^"''897^^] Owen, A Captive Hermit Thrush. 5 



was not long before I had an opportunity of verifying this pre- 

 sumption. July 1 1, I was shown, in a blueberry patch, a nest which 

 I took to be that of a Hermit Thrush. Judging that the location of 

 this nest might imply a fondness for blueberries on the part of the 

 Thrush, I introduced a few berries, July 13, into my bird's cage. 

 The avidity with which they were seized and swallowed showed 

 that my conjecture had been well founded. The coloring matter 

 of the berries dyed the bird's excretions, and it occurred to me 

 that this fact furnished a ready method of finding the length of 

 time required by the Thrush to digest blueberries. The test was 

 made July 25. At 12.56 p.m. of that day, the bird voided white 

 excrement and was fed, at once, with blueberries. At 2.28 p. ri., 

 one hour and thirty-two minutes later, it dropped blue excrement 

 mingled with berry seeds. If this experiment is trustworthy, and 

 I see no reason to doubt the accuracy of its method, the time 

 required for a blueberry to traverse the digestive tract was, practi- 

 cally, one hour and a half. 



I have said that, at first, my little captive was unable to feed 

 itself. Generally speaking, this is true ; but the bird soon acquired 

 a habit of picking up occasional morsels and at the time of its 

 release, July 31, it could get along very well without assistance, 

 although, even then, it preferred to be fed. 



The bird began to peck at imaginary objects, in a desultory way, 

 June 29. In the morning of July i, while the Thrush was on a 

 window sill, a favorite perch when liberty had been granted it, I 

 put beside it a piece of earth-worm. It eyed the worm for a 

 moment and then attacked it in dead earnest. In its enthusiasm, 

 the bird lost its balance and fell off the sill ; but later, when it had 

 regained its equilibrium, mental and physical, it managed to get 

 away with several worms unassisted. July 3, the Thrush spent 

 some time on the floor of my study, running about, sometimes 

 making short flights, and displaying, withal, a great deal of curiosity. 

 My shoes, particularly the lace fastenings, the carpet tacks, and a 

 pair of ring staples on a box, were all critically examined and 

 pecked at ; but the favorite subject of investigation was a small 

 piece of waste paper that lay on the floor. The paper was red on 

 one side and white on the other and was picked up and tossed 

 about very frequently. July 8, the bird discovered a fondness for 



