STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 



311 



€\}t (Drinlr, 



LADY wlio liad an oriole that was 

 taken from tlie nest wlien very 

 young, and who trained him up 

 to do a great many smart things, 

 says, "I taught him to feed from my mouth; 

 and he would often alight on my finger, and 

 strike the end with his bill, until I raised him 

 to my mouth, when he would insert his bill, to 

 see what I had for him to eat. In winter, 

 spring, and autumn, he slept in a cage, lined 

 with cotton batting. After I had put him in, 

 if I did not close up the holes with cotton, he 

 would do so himself, by pulling the cotton 

 from the sides of the cage with his bill, till he 

 had shut up all the holes. I fed him with 

 sponge cake; and when this became dry and 

 hard, he would take a piece, and drop it into 

 the saucer, and move it about until it was soft 



