‘94 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. | Vou. Te 
feeds on small seeds, wheat, and occasionally a worm. Occasionally on a 
bright day I have found it running from one end of the cage to the 
other, flipping its wings, and chirping as if in the height of enjoyment. 
It sometimes sings in confinement, and always has a faint chirp which it 
keeps up all night. I have frequently found it with its head under its 
wing, chirping about once a minute. 
Corvus americana.—Crow. Of all the birds kept by myself, and 
friends, the crow takes the lead for mischief. To tell of all the antics of 
this bird would fill a volume ; so I will just give a few of his principal 
traits. He will not be contented in a cage, but must have the yard, shed, 
fences, and sometimes the kitchen, where he wanders about seeking what 
he may steal. My Crow when I fed him would eat what he required, 
and put the remainder through a hole in the fence to a dog in the next 
yard. At last the dog got to bark for his meat, but the Crow fixed him ; 
he would put the meat up to the hole, and as soon as the dog put his 
nose there he received a ferocious dig from the big black beak that sent 
him away howling, only to return in a few minutes for another. When 
he was not fed regularly he would perch on my fish-tank, and watch till 
a fish came near the top, when he would immediately seize and swallow 
it. In that way he ran down my stock of fish considerably before I 
discovered the cause ; and when I put a net over the tank he got on it, 
and tried with might and main to dig a hole through it, but did not 
succeed. 
_ Molothrus ater.—The Cowbird takes readily to a cage, becoming quiet 
and contented in about a week, but is very unsociable. Should any other 
bird approach him he snaps at it viciously, generally depriving it of some 
feathers; he accompanies every snap with a kind of “chuck” and if 
victorious hops to his mate and tries to express his love for her with a 
spluttering “cree.” They eat any kind of seed in confinement and when 
let out in the yard devour any insects they come across, 
Sternella magna.—Meadowlark. This bird when first caged will 
starve itself until almost able to squeeze through the bars, but eventually 
resigns itself and takes to feeding. On the slightest excitement it dashes 
against the wires in great alarm and finding escape impossible generally 
hides in a corner. When walking it stands up very straight, the back 
being almost at right angle with the ground. At every step he opens and 
closes the tail shewing the white feather at every spread. While in my 
possession he killed and partly eat a Shorelark, a White-throated Spar- 
row, and badly injured a Pine Grosbeak. 
Coccothraustes vespertina.—The Evening Grosbeak takes readily 
to the cage but does not associate with any of the inmates. Generally be- 
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