WOOD AND WASTE 189 



his wings in reply. I notice, however, that 

 as the birds grow older, this pretty infantile 

 custom becomes more and more rare, and 

 has now indeed practically ceased. Each 

 of our three birds has his own well-marked 

 individuality and special habits, "Uncle 

 Harry," for instance, always preferring to 

 fly direct to the head or shoulder. There 

 his first act is to nibble along the edge of 

 the nearest ear, ending up with a real good 

 hard tweek, just for all the world as if 

 he was wrenching a morsel from a slice of 

 bread. He likes also to be fed on the 

 shoulder, peering eagerly over for the 

 morsels handed back to him. ''Uncle 

 Harry's " speciality is the hmnan ear; but 

 each of the three will, when hungry, attempt 

 to swallow the little finger or the finger 

 tips. Perhaps by some blind, confused 

 mental process they may believe us to be 

 some new species of berry bearing tree, the 

 fruit borne always at the extreme tips of 

 the branchlets. ''Pidgy," always rather 

 more touchy than his mates, has of late 

 begun to suffer from what in a human 

 subject we should call nerves, and unless 



