THE BIRD OF SOLITUDE. 27 



other American thrush, the hermit thrush. He 

 also is not a regular bird-store product, being 

 neither gay-colored nor noisy. This individ- 

 ual was caught with an injured wing, and was 

 so little regarded in that motley collection of 

 screaming parrots and shrieking canaries that 

 the price put upon him was insultingly low. 

 To soften my disappointment, I brought him 

 home, and a more interesting fellow I never 

 saw. 



Upon opening the box in which he had- made 

 the journey, he showed not the least alarm. He 

 sat calmly on the bottom and looked at me. In 

 a moment or two he hopped on to the edge 

 of the box, and then, seeing a perch conven- 

 iently near, he stepped upon that, and began 

 to straighten his feathers and put himself in 

 order. 



He had been in captivity but two or three 

 days, yet he was never for an instant wild, and 

 was the most quiet bird in the house. He sel- 

 dom made a sound. Occasionally he uttered a 

 high, sharp "s-e-e-p," like an insect sound, with- 

 out opening the bill ; and that was all, until he 

 encountered the looking-glass. 



Having kept him in a cage a few days, to 

 teach him that it was his home, I opened the 

 door, as I do with all my cages. He came out 

 at once, which birds rarely do, investigated my 



