THE BRAZILIAN BULLFINCH. Si 



as a natural consequence, some of the uprights had 

 become loose, and by a small amount of pressure could 

 be pushed to one side, and thus, no doubt, the Bicudo 

 gained access to the place where I found him, which 

 was the abode of my soft-billed birds, and which being 

 planted pretty thickly with shrubs had evidently attracted 

 the wanderer and induced him to search for some way 

 of getting into such a very desirable place of residence 

 as he would think it to be when compared with the 

 spot in which I had put him, for the Finches, but 

 especially the Budgerigars, would not let anything 

 grow there. 



It was rather clever, I thought, of the Black Bullfinch 

 to find out that weak place in the partition and to 

 avail himself of it in the manner he had done; but he 

 found nothing to eat in the Eden to which he had 

 forced admission and when I saw him he was evidently 

 seeking a way back again to the seed-pans. I caught 

 him and returned him to his old quarters and made 

 good the breach in the partition. I never saw a bird 

 improve as he did after that, and I was very proud 

 of him indeed, but alasl my pride had a fall one day, 

 and a very grievous fall, too. 



I have mentioned that in the brick house attached 

 to the Finches' aviary was a window that opened from 

 the outside and was protected by a piece of wire netting 

 nailed to the wall on the inside. This window I made 

 a point of shutting every night for fear of the cats, 



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