribly draggled state ; and 

 clothes have as much to do with self-respect in 

 the feathered world as in our own. Her condi- 

 tion of general wreck was so complete as to leave 

 her without a tail, — the last stage of respecta- 

 bility. She was depressed in spirits, and at first 

 did not gainsay the dictation of the bird already 

 in possession. He drove her away from the 

 food-dishes, denied her a place on his perch, and 

 in fact set up for lord and master, and she sub- 

 mitted for a time. 



It was amusing to see these birds trying, on 

 the first evening, to settle the question of sleep- 

 ing-quarters. As usual, the mind of the male 

 was made up, and he planted himself in the 



