VI. 



THE TRICKS AND MANNERS " OF A CAT- 

 BIRD. 



FOR more than eight months a cat-bird has 

 lived in my house, passing his days in freedom 

 in the room where I sit at work, and his nights 

 in a cage not six feet from my head. 



Having spent a summer in watching his ways 

 in his home, and acquiring a proper respect for 

 his intelligence, I now wished to test him under 

 new conditions, to see how he would adapt him- 

 self to our home, and I found the study one of 

 the most absorbing interest. 



He had been caged a few weeks only, but he 

 was not at all wild, and he soon grew so accus- 

 tomed to my silent presence that, unless I 

 spoke, or looked at him, he paid no attention to 

 me. By means of a small mirror and an opera- 

 glass I was able to watch him closely in any 

 part of the room, when he thought himself un- 

 observed. 



To the loving student of bird ways his feath- 



