96 



STOEIES OF BIRD LIFE 



safety, free alike from the intrusions of man, and ox, and 

 cat. 



If kindly treated this bird will ofttimes become very 

 trustful, and if you are so fortunate as to have trees and 

 shrubbery about your house, he will perch in your door- 

 way and even hop about your room. I knew one which 

 often did this until one day a heavy hand was laid upon 

 him and he was placed in a cage. But the moment he was 

 imprisoned his tameness vanished. He refused all food 

 and dashed wildly against the cruel bars. And 0, how long 

 and untiringly he sought his freedom ! 



Outside he could hear the 

 buzzing of a humming bird's 

 wings among the woodbine on the 

 veranda trellis. He heard, too, 

 the twitter of swifts as they cir- 

 cled and darted about the sky, and 

 again and again the songs and calls 

 of his fellows reached his ears, as 

 they chased each other about the 

 grove in their mimic combats. In his efforts to escape he 

 drove his bill continually between the bars of the cage, 

 until his head was bleeding from many bruises. At times 

 he called loudly for help, and was never content a moment 

 until his wings bore him once more into the bright sun- 



