XIV 
WHERE HE SLEEPS 
Most birds sleep on their feet. 
You know how a canary goes to sleep, all 
puffed out like a ball, with his head buried in 
the feathers of his shoulder. He may stick his 
bill over behind the top of the wing, but he 
never “puts his head under his wing,” as you 
have heard. 
Sometimes he stands straight up on one leg, 
with the other drawn up out of sight in his fea- 
thers, but more often he sits down on the perch, 
still resting on his feet. Most wild birds of the 
perching kind sleep in the same way. 
It is only lately that we have begun to find 
out where birds sleep, because it is dark when 
they go to bed, and they get up before it is 
light enough for us to see them. 
The only way to catch them in bed is to go 
out in the evening, and start them up after they 
have gone to sleep. And this is not very kind 
to the poor little birds. Some men who are try- 
