152 FULL OF PRANKS. 



he had a spice of mischief in his composition. 

 A never failing diversion was teasing a gold- 

 finch. He began his pranks by entering the 

 cage and hammering on the tray, or digging 

 into the seed in a savage way that sent it fly- 

 ing out in a shower, which result so entertained 

 him that I was forced to close the door when 

 the owner was out. This the thrush resented, 

 and he next took to jumping against the side 

 of the cage, clinging a moment, then bouncing 

 off with so much force that the cage rocked 

 violently. Then he placed himself on the 

 perch by the door, and pounded, and pulled, 

 and jerked, and shook the door, till, if the 

 owner were home, he was nearly wild. Hav- 

 ing exhausted that amusement, he jumped on 

 the top and in some way jarred the cage 

 roughly. To protect it I made a cover of paper, 

 but, contrary to my intentions, this afforded the 

 rogue a new pleasure, for he soon found that 

 by tramping over it he could make a great 

 noise, and he quickly learned the trick of tear- 

 ing the paper into pieces, and uncovering the 

 little fellow, who, by the way, was not in the 

 least afraid, but simply enraged and insulted, 

 and when outside stood and faced his tormentor, 

 blustering and scolding him well. 



Tearing paper was always amusing to the 

 brown thrush. I have seen him take his stand 



