A WAR DANCE. 79 



place never seemed to occur to him. After a 

 little of this contention, the mocker generally 

 succeeded in carrying off a bit to some quiet 

 place, where he could eat at his leisure. Wish- 

 ing them to live peaceably, I placed a slice of 

 the fruit on a high gas-fixture, where the 

 stranger was fond of alighting and no other 

 bird ever went. He understood at once, flew 

 over to it, and ate his fill. The Mexican ob- 

 served this, and tramped over his cages (it was 

 before he had retired from the world) in a 

 rage, seeing " good times going on," and feel- 

 ing, evidently, unable to fly so high. Some- 

 what later the thrush noticed the excitement, 

 flew heavily up, with difficulty alighted beside 

 the apple, snatched it off, and carried it to the 

 floor. 



Settlement of difficulties between these two 

 birds was no chance happening ; it was, to all 

 appearance, a regularly planned campaign, and, 

 like a savage, the aggressor put on his war 

 paint and danced his war dance. It was ex- 

 tremely interesting to watch, although painful 

 to realize that a bird could be animated by 

 emotions so — must I call them human? He 

 selected, for the declaration of his intentions, 

 a moment when the thrush was in his own 

 house and the door open. The approach to 

 this cage was by a light ladder, the top round 



