46 A WINTER BIRD-STUDY. 



he was panic-stricken at the conduct of the ball. 

 Besides this, he is easily intimidated by other 

 birds. The cat-bird was his terror. He would 

 gaze on that mischievous fellow in some of his 

 pranks, standing very straight up on his long 

 legs with crown feathers erect, the picture of 

 horror ; while his two small feet, side by side, 

 opposed to the bold stride of the cat-bird made 

 him look like an innocent child in the presence 

 of an impish elf. After the cat-bird's depart- 

 ure (I opened the window for him in the spring, 

 when he grew restless and unhappy), the hermit 

 thrush, half his size, could drive him anywhere 

 about the room, and a red-wing blackbird is a 

 nightmare to him, though that he is to all the 

 birds. 



So timid is this thrush that he was with great 

 difficulty induced to leave his cage at all. He 

 had to be starved to it, with food and water 

 outside, and no bath till he would come out and 

 take it. Two weeks passed before he would go 

 in and out freely, and even now, after months 

 of freedom, the slightest alarm sends him like a 

 shot into his cage, where he instantly mounts 

 the highest perch, and manifests intense excite- 

 ment for some time. 



The real bugaboo of my thrush's life, for 

 which I always imagine he is searching the 

 dusky corners, is a doll. Strange to say, this 



