108 A SAUCY TRICK. 



caught his feet in the coarse net curtains I hung 

 before the windows to keep strange birds from 

 trying to fly out. I went at once to him and 

 took him off. He scolded, fluttered, and 

 pecked, and, when I had released him, flew 

 directly against another curtain and caught 

 again. I went over to him, and this time he 

 understood that I was helping him ; he neither 

 struggled nor pecked, and flew quietly when I 

 set him free. 



The bluebird never showed any curiosity 

 about the room or the world outside the win- 

 dows, but sat on his door perch for hours, with 

 a sharp eye to the worm supply. The appear- 

 ance of the cup that held them was a signal for 

 him to come down and beg for them, but his 

 little mate never dared trust herself on the 

 desk, though when I threw a worm on the floor 

 she invariably secured it. So fond was she of 

 this delicacy that she once played a saucy trick 

 upon a scarlet tanager. Having received a 

 worm, he went into the first open door he saw, 

 — which happened to be the bluebird's, — to 

 find a place to manipulate the morsel, which he 

 never swallowed whole. Madam stood on the 

 perch just above the entrance, and as he came 

 in she leaned over and snatched it out of his 

 mouth, swallowed it, wiped her bill, and turned 

 to him, ready for another. His stare of blank 



