GETTING ACQUAINTED. 117 



as though to reach the nest which had been 

 within. 



Whatever the drama enacted in that mys- 

 terious home, I was too late to see, and I have 

 not been able as yet to make close acquaintance 

 with the free Golden-wing. 



The bird that had so interested me in his 

 whole family I found in a bird store in New 

 York in the month of November. He was a 

 most disconsolate-looking object, and so pain- 

 fully wild I could scarcely bear to look at him 

 — poor, shy, frightened soul, set up in a cage to 

 be stared at. I rescued him at once with the 

 intention of giving him a more retired home, 

 and freedom the moment spring opened. The 

 change did not at first reassure him, and he 

 was so frantic that his cage was covered to 

 shut out the sights till he was accustomed to 

 the sounds of a household. Gradually, an 

 inch or two at a time, the cover that hid the 

 world from him was reduced, till at the end of 

 three weeks he could endure the removal of the 

 last corner without going absolutely mad. 



On the first day an opening a few inches 

 wide was left in his screen, so that he might 

 look out if he chose, and I took my seat as far 

 as possible from him, with my back to him, and 

 a hand-glass so arranged that I could see him. 

 As soon as the room was quiet he went to the 



