OUR COUNTRY LIFE 



Finally hearing a commotion in the butler's pantry I 

 opened the door. Behold a very angry little prisoner 

 and a bewildered group of domestics! That little 

 creature had discovered the shortest way downstairs 

 and now proposed to get out of the house. No longer 

 tame he hurled himself against the confining walls, 

 and it was only with infinite precaution for the 

 china as well as for the tiny bird that we finally 

 succeeded in getting him again into the cage and bring 

 ing him to my room. Very sulky he looked and very 

 unhappy, not a bit of food or drink would he touch, 

 he had had his curiosity satisfied about the interior of 

 that lighted box; now all he wished was to return 

 to his beloved out-of-doors. After getting his breath 

 he began to poke his head through the bars of the cage, 

 and in three minutes he had freed his whole body. 

 As I opened the window, with a dainty, unhurried air 

 he stepped along the sill avoiding the woodbine stems 

 and made one joyous, lengthy flight to the red-hawed 

 rose bushes in the midst of the shrubbery. 

 "Hermit thrushes?" Yes, to my amazement. When 



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