106 THE BIRD OF SOCIETY. 



of his bill. First the upper mandible appeared 

 a quarter of an inch shorter than the lower, 

 and he had great trouble to eat, though he 

 sang as merrily as usual. In a day or two, 

 while I was seeking advice on the subject, 

 which by the way I did not get, for no one 

 that I could find ever heard of such a case, he 

 broke the lower one to match. Since then he 

 is as happy as ever, disturbed by nothing ex- 

 cept the singing of one of his neighbors, whom 

 it seems to be the aim of his life to reduce to 

 silence. If volume would do it success must 

 crown his efforts, but his opponent is a plucky 

 little fellow and refuses to be suppressed, and 

 so for months the unequal rivalry has con- 

 tinued. 



The redwing is never by any chance grace- 

 ful. He walks about the floor like an old man 

 with the gout, and he has a curious fashion of 

 thrusting his long bill into a dish and then 

 opening it, as if to pry the seed or water apart. 

 He does the same under the edge of a towel or 

 newspaper on the floor. 



One funny little exhibition of intelligence was 

 furnished by the blackbird and a thrush. The 

 latter chose to alight beside the former's cage, 

 and attempt to pull things through the wires. 

 The indignant owner came down to the corner 

 nearest the intruder and began to scold " Chack ! 



