118 PEEPING AT ME. 



opening and cautiously thrust his long bill and 

 his head as far as the eye beyond the edge so 

 that he could see me. I kept perfectly still, 

 while he watched me several minutes with evi- 

 dent interest, and I was glad to see that it was 

 simply fright and not idiocy that caused his 

 panics. 



Many emotions of the bird were most com- 

 ically expressed by hammering. In embarrass- 

 ment or alarm, when not so great as to drive 

 him wild, he resorted to that diversion, and the 

 more disturbed, the louder and faster his 

 blows. If in utter despair, as when I set his 

 house in order for the day, he dropped to the 

 floor on the farthest side, put his head in the 

 corner, and pounded the tray with great vio- 

 lence. Every wire in the cage in turn he tested 

 with taps of his beak, thus amusing himself 

 hours at a time, sitting, as was his custom, 

 crouched upon the perch or on the floor. In 

 this way, too, he tried the quality of the plas- 

 tered wall behind his cage, and was evidently 

 pleased to find it yielding, for he bored many 

 holes and tore off much paper, before he was 

 discovered and provided with a background of 

 wood to exercise upon. 



The unhappy bird had a serious time learn- 

 ing to eat mocking-bird food with his long, 

 curved beak ; he never became very expert at it, 



