176 INDUSTRIOUS MISCHIEF. 



that exercise to relieve his feelings. I have 

 thought sometimes he did it to hear the noise 

 and to amuse himself, in which case it might 

 be called drumming. 



Not only does my bird occupy himself with 

 corks, but with perches and the woodwork of 

 his cage, with so great success that the former 

 have to be frequently renewed, and the latter 

 looks as though rats had nibbled it. The delib- 

 erate way in which he goes to work to destroy 

 his cage is amusing, lifting the end of a perch 

 and quietly throwing it to the floor, or pound- 

 ing and splitting off a big splinter of the soft 

 pine and carefully hiding it. To give him liber- 

 ty, as I have, is simply to enlarge the field of his 

 labors, and furnish him congenial employment 

 from morning to night, the happiest and busiest 

 member of the household. He tries every- 

 thing : the covers of cardboard boxes, always 

 choosing the spot that is weakest at the cor- 

 ner, and pounding till it is ruined; the cane 

 seats of chairs, which he selects with equal 

 judgment, and never leaves till he has effected 

 a breach ; a delicate work-basket, at which he 

 labors with enthusiasm, driving his pickaxe bill 

 into it and cutting a big hole. It is most 

 curious to see him set himself to pick a hole, 

 for instance, in a close-woven rattan chair, or a 

 firm piece of matting stretched upon the floor. 



