MY NEIGHBOUR'S BIRD STORIES 75 



little he knew of their ways and wants, he related 

 the history of a thrush he once kept in a cage 

 hanging at the back of his house, where there was 

 a garden, and where he amused himself by 

 cultivating flowers and vegetables. The bird had 

 been taken from the nest and reared by hand ; 

 consequently it had never learnt to sing a true 

 thrush song, but had invented a song of its own, 

 composed of imitations cackling fowls, whistling 

 boys, and various other village noises, including 

 those from the smithy. The village postman, who 

 lived close by, had a peculiar shrill double whistle 

 which he always emitted when nearing his house, 

 to bring his wife to the door. This sound, too, the 

 thrush mimicked so cleverly that poor Mrs. Post- 

 man was always running to the door for nothing, 

 and at length had to beg her husband to invent 

 some other sound to announce his approach. 



Seeing that the bird was always cheerful and 

 noisy, it was a puzzle to Mr. Redburn that it never 

 looked well. It was supplied with clean water and 

 good food bread and milk and crushed rape-seed 

 every day ; but it never seemed to enjoy its 

 food, and its plumage had a dry, loose, disarranged 

 appearance, and was without a gloss. It was a 

 perfect contrast in this respect to a wild thrush 

 that used to visit the garden. 



One day, when the bird had been in his possession 

 for a little over a year, he happened to be sitting in 

 his garden smoking, when this wild thrush came on 

 the scene and began running about the lawn looking 



