88 "TRICKS AND MANNERS" OF A CAT-BIRD. 



screen. After looking at it sharply on all sides, 

 he went around behind the cage, pulled at the 

 end of the towel, and peeped in. She fluttered, 

 and he was pleased. I arranged it more se- 

 curely, and the next performance was to take 

 hold with his bill, and shake it violently. This 

 also remedied, his last resource was to come 

 down on the end of the perch with a bounce, 

 making much more noise than usual ; he gen- 

 erally alights like a feather. After each bounce 

 he would stand and listen, and the flutter he 

 always heard delighted him hugely. As long 

 as they lived in the same room, she never con- 

 quered her fear, and he never tired of playing 

 pranks around her. 



If to learn by experience is a sign of reason 

 in an animal, the cat-bird plainly demonstrated 

 his possession of that quality. He learned 

 readily by experience. Once or twice alight- 

 ing on the cane seat of a chair, and catching 

 his claws, taught him that was not a place 

 for him, and he did it no more. When his 

 claws grew so long as to curve around an ordi- 

 nary perch, or a book, after being caught once 

 or twice, he managed to accommodate himself 

 to this new condition, and start in a different 

 way. Instead of diving off a perch, as he nat- 

 urally does, he gave a little jump up. The 

 change was very marked, and he caught his 

 claws no more. 



