72 HIS POSITION TO BE SETTLED. 



a cage next to his, he saw his own door-perch, 

 recognized it instantly (though he had been 

 upon it only once), and, being hungry, dropped 

 to it and ran into the cage. 



The new-comer soon made thorough acquaint- 

 ance with all his surroundings, and had leisure 

 to turn his attention to a little matter yet un- 

 settled ; namely, his position in the small colony 

 about him. The first few days, as already noted, 

 he submitted to impositions ; allowed himself to 

 be driven away from the slices of apple on the 

 matting, and turned from the bathing-dish on 

 the floor. This was, however, the calm before 

 the storm ; though after all that is hardly a cor- 

 rect comparison, since there was never the least 

 " storm " about his manner ; he was composure 

 itself. Having calmly and patiently considered 

 the state of affairs, he suddenly asserted him- 

 self and took the position he felt was his right, 

 — at the head. It soon became evident that he 

 was prepared to defend the situation by force of 

 arms. He conducted his conquests systemat- 

 ically, and subdued one after the other, begin- 

 ning with the least. 



The English goldfinch had been very saucy, 

 scolding and flying over him as he went around 

 the room, in the small bird's way ; but one day 

 it came to a sudden end. The goldfinch in his 

 cage scolded the stranger for alighting too near 



