56 THE BIRD GROWN UP 
Once he found a parlor match, hunted up a 
good opening, and put it in. Then he went on, 
as he always did, to hammer it down so tightly 
that it would stay. One of the blows of his 
hard beak struck the lighting end of the match, 
and it went off with a sharp crack. The noise 
and the flame which burst out made the bird 
jump three feet, and scared him nearly out of 
his senses. 
After that I took care to keep the matches 
out of the way of a bird so fond of hiding | 
things. 

