12 FEATHERED FRIENDS. 



unpleasantly, appeared to give him indigestion, for after 

 partaking of some he would sit motionless on his 

 perch with his head drawn down among his breast 

 feathers and sometimes even he would tuck it under his 

 wing, which was a sure sign of indisposition of some 

 kind. The dear bird, too, began to get thin, and his 

 feathers seemed to lie less smoothly on him than for- 

 merly, so that I felt quite concerned, the more espe- 

 cially as I had never heard him attempt to sing a note. 

 So I had to look about for some other method of 

 feeding. 



Nonpareils and various Buntings I had had at differ- 

 ent times used to eat the imported German ants' 

 eggs, and seemed to like and thrive on them, as did 

 also a tame Starling. Why not the Nightingale? par- 

 ticularly as fresh insects were difficult to get, and I 

 did not care to see Joey banging them about as he 

 always did unless they were very small. 



Well, in the cage there was a drawer that in the 

 case of a former inmate used to be filled with seed, 

 and in this I placed a handful of the ants' eggs as 

 they came from the shop. Joey at once returned from 

 among the ferns to his domicile and, with a knowing 

 twist of the head and a flirt of his handsome reddish 

 brown tail, inspected the novel provision for a 

 moment, and then, to my surprise no less than satis- 

 faction, commenced to swallow them, one by one, as 

 fast as he could. 



