HIS PRIVATE APARTMENT 51 



with my back turned to him, with a small 

 hand-glass in which I could see him. Yet 

 even when I held his door-string in my hand, 

 he would dash into his cage, snatch a morsel, 

 and out again before I could slacken the string 

 as gently as I wished, not to have the door 

 close with a spring and startle him. Some- 

 times it required three hours of constant 

 watching to get him home. 



I could not bear to keep him shut up when 

 others were out ; it was not safe to let him 

 stay out all night, and I could not give so 

 much time to catching him. So, although he 

 was interesting, I gave him away, where it was 

 thought he could be out all the time. He 

 was for a while, but he proved so exceedingly 

 troublesome that at last he was shut in for 

 good, and passed a happy summer in a cage 

 on the piazza, carrying on music matches with 

 bluebirds and robins, singing from morning 

 till night, and apparently having just as good 

 a time as when he was out every day. 



A point that I consider important is that a 

 bird shall have his cage to himself ; it is none 

 too commodious for him. Unless I have a 

 pair, or two of the same kind, I never put two 



