Introductory 
one appreciative listener for a single half-hour out of each year,” 
and so on. 
But | must remind all readers that any one who does keep 
pets incurs responsibilities along with the pleasure they bring. 
To deprive any wild animal of its liberty and then neglect it is 
sheer barbarity. 
Having birds in this way affords almost the only means of 
studying the remarkable individuality possessed by different 
members of the same species. That each bird has a character 
peculiar to itself may be doubted by some, but I have never seen 
two individuals showing the same peculiarities. Two rose- 
breasted grosbeaks that have been reared together from the same 
nest, and are now eighteen months old, are different in almost 
every way. One is intensely jealous and objects to attention being 
paid to any other bird; the other seems not to know what 
jealousy means. One wants to sleep at night; the other keeps 
up a perpetual jumping from perch to perch until all hours. 
The female (who has most of the bad traits) never lets her mate 
have any little tid-bit in the way of food; no matter how much 
she has, she immediately seizes whatever is given to her better- 
natured companion. So it is with all the other birds; one will 
be naturally wild and timid; another knows no fear; one, though 
tame, cannot endure being touched; another, like a bluebird | 
have, wants to be handled most of the time, and is quite content 
if allowed to sit quietly (and go to sleep) inside a partly closed 
hand. 
The method of eating adopted by each of the birds is quite 
individual. The wood thrush makes rapid and regular dips into 
the food-cup, taking only a small mouthful each time, but repeat- 
ing the operation until its hunger is satisfied ; feeding takes place 
at rather long intervals. The yellow-breasted chat feeds some- 
what after the same manner, but is not so quick or so dainty in 
its movements, and eats more frequently. The mocking-bird eats 
often and much, but does not draw his beak away from the cup 
between each mouthful. The bluebird eats fairly frequently and 
dips his beak into the food with a sharp jerk, pausing a second or 
two between each mouthful, and making a snap with his beak 
every time he takes the food. If given a live grasshopper, he 
carefully kills it, then shakes off its legs and swallows the entire 
body, afterwards gathering up the legs. The Baltimore oriole 
9 
