24 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



heap of straw and rubbish he was turning over with 

 his spade, and, jumping down, I picked up the shining 

 red object. It was my lost cardinal's crest ! And 

 there too were his grey wing and tail feathers, white 

 feathers from his breast, and even some of his bones. 

 Alas ! he had found it too cold to roost in the naked 

 trees in the cold wind and rain, and, seeking a more 

 sheltered roosting-place on the ground, had been 

 caught and carried into its den and devoured by a rat. 

 I experienced a second and greater grief at his 

 miserable end — a feeling so poignant that the memory 

 has endured till now. For he was my loved cardinal 

 — my first caged bird. And he was also my last. I 

 could have no other, the lesson he had taught me 

 having sunk into my heart — the knowledge that to a 

 bird too the world is very beautiful and liberty very 

 sweet. I could even rejoice, when time had softened 

 my first keen sorrow, that my cardinal had succeeded 

 in making his escape, since at the last he had experi- 

 enced those miraculous months of joyous existence, 

 living the true bird-life for which nature had fashioned 

 and fitted him. In all the years of his captivity he 

 could never have known such a happiness, nor can 

 any caged bird know it, however loudly and sweetly 

 it may sing to win a lump of sugar or a sprig of ground- 

 sel from his tender-hearted keeper and delude him 

 with the idea that it is well with his prisoner — that 

 no injustice has been done. 



