124 ASKING TO HAVE THE DOOR OPENED. 



When after three hours of exploration he 

 returned to his home, the door was closed and 

 ^he cage hung up. He was satisfied with his 

 first outing, and refreshed himself with a nap 

 at once. But the first thing the next morning 

 he came down to his door and pecked the wires, 

 looking over at me most intelligently, plainly 

 asking to have it opened. He never mistook 

 the position of the door, and if knocking had 

 not the desired effect, he took hold of a wire 

 and shook and rattled it till he was attended to. 



It was interesting to see how familiar he sud- 

 denly became, when no effort had been made 

 to induce him to be so. I never had so much 

 trouble to win the confidence of a bird, but 

 when won, the surrender was complete. He 

 came up to me freely and allowed me to catch 

 him in my hand without resistance, which is 

 very uncommon. (Perhaps I ought to say that 

 I do not try to tame my birds.) He displayed 

 a child-like, confiding disposition, both in his 

 unreasoning terror at first, and his unquestion- 

 ing faith at last. 



These investigations were conducted without 

 a sound, for the bird was entirely silent while 

 awake. But there came a day when he made 

 a curious exhibition of his ability. It was the 

 ninth of February, and the goldfinch was call- 

 ing, as he often did. The woodpecker sat on 



