12 THE SECOND BOOK OF BIRDS 
ground, and hides it so well that it is hard te 
find, — though I’m afraid snakes, and squirrels, 
and other woods creatures who like eggs to eat 
find it more often than we do. 
Shy as the hermit is, he is an intelligent bird. 
A mother hermit a few years ago strayed inte 
the grounds of a gentleman in Massachusetts 
and built a nest under a pine-tree. When she 
was found, she was at first very much frightened. 
But the owner of the place was a bird-lover, and 
gentle and quiet in his ways, and she got so used 
to him that she let him photograph her many 
times. 
A gentleman, Mr. Owen, once captured a 
young hermit thrush so lately out of the nest 
that he could not fly much. He kept him in the 
house several weeks, and found out many inter- 
esting things about young thrushes. One thing 
he discovered was that the bird has his own 
notions about food. He ate raw meat and earth- 
worms. But when worms were fed to him that 
came from a dirty place, he threw them out of 
his mouth, wiped his beak, and showed great 
disgust. The worms brought from clean garden 
earth he ate greedily. 
The little captive had his own way of eating 
a worm. He began by worrying it awhile, and 
then swallowed it tail first. 
