202 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



MISCHIEVOUS JIM. 



He was brought to me one beautiful spring morning, soon after he had 

 taken his first lessons in flying, and just old enough to be taught how to 

 rob the farmer's newly planted corn field. It was in this act that he was 

 captured. When he was comfortably perched upon my finger, his eyes 

 twinkled saucily at me from his glossy black head, and his bill opened 

 every now and then for something to eat. 



I tied the end of a string to one of his legs and fastened the other to the 

 back of a chair, leaving it just long enough for him to fly from his perch to 

 the ground, and placed it outside the kitchen window where he could 

 watch me at my work. As long as 1 remained where he could see me he 

 was quiet enough, but if I went away he would beat his wings against the 

 window screen and make a mournful noise until 1 appeared again, then he 

 would chatter constantly, sometimes as though scolding, then in a happy 

 contented tone when I talked to him. If I scolded him he tucked his head 

 under his wing, and when I stopped he would take it out again,' while his 

 merry eyes danced mischievously and his saucy chatter would begin again. 



When he was hungry he made a mournful noise as though he was hurt, 

 keeping time with the opening and shutting of his beak. He was very 

 fond of fish worms and if he saw me digging them he would not taste his 

 other food, which consisted of cracked corn, seeds, and bread and milk, 

 but would wait for me to feed him the worms, one at a time, into his wide 

 open mouth. When he wanted water he would quickly cry "ca-caw" 

 and close his eyes soberly. 



Oftentimes when the fowls were being fed, the first 1 would know of 

 his presence would be when I heard the rustle and whirr of his wings as 

 he would come swooping down from the towering oak tree tops, and he 

 would flap his wings excitedly when the fowls scattered in all directions, 

 for he was the daily terror of their lives. At tliese times his tantalizing 

 spirit showed itself, and he would monopolize the hen yard and would not 

 leave it until he was driven away. Then he would hop onto a poor un- 

 suspecting hen's back, holding on so tightly that do what she would, she 

 could not shake him off. 



As he grew older the thieving instinct grew with him, and his most bit- 

 ter enemies were caused by this habit. They were a pair of industrious 

 kingbirds, who had built their nest in an old apple tree close to the house. 

 After the eggs were laid the mother bird used to fly off some distance 

 away. When Jim, as 1 called my pet, saw her leave the nest, he would 

 fly stealthily up to it, light on the edge, sieze an egg in his beak, and fly 

 as fast as he could towards the house. After a while one or the other of 

 the birds stayed around all the time, so Jim used to have a hard time get- 



