IN CAPTIVITY; ITS FOOD, HABITS, ETC. BISHOP. 153 



look as though it would live more than a few minutes. Its 

 head was lying over to one side with eyes closed, and it seemed to 

 be dying. I took it from the basket and gave it some pulp 

 of grapes which revived it. Its body having been in such a 

 hot place, and with no water to drink, it was dying of heat 

 and thirst. With good care it soon recovered and became smart, 

 and that spring laid eight beautiful eggs which I presented 

 to Mr. J. Parker of Philadelphia. 



These birds became very tame, in fact as tame as any 

 domestic fowls, and would run to meet me at the door when 

 I went to feed them. 



The coloring of the eggs is deposited entirely on the surface 

 and can be easily washed off when the egg is first laid. So soft 

 is this pigment and so easily marked that the eggs will some- 

 times show scratches on the large end, caused by coming in 

 contact with the coarse parts of the nesting material when 

 being laid. It also fades if exposed to the light, so that eggs 

 which ' are nest- worn or have been exposed to light for any 

 length of time, lose much of their beauty. 



The color of a fresh laid egg is almost exactly like that 

 of the outer case of new young buds of the red and white 

 spruce on which they feed. I often noticed that when they 

 were fed plentifully on this food, the eggs would be more 

 highly colored. 



The birds usually lay an egg each alternate day, but some- 

 times there would be two days between in which the supply 

 of pigment seemed to have been collecting to be deposited on 

 the next egg, which is of a much deeper color than that of the 

 normal egg. 



