246 THRUST OUT HIS TONGUE. 



long perch : he proceeded by sidewise hops, and 

 at each hop he turned half round, that is, the 

 first step he faced the window, the next the 

 room, the third the window again, and so on to 

 the end, coming down at every jump as though 

 he weighed a pound or two. He was much ad- 

 dicted to sitting with breast-feathers puffed out 

 covering his toes, or sometimes with wings held 

 a little way from his body, showing the delicate 

 rose-colored lining, as though conscious how 

 pretty he looked; and among other eccentric 

 habits he often thrust out his tongue, first one 

 side and then the other, apparently to clean his 

 bill. 



Bathing and getting dry was conducted by 

 this peculiar bird in a manner characteristic of 

 himself. Slow to make the plunge, he was 

 equally deliberate in coming out of the bath. 

 When fairly in, he first thrust his head under, 

 then sat up in the drollest way, head quite out 

 of water and tail lying flat on the bottom, while 

 he spattered vigorously with wings and tail. 

 When he stepped out, the bath was over ; he 

 never returned for a second dip, but passed at 

 once to a favorite corner of the window-bar, and 

 stood there a most disconsolate-looking object, 

 shivering with cold, with plumage completely 

 disheveled, but making not the least effort to 

 dry his feathers for several minutes. If the sun 



