248 SLEPT AND DREAMED. 



of darkness became exceedingly restless, flying 

 about his cage, going over and under and 

 around his perches, posturing in extraordinary 

 ways, uttering at every moment a strange, 

 harsh-breathing sound. Two smaller thrushes 

 met the evening hour by fluttering, and a queer 

 sort of dance elsewhere described. Two orchard 

 orioles saluted the twilight by gymnastics on 

 the roof of the cage. The bluebirds made care- 

 ful and deliberate arrangements for a comforta- 

 ble night, while the grosbeak differed from all 

 in simply fluffing himself out, and settling him- 

 self, on the first hint of dark, in the chosen cor- 

 ner, whence he scarcely moved, and as soon as 

 objects grew indistinct he laid his head quietly 

 in its feather pillow and stirred no more. The 

 brightest gaslight an hour later did not disturb 

 him ; if a noise wakened him, he simply looked 

 up to see what was the matter, but did not 

 move, and soon turned back to his rest, when 

 slight jerks of his wings, and faint complain- 

 ing sounds, told that he not only slept, but 

 dreamed. 



The bearer of the rosy shield was a persistent 

 individual ; having once taken a notion into his 

 head, nothing would make him forget it or 

 change his mind. Fully settled in his prefer- 

 ence for a certain perch on the window, the 

 coldest day in winter, with the wind blowing a 



