72 ffIS POSITION TO BE SETTLED. 



a cage next to his, he saw his own door-perch, 

 recognized it instantly (though he had been 

 upon it only once), and, being hungry, dropped 

 to it and ran into the cage. 



The new-comer soon made thorough acquaint- 

 ance with all his surroundings, and had leisure 

 to turn his attention to a little matter yet un- 

 settled ; namely, his position in the small colony 

 about him. The first few days, as already noted, 

 he submitted to impositions ; allowed himself to 

 be driven away from the slices of apple on the 

 matting, and turned from the bathing-dish on 

 the floor. This was, however, the calm before 

 the storm ; though after all that is hardly a cor- 

 rect comparison, since there was never the least 

 " storm " about his manner ; he was composure 

 itself. Having calmly and patiently considered 

 the state of affairs, he suddenly asserted him- 

 self and took the position he felt was his right, 

 at the head. It soon became evident that he 

 was prepared to defend the situation by force of 

 arms. He conducted his conquests systemat- 

 ically, and subdued one after the other, begin- 

 ning with the least. 



The English goldfinch had been very saucy, 

 scolding and flying over him as he went around 

 the room, in the small bird's way ; but one day 

 it came to a sudden end. The goldfinch in his 

 cage scolded the stranger for alighting too near 



