FINCHES, STARLINGS AND CROWS 69 



door he was out. I tried a long string, which 

 we pulled from a distance as soon as he was 

 in the cage. This answered for a time, but 

 he got to be so knowing that when he saw 

 the string fastened to the door he wouldn't 

 go into the cage at all. We got the better 

 of him in the end, however, by hanging a bit 

 of card inside the doorway; when he pushed 

 against this on the outside he could get by 

 into the cage, but he couldn't open it from 

 the inside. We only turned the card in when 

 we wanted him to go back, leaving him free 

 to go in and out as he liked till then. Oddly 

 enough, he used to go in almost directly the 

 card was in its place, and never attempted 

 to get out again. He seemed to enjoy the 

 exercise of flying very much, and used to go 

 round and round the room again and again 

 and again for the mere pleasure of it. 



Though he would settle on the different 

 things in the room and stay there for some 

 length of time, there was never any need to 

 clean up after him, but on the outside of his 

 cage he was not so particular. It was a great 

 amusement to him to sit and make faces at 

 himself in a looking-glass. 



He lived very happily with us for more 

 than two years. In the end he died of some 

 kind of wasting disease, but was bright and 

 apparently happy to the last. 



For some months before he died, if we let 

 him out at meal-times, as we often did, he 



