GLIMPSES OF WILD LIFE 193 



declared his intention to kill the bird. In an 

 unlucky moment I suggested that he leave the 

 shade up and try the etiect. lie did so, and 

 his morning sleep was thenceforth undisturbed. 

 A Western correspondent writes me that she 

 once put a looking-glass down on the floor in 

 front of the canary bird's cage The poor ca- 

 nary had not had any communion with his own 

 kind for years. "He used often to watch the 

 ugly sparrows — the little plebeians — from his 

 aristocratic gilded palace. I opened his cage 

 and he walked up to the looking-glass and it 

 was not long before he made up his mind. He 

 collected dead leaves, twigs, bits of paper, and 

 all sorts of stray bits, and began a nest right off. 

 Several days after in his lonely cage he would 

 take bits of straw and arrange them when they 

 were given him.'' 



